When you were just starting out in your practice, and you first heard about the importance of building your practice, what came to your mind first?
Getting patients in your door? Having those patients give referrals to their friends and family members? Dispelling common misconceptions about chiropractic care? Designing a great logo or (if you were a more recent graduate) website to advertise your practice?
These are all certainly good elements involved in building a good practice, but in order to make a cohesive statement about what your practice really stands for, it is vital to have an overall brand that is reflected in everything that your practice touches, from the logo, to the website, to the office décor, to staff uniforms.
Everything in your office must project the same message to your patients. In fact, you can even have your equipment and instruments project that same message.
Let’s look first at why it is important to have a brand for your practice, and then at how having your equipment and instruments carry that brand can further reinforce your message with your patients.
Importance of chiropractic branding
Your brand is a combination of all of the elements that make your practice unique. This could be everything from your specialty (if you have one), to your chiropractic philosophy, to your practice goals.
For example, if you specialize in sports chiropractic who helps elite athletes rehab after injuries, your brand will be very different from a straight chiropractor, working with geriatric patients to help them remain in the community for as long as possible.
What makes a good logo?
In each case mentioned above, the physical representation of that brand will look different. A sports chiropractor might have a running shoe as a logo, while our geriatric chiropractor might have a set of hands as a logo to signify helping support the elderly.
Of course, the best logos are the ones that instantly convey the brand without much needed in the way of further explanation. The classic example of this is the McDonald’s golden arches. Everybody instantly recognizes that brand just from the logo. Your logo should do the same for your practice.
Adding your logo to your equipment
Because your logo is the physical representation of your brand, you want your patients to see it everywhere in your office to remind them of what your practice stands for. Obviously, having it on your door, business cards, and website is a good idea. However, you need to think beyond that to adding your logo to your equipment and instruments.
Let’s go back to our previous example of the chiropractor who specializes in treating geriatric patients as an example of the impact such logo placement can have. Odds are good that patients who come to see this chiropractor for the first time are anxious. They may already have mobility issues and fear having to move to an assisted living facility. On top of that, they may have some misconceptions about chiropractic, which may add to their fears.
Now, consider their reaction upon seeing a logo of helping hands throughout the office, including on the very instrument that chiropractor will be using to perform adjustments to increase their mobility and reduce their pain and stiffness. That image of hands helping their ability to stay within the community is reinforced on the very tools that are used to make that happen. Could you ask for better branding than that?
Building your brand goes beyond just your practice philosophy. It must translate into a physical representation of that philosophy, as embodied in your logo. The next step is to have that logo clearly visible throughout your practice, including on your equipment and instruments.
Consider how powerful a statement you make by having the tools of your trade branded with your practice philosophy. That’s the power of branding your practice from top to bottom.
