#108: How To Stand Out Through Personality

Patients today have more choices than ever, and most dental practices sound the same online. Clinical skill is assumed. Convenience is expected. The question is, how do patients decide which practice to call?

In this episode, we explore why a clearly defined brand personality has become one of the most powerful tools for standing out, building trust, and being remembered in a crowded market. Discover how personality shapes recognition, recall, and patient confidence long before someone schedules an appointment.

We also break down everyday examples from well-known brands and translate those lessons directly into dentistry.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why most practices blend in and how personality solves that problem
• Why patients choose practices that feel familiar and confident
• The difference between a logo and a real brand experience
• Two to three practical steps to defining your practice’s personality
• How a strong personality leads to better case acceptance and referrals

If your practice struggles to stand out online, attract the right patients, or convert interest into action, this episode will help you understand what is missing and how to fix it.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Brand Personality
03:00 The Importance of Standing Out
05:48 Defining Brand Personality
11:50 Building a Memorable Brand
24:03 Practical Steps to Define Your Brand
31:56 Conclusion and Call to Action

Get Help!

If you want help defining a clear, distinct brand personality that attracts the right patients and makes your marketing work harder, our team can help. Reach out to discuss more - maria@markthackeray.com

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Dental Marketing Secrets podcast. This is episode number 108, how to stand out through brand personality. I'm your host, Mark Thackeray, and excited to have you with me today. This episode actually came about. after a discussion I had with my oldest daughter who's taking a business class in high school. And we dove into some of the differentiators of varying businesses and what they do well and how they really kind of separate themselves from the pack. And this is kind of ultimately what it came down to in a lot of ways for a lot of different businesses, not just in dentistry, but you see this all over the place with people and brands and organizations that adopt this or they've really kind of engineered a personality so that it's more memorable, so that it's kind of acts and thinks and behaves like an individual in a lot of cases and that's so much easier to get behind than a very sterile conservative organization that looks for all purposes like everyone else, you know, a very cookie cutter, safe, stay between the lines type of approach. which a lot of people fall into. They don't want to feel like they're unprofessional and they don't want people to question their clinical background or experience or expertise. And so they default to this very medical feel, which I think is doing damage to uh your practice overall. And we'll get into why that is in just a sec, but. uh I just want to set the stage a little bit for this as you look around nowadays more than ever, right? I mean with the the tools that we have access to through Google and AI search to reviews to insurance directories patients have more choices than ever. And when they're looking, you've to put yourself in the patient's shoes. If you go online, because that's how most of them are trying to find a new provider, right? As they go online, they don't really have the time to go and actually physically go into your practice and meet the staff, take a tour, and then go on to the next five offices and do that. So they do it efficiently as best they can online. And more often than not, they look and say, the exact same. know in dentistry it's definitely guilty of just looking at your competitor and copying essentially what they have and maybe tweaking it a little bit. And so everything gets recycled and reused more often than not and as a result we sound a lot like everyone else. And when that happens you become essentially invisible. You know you are not someone who's standing out who's who's shining, you know, and I think of what made me think of this is if you've ever seen the movie, the Lego movie, the original one, and for those of you not, I'll try and describe the scene, but they have uh essentially this one character, his name's Emmett. He's just an ordinary construction worker. He follows the rules, is totally by the book. You know, they're in this world where there's a president, president business is his name, and he's the antagonist. And he dictates, okay, you got to do this. You got to follow this every single day. Here's your script essentially that you do you you wake up you watch this TV show for you know 20 seconds or you have 20 minutes whatever the time duration is and then you could take a shower you eat this for breakfast you do this on your routine to in your way to work you do this at a scheduled time and it's just very prescribed and And then he kind of goes off on a path this Emmett goes off on a path that takes him away and he's missing and all these people are people that are trying to find Emmett are asking his construction crew that he works on the people he interacts with on a daily basis like hey what do you know about this guy and they're like That guy, like I don't, you know, I don't really recall much. He's there, but I don't, I don't really know who he is. don't know it because he just kind of emits the type that just goes along with