What word is conjured up when you think Ferrari? (Performance) What about Honda? (Reliable) Volvo? (Safe) BMW? (Driving) Whether these automobiles fit these words is irrelevant...it's what the consumer feels about them that matters. BMW is the "ultimate driving machine", there are probably many cars who have higher safety ratings than Volvo, more reliable cars then Honda...
The point is how the consumer identifies with the brand.
Take it a step further...how about owning the entire category. Who owns tissue? (Kleenex) Adhesive bandages? (Band-Aid) Cola? (Coke) Gelatin dessert? (Jell-O)
What is the word in the consumer's mind right now about Chiropractic? What should it be? And how do we start to own the category?
Awaiting your thoughts on this one!
(The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al and Laura Ries)
If we agree that the main purpose of chiropractic care is to help people move past just getting through the day, and begin giving to the day; if we agree that it's really about helping people be their best and perform optimally in every area of life by maximizing the expression of their Life Energy in their bodies, then the word I would propose is THRIVE!
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteFantastic topic!!
Someone recently posted on their facebook profile how much pharmaceutical companies and md's are killing us... He said we are the " true healers"... This is exactly where we go wrong.... Average everyday Americans read this and, as they have for years, continue to think chiropractic is for wackos...we do nothing but isolate ourselves...when we highlight the consequences in generalities. We need to stop waging a war against pharma and md's... Its counter productive...Stop using words like 'Life Energy" - People hear that and think "quack".... I am not asking if you believe it or not I am suggesting we attempt to rebrand this kind of talk... Life Energy sounds foolish Kevin...At least thats what most people think
Most of the claims chiropractors make regarding "healing" ailments such as asthma or ADHD are not proven scientifically... People need to cut the preaching out... We sound like a fanatical southern preacher whom most people view as naive and completely out of touch with reality
We need to brand ourselves into the mainstream by stressing that which we can prove... Evidence based... Say what you like but too many Americans equate chiropractors as snake oil salesmen and until we change that 50% of Chiropractors will continue to fail...
We need to build our profession much the same way podiatrists and osteopaths have done...doing things like having someone call you Dr. First name i.e. Dr. Kevin is tacky and cheap....typical example of how not to brand ourselves...
We need to be more professional.... This stems from practice to education.... We need to cut the riff raff out of this institution by making it mandatory that students have a college degree....this is a proffessional program and the branding starts here..
The word in the consumers mind right now is "huh?, I don't know about... maybe if my insurance pays for it, but I'm not in pain."
ReplyDeleteThe word should be PRACTICAL! "CHIROPRACTICAL" I need to Trademark that one so no-one take it I'll know who you are:) Teach people that they can't afford not to be under care or at least being checked on a regular basis. Their lives depend on it!
I'm going to have to disagree with "Anonymous". While some people may equate terms like Life Energy and such with quackery, that is not been the case in my experience at all. In fact, those who feel that way are probably not good matches for the way I practice, and that's okay with me.
ReplyDeleteWe seem to disagree as a profession as to what the brand of Chiropractic at large is, and that is unfortunate. However, I do get to choose how I brand the chiropractic I sell in my own office and "evidence based" semi-allopathic chiro world is not my brand. I don't judge that brand, it just is not my chiropractic brand. It is not what I want and it is not what my patients want.
(And for the record, I have never told a patient EVER that chiropractic cures anything. I have told many people that their body can only function better when they have no subluxations.)
People think "pain relief" currently when they think of Chiropractic. It is not where we started, nor is it where we want to end up. We want to be associated with "optimum" performance and expression in all aspects of life. Wellness would have worked if we had started this exercise 10 years ago when some leaders of our profession suggested that we grab it before someone else did. OOPS, they were right. Wellness has been coopted and now it is an uphill battle to gain it back.
ReplyDeleteAs for this blog coming from Life U. I will make my comments with the student in mind. First off branding in the way it's done in big business can not be duplicated in the small business (chiro practice). Big corporations spend millions trying to gain top of mind awareness and most fail miserably. Where do you start? It starts with understanding that you are first a business owner and a chiropractor second. This will offend some/many and I'm OK with that. Many chiropractors think like chiropractors and not as a business owner/entreprenuer.
ReplyDeleteDan Kennedy a very successful marketer and entreprenuer has this to say about branding:
Dan Kennedy Blog post Sept 2009;
I do counsel AGAINST investing directly into brand-building, especially with large-company style ‘image’ advertising that cannot be accurately and ruthlessly held accountable. So here are a few principles and tips about your brand identity:
By all means, work at creating name-brand identity and recognition for yourself and your small business – but do it where it counts, with a carefully selected target, niche or subculture market small enough that you can have impact with whatever resources you have, defined narrowly enough you can create compelling messages for it.A giant market is only useful to someone with a giant wallet. You do not want to waste your life peeing into the ocean. (For example, I have aimed myself at “entrepreneurs” pretty successfully, but “corporate America” has been sacrificed. Stephen Covey may have 10,000 copies of one of his books bought by American Airlines or Citibank. I most assuredly will not.) Whatever your business, nationally or locally, there is a PRIME market, a PRIME audience: build brand identity with them.
