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When you think of branding, you probably think of big businesses. But many medical practices have adapted this highly successful marketing strategy. Branding is based on creating a perception about your practice and delivering on it. For example, a cardiologist may brand his or her practice as having the latest and ultra fast 64 slice CT scanning equipment in town. The idea of branding is to create an image or identity for your practice that people will remember and latch on to.

There are three basic principles you must follow in order for branding to work:

1. Focus on what you do best. Is it your customer service, your state-of-the-art equipment or extra

    services? Decide what it is and how you can use that to attract a certain segment of the population.

    Suppose you have always provided special care for your elderly patients by providing special

    transportation to pick them up and take them home after their visits. You may decide that this is what

    you and your staff do best and you may want to direct your marketing efforts toward the senior

    population. Emphasize these special services that you offer.

2. Understand the existing market. While you may have decided that you are going to focus your

    marketing strategy on the elderly, another practice nearby may have the same idea. Examine what

    other practices in your area are doing and avoid doing the same thing.

3. Be consistent. Once you create a brand identity, expect to be in it for the long haul. It takes a while

    for a practice to be fully recognized by the brand identity it has created. The key to that recognition is

    consistency. You do not want to change your identity every few months. You want your target

     audience to recognize your practice. If you keep changing your identity, they will never know who

     you are.

Branding strategies also have the advantage of potentially attracting managed care plans. If a health care plan sees how you have branded your practice and attracted many new patients, they will be more inclined to add you to their panel.

Remember, your peers, employees, patients, future patients and community are all part of the picture when you create a brand identity. You want to create an image that reflects the quality and value of what you do and who you are. It is a powerful practice development tool that is sure to help you win over patients for a long time.