All dentists have one thing in common.
They need people.
They need patients and they need staff.
But in the chaos of a world where everything is driven by Covid-19
how do you get more patients or additional staff?
Just as important is the question
how do you hold on to the ones you’ve already got?
The best answer to both questions is by giving a face to your business and making it personal.
The most effective strategy for making your business personal starts by designing and creating your own brand and using that to scale your business
Your brand should transcend the bricks and mortar of your dental practice.
As soon as people in your area think ‘teeth’ – you need them to see your face, to remember your name and to call your office.
Your brand should be more than just promising a better smile.
It should speak to the hope, the self-esteem, and even the dreams that come from having beautiful teeth and a healthy mouth.
Your brand needs to be strong enough to speak louder and more clearly than the noise of the competition, local economics and yes, even louder than COVID.
Successful dental practices don’t just rely on selling the perfect smile.
Those at the top of the success ladder also focus on values, beliefs, lifestyles, and dream fulfilment.
When you have a strong brand image, the benefits to your practice and year-on-year growth become apparent. Your patients and your staff are left in no doubt regarding what you stand for and what your expertise can do for them.
The point is, when you cease to become just another dental practice in the area (a commodity), and transform into the premier brand for the treatment and/or location that you are looking to be known for, people will want to work for you, existing patients will stay loyal to you and new patients will flock to you.
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine that you are a potential patient looking for a dentist.
What would you want to see?
What would you want to know?
What are the factors that make you choose one dentist over another –keep you there long term, and make you want to refer them to your close ones?
In building a strong brand you have to question how you will make your patients feel about visiting your dental clinic. That’s just about more important than anything else initially.
Prospective patients know you’re a qualified professional – but they don’t care where you went to school.
They want to know what you can do for them – and it’s your job to tell them…
why you are the ultimate choice of dentist for the job.
This ‘Why’ is your business branding.
Letting everyone know who you are, why you do what you do and exactly what you will do for them.
Not sure how to begin working on your personal brand?
It’s not so complicated really!
Follow these 5 tips and create a brand that can position your business as the local leader – and transcend the best efforts of the competition.
1. Know Your Patients
Your brand must appeal to your patients’ personas. It has to do more than ‘speak’ to them. It has to resonate with them.
Like it or not, your patients will dictate how your brand is received and shared. The way in which your patient base sees you and talks about you will dictate your future growth and progress.
Your future success lies in their hands.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Who are they?
What makes them tick?
How can you get them to listen to what you have to say?
What platforms are they using?
How does this impact the way your information is being received?
Your business brand needs to be aligned with your patients’ needs and wants.
Why do people visit YOUR office?
What problem can YOU solve for them?
What dreams are they asking YOU to help them achieve?
Answers to these questions (and others) can build your dental brand exponentially.
2. Make your values your patients’ values
You wouldn’t be where you are today if you didn’t have strong values.
Your values are what gives your business its strength.
Your patients need to see this strength.
This will engender the faith and trust that you are the right choice when it comes to something as important as their oral health.
Whatever your strongly held business beliefs, pick 3-5 of them and ensure that your finalised brand guidelines incorporate these values.
In this way, you create an authentic brand that you truly believe in. Your faith in your brand will become contagious.
3. Remain true to your expertise and experience
All dentists have their own areas of expertise and experience.
You are no different.
Your brand needs to be inextricably linked with your experience and level of expertise.
You can’t build and sustain a business by appealing to all of the people all of the time,
Focus on what you do better than anyone else and make sure you shout it from the rooftops!
Are you an expert in cosmetic dentistry?
An expert for implants?
Or are you the best there is when it comes to orthodontics for your patients?
Your branding needs to make very clear what you are simply the best at so that you attract the right patients day after day.
4. What makes you special?
Exactly how are you different?
What makes you stand out in the industry?
Don’t be afraid to stand out from the crowd.
This is your moment to shine.
Be confident.
Be outspoken.
But… stick to what you know.
Cut through the sea of dental jargon and speak the language that your audience can understand.
5. Be consistent
Once you have created your branding framework, don’t waver. You have put time and effort into it. It reflects your business, your values and your personality.
Your brand represents strength and consistency.
This will make your customers feel that they can trust you and your dental business.
Someone who will consistently provide answers to their questions and solutions for their dental issues.
All of this doesn’t just happen overnight.
The promotion of your brand and the message you want to be heard takes time and you need to be consistent.
The promotion of your brand will be the lifeblood of your dental business.
Write blogs.
Speak at conferences.
Record podcasts.
Post on social media.
Share your knowledge, expertise, and opinions CONSTANTLY.
Dedication and consistency are key in building a long and fruitful relationship with your patients and will ensure that your name becomes trusted and respected.
Successfully developing and creating a brand is the key to tapping into your patient’s emotions.
The 5 steps above will make sure that your brand is patient-centric while remaining true to you as the figurehead of your brand.
Don’t just be an excellent dentist, be an excellent dentist with a difference.
Launch yourself into your branding.
Let your potential patients know who you are and that you mean business when it comes to their dental health.
