We, as a species, don’t let just anyone mess with our smile.
That’s why, in the competitive dental industry, it’s not just about providing top-notch dental services, you’ve also got to create a brand identity that radiates trustworthiness, professionalism, and warmth to make your patients feel comfortable and confident from the instant they discover your clinic to the moment they step through your doors.
So, how does one accomplish that? How can you build patient trust through dental branding?
We’ve got you covered. Whether you’re an established clinic looking to revamp your branding or a brand-new one starting from scratch, today’s blog is going through the best practices for dental brand identity design, to give you the visuals you need to build a brand that your patients will turn to, over and over again!
What Makes Up a Strong Branding Design for Dental Clinics?
When we talk about your dental branding design, what we mean are the visual elements that represent your brand to the world.
Visual elements, like:
- Your logo — This is the face of your brand, the first thing most people will recognize about you.
- Your color palette — The colors on your marketing collateral, website, social media pages, and logo.
- Visual imagery — The photos of your office or staff on your website or your socials.
- Mascot — The friendly and relatable character meant to make your brand more approachable, especially for pediatric dentists.
- Typography — The fonts you use on your marketing collateral and website.
- Style — The overall look and feel of your brand’s visual design.
These elements (more on them in a bit!) are all very crucial for effective dental branding strategies and building your audiences’ perception of your brand.
And, because of this, it’s mission-critical that you build a strong foundation for your brand and use design elements that are effectively communicating your values, mission, and quality of care to your current and potential patients.
Best Practices to Give Your Dental Clinic a Strong Brand Identity
Now that we’ve hammered home how extremely important your branding is to your success, how do you use your design to create a lasting impression and set your clinic apart?
We’re so glad you asked. To help you create a strong, positive, and memorable brand identity for your dental clinic, here are our best practices for designing a brand identity that stands out, resonates with your patients, and encourages a loyal patient base!
1. Research Your Audience
Before you can start designing with an audience in mind, you’ve got to research them first.
So, identify the demographics of your target patients. Are you a pediatric dentist? A family clinic? An orthodontist? Do you specialize in specific treatments like bridgework, partials, or complete dentures?
Or perhaps you’re not a clinic at all and either manufacture or sell dental supplies like consumables, furniture, technology, or software?
Whatever services you provide, we recommend creating detailed user personas to help you understand your patients and get a better grasp on their needs, preferences, and the kind of messaging and visuals you’ll need to draw them to your clinic.
You can get the information you need for these personas from surveys, feedback, social media engagement, or by analyzing your competitors. This also will help you identify any gaps and opportunities in the market that your clinic can capitalize on.
*If you need some help building out user personas, then check out our blog on how to create user persons here to get started.
2. Choose the Right Color Palette
Once you have a grasp on who your audience is and what they’re looking for from you, it’s time to choose your color palette.
Choose colors that evoke trust, professionalism, calmness, and warmth. Popular colors for healthcare brands are blues, greens, and whites, but whatever works for your brand and your audience is ultimately going to work best for you.
As you choose your colors, keep color psychology in mind and be aware of how different colors can evoke certain emotions and perceptions.
Here is a quick list of popular colors and the emotions they can represent to help get you started:
- Blue — Blue of all shades can convey trust, calmness, and professionalism. It's a color often associated with cleanliness and health.
- Green — The color of nature, green represents healing, growth, and tranquility. It's soothing and gives off a natural, caring approach.
- White — A good, stark white symbolizes purity, cleanliness, and simplicity. In healthcare, it's often used to suggest sterility and efficiency.
- Soft Pinks and Peaches — These light shades can evoke warmth, care, and compassion. These colors can make a healthcare environment feel more inviting and less intimidating.
- Light Yellows — Sunny yellows radiate optimism and energy. When used sparingly, yellow can help lift spirits and create a positive atmosphere.
- Teal — A strategic blend of blue's trustworthiness and green's calm, teal can give your brand a balanced benefit of both colors.
- Lavender — Soft purples like lavender can imply comfort and serenity. Lavender can also add a touch of warmth to your color palette while still keeping your palette calm.
3. Design a Memorable Logo
Remember, your logo is most often what your audience will first notice about you, so spend some time on logo design to make sure that the face of your brand is simple, recognizable, and effective.
It’s not an absolute must to include obvious dental elements like teeth or toothbrushes, but you do want to incorporate some kind of element that reflects your practice, personality, and culture! Before you run with your new logo, be sure to test it out on a small group of employees, patients, etc. to make sure it’s a winner.
Whether you’re revamping your logo for a brand identity facelift or coming up with a new one altogether, here is a list of logo design tips to get you started:
- Keep It Simple — A simple approach makes your logo more versatile and easier to recognize at any size.
- Be Unique — Go for a design that stands out from your competitors while still being true to your brand’s unique personality.
- Choose Colors Wisely — Remember what we said about your color palette?
- Be Legible — If your logo includes text, make sure that your font is legible at different sizes.
- Design for the Future — Design with the future in mind and avoid overly trendy elements that might date your logo.
- Versatility is Key — Your logo should look great in black and white, color, and across all digital and print formats where it will be used.
4. Keep Your Typography Consistent
Your typography is a hugely important part of your overall design and brand identity and the one you choose needs to make sure your messaging is received loud and clear.
Choose fonts that reflect your brand’s personality (there’s a big difference in the fonts you’d use for a pediatric clinic vs. a brand that provides oral surgery tools) and are also easy to read.
Here’s another list of how to make typography work for your clinic’s brand identity.
- Keep it Legible — Opt for clear, easy-to-see fonts so your text is easy to read and understand.
- Be Consistent — Use a consistent font set across all of your marketing materials, website, social media, and any other platform your audience will see to reinforce brand recognition.
