How Much Should You Pay for Your Dental Logo?

Using Internet search engines you could find "stock" logos as low as $19.99, even lower if you looked hard enough. For custom dental logos the cost range can be as low as $100, and not uncommonly as much as $5,000 (or more). So what is the best logo development strategy for your dental practice?

There are three general factors to consider:

1) Your current presence in the market:

Are you the only dentist within 10 miles?
Are you the most experienced or have the most expertise?
Are you the biggest advertiser?
Do you have the best dental Web site?

2) Your desired position:

Do you want to be...
• THE Cosmetic Dentist?
• An expert in Aesthetic & Advanced Dentistry?
• The most skilled Reconstructive Dentist?
• The most experienced Sedation Dentist?
• The most comfortable Dental Spa?

3) The value you place on your brand or the value you want others to place on it!

What should your dental logo look like to get the dental clients you want?

1) Current Market Presence

First, determine how you stack up against your competition in your community or region:

• How many dentists are there in your "competitive" area?
If you're one of two dentists, your logo needs are different than if there are thirty "general" competitors. When the competition is sizeable, your dental logo needs expand exponentially.

• How many have a similar service strategy or projected image?
With 50 general competitors, and 25 vying for the same audience, you are more likely to need differentiating elements, which should include a dental logo.

• How active are they in marketing outside of the Yellow Pages?
When everyone is hidden away under a telephone in a dusty Yellow Pages book, a dental logo advertised proactively in other sources can propel your image out beyond their reach for years to come. Without a logo, you might continue to be a "dental listing" instead of a dynamic presence in the market.

• What kind of Web presence do they have?
Whatever they are doing better than you or have done longer than you, creates pressure on your image differentiation needs. A dental Web site without a logo is a recipe for mediocrity and disconnection. For example, if a "visually inspired" Web visitor sees your advertisement after viewing your site, how do they reconnect with you without seeing an underlying design theme? Is your image inspiring or expired?

• What is the power of their word-of-mouth advertising?
If competition has a head start in word-of-mouth, how do you create an advantage? How do you hold your lead if you're the one with the head start?

• What is the size of your community/region and its demographic makeup?
In a small community with only two direct competitors a dental logo can effectively differentiate and boost your image, upsetting even an entrenched local dentist icon. A retirement community will expect and accept a different image than a young upscale suburb.

2) Desired Position

Positioning is a very important concept to develop. Just wanting more cosmetic or high-value clients does not constitute a positioning strategy. For example, if there are 50 dentists in your community and 45 are Cosmetic and Family dentists, positioning yourself as the 46th Cosmetic and Family Dentist is much more difficult to differentiate than being the only Advanced Esthetic and Reconstructive Dentist in the county.

When you're one of many practices with the same positioning strategy, such as Cosmetic/Family Dentistry, you need to develop elements to differentiate yourself in the marketplace. You do this through internal strategies such as exceptional customer service and external visual cues such as an advertising campaign and/or the designs you present to the public, which should include your unique dental logo.

As the only Reconstructive and Esthetic Dentist (RED) in the area for discerning adults, you would need to do more explaining and value building. You would stand out quicker with a moniker like RED, but fewer people would think they need your services because it's couched in terms that are less familiar. Cosmetic and Family Dentistry is more quickly understood than esthetic/reconstructive, but using common terms often promotes same-as-everyone-else images. Your dental logo needs to provide something to alleviate their (RED) confusion. It needs to say, "You've made the right decision."

Maybe you want to sell cosmetic dentistry to every person possible: then your dental logo should reflect that. If you want to sell it to those who want "only the best" complete smile makeovers, your logo needs to speak directly to those people. Possibly, you want a clientele somewhere in the middle. To be successful, you should target that group with a proper visual image.

Obviously, a dental logo is not the only marketing tool you need to employ; however, it defines who you are to many people more quickly than any other marketing phenomenon. The powerful impact of a dental logo can't be translated verbally or in written format. It's like having your customer service philosophy artfully depicted. Some people think in pictures. What are they thinking about you? Right now!

3) The VALUE you place on your brand or the VALUE you want others to place on it!

What should your dental logo look like to get the dental clients you want?

