“You Get Incompetence

In A Dirty Facility!”

     Just because you own or run a professional (medical, legal, accounting, mental health, etc.) practice doesn’t exempt you from the need to establish and consistently promote a branding theme line.

     That single statement that others will identify with you needs to fully describe everything important about your service in seven words or less.

If you’ve been thinking that you and your profession are above the clutter of fastfood/hi-tech/toilet paper/auto dealer hype, you are correct! 

But you are NOT above developing and publicizing a meaningful message and putting it out to the universe for consideration and, hopefully, acceptance.

     Why is that? Because our emerging societal norms are to expect every entity–professional or trash–to put a billboard in our collective faces, all day, every day!

     Seriously, we live in a competitive, consumer-driven world (despite existing economics), with the 9 or 10 million Twitter users rapidly adapting to 140-character length messages and any business worth anything (plus some that aren’t) relying on 7-word branding slogans, you and your professional practice need to be maximally represented in the hunt in order to survive.

     Your brand is not simply your name or catchy logo or label, though some involve one or both of these. In reality, your brand encompasses all aspects of your professional practice, and how you represent yourself to patients and clients, prospective patients and clients, and the circles you and your practice operate in.

     These operating circles widen every day with every new hi-tech communications development, with every encounter . . . between yourself and other staff and associates connected with your practice as well as between each of you and the rest of the world: families, friends, patients/clients, prospects, affiliate agencies and institutions, sales reps and vendors, professional and public communities, et al.  

     As a rule of thumb, your brand should be represented by a theme line of 7 words or less that says who you are, what you do, what the unique benefit is of your service, and ideally includes your name or location or other sales point . . . and accomplishes all that persuasively.

Actually, great branding lines are engaging, convincing 7-word stories — often with a double entendre included, and occasionally rhyming if you’re lucky.                                        

(“For The Best Of Your Life…” for LIFE Health & Fitness Centers; “Growing Internet Businesses With Real World Experience”for eHealthcare Ventures; “You Deserve A Break Today…at McDonald’s”; “Orthopedic Patient Partnerships – Adding Life To Years” for Medical Center of Ocean County, NJ; “”You Can Be Certain With I.G. Burton” car dealerships; “Backpackers Spine Health & Strength Training Program” for Dr. Ian Fries; “The Dog Kids Love To Bite” for Armour Hot Dogs; “Enhancing Life, Work & Sports Performance”for BioMotion 3-D Imaging and Physical Therapy; “The Medical Mark of Excellence” for board-certified neurologist Dr. Michael Mark, are just a few that come to mind)

_________________________

     There are plenty more, including some I’m sure for those typically even less-creative professionals in law and accounting. But what you need to know is that it IS important to have a strong branding identity and that it IS best done by a professional, not by whimsy, chance or a creative cousin. Remember there is no second first impression. What you say you’re all about the first time around is what sticks. 

     Oh, and even after all of this is done, it’s the consistent reinforcing positive and pleasant attitude that you and your staff project to the rest of the world –all day– every day– day after day– because you believe in the value of the services you provide, that counts!

In other words, the phrase you use must be the guide you follow and must reinforce the actions you take.

# # #

Your FREE subscription: Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!