Developing a Dental Practice Brand Identity to Attract the Right Patients

Ben Tuinei: Welcome to another amazing episode of the Insurance Untangled podcast. My name is Ben Tuinei, and I’m one of the co-hosts on this podcast that is dedicated to helping you untangle yourself from the mess of insurance that we all have to live with. So today, I have my good friend and co-host Naren with me. I’m gonna interview Naren to talk about an important concept regarding marketing. Naren, how are you, my friend?

Naren Arulrajah: I’m doing great, Ben. This is gonna be a fun episode. I like the topic — developing a dental practice brand identity to help patients choose you for the right reasons.

Ben Tuinei: Yeah, I love it. I love it. I know the last time we spoke, we talked about going from six figures to seven figures. A lot of lessons to learn there. So today we’re gonna talk about exactly what you mentioned — developing a dental practice brand identity, you know, sort of in a way that helps you choose, or at least helps your patients choose you for the right reasons, right? Last thing we want is for people to choose us and they feel like they’ve been misled, or we, you know, whatever it may be, right? We want people that are gonna be compliant.

So let me give some context in terms of a brief introduction to this episode here. In today’s day and age, more than ever, patients are researching practices online before choosing where they go.

Ben Tuinei: You know, a strong brand isn’t just about having a nice logo or a fancy website. I think it’s more about giving patients a reason to choose you, right? So they choose you for whatever reasons that resonate with them. They need to be able to look at your practice and say, "That’s why I love going here," right? We have to give that reason to patients — that they’re going to you. Hopefully, it’s not because of insurance.

So that feeling isn’t just about the online world. It’s more about the in-office experience — the people, the connections that patients feel towards you. I always think that a good brand helps you attract the right patients — those who appreciate your care, or those who are willing to pay for quality. Those are the people that continue to come back because they come to you for the reasons that you want them to come to you. And if quality is the reason — holy smokes — what an ideal model for a fee-for-service practice, you know?

So in this digital age, your brand’s online presence needs to be very strong and consistent to get noticed — at least the type of notice and the type of trust that we’re looking for from patients.

So, Naren, with that brief introduction, the first question I have for you is: Why is branding and practice identity so important for practices in today’s day and age?

Naren Arulrajah: Yeah, I think we have to first talk about what branding is. Sometimes our definitions that we used to have from a long time ago can hurt us. Like, for example, even today, many practice owners ask their patients how they heard about them, right? It’s totally wrong because patients will tell you what they think you want to hear, or what they just remembered — not necessarily what really happened. So that question may have worked in 1999, but it doesn’t work in 2025.

The way to find the answer of how did you get this patient?… is to do tracking — call tracking, phone tracking. They say you don’t need to ask, you know, precisely what they did before they picked up the phone and called, what they did before they filled out that form. Same way, you know, I think we need to understand what branding is.

Naren Arulrajah: A lot of people think of branding as, you know, we remember — especially those of us who are in our late forties, fifties, and so forth — we remember the conversation we had with perhaps a consultant: it’s the logo, it’s the business card, it’s the colors, it’s the brochure. It’s how these colors and logos and fonts come together. That’s what people teach you is branding.

And remember, the world was different before the internet, before Google — we didn’t have access to information. So you needed people; you needed to push your marketing in front of them. So that logo, the flyer, was important. You know, it had to be done in a certain way and be attractive and so forth.

Now, that’s not what marketing is. Now it’s pull marketing. People look for what they want. Either you’re the one they find, and then they like and trust you and they call you — or they don’t, right?

Naren Arulrajah: So when they’re looking for what they want, are you the one who becomes one of the solutions in their mind? Branding today is what people say you are.

So, for example, if you really want to find your brand, go and read 50 of your most recent Google reviews. And I guarantee there’ll be three or four things that the majority of them keep saying again and again and again: "Oh, they treat me like family." "Oh, they have the best technology." "Oh, the doctor stands behind his work." "Oh, they’re always on time." That’s your brand, right? Your brand is what your customers say it is.

