How to define your brand and why it's so important

Brand smannnnddddddd. Branding, it’s an expensive exercise of navel gazing that a busy clinic just does not have time to do, right? Wrong. Putting some quick and straightforward thought into what your brand is will attract more (of the right sort of) clients, help you focus on business strategies that hold the most opportunities for your business and makes you a more attractive employment option for staff - pretty cool idea no?

Photo by H E N G S T R E A M on Unsplash

Isn’t brand just a logo and colours and stuff?

No… and yes, a brand’s visual identity is delivered through a logo, strapline and imagery used but it’s so much more than that. We are currently living in an experience economy, people are looking for unique fully immersive experiences that make them feel good, an clinics are in a prime position to help them feel that, so branding encompasses the entire client experience, from the greeting they receive when they walk through the door, the refreshments offered, the furnishings, the consumables, how they are treated, how they are addresses and spoken to, everything.

Ok, ok, I get it, so what do i need to do? Where so I start?

What is your business purpose?

Sum up the goals and mission of your business in one or two sentences, try to include a topline mention of your core audience and what you offer, for example, it could be:

Provide quick, effective and good value treatments to 20 something year old women in Nottingham

OR

Provide a luxurious and neutering non invasive treatments in a quiet, discreet environment for affluent men and women in Cheshire

You can get your team involved in this, having them fully immersed in the brand will help create a consistant brand across your business

So you’re getting really clear on what it is you do - you can then look at your service menu and see if there's any disconnect, any treatments that don’t fit into your business purpose - have a look at this and work out why if it’s an issue.

Secondly, who is your audience:

Get really specific here, who are your best clients, who come the most frequently, who spend the most money etc. Are they a certain age or demographic? What adjectives describe them? Where do they shop? What do they do in their spare time? What social media are they on?

Asking yourself these questions means that you can make sure that everything you do from menu development to marketing is created with your core audience in mind.

Then define your values:

Make a list of all the values you have for your clinic. This could be anything at all, adjectives, concepts, some ideas include:

Honest, friendly, luxurious, glamorous, technology driven, results focused, cost effective, fast, no frills, Quiet, energetic, clinical, reserved, authentic, natural, collaborative, (I could go on forever!)

Now take a look around your clinic and consider the client journey from start to finish, does everything (and I mean everything) match up with those values? The welcome from reception, the hand soap in the bathrooms, the software you use, the consumables, the treatment process, the follow up - the more everything hangs together, the stronger your brand and the easier it is to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Now you can take a look at the visual representation of your brand and see if it matches up to all of the above, do the images you use represent all the answers above? Does your logo and strapline communicate your key values? Are you talking to and attracting your core audience with your communications?

If you’d like to find out more and get some support in helping to develop your brand, contact me here.