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Branding Tactics: Concrete, applicable actions that AAHA-accredited members can do to build a strong brand for their practice
This month’s post, Branding Tactics: Concrete, applicable actions that AAHA-accredited members can do to build a strong brand for their practice, comes to us from a guest blogger, Robin Brogdon, MA, Blueprints Veterinary Marketing Group, Inc. (www.blueprintsvmg.com). You can read more about Robin in the “Blogger Bios” section.
When most people think of developing a strong brand and marketing their practice, they typically think about how they can attract new customers, generate more revenue and overall, become more profitable. In order to do that, however, there are some very important steps that need to be taken at the beginning of the process so that your efforts are effective and you get the most “bang for your buck” as they say.
Here’s what I mean. I call these the “marketing must do’s and must have’s” to build a successful brand and market your practice.
Build Brand Equity – To do this you must know who you are. This may sound obvious, but if you ask any five people at the practice who the practice is and what it stands for, you will likely get five different answers unless this has been clearly defined and articulated to gain collective understanding as to the goals and mission of the practice. Careful consideration needs to be given to creating a brand identity that suits you today and tomorrow. Be sure your graphic representation such as a logo, font, style and colors are not too time period specific, but be creative and develop a memorable and unique identity. Don’t be swayed by what you see other practices do because more often than not, hospital logos tend to look very similar and therefore are easily forgotten.
If you are not a new practice, have no fear, because this exercise can be done at any stage of development, and in fact, should be done periodically to reassess if your brand is still current and accurately communicating the messages your practice wants to send to its targeted audience.
To implement the AAHA brand as part of your brand identity, you not only want to include the logo on your website and all printed materials, but redefine the concept of who you are as a practice to include being an AAHA-accredited practice and everything that means. Make this part of your everyday language when speaking with clients, especially those who are “shopping” for a particular service. Place the AAHA materials in easy-to-reach places and make sure everyone is prepared to answer questions about your AAHA-accreditation. All clients, especially new ones, should receive information about your accreditation. Consider distributing the “We Are AAHA-Accredited” brochures included in your AAHA accreditation awareness kit during their visit.
Identify Your Target Audience – We all know you can’t be all things to all people. Someone looking for the low cost vaccine and spay/neuter clinic is not the same client who wants geriatric and preventative wellness care, including annual dentals, blood work and referrals to a specialist if needed. So be very clear about who your ideal client is and tailor your efforts toward them.
Speak Their Language – This means talk to your clients and make sure written copy in any of your printed materials addresses your target audience in a way that is meaningful and relevant to them. Focus on their needs and what they want to hear about, which is not necessarily what you want to tell them. This may be as easy as simplifying the language you use from medical terminology to more lay language, especially when it comes to some of the safety and anesthesia monitoring requirements of accreditation. Everyone relates to the importance of cleanliness, proper sterilization, pain management – the more they understand that this is what it means to be AAHA-accredited, the more loyal they will become.
Get the Entire Team On Board – Every member of your team, and that means all associate doctors too, needs to embrace the importance of accreditation in the image and marketing of the practice. After all, you went through a lot to become accredited, so don’t be shy about telling everyone. The idea here is for everyone to be singing the same song. Consistency and frequency gets your message across clearly.
This also means pay attention to what you look like. I am a huge proponent of coordinated uniforms. It shows organization, structure and helps to create confidence in the eyes of your clients. So, add that AAHA logo to your uniforms the next time you need to reorder, wear your lapel pins and keep reminding clients that it is an honor to be an AAHA-accredited practice.
Communicate Your Message Creatively, Consistently, Professionally and Frequently – We’ve touched on this, but in order to really do this well, you must develop a plan. Like any other business activity, such as ordering inventory or scheduling patient surgeries, marketing needs to be planned or it simply won’t get done well. And while you should have one Accreditation Advocate assigned at your practice, the job is really that of everyone. The point person should work to create a schedule, assign tasks, follow up on execution and then measure the results.
If all of this seems pretty overwhelming, you are not alone. Marketing is an ongoing activity that really encompasses everything you say and do. If you want to start with a few small things, begin with your team. It should start with the hiring process, explaining to applicants that you are an AAHA-accredited practice and what that means. After all, they are interviewing you too, and nearly all applicants are pet lovers. So use it as an opportunity to educate them. Even if you don’t hire them, they’ve learned something valuable about your practice and what to look for in a veterinary hospital. Once hired, train, train, train. AAHA accreditation and the Standards of Accreditation should be a driving force behind how you do business and practice medicine, so use it as the highest benchmark to train your team. Not only will everyone be learning from the same bank of knowledge, but you are sure to maintain your status the next time you are up for renewal. And be sure you look as good as you are. When is the last time you checked the parking lot, the landscaping, signage, lighting, lobby paint job, base boards, and doormat at the entryway? Every morning when you unlock the doors it should feel like “open house” day, as if you were showing your house to sell.
And finally, if you’ve done a good job of branding your hospital, people will be aware of your practice, know about your services and have a very positive feeling or relationship with you, whether you know it or not. A brand is most often created by how you make someone feel – through a phone call, visit, seeing an ad message, reading a brochure or even the exterior of your hospital as they drive by every day. These are the intangibles, but they all add up to create that image in our minds that tell us how we feel about a particular product or service. Use AAHA as the mother ship of quality medicine and how special and rare you are to be deemed one of its accredited practices. It can and will set you apart and help define how special you and your practice are to the pet lovers out there.
Jim Franzek said:
Posted: 11/03/2009
Quality is an interesting word. What is a quality practice? Show me a practice that doesn't think it is a quality practice. How does our clientelle know that they are enlisting the services of a quality practice? Do they know the difference between quality (?) practices. We must educate them.
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