Branding: What Are They Even Talking About?

by Ashley Gay

The version nobody bothered to explain

“Half of my patients don’t want to be in my office.”

This isn’t what you usually hear from a plastic surgeon. But when we were launching my husband’s new oculoplastics practice, it was important to acknowledge that not everyone who walked in the door was there for cosmetic reasons.

Some had cancer, or facial trauma, or debilitating tearing. These patients were already in a vulnerable position. The last thing we wanted was for them to feel sold to. 

But how do you cater to a high-end cosmetic clientele while also taking into account the patient who has thyroid eye disease?

Branding.

I admit, branding professionals can be obnoxious. They say things like “you are your brand” which basically means nothing to analytical folks.

So I’m here to demystify branding into actual, common sense terms. Walk you through why it’s important, and what it means for your bottom line.  

Branding is not what you think it is

Branding is not your logo, your color palette, your practice name, or your tagline. Your logo is part of your brand, the way your front door is part of your house. You need one. It’s useful. It’s visible. You don’t want it to be ugly. But it’s not your entire curb appeal.

Same with your tagline, the fonts we use, and the rest. All of those things are an expression of a brand. They are not the brand itself.

What branding actually is

Branding is how people feel when they are with you.

That’s it. That’s the whole definition. Everything else is in service of that feeling, including your logo, your website, how easy it is to make an appointment, your office music, the chair your patient sits in, and the way your front desk answers the phone.

In a physician-owned practice, the doctor IS the brand. You can't separate yourself from it. You set the culture. Your bedside manner, the way you walk into the exam room, the way you explain a diagnosis, the way you treat your staff, that is your brand in practice. The visual stuff supports it. It doesn’t replace it.

Patients don’t tell their friends about you because of your logo. They refer their friends and family to you because you treated them well and made their life easier. 

The good news

The good news is that you’ve been crafting your brand the second you started rounding on patients. How you choose to interact with staff and patients generates a reputation. 

And when it comes to a “doctor’s brand”, you can boil it down to the “doctor’s reputation”.

So how does that connect to the visual stuff?

In my husband’s case of striking a balance between medical and cosmetic patients, it looked like this: instead of the typical plastic surgery black and silver color palette, we chose midnight blues and incorporated greens. Not only did that differentiate him online, but it made his waiting room stand out as much more inviting and there is no sales pressure allowed.

We made sure there were natural textures and elements in his waiting room. We incorporated lamps and backlighting. All of this “visual stuff” creates an environment that is comfortable for both patient sets. 

The most important takeaway

Fair or unfair, how you present yourself has more weight than it probably should. And if you take nothing else from this article, let it be this:

People will match your education level and level of care can expect to the way you present yourself. And nowadays, first impressions happen online.

What do you want people to assume about your practice when they virtually meet you?

You are competing with private equity, whether you want to be or not

Your independent practice is running a race on Google next to a private-equity-backed group or a hospital system marketing department with a six-figure budget. The patient comparing you doesn’t know that.

They’re comparing websites side by side, looking at how easy it is to book, and making a snap judgment about which one feels like a real, modern, competent practice.

That snap judgment is almost entirely visual. Patients can’t evaluate your clinical skill from a homepage. What they can evaluate is whether your brand looks like a place that takes itself seriously. The internet has been long enough for people to recognize whether or not a website is current.

The visual representation needs to match the level of education and care a patient is going to receive in your exam room. When it doesn’t, you run the risk of handing the patient to the competition. Not because they’re better. Because they look like a real option, and you look like you stopped trying.

It’s not because “their branding is better”. It’s because they are giving the illusion that they are better simply because they present themselves better. 

An honest look at your own brand

Most independent practices haven’t touched their website since they opened. Maybe it was good enough at the time. It’s not good enough now.

If you’re still here, take five minutes and pull up your own site on your phone. Read it like a patient would. Look at the logo. Look at the photos. Try to book an appointment. Now pull up the competitions website and be honest about what you see.

Branding (or rebranding) is not vanity. It’s an investment in how seriously patients take you before they ever meet you.

About the author

Ashley Gay is the founder of Digital Ash Agency, a healthcare branding agency that works exclusively with physician-owned private practices. She’s married to an oculofacial plastic surgeon and built the agency out of what she learned launching his practice. If you’re a SimplyMD reader and want a free consult to look at your own brand and website honestly, she’s offering them to this audience. Book at time here.

A note from Dr. Tod

I enjoy and welcome guest posts from vetted professionals and community members who can contribute to the micro-business conversations we have here. You find out more about our guest blog post policy here. Ashley is joining the PEA-SimpliMD business network as a branding resource for physician-owned practices. If you are building or rebuilding a private practice and your online presence has not kept pace with your clinical reputation, she is worth a conversation. Her free consult offer to this community is the right place to start.

And if the entity structure, tax planning, and income strategy side of independent practice is where you need to start first, that is what I do. Book a $500 Business Strategy Session and we will map the business foundation that makes every investment in branding and marketing actually pay off.

The physicians who build practices that last are the ones who get both right — the structure and the story they tell about themselves in the world. Ashley handles the story. I handle the structure. Join PEA Explorer at $99/year and get access to the full network of professionals who specialize in exactly this.