everything. Right. He doesn't have an instinct personality. They're showing, they're interviewing all these different construction workers. One of them, you know, he's one of them is like Gail's like, how's it, you know, is it clearly defined persona and presence. And, and then there's this other guy who loves sausages. He's got these sausage links. He's always asking people to, you know, trying to get people to come and, and. have kind of like a party type deal. And then the other people that he meets on a regular basis, there's surfer Dave, total surfer bro, know, talks like him. He's like, man, I like, know that guy, but I don't really know that guy. You know, I mean, that's kind of the vibe he has. And there's all these people with clearly distinct personalities, individuals versus Emmett, who's just trying to fit in, you know, he just wants to fit in so badly, but he's scared to, he doesn't really have a personality. And so people don't remember him when he's gone. They're like, I don't know. I don't really know much about him. And that's that's kind of what happens a lot in with businesses. think of we kind of you know, they form these default personalities, which because we don't haven't spent time figuring out what they want it to look like. And as a result, they just get lost in the shuffle more often than not. Yeah, there's people obviously have patients and people that are loyal to you that are we love how friendly they are. love how this they are but that's true of most practices. It's not really something that distinguishes you over someone else in most cases and what I'm talking about is really having uh something that people can recall. know something that's easier to communicate with other people and describe so that when patients when their friends hear about your practice they're more likely to be interested by it and not just well you know they treat us like family. and you know things like that these platitudes that get tossed around. You know if you look around too I was it's good exercise to think of what brands have a very distinct personality that you like. You know I mean Starbucks comes to mind for it's a popular example for a lot of people because of the atmosphere. Good question to ask is how do how does my practice make you feel? How does my practice make the patients feel when they come in? So much of the personality is stems from the type of feeling that you get when you interact with that that personality. So going back to the Starbucks example it's not just about coffee and beverages it's about the experience and that was an intentional intentionally designed because Howard Schultz he went to Italy it is Howard Schultz right trying to remember that's, yeah, okay. Just had to do a quick check to make sure I wasn't sitting in. So yeah, he went to Italy and had just fell in love with how. the experience that it was. wasn't just a coffee. I mean, it was a whole social experience. was a gathering. was, you know, the, the, and it's funny because over there, they're just very small amounts of, you know, concentrated coffee essentially. And, and, but it was, part of the lifestyle, you know, and that's what he took away from that and wanted to build his, his business around was that experience. And so when you walk into Starbucks, it's very intentional. You have, it's open. They want you, it was kind of, it was defined as the, the place between uh home and work essentially. It's kind of that hangout. You can relax, you can de-stress, you can do some work, you can do other things, just meet with friends, it can be social. uh But it's just about that experience and they've built that into the language and the tone and the colors and the process. It's just all about surrounding that experience. Apple's another great example where it's very intentionally designed to be uh forward thinking. in that sense, you're associating yourself with a business that is top of the premier, the best of the best, but also this progressive thinking, in terms of technology, being the capacity to do things. ah You get a lot of confidence, you walk into the store, it's not cluttered, it's very clean, it's very well-defined, and that's part of their brand. It's all about clarity and simplifying. trying to do a zillion things it's doing those few things extremely well and being known for that. There's also Disney is one of my all-time favorites just because it it's all centered around this idea of having a magical experience which obviously goes right in line with with their you know their rides the entertainment that everything that they do and it's it's seeped down into their employees and I've shared this on the podcast before but you go to any of their amusement parks and the workers are entitled to, they're really empowered to make your day exceptional. You know, they're not just following a script saying, hey, these are your job duties, but they're also looking at your experience. They're asking you questions. They're trying to get feedback so that they can go out of their way to make it a memorable day for you. And I've had one of my good friends go down to Disney World with her kids. She watched the fireworks one evening, had a great time. The next morning someone asked her about, did you have a good time last night? She said, yeah, we enjoyed the fireworks. It was great. The kids loved it. She's like, it was, you know, there's one thing that I some shrubs and stuff like that, that I couldn't see everything, but no worries. You know, I mean, it was still really cool. The next night they go back that same night, they go back and those are gone. Like they've, they've trimmed the