- Limit Your Variety — Stick to a max of two or three fonts to keep a clean design that doesn’t overwhelm your visitors. A good rule of thumb is to use one for headings and another for body text.
- Adjust for Readability — Pay attention to things like font size, spacing, visual hierarchy, and color contrast for easy reading no matter what kind of device your visitor is reaching you from.
- Create Typography Guidelines — Include your chosen fonts, usage rules, visual hierarchy, and examples in your brand style guide for reference.
- Test, Test, Test — Regularly review how your typography looks in different formats (mobile, billboards, ads, etc.) to make sure it’s both effective and appealing regardless of where your audience sees it.
5. Create a Brand Style Guide
To make sure that everyone who creates assets for your brand is on the same page regarding your new look, it’s essential that you create a brand style guide.
A brand style guide is a comprehensive guideline that details your brand’s visual elements including your logo, its usage, your color palette (down to the hex code), typography, visual hierarchy, and even your tone of voice and the set of grammar rules your brand follows.
It may seem like a lot to document, but it’s absolutely necessary to keep your branding consistent and its integrity intact (you don’t want to see your logo misused or in the wrong colors) across all platforms and marketing collateral.
It’s this consistency that will help you build a strong, recognizable brand identity that resonates with your target audience.
*If you need some assistance with building out a brand style guide, then you’re in the right place. Click here to check out our branding services page!
6. Apply Your Brand Identity Everywhere
Once you’ve created your new identity, pinpointed it all down in your brand style guide, and shared it with your team, then all you’ve got to do is stay consistent!
Revamp all of your digital and printed assets with your new look, from brochures to ads to even details like email signature templates and your office interior. Be sure to regularly view your brand materials to make sure they’re up to date and working effectively for your audience.
The Benefits of a Strong Brand Identity
Once you’ve created a strong brand identity, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it.
A strong and memorable identity is crucial for attracting new patients, amplifying awareness of your services, and many more benefits that make your brand successful and set you apart.
Here's a look at a few more of those benefits that strong brand identity design can bring to your practice:
- Differentiation — In the crowded dental market, a strong brand identity helps set your clinic apart from your competitors and make it more memorable to potential patients.
- Builds Trust and Credibility — Professional and consistent branding conveys reliability and expertise, two essential characteristics for building trust with both current and prospective patients.
- Patient Loyalty — A strong brand creates a sense of familiarity and comfort, which can increase your patient retention rates. Loyal and happy patients are also more likely to recommend your services to their friends and family.
- Boosts Marketing Efforts — A well-defined brand identity makes marketing campaigns more effective, whether your marketing is online or offline.
- Attracts Ideal Patients — By reflecting the values and atmosphere of your clinic, your brand can appeal to the specific demographic you’re aiming for, attracting patients who are the best fit for your practice.
- Improves Patient Experience — Branding that communicates your clinic’s unique personality and values can improve the overall office experience, making visits more enjoyable and reducing anxiety.
- Puts Your Team on the Same Page — A clear brand identity serves as a guide for your employees to make sure everyone is on the same page with the clinic’s mission, values, and way of interacting with patients.
- Increases Value — Over time, a strong brand identity can even build brand equity, which means your brand itself becomes a valuable asset.
- Adaptability — A well-established brand can more easily evolve and adapt to changes in the market or patient needs and preferences.
- Emotional Connection — Strong branding can evoke positive emotions, something that is particularly important in healthcare where personal care and trust are vital to a clinic’s success.
Who Else Can Benefit from Good Dental Brand Identity Design?
And dental brand identity isn’t just limited to clinics who see patients!
If your brand has anything to do with the dental industry or oral health in general, then you can also benefit from the above best practices and start building a brand identity that resonates with trust, professionalism, and credibility.
Here is a quick list of other types of dental brands that can benefit:
- Dental Suppliers and Manufacturers — Stand out in a competitive market, making products more recognizable and trusted by dental clinics and professionals.
- Dental Software Developers — Highlight the technological edge and user-friendly solutions you provide to attract more clinics to your business.
- Dental Laboratories — Use your branding to highlight your quality and precision of work to build trust with dental practices.
- Dental Education and Training Programs — Attract more students by highlighting your expertise, modern facilities, and a successful alumni network.
- Dental Conference and Seminar Organizers — Draw more attendees and sponsors by using your branding and messaging to promise valuable networking and learning opportunities in a professional atmosphere.
- Dental Marketing and Consulting Firms — Use your branding and messaging to showcase your understanding of the dental market and your ability to deliver effective growth strategies.
- Dental Hygiene Product Companies — Encourage consumer trust and loyalty so your customers choose your products out of others on a crowded retail shelf.
- Oral Health Nonprofits and Advocacy Groups — Spread messages effectively to encourage donations and volunteers.
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One More Best Practice for Strong Dental Branding
If you’re looking for even more ways to benefit from the information in this article, then we have one more suggestion before you go.
Why not partner with Designity?
Designity is made up of only the top 3% of all of the extraordinary talent that applies each year, meaning that our creative community consists of the best of the best in fields like graphic design, illustration, icon design, web design, copywriting, videographers, and any other talent you could possibly need to build the strong and recognizable brand identity you need to succeed.
And with your creative dream team working under the experience and guidance of a designated Creative Director to source and manage your talent, help you build innovative dental branding ideas, and make sure that all of your assets are delivered on time and of the highest quality, you can have a shiny new brand identity sooner than you think.
Take a look at our portfolio and this dental branding case study to see how Designity’s innovative Creative as a Service platform has been the creative marketing answer to brands just like yours.
And when you’re ready, click here to book your demo call and get started with a two-week, no-obligation trial so you can see for yourself the difference Designity can make for the image of the brand you present to the world.
Is your dental brand ready for a revamped brand identity?
