Is your dental practice struggling to draw in customers? Have you tried advertising only to end up with nothing but crickets and tumbleweeds? If so, it may be time to consider a fresh start for your dental practice branding.

Practice rebranding can be a smart way to revamp your identity, but it’s not as simple as slapping a new logo on your door and calling it a day. If not done right, rebranding could cost you more customers and revenue than your practice lost in the first place.

Below, learn how to meet your dental office goals with these rebranding dos and don’ts from Dental Intelligence.

What Is Dental Practice Rebranding, and Why Should You Consider It?

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book where a character changed their identity? They get a new name, a fresh wardrobe, and a different haircut. They even move to a new home.

Dental practice branding is a lot like that. You’re not just changing the name of your practice; you’re going all in and creating an entirely new identity.

Consider rebranding if:

• You have a lot of negative publicity. We’re not talking about a few bad online reviews (every practice gets those). We mean seriously bad publicity that’s doing major damage to your reputation.
• You’re merging with another practice.
• You moved to a new office and want to expand your offerings.
• You want to attract a different clientele.
• Your branding is too similar to that of your competitors.
• You haven’t updated your branding in the past several years.

Dental Practice Branding Dos

For your rebranding to be a success, follow these helpful branding strategies.

Understand Your Target Audience

The coolest-looking branding in the world won’t help if it doesn’t appeal to your target market. These are the specific types of people that your practice wants to attract (for instance, parents or seniors).

To better understand your target patient, ask:

• What are their demographics (age, where they live, income, etc.)?

• What are their pain points?
• What sort of marketing do they respond to?
• What type of dental care do they need?

Fully Understand the Pros and Cons

Before embarking on your rebranding journey, it’s critical to understand the perks and drawbacks. It’s true you’ll get a fresh start, and that can be exciting. You might be able to draw in more patients than you were ever able to before.

However, a total rebranding effort means starting from scratch. You’ll lose any brand recognition your practice had; you may even lose some customers along the way.

Rebranding is a lot of work — and expensive to boot. Can your practice afford it? Are you and your staff up to the challenge?

Think About the Image You Want to Convey

When rebranding, you can’t simply choose the colors and imagery that appeal to you. Instead, think about what your target patient would prefer.

For instance, do you run a pediatric dental practice? You may want to stick with bright, cheerful colors and images of happy kids in the dental chair.

Dental Practice Branding Don’ts

Now that you know what you ought to do when rebranding, here are a few mistakes to avoid.

Don’t Change Your Name Without a Good Reason

Dental practices should never change their name unless they have a very good reason to do so. One of these reasons is negative publicity that your business can’t overcome. You might also need to change your practice’s name if it’s too similar to one of your competitor’s names.

Don’t Use Confusing Jargon

Patients don’t like to feel as though you’re talking over their heads. In your copy, avoid using technical jargon and dental terminology that most patients won’t understand. Stick to simple language that reassures potential customers you can help with their problems.

Don’t Be a Carbon Copy of Your Competitors

If your competitor has beautiful branding, you might consider copying what they’ve done. Don’t! The goal of rebranding is to stand out so that your practice doesn’t look like all the rest.

That said, it does pay to at least check out what the competition is doing. This can give you ideas to use for your own messaging.

Make Dental Intelligence a Part of Your Rebranding Strategy

Dental practice branding can be tough, but Dental Intelligence is here to help! Our software enables your practice to handle online reviews and reputation management, remind patients of appointments, and market your practice to customers. Book a demo today to learn more.