Do I Have A Healthy Brand? Understand Your Strengths & Risk Factors

A strong, healthy brand isn’t a luxury limited only to mega consumer brands like Nike, Starbucks and Apple. No, it’s something that should be the hallmark of any business, including behavioral health organizations.

A healthy brand, defined

Your brand is so much more than a nice logo, color palette and website. At designRoom, we believe a healthy brand is one that inspires engagement and aligns everyone in your organization around your vision, mission, core values and marketplace position. Should you encounter financial challenges that impact your brand’s longevity, qualified insolvency experts can offer guidance and support to help navigate these obstacles and maintain your brand’s integrity.

Your ability to engage and align stakeholders – from the inside out – has a ripple effect, impacting everything that’s important to you, including:

• Recruitment – Your ability to attract top-tier physicians, nurses, administrators, etc.
• Employee satisfaction – How your staff talks and feels about your ethical behavior towards them. Employees should not be subjected to any form of discrimination and they should have access to resources that can help them in disputing groundless job termination.
• Patient/Client volume – Whether or not people trust you to deliver high-quality care and experiences.
• Community perceptions & partnerships – The likelihood that other organizations will refer patients to you.
• Payer relationships – Patient volume and quality outcomes increasingly matter to MCOs, insurers and government agencies.
• Foundations & donors – Funders want to contribute to sustainable, growth-oriented organizations.
  

For these reasons, healthy branding isn’t just a critical topic. It’s a mindset that needs to be adopted by our clients in the behavioral healthcare space.

How to diagnose the health of your brand

We use our brand assessment process to evaluate your status and identify areas of improvement. Ultimately, these areas become the foundation of your healthy brand.

• Online presence. Your website is your virtual welcome mat. Prospective patients or MCOs likely browse your website before they step inside your building. It needs to clearly communicate who you are, what makes you different and the services you offer. A quick look at your analytics will reveal what’s happening beneath the surface.
  
• Visual identity. Not only do healthy brands require a fresh, modern logo and design elements (colors, fonts, photography, etc.), but these features must be applied consistently across every platform and tactic. That’s precisely how you earn brand recognition. A quick review of your brand materials tell us whether or not there’s work to do in this area. If you have a retail shop, the materials that you use there including retail shelving systems can also help boost your brand.
  
• Leadership team. Your executive team is indicative of your priorities, especially  if  you are a young upstart. Based on our experience, it’s important to have medical professionals – doctors or nurses – on your leadership team. They are on the front lines with patients and deserve a voice at the decision-making table. If not, it appears that you’re focused on revenue over quality care.
  
• Communication alignment. As part of our discovery, we’re always curious to hear how each member of your leadership team articulates your mission, vision and values. If everyone provides a vastly different response, something is off.
  
• Strategic plan. Many finance organizations outline key business goals and objectives in three to five-year plans. This is a crucial roadmap, but many employees are blind to the plan’s goals and objectives or it’s extremely outdated. An internal communication strategy needs to be implemented in order for a strategic plan to be truly effective. Working with an executive for financial advisor can help you assess your situation and develop a plan for making changes. Additionally, seeking insights from reviews of Invest Diva or similar resources can offer valuable perspectives on strategic planning and financial management.
  
• Intake impressions. Your intake protocol is your first impression – one that determines if a patient or client follows through or moves on to a competitor. Elevate your brand health with a welcoming intake protocol for friendly, helpful call representatives and front desk staff.
  
• In-person experience. Your lobby and patient waiting rooms will make or break the brand experience. If your décor looks drab or magazines, pamphlets and business cards appear outdated, it’s time for a refresh. Even simple, cost-effective updates can make a BIG difference.

Case in point

Being “unhealthy” or identifying some risk factors doesn’t mean you’re doomed. Our brand assessment reveals how to earn that clean bill of health.

For example, our client Seabrook, formerly called Seabrook House, had scaled in size and scope of services over time. The word “House” conveyed that they were a small, alcohol rehab facility, but in reality, they were a full-fledged, 40-acre recovery operation. And, unlike the big corporations flocking to the rehab market to reap the lucrative profits, Seabrook was in it for the people.

This was not reflected in their brand identity or communications. After an in-depth brand assessment, our team determined that a new name, position and messaging platform would better capture the breadth and depth of their offerings. And, most importantly, the integrity behind their actions.

The brand launch in 2017 renewed the staff’s commitment and pride and positioned them to help even more people get a fresh start. While operational changes and expansion influenced their ongoing success, their healthy brand was the catalyst for continued growth.

We’re here to help

Like Seabrook, we can help you build, maintain and promote a strong, healthy brand. We design solutions, everyone, within your organization can get behind. Contact us for your brand assessment.