While the online space, in general, has become quite crowded, the opportunities for individual physicians to market themselves online is still wide open.
But it won’t always stay this way. The doctors who are building personal marketing platforms now are not only recognizing the benefits now; they’ll be the ones firmly established for many years to come.
While elements such as logos, slogans, and website design are all important, one thing that is commonly overlooked is a physician’s personal brand voice.
What Is a Personal Brand Voice?
A personal brand voice is how you communicate and connect with your audience. This needs to be authentic.
My recommendation is always to let your real personality come through. In other words, don’t try to be someone different online than you are in person. Patients will quickly figure this out, and it will put them off.
For example, if you regularly use humor with patients, use humor in your brand voice.
Whatever your personality and communication style is with patients in clinic should be replicated online through your writing.
This is yet another reason I suggest recording your content and transcribing it for your posts.
Questions to Help You Further Clarify Your Brand Voice
What Patients Are You Most Wanting to Serve?
If you are trying to reach everyone, you won’t’ reach anyone. Spend some time on the front end, figuring out the patients you most want to serve, and build your platform and brand voice to attract them.
How Can You Best Guide Your Patients?
As you well know, there is a lot of misinformation online when it comes to health. This is another primary reason why I think it’s so important for physicians to have their own platforms.
When you think about your brand voice, consider how you can best guide your patients on their health journeys. If you can provide value to them on the front end, you’ll be seen as the expert and gain the rewards on the back end.
How Do My Current Patients View Me?
If you’re not sure how your current patients view your personality, then find out.
Ask your staff what patients are saying (and give them the freedom to share truthfully). Another good place to look is in your reviews. This can be the ones collected through the practice, or online.
You may think you come across one way, but are perceived differently by others. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but awareness is helpful when establishing your personal voice.
Commit to Consistency
I’ve shared before about the importance of maintaining a consistent blogging schedule. The other area where it’s important to be consistent online is in your communication style.
Again, it’s best to create content in your unique voice and to do so consistently. If you’re very serious and to the point, that’s ok. Be that way in your written marketing content.
The bottom line is that when patients discover you online and book an appointment, they expect the online personality to match the in-person personality.
Authenticity always resonates.
One question to consider when establishing your personal brand voice is, If you had no logo or name attached to your content, would your patients know that it came from you?”
