Branding and the Professional Practice

"The actual brand is created in the patient's mind...and is the result of the anecdotes amplified to others."

Many people consider a Brand and Branding contemporary business topics. In reality they're not. Back in the late sixties and early seventies when I was at Johnson & Johnson Dental Products Company I had the title of "Brand Manager."  In that role I was responsible for such brands as Adaptic Dental Restorative, Dispersalloy Dispersed-Phase Alloy, Cidex Cold Sterilizer, Delton Pit & Fissure Sealant, Ceramco Porcelain, and others. One of my primary responsibilities was maintaining the brand's "reputation" with the dental community. It was of primary importance that the dentists believed in Johnson & Johnson as a trusted partner, manufacturing quality products to meet the needs of the doctors and their staff.  Our tagline was, "Helping the Hands that Heal."

Today you the doctor are truely the brand.  Your responsibilty, and that of your team, is building your "reputation." Work to create a practice environment that fosters the feeling among your patients, and those they refer, that they're being cared for by a friendly, dedicated, highly qualified team.

Let me discuss some basics. In professional marketing, branding has a twofold meaning:

- First, and foremost, it is the perception your brand has in the patient's mind. It embodies the patient expectations, which typically arise in their minds, associated with a positive (or negative) dental experience at the practice.

- Secondly, it is the materialization, of all the information connected with the doctor, the practice or the services offered. A brand typically includes a practice name, logo, tagline, and other visual elements such as images, type fonts, color schemes, or symbols.
 
Often the doctor and the practice brand are synonymous.  I've been in situations where we never created a graphic logo or symbol, but built a strong personal brand for the doctor through a highly focused, targeted strategy, using public relations and calculated networking. 
You will find in many cases, successful professional brands are developed by delivering satisfaction, making friends, and developing longterm patient relationships.  It's interesting that these are also the keys to successful marketing.

"you don't create your brand at all.  Your brand is actually created by the public - by their perceptions, thoughts, and experiences - by how they define you."

If you are working with a Marketing Company developing your brand they usually begin with the development of a brand platform (also called brand strategy). This provides the strategic definition of a brand.  It is the primary foundation of all branding activity and decision making.

Brand deals with character and personality.  The brand platform is a carefully crafted statement of "who the doctor is," and who the team is," "who the practice is," "what it does," "how the doctor and the team members act," and why the practice is different."  Following are the components of a brand platform:

- Brand attributes: the core dimensions of the brand.  It includes the qualities that describe the practice's approach to servicing it's patients as well as it's unique style.

- Brand personality: defines who we are, how we behave, and how we communicate with each other and our patients.
 
The process of developing a brand platform may not be foreign to you.  It is very similar to the process you encountered creating your Mission Statement and Core values.

In many office situations the doctor and team may have to change their focus relating to new patient attraction and retention.  We all have grown up hearing, "Do unto others in ways that you’d like them to do unto you." In relation to branding and practice building it probably should be adjusted to, "Do unto others as they would have you do unto them." In other words design your programs as your clients would want and need them – not as you or your think they should be designed.

I've noticed that many successful practices "get it".  They have nurtured a patient-centered environment, and have succeeded in attracting and keeping patients by adding value and exhilaration to their lives.  They realize it's all about the patient...what they need and how you can satisfy those needs.  Therefore, I can further define a brand as the exhilaration (or disappointment) a patient feels from the dental experience they had at your practice or with your service offering.  The actual brand is created in the patient's mind...and is the result of the anecdotes amplified to others.

You may read that many people define a brand as the second part of the definition above.  They think that their brand is only their company or product's name, a logo, a symbol, tag line, packaging or promotion. They are nothing more than the brand's materializations or articulations. It is true that they contribute to the brands favorable perception, but it is all about how the patient feels about the experience and how they spread it to others.

I beleive in the definition of a brand by Allan Gorman, author of Briefs for Building Better Brands. "A brand is the story that people tell when asked to recommend your product or service to someone else."
Mr. Gorman states (and I agree), "you don't create your brand at all.  Your brand is actually created by the public - by their perceptions, thoughts, and experiences - by how they define you."

Marketing has an important part in the branding process.  It is to assist missionaries in understanding just how to tell the correct story about you and your practice.  It is also providing the most effective tools (brochures, web sites, etc.) for them to utilize, and adding credibiity to their story with publicity in the media.

As you are planning your professional marketing be aware of your brand.  It is important to have a sharp logo and tagline that look great on your sign, stationary, business cards and advertising, but that alone won't build a strong brand.  A strong brand for yourself and your practice is the result of remarkable missionary patient stories - stories of their wonderful experiences that they share and that build positive new patient expectations.

The End.



   


 

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