Dos and don'ts for practice marketing: The importance of branding

Branding brings new patients to your door by clearly positioning your practice as a specific type of service provider. If branding efforts are successful, your practice will see many more new patients, allowing you and the dental team to educate and motivate them to become long-term patients.

Be methodical. It is best to brand your practice in one particular area (such as cosmetics), so patients will always think of you if they interested in that service. For branding to be successful, it must be incorporated into all of your internal and external marketing strategies, including staff scripting, business cards, brochures, website, social media, direct mail, posters, signage, and on-hold messages.

Don't imagine it can be done overnight. Building a practice brand is not something you can complete in a few weeks. The branding process takes one to three years to develop a solid, consistent, and effective brand for whatever service or product you want to be known for in your practice. The key factors in branding: patience and a consistent message.