Standing out from the rest with branding is important, and honesty is extremely crucial.
Without it, branding would be nothing more than acting – a pointless and tedious exercise in which you try to fit into a position that doesn’t come naturally to you.
How to Define Your Brand?
Being yourself appears to be simple. However, it also necessitates a thorough understanding of yourself, as well as your own abilities and strengths.
The process of defining your brand should not combine be rushed. Even if you don’t have your own business, you should consider yourself an embedded entrepreneur. A strong brand can help you and your hospital or clinic be the best they can be.
Identifying your abilities and strengths is the first step. The purpose of establishing who you are and your particular qualities is to figure out how you can utilize them to help others in your daily practice.
If there have been any online reviews made about you or your practice, read them for vital information. Your brand will be more relevant and attractive if you understand your worth to others.
Take some time to consider your mission, including why you choose your profession and why you keep doing it. Blaise James, a global brand strategist, recommends a three-part strategy:
- To begin, finish the line “I’m in the business of…” to establish a statement of purpose.
- He then advises that you consider your point of view and beliefs. These are by definition more specific and individual than your goal. To do so, finish the statement “I believe the world would be a better place if…”
- Finally, he recommends creating principle statements that show how you act on your mission. Complete the sentences “I always…”, “I only…”, and “I never…” to make principal statements.
Key to Branding!
Who you are and how you are seen are the foundations of your brand. However, it is not just your expertise that is being judged, but also your character, which includes your standards and communication style.
“Whether you like it or not, everything you do and say has an impact on how people perceive who you are and what you do,” Dr. Brown stated.
The success of your brand is strongly influenced by the quality of your soft talents. Soft talents are things like being able to:
- adapt
- collaborate well with others
- interact easily with dissimilar people
- reason under pressure
- communicate in a clear and compelling way
Working with a mentor or coach can help you improve these abilities.
Daniel Goleman, a famous psychologist, and scientific writer combines brain and behavioral studies in his New York Times bestseller Emotional Intellect to explain how IQ intelligence is ultimately limited in forecasting personal achievement.
Instead, he promotes emotional intelligence as the most important predictor of success, defining it as a combination of abilities derived from self-awareness, benevolence, personal drive, and empathy.
Your brand relies on consistent conduct as well. One interaction at a time, the more consistent you are, the stronger your brand becomes.
How to Share Your Brand?
If you don’t know how to communicate your brand, all of your hard work will be for naught.
“How you present your brand is critical,” Dr. Brown explained. “Doctors in the United States have no formal training in business or organizational ideas, so if they learn at all, it is the hard way, as messy as that generally is.”
Every contact is an opportunity to convey your brand when it comes to it. People you communicate with create an opinion of you and are left with an opinion of your brand, whether it’s a fast phone call, a normal appointment, or a casual encounter in the hall.
You may also propagate your brand in a more purposeful, strategic manner, in addition to these ordinary contacts.
Physicians, in particular, require thought leadership. Your knowledge is what attracts and keeps patients coming back to you, making it an important aspect of your brand and an effective outreach tool.
Speaking to groups is one method to promote oneself as a thought leader. Find the most relevant groups and events that might benefit from your knowledge and contact them. If your purpose is to help others, you’ll be able to build more genuine relationships and grow your network naturally.
Update Your Social Media Profiles
Many doctors use social media to keep their personal and professional life distinct and avoid HIPAA breaches from patients seeking medical advice outside of the office. While you may not have a personal Facebook or Twitter account, you should consider developing one for your office to increase your visibility and engage existing patients. Visitors will be able to put a face to a doctor’s name by visiting a Facebook page with images of the office and staff members, as well as office hours, insurance information, websites, and phone numbers. For Facebook business pages, the same privacy standards apply.
Provide a Current Professional Photo
Is there a photo of you on your hospital or private practice’s website from your residency or first year of practice – 10 years ago? If that’s the case, it’s time to bring it up to date. You may also visit a studio or ask a photographer buddy with a DSLR to take a shot of you in your lab coat or business dress against a basic backdrop (such as a white wall). Make sure to update your website and every social media outlet you use, such as Doximity, ZocDoc, or LinkedIn, with the updated image. A recent photo will make you appear warm and professional, as well as show patients that you want to learn more about them.
Improve Your Online Physician Ratings
The rise of doctor rating sites like Vitals, Healthgrades, and RateMDs has been a double-edged sword in recent years. These websites not only help you appear more frequently in search engines and potentially grow your patient base, but they also feature honest evaluations — both favorable and bad — from people who have visited your practice. Start watching these websites at least once a month to see what people are saying about the way you practice to develop your personal brand. You could be surprised by how many good evaluations you get from happy patients — and you might be able to rectify issues that others have pointed up.
Update Your Contact Information and CV
Make it a habit to update your practice’s website and CV every six months to ensure that the content is up to date. It might just be posting a photo for a new employee or updating the years you’ve worked, but it also provides you the opportunity to entirely rework your bio if it appears outdated and double-check that your practice’s address and phone number are correct. It’s also a good idea to keep social media outlets up to date with fresh information.
Give Your Best in All Interactions
People looking for you on the internet may not have met you in person, but they will read evaluations and opinions from those who have. Create a positive personal brand by being polite with your coworkers, patients, medical suppliers, and hospital officials – as well as in all online contacts, even if you disagree with them. It’s not always easy to be optimistic after you’ve gotten unfavorable criticism, but being open and honest about any situation can earn you respect and help you establish a reputation as a trustworthy healthcare provider.
It will require a little additional work to stand out both online and in everyday situations, but the benefits are enormous. For additional information on how to build a great personal brand, see “How to Be a Great Locum Tenens Doctor.”
PR Matters in Branding
It doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do if you are the best-kept secret. Your achievements are worthless until they are publicized, and they may not bring you anywhere.
Because there is strength in numbers, it is critical that you increase your exposure and make yourself marketable. Many positions are filled through referrals and recommendations.
Get to know the individuals in your target industry via networking. Go out of your way to find them and offer to buy them a cup of coffee in return for an informative interview. You’d be surprised at what cold emailing can do. Tell them your tale and then listen to what they have to say. Ask them questions and find out how they got to where they are now. What does this mean for your career strategy? Propose solutions to difficulties in your subject of interest to exhibit your interest. Continue to follow up and provide value.
Optimizing your online presence is also an important method to stand out. You may learn how to make the most out of social media by learning how to utilize it effectively. Google Primer is a fantastic tool for improving your social media skills.
Different platforms might provide a variety of branding options. Whether it’s LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, pick the one that’s right for you. Using Google Sites, make a basic page for yourself. Linktree is a great place to store your links. You can also consult a Digital Healthcare Marketing Agency to create your personal brand Present your true self, express your thoughts, advocate for good change, and establish an online presence.
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