Branding is your practice’s DNA. It is what makes it different and better than the competition. Simply posting your logo on everything does not an effective brand strategy make because branding is not just a cool logo, new color palette, a website and your private label skin care. Along with all of these things, branding also serves to define the visceral and frequently intangible aspects of your practice’s identity.
Cultivating your brand starts with asking yourself some tough questions such as who am I, really? What is my mission? How does my mission differ from the competition? Will these answers resonate with your target patient population? (If your primary target audience is working women older than 40 who are cost conscious, developing a luxury brand may not be effective.)
The next step is to conduct a detailed competitor analysis. This may include a review of your top competitor’s branding, websites, online presence, ratings, reviews, marketing, pricing and advertising. By investigating what these practices are doing well, you will learn how to differentiate. Focus on areas where there is high demand but limited supply, and build your brand around these niche areas. This may include a convenient location, evening/weekend hours, credentialed staff, super specialization and many other attributes.
Once you choose some brand names, do a trademark search to make sure they are available. Act quickly and trademark your brand as soon as you can. Next, craft a short and sweet tagline that summarizes how you want to be perceived. (Think Nike, Just Do It.)
Make sure everything is on brand and by everything, I mean…everything from the colors, fonts, logo, website, marketing material and social media to your staff’s attitude, what you wear to work, the look of your waiting room and treatment rooms and the tidiness of your restrooms. You can enlist a team of designers and branding professionals to assist you or do it yourself.
Now it’s time to get the word out. Create a marketing campaign to communicate your brand identity via email marketing, Google ads, Facebook ads, Instagram promotions, appointment reminders, newsletters, billboards and brochures, among other tactics.
Remember, branding is a long-term exercise. Be patient and expect to see improvements over the long term.
Need some help creating your brand? Reach out to us Anne@wendylewisco.com
