There’s one aspect of your digital presence as a healthcare provider that’s universal across all organizations, whether standalone hospitals with more than a century of history or a recently formed health system with hundreds of locations: brand.
Your brand is what sets you apart from your competitors, communicates your mission and values as an organization, and reassures patients that they’ve come to the best place to receive care.
But like any part of your marketing strategy, your brand should evolve to fit changing consumer expectations, your organization’s growth, and your overall mission and marketing goals.
If you’re about to embark on a rebrand or aren’t sure if your organization is due for one, check out these best practices to help guide you through the process.
What is a rebrand?
When you think of a rebrand, your first thought might be updating the look and functionality of your website. While that’s a vital part of a rebrand (and one we’re very fond of here at Geonetric), a website redesign on its own won’t get the job done.
Instead, a rebrand is a complete change in your corporate image that could include a new name, logo, color palette, slogan, website and print material design, content voice and tone, marketing strategy, core values, brand promise and mission statement, all in an effort to rebuild your marketing strategy from the ground up.
1. Understand when it’s time to rebrand — and when it’s not
We’ve all heard the marketing horror stories of well-known companies that decide to rebrand only to lose brand recognition or consumers’ trust in the process.
So, how do you know when a rebrand is right for your healthcare organization?
If your primary pain points are bringing in new patients and building your brand recognition, a rebrand might not be the answer you’re looking for. Instead, you can focus your resources on search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and content marketing to help build awareness and create connections with consumers.
On the other hand, it’s a smart time to rebrand if your organization has:
- Experienced a rapid period of growth, like going from one location to several
- Begun to look visually similar to other organizations in your area
- Merged with another organization or system
- Refocused your target patient demographics
- Recently updated its mission, vision and values
- Had the same branding for years, and it’s beginning to look outdated
If it’s been a while since you’ve last rebranded, and your brand strategy no longer feels like it’s communicating the benefits your organization delivers, it’s time for an update.
2. Get the timing right
In general, full rebrands only tend to happen every seven to 10 years since they’re quite resource intensive. But that doesn’t mean you should simply “set it and forget it” when it comes to your visual branding!
Consider doing a brand refresh, which typically happens every three to five years. Instead of revamping your entire marketing strategy through a full rebrand, a brand refresh instead focuses on updating your visible branding, like your logo, fonts, and colors.
A brand refresh requires fewer resources than a full rebrand, and it’s easier to take on every few years. It is not, however, a substitute for rebranding — if you’re coming up on a decade with the same brand strategy, it’s time for a full rebrand.
Rebrands don’t always happen at the most convenient times, of course. You may have had months of planning done in advance and have perfectly timed your rebrand to roll out with a complete website redesign. Other times, you may have recently redesigned your site, but you only need to make more changes following a merger or major organizational change.
In those less-than-convenient cases, a brand refresh can help tide you over until a full rebrand and site redesign is feasible.
3. Know your audience
Putting resources and time toward a full rebrand won’t be worth much if your new brand strategy doesn’t speak directly to patients.
Before you get started and throughout your rebrand timeline, we recommend conducting user experience (UX) testing so you can make informed choices and give consumers what they’re looking for. Through UX research, you can get an idea of what your patients think of your branding (and your competitors’), their first impressions of your visual brand, and how your website and overall digital presence meet their needs.
You can conduct this research through surveys, looking at your analytics to see what areas of your site attract the most clicks from users, interviewing groups of current patients to see what resonates with them, and researching wider industry trends.
4. Focus on consistency
Once you have your rebrand roadmap and are ready to begin the actual rebrand work, it’s essential to keep consistency in mind.
A consistent visual narrative across all of your platforms ensures that your brand is easily recognizable and can build trust and reliability in the consumers’ minds.
If you forget to update an online listing with your new logo or still have pages on your website that use your previous brand colors or fonts, it can confuse users and muddy the idea of your brand that they have in their minds.
This brings us back to the concept of incorporating a complete website redesign with your rebrand. A new website is crucial to accurately reflecting your brand identity and showcasing the rebranded elements you’ve created for this process.
If your rebrand includes a renewed focus on a world-class service you offer that your competitors don’t, your website can include a dedicated service line page or microsite highlighting that service. If your new mission statement places a greater emphasis on education, consider creating a blog and newsletter that routinely shares helpful health information with patients.
No matter what your new brand strategy looks like, a redesigned website is the perfect vehicle to show off that new branding and give patients, prospects, and employees a fantastic first impression of your organization.
Time for a rebrand?
If your organization’s brand experience could use an update, Geonetric is here to help. Our teams of website developers, designers, and writers can transform your brand and successfully position your organization to meet whatever goals you have. Contact us today to get started!