Contrast these two images: "a golden globe with purple swooshes semi-circling it" versus "a smiling tooth dancing with a grinning red toothbrush". While the tooth and toothbrush are professionally trained in ballroom dancing, the image they project is NOT one of superior skill and beauty realized.

The progressive cosmetic dentist with a thousand hours of advanced continuing education and a brand new, elegant, state-of-the-art dental practice in an upscale area needs a different image than the family and cosmetic dentist who has purchased their first practice from a retiring dentist in a 20 year-old office complex in an upper-middle to middle class neighborhood.

When your dental patient demographics, location, facility, experience and expertise are somewhere in the middle of those two scenarios, your dental logo and image should have a different design subtext.

Here is another contrasting example: Imagine a cosmetic dentist with a logo of a smile -- a big GRINNING smile. It had personality -- A LOT! It was dental related. It was... a SMILE. So that made it right for a cosmetic dentist. WELL... maybe not.

This dentist's practice is in a semi-swank neighborhood. Cosmetic dentist Silvia was NOT about goofy smiles and entertaining the kids; she was about helping people feel better, more confident and look great. She wanted her clients to respect her skill -- and quite honestly -- pay her commensurate to her significant expertise.

She wanted a dental logo that was NOT about dentistry, but about her and her clients' needs and expectations. She loved dance, theatre and classical music. While she realized most of her clients were women, she wanted married women to be confident enough about her skills (and image) to bring in their husbands without dragging them (or drugging them). She chose to integrate "modern swanky" with classic art, but she still wanted a smile somewhere in the design.

The dental logo "depicts" a male and female ballet dancer swirling around two Greek columns above a small pool of water, creating a "smile". The logo is accompanied by her practice name (in a classic font). Rather than Cosmetic Dentist Silvia, Smiles R Us, she has become Silvia Semi-Swanky, DDS: Artful Smiles in Harmony With Nature.

With this image, she is able to create the spa environment she wants and no longer is seen as the family dentist everyone used to think she was. She now can attract an upscale clientele (women and men) who want THE BEST.

Conclusion

The price of a dental logo is not expensive. It is commensurate with your overall practice needs. Determine who your audience is and then get a logo to attract that group.

Will a stock logo suffice? Or do you need a custom designed dental logo that has been exactly matched to your personality while enhancing your image, and setting the stage for effective differentiation? Before you call a design group, do an assessment of your situation using the three categories noted. The type and level of your concerns, and the number of questions you are unable to answer, about your local competition, desired position and the value of your image will influence this decision.

Dental marketing is often more reliant on image because of the complexity of smile enhancement expertise. "Why go to a "Dentist A" as opposed to "Dentist B"? Don't all dentists offer the same level of care?" Once you have the expertise, standing out from the crowd is essential. A logo is an opening salvo in this competitive environment.

For many consumers determining value (Expertise, Experience and Artistry) is not something that comes naturally. It is a step-by-step process. Taking the step to develop a dental logo can be difficult and financially worrisome. However, it is one step in the right direction in order to solidify your position and attract the dental clients you want.

Imagine paying $25.000 or $50,000 for a logo! Why would anyone do that?

For more background on logo value and pricing, click to read this article.
"Designing Success", Inc. Magazine, May 2004, Page 28-30
Or go to www.inc.com and type "Designing Success" in the search tool.

Marketing Commentary by Dick Chwalek - Niche Agency, Director
NicheAgency.com -- BetterReferrals@NicheAgency.com

Are you a cosmetic dentist? Do you offer sedation dentistry? Do you do complete smile makeover dentistry? Are you the extreme makeover dentist in your area? Do you want to be a Dental Spa? Does restorative dentistry or esthetic dentistry describe your service strategy? Are you a L. D. Pankey trained dentist or have you trained at LVI (Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies)?

Is neuromuscular dentistry something you want to promote? Do you want to spice up your dental advertising? Is your dental Web site lacking something? How do you "connect" your dental postcards so the visually inspired tie these correspondences together? Do you want dental letterhead and dental business cards that enhance your image? Is your dental marketing sinking under the radar? Do you want to unlock the power of Dental Public Relations?

Then have Niche Agency design the dental logo required to achieve your goals! Niche Agency: The Dental Logos, Dental Web sites and Dental Marketing Specialists.

See what Dr. Kent White of Chattanooga says: click for insight on our dental consulting services.