Are You Due for a Rebrand? How to Tell and What Steps to Take

Achieving recognition and trust in your healthcare organization depends on building a strong brand personality and getting it out there. Way out there!

Few industries exist where trust plays such a central, important role as it does in healthcare. In this industry, the stakes are high and they go beyond dollars and cents. Often, they are a matter of life and death, and people will go out of their way to find what they consider “better” healthcare.

Organizations can no longer depend on being the nearest or least expensive option, and stepping up their game to remain competitive often means doing a full or partial rebrand.

How to Tell If You Need a Rebrand

Reasons for rebranding differ widely, but some of the most common are:

• Business is not going well, and you know it could be better.
• You have a new audience, product, or service that represents a departure from the past.
• You need to shake off negative associations.
• Your website, logos and marketing collateral don’t synchronize across the organization.
• The company has recently undergone a merger, acquisition, or other change of ownership.
• You have a new focus, vision, or mission.
• The business model or strategy of the company has changed.
• You want to consolidate your footing in the marketplace or differentiate yourself from the competition.

Deciding to rebrand or not should be based on whether your company is reaching the target audience effectively, experiencing ongoing growth in sales, and achievement of your business goals. If any of these are not happening, it’s time for a rebrand.

Steps to Rebrand Your Healthcare Organization

The first step in a successful rebranding process is one of discovery. Interview the key leaders in your company, clarify your vision, goals, and values, and harvest ideas as well as answers from them. Discover your customers’ perceptions of your brand promise, and find out whether they connect with it. Perform an audit of your existing brand architecture, and dissect it to determine what works and what doesn’t.

Next, define the brand positioning you want to achieve, which creates a place in your market that only your organization can occupy. This won’t eliminate your competition, but it will set you apart from them. Analyze the actions needed to take you from point A to point B, and determine how rebranding will get you there. Take your employees with you on the ride. And remember, rebranding is more than changing the signs on your buildings. It’s also about leading the people inside those buildings in a new direction, along with the patients they serve.

Request proposals from professional rebranding experts, to help you decide whether you need a full or partial rebrand, and what aspects to focus on. Develop a strategy for your rebranding campaign. Identify the budget, timeline, and actions needed to implement it, and how you will measure its success.

Work with your team to craft a meaningful rebranding campaign with coherent messages, then launch it and monitor the results.

Ready to get started? Contact Wax Custom Communications at 305-350-5700 or visit waxcom.com.