Branding is not just a Logo

For so many people branding is just defined as a logo and corporate colours - it's really not ... its a lot more than that.

When used expertly branding can become a strategic driver for the practice and a powerful support when developing practice values and leadership.

A broader more accurate way of understanding your brand is to look at it as a matrix of four key areas.

1- Your services - 

2- The physical environment (your practice)

3- Behaviours - human interaction - your reception team your associates

4- Your communication - Brochures, website and signage social media etc..

You want to have the best practice in town... But  first need to imagine how a Best Practice should look and feel? How does the staff in this best practice behave? How the patient feel about when they arrive?  Defining and creating a constant approach to each of these areas which is driven by your "ideal" picture effectively creates your brand standards. 

You can then develop your brand messages, work on the 4 elements (in the diagram above) and bring the team together. Your brand values then become the central driver in all your actions and decisions. The whole team (including associates) are on "on-pointe" and adhering to the standards you have set.

This can take months of team work and dedication - but once you have your brand values set  it can sky rocket your practice and set you apart from others.

Remember ...every practice has a brand whether you think it you have or not - Your brand is how the outside world sees you. The question is. are you in control and is your brand positive?

Referral marketing tip #1 Serve no matter what...

Referral Marketing Tip 1: Typically 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients.

Many referral centres spread themselves too thin, boasting about having over 250 referring dentists and trying to make every dentist who refers with over-the-moon and completely happy with the services … If you have the team to do it, go for it and you’ll be rewarded. But if you’re an entrepreneur specialist or boutique specialist practice, you many want to think about adapting this strategy. Continue to serve everyone well no matter what, but focus on delivering the highest, most outstanding customer service and client experiences for the top 20%. If can do that, your referral practice will drastically change for the better. Your biggest referrers will feel supported and send even more patients to you and refer more of their patients along with recommending their peers to network with you – they could even become huge brand evangelists for your practice. Work close, support them well and develop meaningful clinical relations where you can both benefit.

Support and nurture

Dental Referral Marketing advice - Series of 5

Almost all of my new client projects come in through referrals. That means most of our new clients and leads come from others telling their friends, family and colleagues about us and suggesting they hire my services.

My most lucrative clients — and frankly most favoured clients — have been the results of someone else’s referral.

Imagine how better your specialist practice could be if your phone rang every day, and your inbox had messages in it everyday from dentists who want to work with you because their colleague recommended you? Imagine how much less stress you would have and how much less money you would need to spend on marketing? What a relief!

Over the next few weeks i will be providing 5 vital marketing tips to help you build a successful referral based practice... watch this space...

Example of a marketing message to build awareness