Continued...
Dan Kennedy continued...
ReplyDeleteA brand or brand identity is, essentially, a recognized symbol that represents and calls to mind WHAT you and your business is about. I maintain it should also be designed to resonate with a very specific WHO that your business is for. Many marketers are reasonably clear about their WHAT but woefully unclear about their WHO, thus their WHAT is often wrong.
By all means, work at creating name-brand identity and recognition for yourself and your business – but do it as a by-product and bonus of solid, accountable, profitable direct-response advertising and marketing….avoid buying it outright, such as with image advertising. Refer to the “Direct Marketing DIET” on pages 20 and 21 of my No B.S. DIRECT Marketing for NON-Direct Marketing Businesses book. If you are a new Member, new to this kind of marketing, this book is MANDATORY reading, and your makeover of your business should begin with this ‘Diet.’
Do not confuse ‘brand identity’ with logos and slogans. Logos, slogans, color schemes and other imagery are simply devices used to convey or support brand identity, just as typefaces are a means of conveying words. Brand identity is about ideas, first – representations of ideas second. If you’re up for an interesting book germane to this point (not written by me!), get Made To Stick. Also, do not confuse ordinary slogans with Unique Selling Propositions: a USP answers my copyrighted question, THE most important question you’ll ever answer: “why should I choose to do business with you vs. any and every other option available to me?”
If you do develop brand identity, develop a ‘customer culture’ with it, so your brand is theirs. Think Starbucks or Disney. The customers are part of something, not just people being sold to. But, whatever you do, don’t blindly copy big companies’ advertising practices. Very, very, very carefully learn from the very few smart ones, like Disney. But remember they are playing in a different league with different rules and different means of keeping score…..as example, you may keep score by profit while they must keep score by stock price (which rarely, formulaically reflects profit). And they have more resources than you do.
For most small businesses, personal branding is far superior to corporate/business branding. People prefer dealing with people, than with nameless, faceless, soulless institutions. Put yourself out there!
Most basic, starting-point summary: begin with WHO is your business for? + WHAT do you want to be known for, by that WHO?, then HOW can you represent, symbolize, summarize that in a memorable way.
Currently, chiropractic means "neck and back pain relief," in the minds of the public. I am amazed at how many people I meet who do not know the connection between chiropractic and the nervous system. Some of them are under chiropractic care! When I explain the importance of a balanced nervous system, as opposed to "cracking" and "popping" to feel better, lights go on!
ReplyDeleteChiropractic is about the role the nervous system plays in our life. Important? Absolutely! The nervous system is what monitors and controls our body's many functions (evidence-based as per Guyton's Physiology). When there is a disconnect between that communication (subluxation), there will be problems.
As for category ownership, I am doing my best to let everyone know that I am a doctor of the nervous system. When someone asks me how the "back-cracking" or "spine-straightening" business is, I tell them that I don't know, I'm in the Nervous-System-Balancing business! You can imagine where the conversations go from there.
As for the evidence-based comments: research is absolutely important for furthering our understanding of chiropractic and moving it in the right direction. However, if we continue to research same-old same-old, we will not get very far (think of the definition of insanity). Guyton did not publish the connection between the nervous system and the immune system until the 1990's. The Palmers discussed this connection in the early 1900's. They were not wrong and then found right, they were right all along. Science has a long way to go before we truly understand everything out there.
The branding of chiropractic is always an entertaining topic to say the least. People "think" a lot of things about chiropractic care, most of them have been mentioned. I was doing a screening this weekend at a local mall and a woman came up to our table and said "Oh are you giving out info? A friend of mine was just telling me how chiropractic care changed her life!" The women scheduled for an appointment right away. This is my brand, my goal, to change lives. I say it every morning: What I do changes lives. This women said nothing about pain or symptoms of any kinds because really in the grand scheme of things changing someones life will be different with every patient! So whether you focus on headaches and low back pain, or life energy, or science and evidence based research, its all the same in the end; change someones life! My focus is pregnancy and pediatric care, I see lives change in front of my eyes everyday, how blessed and lucky I am! My chiropractic brand is "life changing".
ReplyDeleteI have received some feedback that I did not post. All comments that are flippant and serve to discredit other commenters will not be posted. I'm all for meaningful debate and think all sides to an issue are good to see and discuss. However, this is not a forum for negativity. Please be constructive in your dialogue...if we're going to get anywhere, we gotta get there together.
ReplyDelete