You Have a Brand; It’s Time to Take Control of It

Your brand is out there, even if you have not gone through the proper steps to create one and manage it.

How do you make a desirable brand?

That being said, your brand must be managed and controlled, promoted and perpetuated in such a way that it is a prosperous brand, strong brand, a desirable brand. And just hoping that your persona will spill over and fill the cracks in your brand is an unprofitable strategy.

Let’s take a look at what makes a brand:

• We will start with internal branding. Internal branding is the information and attitudes of you and everyone who works for your practice. Let’s travel back in time to the idea of a mission statement. Outdated? That depends on how you look at it. A mission statement is the first tie that binds all of the people in your practice together.
• A clear, concise mission brings with shared goals. If you don’t have a mission statement and if it is not shared with everyone who is working in your practice, then you need to put one in place.  Caledon Virtual has a strategy to help you facilitate a mission statement brainstorming session via Zoom where our branding strategists will help flesh out that part of your brand.
• Following closely behind the importance of a mission statement is your company’s values. You as a part of the practice already know what your values are, but have you put them on paper in black type to make them tangible items? It is more than ok to display these values where your clients can see them. That is building client/practice trust and trust is one of the moving parts of a brand.
• Now we move into the external branding arena and at the absolute top of the list is your logo. The idea of a logo always brings to mind a cutesy graphic of some sort. That is not what we are referring to. We are talking about branding such as Nike, McDonalds, Apple. When you see the swoosh,, you know immediately it is a Nike product. Those types of logos are recognizable because they were created with intent and purpose and the brands behind them have not messed with perfection.
  So your logo, whether it is a symbol, your name, or a mixture of both needs to reflect the mission and the internal values of your company. The swoosh is most often interpreted as moving fast, but did you know that Nike is the winged goddess of victory and the swoosh is meant to represent the sound of her wings? What does that say to you about the brand? It is worn by champions, by competitors, by those who seek victory. That is what a strong logo can do for your brand.
• As you are developing the logo, take a look around your practice space. Look at the colors on the walls, the overall design, and even pieces that have been chosen as decor. There is a reason that your space looks like it does – because someone, possibly you, selected or worked with someone who helped create an overall vibe of that space. Your logo should capture and relay that vibe. Caledon Virtual takes great care with their clients through the logo development process. We utilize a “huddle” process, allowing us to spent short amounts of time with you and members of your staff gathering information that will help us create the right logo for you. The mood board will begin to take shape. To learn more about the mood board and how it will guide further decisions about your marketing, you’ll find great information here. The mood board will eventually contain fonts and colors that will guide the decisions as you move into further marketing decisions.
• One of those decisions will be a website. If you peruse other websites in your field, you will begin to notice that they are all similar, formulaic, in their design. Caledon Virtual does not buy into the formula theory – we are more interested in capitalizing on the variables of your practice. We see an equation, not a formula, taking those variables, what makes you different, sets you apart, makes you the better choice and we capitalize on them in your website design.
  The website design will become the full expression of your practice, introducing your team, introducing you, perhaps a video tour of your waiting area, interviews with patients – all of these are items to consider when deciding what your website relays to visitors and prospective clients.
• And how will you drive those visitors to your solid, branded website? Through a digital marketing strategy that includes search engine optimization (SEO), paid search ads, managing a presence on RealSelf and our personal favorite: private labeling a product line that is completely exclusive to you and your persona. This adds another channel, perhaps one of the most innovative, of branding.
  Launching a product that belongs to your practice is easy with Caledon Virtual. We have a product chain in place and experts ready to help you develop a custom serum or salve utilizing CBD, magnesium, or another all-natural oil or botanical. You can also select from ready-made products and Caledon Virtual will help you develop packaging and a look that projects your brand.