shrubs. And so there's more, a better view and all these things. And it's just a simple example of how. they've empowered their employees to do what they can to go out to make it an exceptional uh experience for the patrons, for everyone who's coming there. And what a powerful lesson that is, you know? I mean that they're obsessed about details, you know? They're just, they're always trying to innovate opportunities to make the customer have a tremendous experience, a memorable experience, one that they want to talk about. And it's funny because I know my friend has told that story probably dozens and dozens of times now. She's actually uh in a position of authority for organization. So I know it's come up. She's probably shared that with thousands of people at this point. And that's one tiny experience, And imagine if you could do that for your practice where you're enabling your team to look for those opportunities to wow the customer, to wow the patient to make them feel that they are your sole focus. That is that's personality. That's what I'm talking about when we're discussing this brand personality that stands out that's easier to refer. It's you build these memories that you can recall in an instant and that it's all centered around how it makes you feel. So going back to why this is so important is that it's so easy to compare practices now. Like I mentioned before at the top, we have all these tools and resources to be like, hey, I can compare 10 practices in 10 minutes. Like it's very efficient on the surface. The problem with that is that most of them don't have a well-defined personality. know, they don't articulate that in terms of what they can do in terms of how they approach things. And that's that's such a differentiator now because there are so many options You know we go drive down the street, and there's ten different dentists right there You know I mean I have my pick the pick of my little litter really you know it's not that hard especially I'm in Utah and it the concentration is insane like it really is Drive past at least six other practices before going to my dentist and mine's pretty close So it's just we have our choice and more often than not we detour default to familiarity. We want the comfort. We want the confidence. We want the vibe. That's important to us because it's who we associate with. I mean it's part of uh a reflection on us. You that's one of the reasons why Apple has done so well is that people see that and like oh Apple phone you know iPhone and all this stuff and people associate that with top of the top. You know, it's funny because I love Android and I have no qualms about sharing that and people love to just hate on me for it, you know, and it's so funny. I just think it's so funny because I, you know, and I've always admired Apple for a lot of different reasons, but for me, it's just a personal preference. And now it's been, you know, it's kind of been embedded into my personality. I just love kind of digging at it because everyone is so over the moon about Apple and iPhones and stuff, but they, they probably more mistakes than any of the other. More things go wrong than, and I'm always just chuckling and doing little digs at my friends. uh And it's just fun, know, but that's what I'm talking about. Like people want to associate with that. My kids are obsessed. They have to have an iPhone. If it's not an iPhone, they're like, I don't even want it, you know? And it's just, it's the perception. It's not the actual practicality. It's not the functionality or anything like that. It's all about the perception. and I admire that because it's this personality that they've built. I don't necessarily subscribe to it as far as their technology, but I just really admire that from a business standpoint. So let's get into it. What is personality? What it's not? Because that can be kind of muddy sometimes. It's when I think of brand personality, I think of the way that you, again, the biggest, the top line is the most important thing is how do you make the people feel when they're dealing with your practice, dealing with your company, your business, and it's how you speak. It's how you explain things. how you greet people, how you follow up, how you handle objections, fear, uncertainty, things like that. It's all those details. It's being intentional about defining how you do that as a team, not just as a doctor, but as an entire team. It's gotta be cohesive for it to really stick. And if you look on the flip side, a brand personality is not just a logo, although that's part of it. It's not just colors. It's not just a slogan. And it's not trying to appeal to everyone. That is not a personality. And I kind of learned this the hard way when I was, so I started a photography company when I was fresh out of college and. Determined that I was gonna make it work, right? And when you're just starting a business more often than not you are just grabbing at business anything that comes your way you embrace Even though it might not be your favorite to give you an example I was you know as a photographer I got asked to do a lot of different things stock photography where people would come in and we shoot all these random poses and hopes that they could go on to a website like iStock and sell these images and you make a quarter off of everyone or whatever you know i mean it was so wild i remember this family came in that wanted to do this and so we i was just trying to build up my portfolio and advertised free sessions just to get some experience and these guys came in they were doing all these weird kind of positions and not not inappropriate