Build you and your brand.
“…your brand not only communicates who you are and what you value, but also elicits a response from those you are trying to reach.”
How many brands can we think of off the top of our head. I think Coke and think of polar bears and Christmas. I think Apple and think of technology so easy a 3 year old can use it, which lessens my fear of breaking it. I think Google and think the greatest search engine in the world. Our lives are surrounded by brands. Some we notice, but the great ones are just a part of our day.
“…branding process is about painting a positive picture that will stir an emotional response from your target market.”
I don’t know if I necessarily agree with this. Some brands are based on loyalty to the initial need that they made easier. For instance, I didn’t really use the internet before the age of 20, but now closer to 40 I am on it frequently because it is so portable and convenient thanks to the Iphone. Thanks to Amazon, I don’t have to drive to the baby store at night in order to purchase more bottles. Thanks to Facebook, I now have thousands of friends that I never have to see. I don’t know if the brand has to elicit an emotion as much as it has to fill a need.
“…a brand is a promise that is conveyed through a ‘combination of logo, words, type font, design, colors, personality, price, service, etc’”.
I am looking at the top 500 brands across the world and looking at the logos. There is a consistent pattern that I see with red, yellow and blue. I don’t think of colors when I think of logos, but obviously those much smarter at marketing have figured out that these colors give a response. After seeing this pattern, I decided to look up color schemes for logos and this cool infographic was the first link. I hadn’t thought this much about color, mostly because my wife says that I live in a black and whit world. Oh well.
“As a way to broaden your perspective, take a moment to objectively evaluate the other physical therapy clinics in your area and see if you can identify what they are promising”
Your brand gives the patient promise. Some clinics have the name of the owner on the front. This tells me that I am guaranteed to see the owner when I come in, but if I don’t see the owner I may not be as satisfied with my experience. Others name themselves after the feelings that they are trying to convey to the patients. The name carries weight when seen from an outside perspective.
“Once you are clear about your practice values and what you are offering your community, you can start to develop the visual look and feel of your brand…logo should be unique but also relevant…convey both who you are and what you have to offer.”
After reading this article, I scrolled through about 500 logos on Google images (again the only search engine that I use) and this logo was the best that I saw. It clearly states what the company does. It takes a person from a continuum of care from a non-walker to a runner.
“As you begin to express your brand, I can’t stress enough the importance of being invested in your community.”
This one is the most important for me. I believe that if I get in front of enough people that I will be able to sell my services. This goes back to some of the views from the Gary Vee show. He notes that giving away services can come across as a hack move, but it still gets people to buy. I can remember working for Sam’s club and on the wall would be a huge cardboard check of all of the money that the store has donated to the local charities. It makes the employees proud to know that they had a hand in providing support to the local charities. I am not sure if anyone ever shopped at the store because of it, but it made me feel good that I was able to give to those causes. I’ve volunteered at local races, though I haven’t gotten a single patient from those races. I rarely volunteer at those races anymore. I spend most of my time in the community doing patient education regarding back pain, blood pressure checks and the importance of staying active. These lectures bring in patients. This is how I stay invested in my community nowadays.
EXCERPTS FROM:
Stamp K. Painting a Positive Picture: How to craft an effective brand for your private practice. IMPACT. January 2017: 37-38.