So if you’re an existing practice, that’s where I would start. I would find out what do customers think of me. If you’re a PPO practice where you’re doing, you know, free dentistry — of course, the brand is… they won’t say it, but you did free dentistry. But assuming you care about your work and so forth, go read your Google reviews.

Naren Arulrajah: See what the five or six things are that people are telling you, and then lean into this. It doesn’t have to be five or six — I would say three or four things they’re saying about you — then lean into it. That’s your brand. So I think that’s where we need to start.

So I think instead of getting caught up in the trap of colors and fonts and, you know, logos and this and that, we need to really understand what a brand is. Brand is what people say you are.

What’s Apple’s brand? They stand behind their products. They make beautiful products. Their products always work. That’s the brand, right? So when we think of Apple, we know it’s gonna work, we know it’s gonna look good, so I won’t have to hide my phone, right? We know that if there’s a problem, I can take it to a store, or they’ll give me a new one, or they’ll take care of it in the Genius Bar, right?

So that’s the brand, right? What do people think of you? And then if you’re a new practice — just like Apple founders thought about what they wanted people to remember them as — think about how you want people to remember you. "We stand behind our work," "we do quality work," "we take care of you like family," "we care about customer service" — whatever it is, you pick two or three attributes, and that becomes your brand.

Ben Tuinei: Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, I love that, Naren. And I think about, when I first created my business name — it was actually not me, it was my wife — I was asking her, I was like, "What good word conveys truth?" And my wife is Scottish. My wife’s mother — my step, my mother-in-law — she was born and raised in Edinburgh, in Scotland. So she knows how to speak Latin. You know, rest in peace, she passed away a few years ago.

But the way you speak was important to her because she understood Latin, she understood the root — the root words. She understood the definition behind the root words. And for her, she was known for her understanding of the English language that we’ve lost as a society, you know? Right? English has evolved in quite a big way.

So I love what you mentioned about branding and identity, because it feels like that area is evolving too — that we have to keep up with it, you know?

So, you know, when I think about… let’s start with websites, Naren. When I think about a website, or if I’m a dentist thinking about a website, does that — you know — does my website reflect my practice’s identity? Is that an important thing or not in today’s local market?

Naren Arulrajah: Yeah, I think if you’re an existing practice and you read your reviews and you find out your brand is, you know, "we treat our people like family," "we invest in technology," "we stand behind our work" — those messages should easily jump out, right? It could jump out in the form of testimonials. It could jump out in the form of reviews you highlight on your website. And also, your website should be consistent with your practice.

So if your practice looks a certain way, has a certain set of colors — yes, you don’t want a website that has nothing to do with or doesn’t look like your practice. So in that sense, yes, I think colors and themes and, you know, things like that are important.

But I also see websites that are so focused on colors and images and things like that where you are distracting me.

Naren Arulrajah: I don’t really care that you like pink or that you like a certain pink, and, you know, everywhere it’s pink, pink, pink. No, I don’t really care. I’m not looking for the pink dentist. I’m looking for someone who has those attributes, right?

So help me understand you, help me see you — and ideally help me see you not through your words, but through the words of your customers: testimonials, videos, cases. Let me look. Let me find the information I am looking for as a consumer.

You know, I’m looking for Invisalign. So when I go to the Invisalign page — have you done cases? Let me see those cases. I shouldn’t have to go digging to find it. Give me different options. Give me different skin colors, different ages, so I can see, “Oh yeah, someone like me was really happy,” and I see the way they look thanks to you — now I would look the same way.

Naren Arulrajah: Because subconsciously, we think: people like us — if they are happy, we are going to be happy. So, age, skin color, etc.

So, like, really put yourself in the shoes of the customer. Once you understand what your brand is, help me choose you — for the particular problem the customer has, but for the particular things that you deliver. “We stand behind our work,” “we treat people like family,” whatever those things are.