but it was just random completely random like a family pyramid and and balancing on this It was just, I remember just shaking my head and it was so odd and... Unfulfilling it was not my vision of photography at all. I did not want to do that that after you know that and a few other A few other experiences. I said no more. I am never gonna do that again, and I didn't uh I just defined at that point that hey I'm going to shoot what I like to shoot because that's gonna attract more of these things if I have photography for you know stock photography or if I have you know architecture and things like that I'm gonna attract more of that and I don't necessarily necessarily want to do that. I want to focus on people. I want to focus on events. so that's those were my lanes. I well, I really defined what I would do and what I would not do. And that was a tremendous help down the road. It allowed me to really go deeper in what I offered uh and and build this really this true personality. So that was one thing is just kind of picking what you do and what you don't do. But then the next step was now what is my approach? What is my person? know, and so for me, just to stick with this example, it was, it's a very... unobtrusive, was not a domineering type of person where I would come in and dictate we have to do this, we have to do this and boss people around, you know, and make them feel not dumb but just, you know, make them redo things. Like I'd shot a lot of events, I shot a lot of weddings, and my approach was very photojournalistic, which means that you capture things as they unfold naturally and organically. I wasn't contriving moments, you know, but I was anticipating things. I would see, okay, This is and I'm fully aware of what's going on the schedule and I'm looking at the key players and how emotional it can sometimes be and anticipating those moments and capturing those and Often more often than not People would come back to me clients would be like I am so amazed that you got these pictures I didn't even realize that you were there and that was my personality. It was to be the unseen Person there, you know for the for the key players, you know, and that was I did that really, really well for many years and that's what helped me create this niche. was people that were like, I don't even like I that's, you know, I'd explain it to them and they would just that's exactly what I was thinking. I didn't even know how to articulate that, but that's precisely what I'm looking for. And so it's that's what a well-defined personality can do is it can it's like a magnet, you know, they see you and it's just this like a ray from heaven like, oh, like I found the person that I'm looking for, you know. where it matches their personality, it matches their vibe. And you do it in such a way where ideally that connection starts before they even walk into the practice. It's so well articulated and defined by examples and language and colors and brand that all has this, it's built in magically to create this personality and communicate that personality that even upon entering the website, they're already like, oh, I know who this person is. I know what this brand represents. and how this practice is gonna make me feel. eh It's important to think, and maybe you're feeling, well, I don't know if I can do that, but there's a huge risk in not doing this. And this is why I'm sharing this podcast. It's just because I think there's things that you ought to know, and it's just like what you do when you're with patients. You have to explain the consequences of... They're both good and bad, right? The consequences of following through with treatment, consequences for not, for the inaction, for not complying with this treatment or the prescribed plan. And if you don't, in this case, those consequences can look like you blend in, which means you don't stand out, and that results typically in competing on price. where it defaults to price because people get that. They can't distinguish between the other options because it doesn't, it looks all the same to them. You know, I mean, they're looking through and, we treat people like family and we're convenient and comfortable and stuff like that. And that's, it's fine. Like I said, it's, but it's not. it's not going to distinguish you above someone else. And so they're going to be like, well, these people all look the same. So I'm going to default to how much does it cost and things like that. As a result, end up attracting, you track some of the right patients, but you also attract more of the wrong patients, more patients than you would like. It also leads to a lack of identity for your team, which can result in lack of direction. not really sure how to approach it or they have it. It's very random. It's not well thought out. It's not intentional. It's just how do I feel today? I'm going to describe it this way instead of having a prescribed way of approach. Think of things like Chick-fil-A. have these predictable, they use language that you're familiar with. My pleasure. You mean, those that you hear that a million times, that's built into their training because that's part of their personality. You can do the same thing. And those practices that have that type of unity, that cohesion, and that direction and clarity have this, they build in the language for internally as a team but also with patients. And so it can help them, remind them of what they stand for and how they go about their business. And this makes their marketing so much easier too. Once you have that personality, you can showcase that. You can do that in ads. You can do that on the website. You