Through the years I’ve spoken to a lot of aesthetic doctors and there isn’t a single one who thought he or she had a plain practice. Each doctor could tell us something unique about their practice. But what they believe makes them stands out from their competitors, I think, is wrong.

Most of whom I talked to claimed that the factors that make their practice, their brand, stand out are the following:

• price of their services
• state of the art machines
• services they offer to patients

But your price is not a brand. Patients will go clinic hopping trying to get the cheapest price they could avail. One doctor asked, “How about the machine and services?” I explained, “We have the same sets of machines, similar distributors, and same services on our menu.”

What makes your practice different then? The answer is your brand. Yes, branding is not just for cows. Your practice needs branding too. And this, my friends, we quite often fail to work on. We failed to focus on creating a brand that will resonate with the public, thus, our clinic remained plain and bland.

Branding 101

Branding is an important but often overlooked aspect of marketing in our clinical practice. We tend to associate brands with products and large corporations. But branding is for everyone.

Many people mistakenly use the terms “marketing” and “branding” interchangeably but a brand is a distinctive identity that differentiates. A relevant, enduring, and credible promise of value associated with a product, service, or organization and indicates the source of that promise.

Branding is part of marketing but is not actually about promotion. Rather, it is about defining your practice and connecting with people.

David Aeker, who is the father of modern branding, defines branding as “a set of assets (or liabilities) linked to a brand’s name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or service…”

“Branding is a relationship and a strong symbol association,” he elaborates. “To be effective, a brand identity needs to resonate with customers, differentiate the brand from competitors, and represent what the organization can and will do over time.”

Seth Godin in his own words, defines as such: “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. If the consumer (whether it’s a business, a buyer, a voter or a donor) doesn’t pay a premium, make a selection or spread the word, then no brand value exists for that consumer.”

Branding is NOT:

• your logo
• your name
• your press releases, marketing, or promotion
• your products or services
• about you

Tips for Right Branding to Implement to Your Practice:

1. Know your target market

Always consider who your business is built for. For a brand to resonate effectively, you should first know who you are targeting.

Knowing who you want to help, why you want to help them, and what you will provide to solve their problem is extremely important in building your brand.

The wants and needs of your patient will dictate your approach or actions as a practice and set you on the path of success with your patient.

If you’re unsure about who your audience is, this can help you know yours.

All too often practices forget their audiences, and focus on the product or service or catalogue, potentially missing out valuable information that can increase sales, YOUR PATIENT.

How to target your market?

First, you must know these specifications.
Remember to be as specific and narrow as you can.

Identify the following specifications:

• Gender
• Age
• Location
• Interest
• Language

Defining your target market and developing a brand persona is like putting yourself in your patient’s shoes.

Studying how they behave as consumers, how they purchase, how they respond to your brand will be tools that help you better communicate to them of your practice.

And mind you, it would be easier for you to use this persona in making your ads on Facebook and Instagram.

By tailoring your target market, you instantly eliminate the hassle and heartache of pleasing all.

2. Define your message and value

Why you do what you do?

Ask yourself why several times before you get to the root purpose, the very core of your message.

Ask these questions in a very specific manner:

• Why did I start my practice?
• Why do I want to help out this target market?
• Why does it matter to me that these things get done?

By answering these, you’ll get to ascertain a little clearly your value proposition, the core mission, and what kind of help you want to deliver to your niche patients.

Walt Disney answers this question very well and is a good example of a company that knows why they exist: they want to bring joy to children everywhere. This flows through everything that they do.

In addition to attracting more patients, effective branding can help filter out false leads.

If you are effectively telling the market about your brand, the patient who is not your target market will not set their foot at your doorstep.

Which is a good thing.

You can’t convince a patient if they’re expecting something other than what you can deliver.

They can become a source of bad reviews and other problems.

No doctor or practice can be everything to every patient.

Narrow down your practice, focus on a niche.

Built something on which you could be known for.

3. Make a Brand Personality

Your practice’s brand personality is the way you express your brand message.

The personality helps you connect to your patients on an emotional level and makes you different from your competition.

It personifies your brand.

It is built by assigning human characteristics and traits to your brand.

These characteristics can be expressed through your branding elements like the logo, colors, font, tone of voice, etc.

According to Aaker's research in which he asked consumers to describe 59 brands from different categories, he identified 5 underlying dimensions of brand personality and 42 traits to measure those dimensions.

Like in human communication, people connect to your brand if they match your personality.

You need to choose your brand wisely and align it with your target audience.

What does your practice want to convey to your patients? Comment below your personality and trait.