Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle Brands, Keep it Real. Simple. Branding

In a world filled with too much of everything (and just as much similarity), the ongoing process of building clear, valued and sustained differentiation through branding is a crucial step to forging relationships and growing business.

So how can your healthcare or healthy lifestyle brand stand out and stand apart? By aligning your organization/services or product around the promise of your brand. Ensuring that all you do from selling your brand's story inside, to building your product, service, market, channel, pricing, customer service and communications strategies reinforce why you're the best choice for consumers. And this is about REAL. SIMPLE. BRANDING:

REAL.
I remember calling AOL. I was told via IVR that "we've doubled our number of customer service representatives to deliver a higher standard of customer service. Please hold and the next representative will be with you shortly. Your waiting time is approximately nine minutes." That's not real.

SIMPLE.
Stand for something. One thing. Be the best at safety, performance, whitening, speed, durability, magic, luxury. Put a stake in the ground and declare your one thing to the world. Remember Billy Crystal's line in City Slickers. He tells his riding mates that life's about one thing. Well, the same holds true for branding.

BRANDING.
Like any verb, connotes action. Practicing the REAL and SIMPLE of above. Managing the multiple (off line and on line) interactions that people have with your brand each day; and that either enhance or detract from your desired perceptions. Remember that whether you're driving or not, your indelible mark is being stamped into consumers minds! It's an imprint that's hard to erase, so create it on your terms.