Healthcare Branding – Is it Necessary?
When we think of branding, we don’t automatically think of healthcare brands. Instead, our minds stray to large corporations, such as Coca-Cola or Nike. Although healthcare branding encompasses different attributes, it is generally very similar. Branding in healthcare, much like typical branding, needs to be individualized, modern, thought-provoking, and eye-catching.
As a healthcare practice, understanding the significance of branding is essential to the evolution of your practice. Without it, how will you distinguish yourself from your competitors?
This includes highlighting your brand’s most notable features and bringing attention to them. Think of Geico, for example. Their slogan is “15 minutes could save you 15% more on car insurance.” For this reason, when we think of Geico, we think of savings. If you want your healthcare practice to be associated with a high success rate, you need to display this through your healthcare branding.
NewGen Marketing understands that with other priorities, keeping up with modern marketing can be a difficult task for many healthcare professionals. This is why we dedicate our services to improving the functionality and efficiency of marketing for healthcare practices. Building a successful marketing plan requires attention to various mediums that your practice might not have considered.
This is where NewGen can help. We focus on providing our clients with a 360° marketing plan that encompasses the necessary steps to expand your healthcare practice.
If you are in the beginning stages of reconstructing your brand marketing, there are a few things to consider. Allow this blog to help guide you through the process of creating an individualized brand that makes your practice stand out from the rest.
1. Be Individual, be a Thought Leader
Healthcare is a highly competitive industry, primarily because it is something that everyone needs. Therefore, practices are taking extensive lengths to ensure their marketing plan is as effective as possible.
The most powerful way to accomplish this, is to develop a unique brand personality. You may notice that the marketing giants have very distinct features, such as noticeable colors, a logo, or a catchy slogan. This means that consumers can differentiate and identify specific brands.
You may be wondering, how is this applicable to healthcare marketing? The best way to approach this is to determine your practice’s strengths and specializations. After this, it is important to refresh your current branding to make it fit your target audience more effectively.
While pediatrics might use softer colors to induce a calming effect, surgical centers may use blues and greens to epitomize sterility. Regardless of the branding decisions made, it should be the goal to create a brand personality that can stand the test of time.
Here are some ways to make your practice stand out:
- Consistently deliver exceptional care
- Prioritize patient relationships
- Utilize local branding opportunities
- Encourage doctor-patient and patient-patient referrals
Most importantly, your practice should ensure that patients are the central priority. Happier patients lead to better reviews and more referrals. This is especially important now, considering that 82% of patients rely on reviews when choosing a practice.
NewGen Marketing puts patient satisfaction at the forefront of our marketing approach to ensure that your healthcare practice is developing a happy patient base.
2. Embrace Social Media
Healthcare, as an industry, has fallen behind as other industries are dominating social media. This means that the majority of healthcare practices are missing out on the opportunity to reach a wider audience. Therefore, the slim population of healthcare practices that are on social media are feeling a significant effect. In fact, 41% of people say that social media impacts their healthcare choices, including the doctors, surgeons, and practices they visit.
In addition to brand awareness, social media introduces a new form of data gathering. Social media listening allows brands to collect information about what people are saying online. This includes information about your own practice, competitors, and medical trends so you can be one step ahead.
However, after obtaining this data, it is often difficult to determine the next step. NewGen Marketing uses this data to transform your practice into exactly what your patients are looking for.
During COVID-19, many individuals were finding information on social media. But the issue was that most of it was not from reliable healthcare sources. This is where medical practices must step in and be the leading voice of these conversations.
A social media presence allows you to join potential patients where they already are, and provide them with valuable knowledge. As your presence expands, many social media users will begin to develop respect and trust in your practice.
Social engineering is one of NewGen’s most prominent services that encourage fast growth. The content creation team at NewGen is dedicated to utilizing social media to create buzz, open communication, and track down potential leads.
3. Elevate your Website Design
A functional, modern website is a great investment for your practice. Not only does it improve efficiency for your patients, it can completely change the way your practice functions. By introducing chat functions, making scheduling simple, and optimizing SEO, your practice will notice a surge in website traffic.
As with any platform, your website should reinforce your practice’s branding. This includes implementing your color scheme and adhering to other stylistic choices to ensure your branding stays consistent. Considering all factors, branding in healthcare takes a specific touch, and many practices struggle to adequately relay their intended message.
A healthcare website should be a one-stop-shop for all your patients’ needs. Your patients are no longer willing to spend excess time locating bills or scheduling appointments. By making everything available in one defined space, they can easily navigate through their paperwork and other necessary information.
While on the topic of accessibility, it is important to mention the importance of making your website usable to all. This means shorter, simpler sentences and a simple design is best. NewGen Marketing has mastered the process of website development, both functionally and appearance-wise. To learn more, check out our blog discussing our approach to website page design.
Let NewGen Take the Lead
It’s time to reimagine your branding strategy. NewGen Marketing offers healthcare practices access to modern marketing resources guaranteed to expand your practice. Don’t wait to modernize, it’s time for that first step.