Is your practice expanding into new markets, bringing on a new doctor, merging with another practice, or simply ready for a fresh identity? Rebranding your orthodontic practice is a BIG move, and the process should be handled carefully and strategically.

Successful orthodontic rebranding isn’t just about creating a new logo or ordering new office signs with your new practice name. It requires a long-term strategy, over multiple phases, to ensure a smooth transition and avoid losing any community trust or online visibility.

As an orthodontic marketing agency with over 20 years of experience helping orthodontists tell their story by creating a new brand from the ground up or rebranding a long-standing identity when the time is right, we understand how to navigate the process from all angles, and we’re here to help.

Here are three key things to keep in mind when planning your rebrand:

1. Tell your story, or people will make up their own.

Rebranding an established brand invites curiosity. Your current patients, referring dentists, community (and peeping competitors) will want to know what changed, and why. They may wonder if ownership is changing, if the doctors they’re familiar with are leaving, if your services or approach is changing, and what the overall nature of the rebrand is.

The best way to maintain trust is to tell your story, your way. Depending on the complexity of the rebrand, that could mean creating a video message from the doctors, adding a temporary tagline to your logo (e.g. “formerly Caudill Orthodontics”), launching a social media campaign that explains the evolution, and mailing/emailing letters to your current patients. Strategic and authentic messaging is paramount before, during and after a rebrand.

When we helped Nease & Higginbotham Orthodontics transition to Nth Degree Orthodontics, we didn’t just drop a new name. We told the story of their rebrand, and created a narrative that honored the practice’s legacy, while welcoming in the next chapter that reflected Dr. Thomas’ partnership and their shared vision.

From campaign materials to press releases and social content, the story came first. And because of that, their community was a part of and accepting of the journey.

2. Create a realistic timeline (and don’t forget the “in-between”).

A solid rebranding checklist should always include a well-paced timeline. Creating a timeline ensures that you stay on track with each phase of the new brand being rolled out and introduced to the community, and helps align your internal planning (logo development, signage, website, etc.) with your external roll-out (announcements, launch events, online updates).

If you jump from Point A to Point Z too quickly, your community and internal team may feel confused or disconnected, and they’ll create their own story around the rebrand. We’ve seen this in the industry before, and it leaves people speculating and wondering what went wrong. We want to avoid this at all costs!

Start by mapping out the phases of the process:

• Internal planning and design
• Content and collateral updates
• Patient and community communication
• Public roll-out and follow-through
• Post-launch analysis of website performance and patient/community feedback

The transition period is especially important. It’s a good idea to use both your old and new brand in tandem, for example, including a tagline like “formerly Nease & Higginbotham Orthodontics” under the new name, and retaining recognizable brand elements like fonts, colors, and doctor names.

The transition period may span months or even years depending on the brand equity of your current practice name. In the case of Caudill & McNeight Orthodontics, we chose to slowly evolve their brand with a multi-phase rebranding strategy and rollout that included:

• A new logo that kept both doctors’ names intact
• Materials and campaigns that introduced “321 Orthodontics” as a future-facing identity through strategic use of hashtags, email, and social verbiage to warm up the community
• A new website timed with their new (Viera) office grand opening

All of it was coordinated to give their patients clarity, not whiplash. Over time, this will allow patients to associate the refreshed brand with the same trusted care they’ve known for over 30 years, without feeling like anything was lost.

3. Don’t drop the SEO ball.

When changing your practice name and website domain, make sure your whole online presence is updated so your practice visibility doesn’t take a hit.

It’s easy to get caught up in fun new designs and physical signage, but your virtual presence and the technical SEO side of your digital marketing need just as much care and attention. You don’t want your website links and business listings showing 404 errors, leaving your current patients unsettled and prospective patients thinking you’re out of business. Yikes!

Updating your digital business means claiming all new domains and social handles before you launch the brand, updating website info, and updating citations across every platform (Google, Yelp, Healthgrades, referring dentist lists, etc.).

This is when the rebrand gets technical and detailed. You’ll need to consider:

• Your NAP (name, address, phone) across all listings
• Domain redirects (old website URLs redirecting to the new site URLs)
• Citations (business listings)
• Website meta tiles and descriptions
• Any backlinks (press releases, referrals, community partners, etc.) directing to your site

And you’ll want to monitor the analytics to catch any post-launch dips in traffic or rankings, which would indicate some part of the migration was neglected or unsuccessful.

Partner with enox, your rebranding experts!

Planning a rebrand is a lot to consider, especially for an orthodontist or practice manager who has more than enough on their plates. It takes a thought-out strategy (both short-term and long-term), experience with successful rebrands, deep knowledge of both traditional and digital orthodontic marketing, knowing everywhere your business is listed and linked, and so on…

We partner with you to plan, execute and measure the entire rollout of changes — ensuring that all of the dots are connected and nothing falls through the cracks. Whether you’re wondering about rebranding a logo, rebranding your practice from the ground up, or just looking to learn more about rebranding strategies and what’s possible, we’re here to help.

For more than two decades, we’ve helped practices of all types, sizes and goals to create brands that stand the test of time, and refresh or completely reinvent brands that aren’t accurately reflecting their values, services or market changes anymore.

Ready to start planning your rebrand? We’re a rebranding agency, and we’d love to be a part of it. Let’s start with a complimentary discovery session.