Rebranding a Dental Office? Learn the When, How and What.

There are a myriad of reasons for rebranding a dental office. Regardless, having an established brand for your dental practice is imperative to reach your full potential. The right branding is the key to attracting and retaining your ideal patients and the foundation for all of your dental marketing efforts.

Unfortunately, having a brand image doesn’t necessarily mean you have the RIGHT dental practice brand image. Let’s explore the When, Why and How of rebranding a dental office.

When to Rebrand

There are numerous reasons t0 consider a rebrand. Do any of these sound familiar?

1. You’ve recently purchased an existing dental office that was branded under the old doctor’s name. It’s time to get a little brand recognition for what you bring to the party.
2. You’re in demand, and that means adding new associates. But if your practice name is just “Lawrence J. Winans DMD” it doesn’t leave a lot of room to let your audience know that there’s more than just you.
3. You might have a l0ng established associate who is ready to buy in. “Winans and Associates” doesn’t leave a lot of room for your future partner to brand themselves in the market.
4. You’re 3-5 years from retiring and selling, and you know that a broader practice brand will make your practice easier to sell.
5. Or, maybe your old brand is just that…old. It’s hard to sell yourself as a high tech, contemporary practice when you’ve got an old fashioned logo from the 1980’s.

How to Rebrand

Here are three levels of action you may need to take to make your dental practice “brand” new.

Refresh

Even a strong dental brand can get a little tired and dated over time. In a case like this, refreshing elements of your visual brand like your colors and images can breathe new life into your brand without changing its core identity. You likely have one or two colors in your dental logo design that you are committed to, but your color palette can be expanded or altered in a number of different directions to get the right “feel” for your branding. Updating your images can also go a long way in redefining your visual identity. Just be sure to remain true to the personality of your brand.  

Rebrand

If you decide that your dental logo or your dental tagline no longer accurately represent who you really are, then it may be time for a change. This is a bigger step than simply refreshing, since it will alter the core of your brand and how you are perceived by current and future patients. Careful thought needs to go into a dental office logo switch, and should be based on more than just “looking nice.” It needs to reflect the most important aspects of your brand and how you want to be represented. The same for your tagline. You only have a few words to create the right impression, so make them count.

Rename

Changing the actual name of your practice is the most drastic step you can take in terms of your branding. This may be advantageous, or even necessary, in a case where you are taking over a practice from another dentist. There are numerous factors to consider when selecting the right name for your practice, and a number of implications from doing so. 

What gets rebranded

Rebranding a dental office, even if only a refresh, can incur some significant expenses in terms of reprinting and replacing signage, marketing collateral, stationery, and other branded items. You may also be taking a step backwards in terms of name recognition and established dental website SEO if a name change is involved. On the other hand, building a stronger, more authentic brand will almost always be worth it, since it will help you connect with the ideal dental patients you’ll need to grow your practice and reach your full potential.

Be sure to map out the costs and timelines associated with not just the dental logo design, but how long it will take to get new signage produced and installed, how much stationary you might need to have printed (and how much you’ll be throwing away), what that refresh looks like with your existing website, if there’s any advertising – traditional or digital – that needs to be rebranded, and any methods used to introduce the new brand to your patients and your community. 

How to get the best dental brand possible

Branding is something that dentists should give careful consideration to. Clip art logos aren’t going to elevate you above your competition. You owe it to yourself to partner with an experienced dental branding agency to develop a dental practice brand image that authentically represents who you really are. Contact us today to learn about our DNA Dental Branding process and how it can help you reach your full potential.