brand identity for the private practice
3 tips for a great healthcare brand
When you look at your private practice, do you see a brand? Or do you just see consultation rooms for the individual specialist doctor that you are? Let’s go over the unique power of branding for the private practice, and see how it can transform your business results.
3 tips for a great healthcare brand
Kris Borgraeve
February 15, 2022
Make your brand as informative as possible
understanding healthcare marketing
As a doctor, you are in a unique industry. You don’t produce commodities such as soda drinks or paper towels and when customers interact with you, it’s all about trust. That is why your private practice is already a brand, whether you see it like that or not. It’s you, the doctor. And it’s the entity, the vehicle that patients see when they look you up.
Trust is built with reliable information because that is one of the core drivers of the doctor-patient relationship. You have specialised in diagnosing and treating, and what the patient also wants is information.
"Once you find out how much online activity is defined by the information that patients are looking for, you are ready to make your brand all about providing that information."
Before you take your laptop and start writing dozens of pages about antenatal care, sleeve gastrectomy or endoscopy… a word of caution.
Google has been growing its artificial intelligence over the last decade, to serve reliable search results, every time a patient types a query in to Google Search. Why? They want to be seen as the leading search engine and not serve useless results.
So the only effective way to make your brand informative is to get that information across, when a patient performs a Google Search. You can have the whole medical encyclopaedia on your medical website, and still have zero incoming patient leads from your online presence.
How do you make sure the information reaches your future patients? By having optimised Google-friendly content on every page of your private practice website. Be informative, and be visible, that’s how I would summarise it.
Make your brand as personal as you can
brand advice for doctors
The second pillar for your brand is your brand personality. The unique voice of your practice. If that sounds a bit wishy-washy, let’s unpack it.
We have covered the role of information in attracting patients building Google visibility. And what do you want to do with this traffic? You want conversions, right?
"Conversions are - once again - about earning trust in the digital space, so the patient moves to the next step. Changing or asking a referral, booking an appointment, that kind of steps."
When I look at the most effective medical marketing strategies we run for doctors in private practice, these are the top 5 personalisation tactics that we use, to make the brand personable and to achieve high conversion levels:
- Authority: Authority is not just the by-product of listing your titles and credentials. It comes from expressing clear views on what you stand for. Stepping out of the medical-technical jargon to express why you believe what you believe, is a great way to connect with the human being on the other side, your potential next patient.
- Photos: Take a moment to really understand how images work online. There is the creative side of things, so you are portrayed with the right energy, light, outfit and background. And there is the development side of things, making sure that your photos are large enough to take up their space in the website lay-out, compressed in small enough files so your website loads fast.
- Brand style kit: Your brand needs a colour palette that is contemporary, a professional logo and a professional layout for your content pages. Those elements support your story so patients experience your professionalism long before they meet you. We know that over 50% of patients check out their specialists online before committing to a referral so that is where you can make a difference.
- Video: Video is a great carrier of personality. Add a quick ‘Hi this is Dr x’ video and you will see the engagement levels of your medical website go up. If you want to reap the full benefits of video marketing in healthcare, start an FAQ YouTube channel and embed the short clips (1 to 1.5 minutes) on the specific content pages that the FAQs relate to.
- Team: People connect to people. Investing in quality photos of your team is a wise decision, even if nobody can give you scientific proof that this makes a difference. But hey, do we really know if a nice reception desk, a clean suit, or a beautiful watch actually make a difference? Team photos are a nobrainer as you start building a strong medical brand for your private practice.
Give your brand a strong core message
medical content marketing
A core message is something you want patients to remember when they mention you to a friend.
- Dr X really takes the time for her consultations and you don’t feel like a number.
- Dr Y was very caring and he was able to help me understand the procedure so I felt totally comfortable on the day.
- Dr Z has such a great team. You walk in and you feel at ease.
"To make patients remember you until they make a decision, you need to get their attention in the first place. Your core message is always about the one reason why they would choose you over a competitor."
This core message is the story that is integrated in every corner of your website. It’s the thread that connects titles, images, paragraphs and videos. If you do social media, it’s also the thread that connects your posts to your web pages.
Your core message can be hooked onto your personal calling when you decided to become a doctor. Or you can link it to a particular take and vision on the treatments that you offer. You can also connect it to a certain way of running your consultations, always thinking about the benefits and the value this brings to your patients.
Building a strong core message for your practice is strategic work that defines the business success of your practice for years to come.
The starting point is a process of self-inspection, to define your core strengths, and the unique selling proposition of your private practice as a brand. Most leading doctors we work with, enjoy the depth of our discovery process prior to building a new website or setting up a new strategy. As content experts and communication consultants, we listen to your story and present it back to you as the foundation for your brand strategy.
What can a great brand do for your private practice?
brand agency for doctors
Great brand positioning should always be supported by content marketing to make you visible.
Once you are visible in Google Search, your conversions as a healthcare provider depend on the power of your brand.
Melbourne Mothers as a premium online strategy in obstetrics and gynaecology gives you a brand experience even before you make a booking. You learn about the practice philosophy and the team, and you get to know the obstetrician as soon as you start navigating the information on the website.
Dr Weranja Ranasinghe uses his high-profile research work in the US as part of his brand story. The visuals, the extensive patient education pieces and the overall brand styleguide all work together to give the patient an effective first impression based on establishing trust and rapport.
Dr Jeremy Rawlins has an online profile that establishes trust by highlighting his complex work as an authority in burns surgery. In the context of these complex areas of plastic surgery, routine procedures are presented with the right level of detail to inform the patient and to build trust and rapport before the first consultation.
Let’s work on your brand
brand consultants for doctors
Whether your brand exists and needs a refresh, or you are preparing to start your private practice, let’s talk. In an obligation-free strategy session, we explore how we can help you achieve visibility and high levels of conversion with a brand story that represents your leadership position as an expert in your field.
- Tags: Branding
