FACT : A distinctive, positive and consistent brand in your practice not only helps to attract new patients, but also builds stronger bonds and loyalty with your existing patients.
Yet for many practices, brand remains a bit of a mystery and, as such, a part of the business that is left more to chance than design. Which is a shame, because a distinctive and well-controlled brand brings with it a host of business benefits such as increased awareness, more referrals, a more focused and engaged team and an improvement in bottom-line results.
So, what is your ‘brand’?
At its core, your brand is a promise to your patients; what they get when they experience your service. It doesn’t just include your tangible services though; it also includes the ‘feelings’ your patients get when they use your service. So it’s important to acknowledge that your brand is what your patients perceive it to be, not what you hope it is. So developing patient perceptions that accurately reflect your brand is essential.
Being clear on how you choose to do things is fundamental in aiding these positive perceptions. From how you design and deliver your patient experience to the way you look and the way you talk, from the way you present information through your website or your printed materials to how you decorate your practice – all of these things should be working in harmony to deliver a consistent and memorable experience to your patients.
Your brand is what defines your reputation; it’s a cause and effect thing. Brand is the cause; your reputation is the effect.
How does this affect your patient membership plan?
Well, when it comes to introducing a plan with a plan provider, you generally have two choices…to brand the plan to your practice (like DPAS offer) or to promote the brand of the plan provider.
For me, the decision is an obvious one (though I declare my bias now!), but ask yourself this question…
Do you want your patients to be a member of ‘your’ practice and its plan or that of a third-party provider?
It’s your practice and they are your patients, which suggests to me that your patients should belong to your own, practice-branded plan.
Clearly branding your plan to your practice takes away any confusion or ambiguity in the eyes of your patients. It provides a stronger tie to the practice and a greater sense of belonging. It’s the difference between a patient saying, ‘I’m with [your practice]’ or ‘I’m with a payment plan provider’, when asked about how they pay for their dentistry.
A sense of belonging…
When patients have a sense of belonging to your plan, interesting things start to happen that can have a dramatic impact on the performance of your business.
Firstly, they tend to turn up more regularly for their appointments and, because they have developed a deeper bond and trust with your practice, they are more likely to opt for higher value treatments. The deeper the relationship they have with your practice the greater their loyalty and propensity to refer your practice to friends, relatives and colleagues.
Finally, a plan that is clearly branded to your practice will engage your team far more than if they feel they are promoting a third-party business.
The brand of your practice has a huge role to play in the growth of your business going forward. The more you have within your control, the stronger and more consistent your brand will be…starting with your patient membership plan.
