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Practice Rebranding
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it's essential to mirror your practice online and assure patients that their safety during treatment is your highest priority
Dr. Randy Armstrong built Armstrong Family Dental in Monroe, WI, from the ground up in 2007. Since then, the practice has experienced tremendous growth, including the addition of Dr. Laura Hibbard as a practicing partner. While growth is a good thing, Dr. Armstrong realized that if he wanted to continue to stay profitable and get more patients through the door, he would need to make some changes—starting with the practice's name.
“Many practices are named after partnering clinicians. But choosing a name that excludes last names allows for greater flexibility in the future should we choose to hire additional associates or partners,” explained Dr. Armstrong.
He decided to enlist the help of VivioSites, which specializes in dental website design, SEO, and digital marketing services, to help transition the practice name to The Dental Haus. But the partnering doctors did not stop at a simple name swap. They decided to rebrand the entire practice, which called for a complete website transformation.
“VivioSites volunteered to redesign the website for us at no additional cost,” said Dr. Hibbard. “They took care of everything behind the scenes, including purchasing and maintaining the domain name."
After Drs. Armstrong and Hibbard had a set vision for The Dental Haus in mind, they worked with VivioSites to dive into the next steps of the rebranding process: rebuilding and redesigning their website to better incorporate their logo, launching a blog, and mirroring the practice image online.
"We are using stock images from the VivioSites library right now, but we plan to add photographs of our own treatment to the website to show prospective patients what they can expect during a visit to our office," said Dr. Hibbard.
Dr. Armstrong added, “We want people to feel at home in our office, so our logo incorporates an image of a home, while the waiting room will have new, comfy furniture. We’re adding other amenities for patients, too, such as warm neck wraps and towels.” Regarding current patients acquired prior to the rebranding, he said, “We want them to know that the only changes to the practice are positive ones.”

Word to the Wise: Dr. Hibbard’s 5 Tips for Rebranding
1. If you choose to manage the rebranding process yourself, make sure the domain name you want is available.
2. Get a new logo designed. There are many freelance artists online you can turn to.
3. Get your staff involved, so they can help you come up with ideas.
4. Have a contingency plan for managing patient confusion about the new name during those first few months.
5. Start planning all these changes at least a few months in advance!
Interested in rebranding your own practice? VivioSites is dedicated to helping dentists grow their practices by optimizing their online presence and increasing the number of patients in their care.