What do brands like FedEx, Nike, and Google have in common? These brands are some of the most iconic of all time, and for one main reason: they’re instantly recognizable. The arrow conveniently located within the FedEx name, the Nike swish and “just do it” tagline, the four-color layout of Google’s home page – they’re ingrained in our collective memories, and it’s because of their branding.
Great branding is an essential aspect of any business, just ask Coca-Cola. But there are a few things to know before rebranding your practice, so stick around for some essential orthodontic marketing advice from the Neon Canvas team that you won’t want to miss.
Know the Vocab
Logo + Color Scheme + Typography + Tone of Voice = Your Brand Identity
It’s all fun and games until the nuances of industry jargon come out, so when we say “branding,” what do we really mean? Branding is essentially the personification of your company – the way your practice would look, speak, and act if it were a real person. It’s these key identifying features that make any brand recognizable, and together, they’re the ticket to your clients’ hearts.
Logo: A logo is a visual representation of what makes your brand unique. Through imagery, composition, type, and color, a successful logo instantly communicates the ideas, people, and services that make up your business. It’s important for a logo to be simplistic enough to quickly convey your message and attractive enough to be remembered.
Color Scheme: Part of what makes any brand recognizable is a consistent color scheme. This palette gives a visual identity to your practice, helping your audience connect you to the unique combination of colors that appears on all your marketing materials.
Typography: Because we read almost as automatically and naturally as we breathe, it may be easy to discount or even simply forget the importance of a brand’s font – but the look and layout of the words you post subconsciously shape your audience’s perception of your brand.
Tone of Voice: Like your logo, your brand’s voice is a core part of what makes you you. Your voice will appear across your website, on all social media platforms, in your blogs, and in your messaging. As the most direct form of communication you have with your audience, it matters to have a consistent tone that connects with the people you want to attract. Done wrong, your tone of voice could rub people the wrong way; done right, and they’ll look forward to hearing from you.
Know What Your Competitors Are Doing
Keep your friends close and your competitors closer.
Knowing your competitive landscape can do two things for you: 1) it can help you get an insider’s understanding of what works in branding and what doesn’t, and 2) it can help you stand out from a crowd that you now fully understand. Blending in where it makes sense to do so will help you benefit from the established industry familiarity and consistency while standing out will make your brand more recognizable. It’s as simple as that.
Know Your Target Audience
Who is your ideal customer, and what resonates with them?
When building relationships is your primary goal, understanding the wants, needs, and fears of your target audience will inform the direction you want your brand to take. After you’ve done the research to identify the clientele you serve, you can more reliably anticipate ways to communicate with them, which will speak volumes through all of your marketing materials.
Know Yourself
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. – Aristotle” – Neon Canvas
You know your brand better than anyone else, but communicating those ideas to others can be a little more complicated. Taking the time to ask yourself questions and source out the nuances of what makes your brand what it is will strengthen your brand materials and make your practice’s personality more accessible to your target audience, especially when working with a marketing team to create these materials.
Your Mission: Like a thesis statement, your “why” can help guide your rebranding process from start to finish. When your purpose shines through every aspect of your style guide, your company becomes that much more relatable to your target audience.
Your Story: It’s our firm belief that the creative process starts with your brand’s story. By highlighting the unique features of your practice and sharing the road map to how you got to where you are today, your brand as a whole will become much more personable. When these traits and stories are reflected in your style guide, your branding materials gain a level of depth that makes your brand memorable, recognizable, and successful in turn.
Your preferences: On a more practical note, having an idea of what you like in terms of style, imagery, color, or tone of voice will help the graphic designer or copywriter more accurately depict your logos, taglines, and other marketing materials the way you imagine them in your head. Whether you’re looking for a “sardonic” voice for your blog or you want your office pet incorporated into your logo, we can make it happen (and we have). We just need to know what you see in your mind’s eye so we can replicate it in ours.
Know When It’s Time to Rebrand
As in all things, timing is everything.
Only some brands get it right the first time around, and even if they do, sometimes an update is just the thing a company needs to refresh the marketing journey. In fact, there are many reasons to update your style guide, from targeting a new demographic to taking a more modern approach to an outdated style. You may be in the process of merging multiple practices, or perhaps you’re simply looking to differentiate yourself in a saturated market. If you sense that it may be time for a change, however, the best way to know when to rebrand is to talk to a team of digital marketing experts.
Know Neon
Knowing you need to rebrand your practice is the first half of it, but knowing Neon Canvas is what will take you all the way. Your brand is the face of your company, and trusting the experts to help you every step of the way is your best bet at catching – and keeping – your audience’s attention.
Contact our team today for more information about what we can do for your practice.