can do that in social media, communication. All those things can have personality. You know, it can have, say you love humor, you know, and you're lighthearted. You obviously are good at what you do and you pride yourself on the expertise that you bring to the table, but you just have a good nature of humor about you. You love to joke and jest and things like that. Build that into your personality. You know, obviously you want to demonstrate that you are credible and not just a comedian But but you can you can show that off all day long and that can be a huge asset because now you stand out You stand out ten times more than all the other competition more likely most likely in your area because they're not doing that And it's easier for people to refer. I think that's a big, huge benefit of all this is that it makes you memorable. You're easier to recall. They can provide, your patients can provide concrete examples of this personality and this experience. take my friend and the Disney experience, they can share that and it's concrete, it's definable, it's something that they can wrap their head around. that's Seth, know, mean that will, it impacts people differently, it hits differently. So those are just a couple of things, but let's just switch gears a little bit. I'm gonna share a few things that you can do to start building a defined brand personality that stands out. One is decide who you're for and who you're not for. Going back to my photography example, this was a massive step forward for me. Defining who what I was gonna do what type of clients I want what type of work I was going to do Made it so much easier now. I can zero in on those lanes, and I don't have to think about all this Peripheral stuff I can just avoid it Same thing with your practice Clarity beats volume you want to be known for specific things Right? And I know you've got a wide variety of services. You're not saying to not focus on those, but there's ones that you can highlight and zero in on. And yes, you might still treat the other people for those type of procedures, but they're just not the ones that you're advertising all the time. So ask yourself, who do we serve best? Who thrives here? Who refers people like themselves? What are the people that we love to see in the chair on a daily basis? Who comes in and just has a amazing experience every time? What does that look like? What are their symptoms? What is their personality? What is their approach? Really go deep with that and then look at what people are. Who refers people like themselves? Who are your biggest advocates for the practice? And that could be, know, maybe it's, maybe we serve people that are anxious patients. Got a client who does this exceptionally well. that's, he's always built this into his marketing was that we want to make the dental experience better for those that are anxious. Essentially that's his underlying message. We make it easier for you to get the treatment you deserve. And here's how we do that. See again, once you define that, now you can articulate, be specific in how you go about doing that. And when we do that through education, let you know exactly what's going to happen before you even come into the office. We provide sedation options to make you feel at ease, whether that's just nitrous oxide or whether that's IB, we have all these ways to make it a better experience, to inject confidence in you so that you are uh you're getting the treatment that you need, but now you're feeling better about it. You're not so uh anxious or worked up to come in. Or maybe you're really good at working with busy professionals or people that work throughout the day. You've custom engineered your hours so that you can accommodate people before work and after work. because that's your audience. You love working with people that are working through the day. know, I mean, they have their job, they're committed to it, but they just can't slip away. You so that's who you really knock it out of the park for. Or maybe we're family driven, or maybe it's cosmetic. Again, you got to decide who you're for and who you're not. And that's gonna dictate how you can go about these next things. Step two would be then to look at your tone, your language, your behavior, and really dive into the details. Personality lives in the details and you'll decide what's my tone gonna be? Am I going to be friendly versus authoritative? Am I gonna be calm or energetic? Am I gonna be educational or am gonna be conversational? Am I formal? Am I casual? These are all things that you'll decide to help. uh help determine, okay, this is my tone. This is the tone we take with our patients. This is the type of language that we use within the practice to each other internally, but also with patients. And these are some of the behaviors that we promote in our practice in terms of from our team. Okay, and then you start to apply that everywhere. You look at your website, you know, I've decided that, you know, I am very conversational. am conversational. I love a little bit of humor. but I also love to to show to provide value and educational so I think you can that's those are my key things now we're gonna build this out on the website it looks like this and you take some create some examples of that your videos these are all things that you can overlay onto your marketing materials your assets social media it could be video content it could be phone scripts could be follow-up emails it could be text reminders all those things you look at it with these filters on am I personable and am I conversational? Do I have a little bit of humor or lighthearted, lightheartedness