As practice owners, it’s clear your demand for high standards, a strong skill set and entrepreneurial spirit put you where you are today. While these skills are essential when opening and running a successful practice, it’s not enough to keep your patient roster fully scheduled. You need to make a quick and significant impact on potential patients in order to convert them into actual patients.
We all recognize the importance of a first impression and the impact it plays on long-term business and personal relationships. As a practice owner, your credibility is immediately associated with the appearance, voice and tone of your practice’s brand. Our species communicates and acts on an emotional level and your brand needs to speak to your audience and compel them to act on your service via emotional triggers. New practices often overlook this essential piece of the puzzle, and settle for a cookie cutter design or an adopted brand that no longer speaks to the zeitgeist of the times. Consumers are smart and they know when a business is being lazy. On a subconscious level this matters.
Your brand needs to speak to your audience and compel them to act on your service via emotional triggers.
Since your logo is likely the first touchpoint most consumers have with your practice, this may be one of the most critical aspects of your brand. However, a brand is far more than a logo. Your brand is the promise made to your patients and the expectations they have of you and your capabilities. Every touchpoint your patients encounter from the moment they find you online, to the time they leave their appointment and beyond should be carefully crafted to build a “brand experience”. Tom Peters once stated “Good brands build companies. Ineffective brands undermine success”. Neglecting your practice’s brand and forgetting to connect with your patients on an emotional or personal level will leave you falling into the ether. The amount of time we have to hold a consumer’s attention are mere seconds. This presents a significant opportunity to either capture or miss your audiences interest and potential business.
Ask yourself this question: “Does my brand provide the lasting impression I want my patients to have of me and my practice”? If the answer is “no”, consider engaging a credible professional to audit your brand and take it to the next level. Your pride, passion and wallet will thank you.
In later articles we’ll cover other topics, such as the fundamentals of branding, the touchpoint of a brand and areas you may be surprised make a difference. We’ll discuss how you can leverage these tactics and begin seeing results with minimal (if any) investment.
Jake Weiss has assisted clients of all types and sizes and received international awards for his work. He’s been featured in publications such as The Big Book of Layouts and Graphic Design USA. To learn more about Edge’s marketing and branding services and how we can place your practice on the right path, contact us at your convenience.