Gone are the days when medical practices could survive without a strong digital brand, now there are more patients online than ever before and even more practices competing with you for their attention.
In today’s digital world, new technology allows potential patients access to your reviews, see what services you have to offer, and get the inside scoop on what experience they can expect to receive from your medical practice before they even walk in through your clinic doors.
Suddenly, medical brands need to find more strategic ways to communicate to potential patients and appeal to their needs. Your medical brand's perception is the first impression that patients have of your practice.
If your medical brand is not thoughtful and strategic in communicating the right visual and psychological message to your patients, then it's probably time to enhance your brand overall.
Hopefully, these 6 signs will help you identify whether or not it is time to give your medical brand a facelift and you'll discover how your brand can be more effective at attracting new patients to your practice.
Here are 6 Signs You Need to Enhance your Medical Brand:
1. You're Hardly Being Noticed Online
In order to have an effective medical brand, you need to stand out from the competition. Discover unique ways that make your medical brand different and promote them to your audience.
If you do not try to differentiate your brand, then you run the risk of becoming associated with other negatively perceived medical practices – or even worse, you run the risk of not being remembered at all.
In order to help your medical practice stand out online, you'll need to clearly identify your 'USPs' (i.e unique selling propositions). To be successful in today’s competitive digital landscape, you must give patients a compelling reason to choose you over the competition.
Take a step back and think about the positive characteristics within your practice that are working in your favor. Now, think of ways you can promote these unique characteristics to connect with your patients. A strong medical brand understands how to do this effectively.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself to help you differentiate your medical brand from your competitors:
Why do you think your patients love coming to you?
Why do you think your patients think that your products or services are better?
What do you think your practice does better than anyone else?
2. You're Attracting the WRONG Audience
In your opinion, do you think that your messaging is clearly targeting potential patients in your local area who would be interested in your products or services, and can afford them?
Or are your followers just random online users with no specific interest in what you do and have no desire to pay for it?
That's okay! The good news is that you have followers.
The bad news is that they may not all convert into new patients.
As with any business, your brand identity and strategy should identify and speak directly to your target customers specifically.
First, you should identify who your target customer is; understand what motivates their desire to use your services, and create content based on that need.
Identify their gender, age, geographic location, mindset, lifestyles, etc.
Consider the patient experience and journey starting from finding you online, whether on social media or your website straight up until they convert into becoming a patient at your practice and submit a final review online.
Your potential patients need to experience your medical brand’s look (color scheme, fonts, décor, Logo, etc.) and feel (values, communication, tone of voice, friendliness, professionalism, empathy, etc.) every single time they interact with your practice, whether online or in person.
For example, if you know your services are mainly for young females, you need to design your entire brand strategy and visual identity with this in mind.
Consider collecting marketing data to identify your customer base, and then find out as much as you can about them. Try to understand how they respond to your services, products, and your marketing strategies, and messaging. I'd recommend using an experienced marketing agency to spearhead this project since they'd have a better understanding of data analysis and customer behavior.
Understanding your patients allows you to respond to their specific needs and constantly improve the patient experience both in-person and online.
3. Your Brand's Promise & Experience are Disconnected
Patients make purchases after determining that they trust your medical brand enough to invest in it. It is important that you establish a strong relationship with your patients centered around trust, reliability, and results.
A good way to build that relationship with your patients is to ensure that your medical brand's promise (which in most cases is your tagline or mission statement) reflects the exact experience that your patients feel with your practice.
If you're struggling to retain your patients, this is usually the reason why. Your practice will thrive if your brand's promise and patient experience are aligned.
Develop a strong brand strategy that helps demonstrate how the two are connected in order to build patient trust and show your patients that your practice will fulfill its promises.
Some other ways that you can help build patient trust are by offering video content about your products, services, and processes online. This helps to give patients a better understanding of what to expect and shows them how it will work for them and their medical or aesthetic needs.
Connecting your brand's promise to your patient's experience will help develop more than just retained customers but you'll build an ongoing bond with your patients that will encourage them to always choose you over the competition.
4. You Hardly Get Patient Referrals
Most patients choose medical practices or physicians based on referrals from family or friends. This is known as word-of-mouth marketing, and as human beings, we tend to be more confident in our choices after we've received confirmation from others.
This is why it is important to build a brand that promotes credibility and to use content that helps build or restore trust in your products and services. Online reviews, patient testimonials, and before and after photos provide insight into your brand's reputation, expertise, and likability.
Here are a few tips to help boost brand credibility:
- Directly request reviews and referrals from patients
- Ask your patients on their way out for feedback at the end of their appointments
- Post more patient video testimonials
- Post more before and after photos online
5. Your Team Does Not Believe in Your Brand
A strong brand is clear about its values, mission, meaning, and purpose. This will not only attract the right customers but it will also attract the right professional team to help you succeed.
A strong medical brand will inspire the right medical staff to give their best at work. Here's an example of a great team culture video that we created for one of our clients.
It is important that your team believes in what you're doing so that your efforts are consistent throughout your entire practice. You can attract and retain top talent by continuously demonstrating your practice’s culture and show your brand's value and promise.
As you start to communicate your brand effectively, you will attract more passionate and dedicated medical professionals who feel that your culture aligns with their values and needs as well.
Attracting and keeping top talent is crucial in the medical field. High turnover is not only bad for business, but it also discourages the rest of your staff members and creates patient mistrust and skepticism.
All of this will negatively affect your patient's perception of your medical brand. If your employees don't believe in your brand, chances are they're probably sending negative impressions about your practice elsewhere.
6. Your Digital Brand is Inconsistent with Your Practice
Your digital presence and 'in-store' experience should be consistent in order to have an effective medical brand.
Start by enhancing your brand's communication strategy and visual identity for consistency across the board. Your brand works as a framework to help guide your team so that everyone is on the same page and promotes consistency.
Your medical brand should be unified with a clear mission and vision statement for your practice. If everyone at your medical practice follows your guidelines, then your medical brand will have more of a coherent, functioning structure. Ensure that you and your practice manager meet and discuss this purpose regularly, making sure everyone within your team follows these guidelines.
Having a consistent medical brand across all platforms will increase efficiency within your medical practice and increase revenue.
Do you need help putting these tips into action?
Our team of content strategists, content creators, and creative marketers would love to help. Book your free virtual consultation with us at any time.