Anyone can buy an apple and there is no consideration of brand in their decision: any decent apple will do. But when a health consumer thinks about where to go for their healthcare, brand is a prime consideration in their decision.

In a crowded and competitive market where patient choice is front and centre, the way your brand identity is seen by potential customers will help determine your success or failure.

What is digital branding within healthcare?

Digital branding is all about the process of influencing how your healthcare organisation is perceived in the digital realm, often through a digital brand campaign, social media ads, influencer marketing and digital ads.

A brand is a combination of perceptions that together help create an impression, a feeling, in the hearts and minds of all your stakeholders, customers and staff.

A healthcare brand should help providers know who you are and what you stand for as a healthcare organisation. If you’re innovative, all of your digital branding should support that impression. If you choose to be known as caring, your digital branding will be very different.

Your digital brand online creates the feelings in your customers, staff and community that help distinguish you from your rivals and contributes to your successful digital branding.

The difference between digital branding and digital marketing

Digital marketing and digital branding are both important sides to the same coin, but there are key differences. Think of digital branding as the Why and digital marketing as the How.

The How includes all your strategies, plans, methods and digital channels. That includes a host of digital branding opportunities, including:
— Logo
— Website
— Email marketing
— Search engine optimisation (SEO)
— Search engine advertising (SEA)
— Social media platforms and more

The Why is about communicating who you are as a healthcare provider, what your values are and how you want people to feel about you. It’s about shaping perceptions and emotions so that consumers can relate to you.

You need both digital branding and digital marketing for a successful brand strategy, but digital branding comes first and then digital marketing executes those digital branding strategies.

Why is your digital brand so essential in the healthcare industry?

Healthcare digital branding matters much more now than in the bad old days when providers were all much the same and patients had little choice.

We are all becoming more sophisticated consumers under the influence of digital innovations. ‘Dr Google’ is the famous online resource the world consults about their latest ailments. And while we’re online, we are actively seeking out the latest and best treatments and solutions, which includes healthcare organisations.

Not only can consumers research and make assessments about healthcare companies, but there are influences from thousands of other touchpoints, reviews, assessments and personal stories scattered across the internet and social media.

The pendulum has swung from the power being invested in the providers to the power being wielded by consumers. Any healthcare provider who does not recognise and respond to this power dynamic risks being left behind by nimbler and more proactive competitors.

What your brand’s digital presence means to the patient

It’s a truism, but no less true for that: you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk? How you talk about yourself is far less meaningful than how your customers talk about you. Your digital brand is what you mean to your customers and how they feel about you.

To define your brand and brand identity, this is a good set of questions to ponder and explore:
— Who are you as a healthcare organisation?
— What makes you unique from other brands? What’s your difference?
— What is your brand’s mission statement? How do you define your purpose?
— Can you identify your key values?
— Who is your perfect customer?

Knowing the answers to these critical questions is essential in the creating of a meaningful healthcare brand that customers will find on search engines and social media.

What are the benefits of clever digital branding for the healthcare industry?

There are many benefits from clearly defining and promoting your digital healthcare brand across a variety of digital marketing channels. These are some of the main ones.

Matching patient needs with your solutions

Imagine you’re a patient with a critical cancer diagnosis. If you’ve tried every other therapy, you might want to seek providers with solutions that are experimental, cutting-edge or even radical.

A healthcare digital brand that evokes these qualities will be exactly what you want, so it can help align patients who fit well with their service solutions. In other words, you can target patients with conditions you treat, and funnel them to you via demographic features like:
— Age
— Gender
— Location
— Symptoms
— Income

Establishes trust and familiarity

When a healthcare provider is consistent with their brand messaging, it provides a sense of trust and familiarity with consumers. If you’re not a playful brand, stay away from double entendres and jokes. If you’re all about high-quality, make sure your photos are all in focus and your copy is free from bloopers and typos.

Be true to yourself. Whatever your brand values, be consistent. That leads to trust because people know who you are and what you stand for. Consistency is the key to effective digital branding.

Connects with customers

The most effective brands in the world connect with customers in powerful ways: think of Disney, Levi’s, Coca-Cola, BMW and IKEA. A digital brand should evoke the feeling for customers as if you’re speaking to them like another person.