to it? Again, you take those custom filters that you've created, your tone, your language, your behavior, and apply that to everything in your practice, right? uh Step three is then to make it visible, make it repeated. So I have a client right now that we're working through a brand, uh call it brand distinction. where it's this exact process where we're trying to define what that looks like. And this is a fun step. It's making it visible and repeated. And there's some cool ways that you can do that. And it's we're working on some posters that will be in the office positioned throughout the office that outline the values that we stand for, you know, and then we go through, it has a little bit of a definition, but then it's reinforced by patient testimonials that speak specifically to that value and I'm going to pull it out so I can speak to it give me one second and it's really neat because it's it's reinforcing for the for the patients but also for the team and here we go so one of them is a fear-free patient experience So picture this, this poster, it's, you know, you got a big headline, a fear free patient experience, short description underneath that reads, we understand that visiting the orthodontist can be nerve wracking. Our team is dedicated to making every visit comfortable, explaining every step of the process. So patients, both children and adults feel confident and safe. And then it has two patient testimonials underneath. As an adult braces patient, I was nervous, but from the first consultation, I knew I was in the right hands. And then another one, everyone hates the dentist but I'm not going to say their name, makes orthodontics, makes going an absolute pleasure. I actually look forward to my visits. Again, this is just a... an example of what you can do to reinforce that behavior, to make it visible so that your team sees that and they remember to exhibit the personality that you've created for your brand, for your practice. And you can do that, these are just one example, you can do that in posters, you can do that in videos or stories or educational content, things like that. But the more you do it, that repetition builds recognition. And all of this is just gives you such an advantage. And that's what makes me excited to share this is because it gives you that distinction to be distinguished among everyone else. And there's so many benefits. I mean, you're looking at higher trust before the visit because they already feel like they have a connection. They already feel like they know who you are. because they've seen you on the website, you've communicated those values, the tone, the language, those type of things. It leads to faster case acceptance because of that trust. It leads to a better patient compliance after you work through treatment, uh stronger referrals, more experiences, more memorable and shareable experiences, lower marketing resistance, less price sensitivity. The list keeps going and going. But the key to remember is that people pay more and stay longer with brands they trust. Look at Apple. People pay more. It's a premium product and people pay a premium price for it and they stay longer with it. It is hard to price someone away from an iPhone once they've had it. I'm one of the fewer exceptions but it's people stay longer and pay way more to work with those brands that they trust. Okay, so those are a few things you can also look at. Here's a couple of questions that you can ask yourself as you're building this out to kind of gauge how well-defined this is, would a patient recognize your practice without the logo? Another one. Could they describe you in one sentence? this one is great for your team, would two different team members describe your practice in the same way? If not, then there's some clarity missing. There's some chance for recalibration or realignment. So I'll just end with this. In a world full of good dentists, personality is how patients choose. You don't necessarily need to be louder. You need to be clearer. I hope this was helpful. I do feel very strongly about this just because I think if you look out throughout your life, there's people that we're naturally attracted to and it's not because they fit in with everyone else. It's because they have a unique personality. Anywhere you look. could be a brand, mean it could be a celebrity, maybe there's a celebrity, or a, you know, I watch a lot of sports, so some commentators, color analysts, they just have a personality. Charles Barkley's a great example. He will share his opinion, he doesn't care if he upsets the network or anything like that, he's gonna get up there and he's gonna tell you how he feels. People love him for that, right? It's because of that personality. And the same thing can be applied to your practice. You don't have to be as outspoken as him, obviously, but you can be have that defined personality that resonates and that communicates who you are well before they walk into your practice. So I hope that helps. If you have questions about this, if you would like our team to help you with uh creating a brand distinction. Package for you and your practice to really define what that personality looks like and how you can use that Then just let me know contact Maria at it's Maria at mark Thackeray comm I'll link that up in the show notes and if you've enjoyed this episode and want to leave a review that would just Make me so happy that would make my day. So just post a review wherever you're listening to this podcast and It'll help other people Find this this podcast as well. So till then my friends have a great day. We'll talk to you next time.