Having brand visibility lets patients know that your facility exists and can help to serve their needs. By actively marketing your medical practice’s brand you will draw more patients into your practice.
In order to increase your brand visibility, you need to raise awareness about you, the services you offer and information about your medical practice. Making your practice more visible, however, can be a challenge.
1. Patients do their research.
Brand visibility means being a part of the community, both online and offline, and involves having an online presence of your own.
Have you ever done a web search for someone before meeting them? Or researched someone when you wanted to learn more about what they do? If you haven’t, you are now in the minority because a lot of people do precisely this.
This rule even holds true when a patient considers seeing a particular doctor or using a particular medical clinic. If they search for you and they find nothing, the overwhelming likelihood is that they’ll go to someone else for their medical care. Step one: get your information online.
2. Medical practice branding matters.
Brand visibility starts with making sure your practice is known in the community that you serve.
Marketing your medical practice may not sound like something you need to do, but it is. It can be tempting to think that medical practices “sell themselves.” The reality is that people don’t know what you have to offer or why they should see you until you tell them.
Branding allows you to do just that; you have an opportunity sculpt the perception of your medical practice.
- Do you want to be known for your customer service?
- The cleanliness of your office?
- The ease of scheduling future appointments?
- Your quality of patient care and level of compassion?
These are important components to take into consideration, and you should work with professionals to develop a cohesive medical brand that makes sense for your practice.
Marketing collateral is everything that supports your brand: your logo, waiting room pamphlets, website, customer service, online advertising, etc. Branding comes down to consistency; it builds visibility. And visibility in the community will bring more patients in to see you.
Your brand is how the public sees your practice. You can do this through ads of all kinds, particularly online. While print ads, radio and billboards can be powerful tools, the return on your advertising investment is often lower and costs of entry are often higher for these avenues. Online is often a solid way to begin, as it can result in beginning to snowball your growth into other avenues.
3. Community involvement and outreach contributes to higher brand visibility.
The community you serve is the lifeblood of your practice and being a part of your community is a major part of brand visibility.
By sponsoring popular, local events or joining the social media conversation through Facebook’s geo-targeted advertisements, you build your brand in the community.
The higher brand visibility you have in your community, the more people will seek out your services. Brand loyalty and brand recognition only enhance visibility.
4. Build brand loyalty by encouraging referrals from existing patients.
Social media is a great way to become better known; some medical establishments haven’t yet figured out how to do this.
When a patient “Likes” your practice on Facebook, for instance, everyone in his or her list of friends receives a notification and becomes aware of you. This can be very powerful, particularly if a friend-of-a-friend has similar medical needs to the patient in question.
The ultimate goal of brand loyalty and recognition is to get people to reach out to you when they have an issue, rather than pushing messages onto prospective patients and interrupting their day-to-day activities with information they haven’t requested.
5. Maintenance is key to brand visibility.
Relevant content, such as blog articles, is a powerful way for potential patients to learn more about you and your expertise.
Online content should be updated frequently and should cover information about your services, common questions that patients ask, updates about your medical practice, etc.
Successful practices with high brand visibility have modern websites. If you don’t have a modern website, it’s time to join us in 2019!