The connection will vary according to your brand qualities, but the impact should be strong. Because your friends are connecting on digital platforms and social media, it’s quite natural that a successful healthcare brand will also be on the same platforms connecting with customers. A brand that has a consistent voice and style is easy to relate to and facilitates connection by making it easy to find information on your website and find the right person to get service from.

Marketing stats support this point:
— 70% of phone calls to businesses are from digital strategies like click-to-call
— 40% of search engine users say that will use a business with a CTC
— CTC has a 25% conversion rate on Google

Communicates your brand tone

The brash brand tone of a Cheap as Chips franchise is a world away from the elegance of a Vogue ad. Both are effective at reaching their target audience.

What is your tone of voice? How should your healthcare brand sound? You could sound:
— Expert
— Authoritative
— Caring
— Professional
— Experienced

However you want your brand tone to sound, it should sound the same in Google search results as it does on your social media channels. When you achieve consistency, your digital branding will highlight your brand tone online.

Stands out from the competition

A quick search of healthcare providers in Australia reveals the way their digital branding helps clarify their brand values and service focus. With this digital marketing strategy, they signal to their prospective customers through online marketing in a way that makes them stand out from rivals.

Healius
Healius “is synonymous with quality, affordable and accessible healthcare for all Australians.” o the brand here is about quality with an affordability filter.

Healthe Care
Healthe Care’s website proclaims that they are “Value Based”, deliver clinical best practice, drive innovation and provide positive patient outcomes. Customers will find a Vision and Values statement to support their claim.

Austin Health
Austin Health has a brand that includes teaching and research and “specialist work in cancer, infectious diseases, obesity, sleep medicine, intensive care medicine, neurology, endocrinology, mental health and rehabilitation.” The specificity of the brand message will attract customers that are a good match for their specialties.

Enhances the patient journey

A great digital brand strategy can improve the customer experience (CX) of your customers. Their expectations will be set through your social media presence long before they have any physical interactions with your services.

A consistent brand means they know what to expect from you, and when that is delivered by your employees as brand ambassadors, it confirms their understanding and helps them trust your solutions.

Their satisfaction is the best judge of your brand’s success, and doing brand research through online surveys and interviews can provide vital feedback to enhance and support your brand.

Keys to digital branding for the healthcare industry

Remembering that your branding should come before your marketing, every healthcare organisation should consider or review the following key elements in the development of a strong healthcare brand.

Brand purpose
Why are you doing what you do?

This question forces you to confront the existential fact that your company could be selling used cars. Instead, your organisation is providing audiology services, ultrasound tests or day surgery. Why healthcare and why this specific healthcare field? A good answer will resonate with customers and provide brand recognition.

Brand voice
How do you want to come across?

A proctologist cracking butt jokes is probably not what you’re looking for. But an acceptable healthcare voice could encompass brand tones like serious, authentic, personal, caring, traditional, innovative, affordable or compassionate. What is the perfect descriptor for your ideal brand voice?

Brand story
What led your business to this point?

An origin story is a great way for customers to relate to you. If it was a family business that grew into an enterprise, tell us about the founders. If it was inspired by a charismatic benefactor, share her generosity. Find a way to tell a story that people identify with and enjoy.

Target audience
Who are your customers?

You can’t target everyone, so narrow it down to your target audience. It should be a customer niche you understand well, and you should have advantages over your peers. Spend the time to identify the key needs of your customers and ask why they will choose you over a rival.

Brand strategy
How will you engage with your customers?

The How question will merge into the marketing domain, but it needs a guiding digital brand strategy. When you know your target audience, it helps. You can engage 30-something women on Instagram but miss them on Tik Tok. A professional audience will see you on LinkedIn and miss you on Twitter. A strong digital brand will find your ideal customers online in their favourite spaces.

To engage with patients through digital channels you need to reach them where they are

Contact us at Rothfield to discuss the best tactics for your unique business. We’re experts at brand design, content marketing, digital branding services and online channels. We can guide you through the entire process end-to-end, headache-free.

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