Brilliance in Branding

A unique adaptation of branding basics to reveal the authenticity and brilliance of your company, with a focus on healthcare branding and healthcare marketing.

Your company’s brand identity is what distinguishes you from the rest. It’s what makes you easily recognizable and trusted by your desired audience, customers, clientele and industry partners.

Establishing a brand identity that accurately represents your company and attracts your target audience is an essential step in building a successful marketing and branding strategy. A company’s brand identity includes a logo, color scheme and font choices while also suggesting a particular character, experience or feeling.

A company’s brand identity serves much like an individual’s identity. You can imagine when you first meet someone and the attributes from which you formulate your opinion of them. The importance of different characteristics may vary depending on what role this person could potentially play in your life or business. Will they become a friend, a colleague, a date or an employee? Each possible role will carry different prerequisites and requirements.

For example, when interviewing perspective job candidates, you will most likely consider specific physical and psychological attributes. You naturally discern what qualities generally result in a strong candidate. You pay close attention to details, whether they are dressed and groomed appropriately, the firmness of their handshake, the quality of their resumé, how they present themselves, and ultimately how they make you feel. Do they appear knowledgeable, trustworthy, personable and reliable?

As you might expect, consumers make similar judgments when shopping for products, especially when it comes to very personal decisions, such as healthcare. They are obviously much more likely place their well being into the hands of a provider they know or feel they can trust.

So, as a hospital, physician group practice, payor or healthcare technology company, how do you define your brand identity strategy?

Remember our job candidates? They were certainly selling more than just a resumé. In turn, when advertising in healthcare, you are selling more than physical healthcare services. You are selling trust, respect, comfort and other emotional connotations that affect your audience’s decision-making process.

At Sync 360, we have our own unique method of excavating the brilliance of your brand. Below, you’ll find an abbreviated version of that method.

So, grab a pen and paper, and let’s start digging…

What is the core purpose of your business?

Why do you do what you do?

Why is it important?

We believe that the root of purpose is the soul of your organization and why it exists.

 What are the core values of your business?

Core values are a small set of timeless guiding principles, independent of current environment, competition or fads. Core values stand the test of time.

Once you are clear on your core purpose and core values, you can move into uncovering your company’s one-of-a-kind character. Much like the aspects we explored earlier with our job candidates, these are human characteristics that are attributed to a brand name. A brand is developed through traits, which your target audience can relate to, and it is consistent throughout the brand experience. The brand experience ranges from how potential customers find you online, what they experience on your website, the messages in ads they hear on the radio, the experience in the waiting room, follow up appointments and so much more.

Click here to complete the Sync360 character discovery form to identify your company’s personality and style.

Once you’ve discovered your character, you can take it one step further and start exploring your business brand attributes. Brand attributes are features that highlight the physical and personality aspects of the brand. Attributes are developed through images, actions, or presumptions.

At Sync360, we have a fun, yet surprisingly powerful process using questions similar those listed below. Taking the time to answer these questions will surely reveal your company’s distinct attributes. Try it for business and see what you bring to light…

For example:  If your company was a car, what car would it be and why?

If your company was a celebrity or person, who would it be and why?

An animal?

Something in the natural world?

A clothing store?

A color?

You’ll find uncovering your company’s brand attributes to be extremely helpful in developing your brand identity.

Now that you’ve discovered your company’s core purpose, core values, character and brand attributes, you can easily answer a few basic branding questions:

What are your services?

What are you selling?

Who is your target customer?

Why would your audience choose your product over your competitors?

Another helpful tool in establishing brand identity is to identify the successful brands that you most admire. What it is about these brands that you find attractive? What values and feelings do these prosperous brands have in common with your target audience? Use this technique to “work backwards” toward creating your brand identity.

In the always-growing, ever-changing healthcare arena, making your practice or your technology product stand out is essential. When marketing in the healthcare industry, establishing a strong brand identity with your audience can make all the difference.

So, you now have the trade secrets for how to experience Brilliance in Branding.

 Take these steps toward successfully establishing the authentic look and feel of your business, and you’ll be outshining your competitors and captivating your audience.

For additional branding and marketing tips or to find out how Sync360, an integrated marketing agency, can help reveal the brilliance of your brand, feel free to contact us at info@sync-360.com.

And, for more on core purpose and why you “start with why”, watch Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk by clicking here.