Choosing a Skin Care Business Name Featured Image

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Naming your skin care business is so much more permanent than the products you sell, the color palette you use, and the packaging you choose. All of those things can be changed during a rebranding process.

A business name though…that is going to be the anchor of your website URL, your social media accounts, and your email address – those are all DIFFICULT to change (at best).

To add to the importance of choosing a business name, this detail also has the power to give an overall impression or feeling even before someone sees what you specifically have to offer in your product line.

Before you take the plunge, be sure to comb through these brainstorming tips and strategies to wisely choose a skincare business name that will stand the test of time.

How to choose a name for your skin care business social image

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Tips for Naming Your Skin Care Business

Tip #1: Consider Your Target Market

Most importantly, your business name has to make sense and grab the attention of your specific avatar.

What does your target market and customer avatar value? What would make them stop and click on YOUR name when doing an internet search?

Customer Example 1: Eva (Vintage-Grunge College Student)

  • A name like ‘Wildflower Apothecary’ has a gentle, soft feeling more associated with natural remedies – not the most attention-getting for this avatar.
  • A company that sounds more hip and current is absolutely more ‘clickable’ if a 20-something indie female is your target market, such as the business name Lush®.

Customer Example 2: Katy (New Mommy)

  • A name like ‘Olive Branch Organics’ could be okay for this avatar (she loves everything natural after all), but it doesn’t necessarily grab her attention when she only has five minutes to spare.
  • A company that speaks directly to her so that she knows she’s in the right spot (and won’t waste any time) is most appealing, such as Earth Mama Organics®.

Customer Example 3: Linda (Well-Off Retired Urbanite)

  • A name like ‘Nana’s Bubbles’ has a very specific ‘small town farmers market’ feel – not as compatible with a feeling of luxury or science-backed formulas that this avatar prefers.
  • A company that hints at a more top-of-the-line, boutique feeling for the upper-class woman would be appropriate, such as True Botanicals®.

When you look at all three of these example skin care business names together, it is easy to see that Lush®, Earth Mama Organics®, and True Botanicals® were all specifically named with an exact target market in mind.

Tip #2: Make Your Business Name Memorable

With all of the skin care companies out there, a fair share of ‘natural essentials’ and ‘skin organics’ name suffixes have been used.

Add a little bit of spice, humor, or originality to make your name stand out from the rest!

Tip #3: Give Your Business Name Some Spunk

You want your customers to be talking about your brand – that means giving it a name that is easy to say or affectionately shortened.

Tip #4: Consider Design Flexibility

Take a moment to think about all of the places your business name is going to be presented as a skin care brand:

  • On your website
  • On your product labels
  • On your business cards
  • Through your social media handle

Does it look good in a large font? Super tiny font? Will it fit on something as small as a lip balm sample label? (Learn more about font pairings for your skin care business).

Look at your business name without any punctuation or spacing. Are there any unintended words that appear?

Case in point: A company name that was ‘So-and-so’s Exotic Oils’ discovered after the fact that she was getting blocked on Instagram because her handle was @soandsosexoticoils and perceived as an X-rated account.

Tip #5: Make Your Business Name Searchable

Business names aren’t the place to experiment with fun punctuation or spelling changes.

You want to be found in a Google or Etsy or social account search.

The average individual wouldn’t guess that you decided to name your business ‘Skincare FormYOUlations’ rather than ‘Skincare Formulations’ when trying to find you online.

Even if another company by that commonly-spelled name didn’t come up, they’ll be seeing the names of other companies that fit that search topic, leaving you completely off the grid.

Strategies for Naming Your Skin Care Business

Before diving into brainstorming ideas, keep in mind that you want your business name to stand the test of time…to be continually relevant…fresh…evergreen.

  • It is best to avoid a name that has a specific trending word or product that will be out of style in a few years.

Your name should also stand the test of time for YOUR business goals.

  • Will you be sticking to your current product list FOREVER or are you open to changes based on market demand and your own business trends?

Keep these ideas of LONGEVITY in mind as you consider the different approaches to naming your business below:

Strategy #1: Include a Product in Your Business Name

If you have been selling for a while and are rebranding with a super-focused product, then it could…maybe…make sense to include a product in your name. (Maybe.)

  • Ex: Treesnail Soaps LLC – This communicates that I ONLY sell soap – if I decide down the road to sell lip balm as well, the only people who would know are those who are already on my site.
  • To be upfront, not many well-known companies do this – and for a reason. It’s tricky business to expand your product line when being so specific.

Strategy #2: Refer to Your General Product Line

One step more evergreen is to have a business name that INCLUDES your general PRODUCT LINE.

  • Ex: Treesnail Skin Care – This communicates that I sell skin care products, though doesn’t specify a certain type. It would still be difficult to introduce something outside of that category into my shop, such as natural cleaning supplies.
  • This is a popular choice for many brands in our industry:
    • Mahlo Skin Care®
    • Happy Skincare®
    • Skinceuticals®

Strategy #3: Hint at Your Business Mission/Concept

Another option is to use a name that gives a hint about the general mission for your skincare business or concept without being specific about the product line itself.

  • Ex: Treesnail Natural Essentials – This communicates a natural product line, but doesn’t lock me into anything specific – a great evergreen approach.
  • Many well-known companies use this method:
    • Plant Therapy®
    • Bulk Apothecary®
    • True Botanicals®

Strategy #4: Hint at a Feeling or Idea

Another fantastic evergreen approach is naming your skin care business something that conveys a certain mood, sense, urgency, or action like these successful brands have done:

  • Lush®
  • NOW®
  • La Mer®

Strategy #5: Use Your Own Name for Business

Lastly, using your OWN name as a business name is certainly evergreen and doesn’t lock you into any sort of product or product line at all.

  • Just a few of many skin care lines that use this approach:
    • Mario Badescu®
    • Peter Thomas Roth®
    • Kate Somerville®

If you are just starting out and aren’t 100% sure what is going to ‘stick’ in your shop, I HIGHLY recommend keeping your business name more general.

Add a Tagline to Your Skincare Business Name

Maybe you’re thinking, ‘Okay, I understand the power of being more general, but how is anyone going to know what I sell if I name my company incredibly…basic…like Christine LLC?’

Introducing the tagline.

Taglines give you the freedom and wiggle room to name your company as broadly as you’d like while still telling potential customers who you are and what you stand for (or sell) in a few succinct words.

MANY companies in our industry use a tagline to help flesh out their business name – and (BIG BONUS) this also makes them more searchable online:

  • Lush®: Fresh Handmade Cosmetics
  • Tula®: Clean and Effective Skin Care
  • 100% Pure®: Natural Beauty Products

Taglines are also a neat tool because they’re much more changeable than a business name.

With my business name ‘Treesnail’, I could do a complete rebrand (which I have done several times) without having to change my website URL or social media account handles:

  • Treesnail: Beard Care for Mountain Men
  • Treesnail: Luxury Skin Care for Mindful Women
  • Treesnail: Green Living for Your Growing Family

Clearly, these tagline examples (in the bold font above) are for very different target markets and product lines – but the name of my company (Treesnail) wouldn’t have to change at all if doing a rebrand.

THAT is the beauty of a broad, evergreen business name coupled with a specific tagline.

How to Check the Availability of Your Skin Care Business Name

Before you go falling in love with a certain brand name for yourself, you have to make sure it’s actually available.

Pro Tip: Check ALL of the areas below before officially naming your skin care business – you want to make sure it’s clear on all fronts before spending time and money on registrations and URLs.

Check for Trademarks

  • Visit USPTO.gov to see if there are any trademarks with your desired name already taken on the national level.
Screenshot of the USPTO website to check for business name trademarks.

Check for Registrations

  • Visit your Secretary of State’s website to see if another business has already registered with your desired name as an LLC, corporation, and/or DBA.
  • Important to Note: If another business name sounds similar, yours may be rejected during LLC registration to avoid confusion between the two businesses (DBAs may be shared).
Screenshot of the SBA website to register your skin care business name once you decide.

Check Social Media and Marketplace Platforms

Even if you don’t envision yourself selling on ‘xyz’ platform or having an ‘xyz’ social media account, it’s important to check availability on all of them anyway for a couple of reasons:

  • You never know what the future will hold. Technology changes FAST and so does the way it’s used. NEVER SAY NEVER! Your future business-owning self will surprise you in many ways!
  • It is possible there is someone else with that name under just ONE platform and they’re getting ready to branch out – you don’t ever want your company to be confused with someone else’s content.
Checking for user name availability on Instagram.

Check for Domain and URL Registration

Visit GoDaddy to see if your desired domain name and URL are taken.

When I first started my skin care business, I only saw myself selling on Etsy, so I didn’t bother to see if Treesnail.com was off the market for a stand-alone website.

After about a year, I decided to spread my wings and open a Shopify store – to discover that there was an individual who had had ‘my’ URL for TEN YEARS.

I paid the broker fee to see if he would sell it.

No dice. Even though he didn’t actually have anything UP as a website at all, the stinker.

Screenshot of GoDaddy website showing skin care business name taken.

Register Your Skin Care Business Name

If you are registering your skin care business as an LLC, your name will be secured on the state level during that process.

Skipping the LLC boat? At the very least file a DBA with your Secretary of State. This will help you reap the benefits of having an EIN and open up a business checking account.

Note that filing for a DBA doesn’t give you name protection. An infinite number of businesses can have the same DBA.

Claim Your Business Name Online

Once you have your name registered and you’re all official, make sure you go claim that URL on GoDaddy before someone else does.

Even if you won’t create your own website right away, you are still protecting your online presence and future possibilities – 100% worth it.

Tip: It is recommended that you choose a ‘.com’ if at all possible.

Screengrab from GoDaddy's website for claiming a url.

Claim your handle (@businessname) on as many social media platforms as you can.

Tip: Many platforms let you set up a business account/profile for free. This allows you to share your URL, business hours, and shopping features.

Screenshot of website showing percentages of people interacting with businesses on Instagram.

Changing the Name of Your Skin Care Business

Are you having a case of ‘Business Naming Remorse’ after reading the tips in this article?

If you already filed for an LLC and are wanting to rebrand, all you have to do is file for a DBA. No extra LLC fees.

If you’re changing your business name, consider this as a HUGE opportunity to do a complete rebrand while you’re at it. Check out the Skin Care Business Branding Guide to walk you through the process step-by-step!

Grow Your Skin Care Business!

Browse through the resources below to boost your handmade business visibility and profitability!

Tips for Naming Your Skincare Business Strategically Pinterest Pin

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