And then I think you have to live it day in and day out, with the help of your team.

Ben Tuinei: Yeah, I like that a lot — what you just said there, Naren. So what about — you know, I’m thinking about what a dentist would ask as a follow-up question here. So if I’m a dentist and I’m thinking, "What role do my team and I play as part of this whole process of creating a very strong brand?" So outside from the website — or maybe that’s tied to this question — what role do the team and the doctor play in creating that brand, or very strong brand, that is?

Naren Arulrajah: Absolutely. Remember I said brand is what your customers say you are. And, yes sir — who decides what your customers are gonna say about you, right? It’s your team.

If your team is not friendly, your customers are not gonna say, "Oh, they are friendly. They treat me like family." What I mean by "treat me like family" is: they remember my birthday, they remember my son’s university, and they ask about those things — that’s treating me like family. They care about me, they know things about me, they remember that I went on a vacation, and they’re like, “Hey, how was your vacation? Do you have any pictures?” Like, it’s almost like I’m going to meet my good old friends if I’m the patient, right?

So if that’s the brand you want, you need your team to buy into that brand and live that brand.

Naren Arulrajah: For example, if “they treat me like family” is your brand — lean in. Before the start of every day, you guys in your morning huddle can just find out what makes that patient tick. “Oh, they love gardening.” “Oh, they just went on a trip.” So you can go through your notes, come prepared, and you’re ready. So people are like, “Wow!” Even though you’re seeing 20 patients, for them, they are the only one that’s important that day — because you remembered something. You asked about them. You asked about things that are important to them.

If that’s your brand… if your brand is great technology — educate them on the technology and why it’s helpful. And of course, invest in technology, right?

If your brand is "we stand behind our work," then when people are upset or not happy — whether it’s on Google or in person — you stand behind it. You make it right. You don’t argue with the patient. I’m not saying you’re a punching bag, but when people are reasonable, you do everything you can to make them happy.

Naren Arulrajah: So whatever your brand is, you have to start role-playing, start encouraging those behaviors. If your brand is treating people like family, and you see your team member asking about the patient and really bonding with the patient, you compliment them in the morning.

“I saw you talking to Susie, and I loved the way you talked about her son and remembered that her son is going through a hard time — how you really connected with her. Thank you so much. This means a lot to me because… you are me.”

Right? The team members are you. You have six people, let’s say, or however many employees you have — they are the ones creating those impressions. They are the ones creating those memories, good or bad, about your brand with your patients.

Ben Tuinei: Yeah. No, I love that, Naren. Yeah, this whole thing about branding — my gosh, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time figuring out our logo. I was of the mindset of: I’m just gonna figure out something that’s clean, professional, and then we’re gonna make it mean something by influencing people to speak positively about it, right?

And, I don’t know, I’m not the best marketing expert, but it seems to work just great for us in following sort of the same line of thought that you’ve been talking about during this episode.

So next question is: when you look at a website and its content, can a website’s design and content affect whether a patient chooses to come to a practice or not?

Naren Arulrajah: Well, it can affect whether they don’t choose you. Like, imagine a cluttered website. Imagine a hard-to-navigate website. Imagine a website that doesn’t show up on Google — so nobody ever finds it. Imagine a website that doesn’t make it easy to pick up the phone and call you.

Like, in other words, if I’m on a smartphone, I should be able to press the phone number and it should ring. No, I don’t want to write down the number and then call it. Are you using technology to make it easy for people? Are you making it easy for people to take the next step? Are you getting rid of everything that’s in their way?

Whether it’s unnecessary colors and logos and things like that that are distracting — are you giving them the right information? If I’m on your Invisalign page, don’t talk to me about anything else.

Naren Arulrajah: Talk to me about your Invisalign cases. Talk to me about how to get ahold of you. Talk to me about the process. So give me only relevant information — not anything else, right?

So I think the do’s, the don’ts, and the mistakes are what I would focus on for this question. Get rid of clutter. Use real photos. Use testimonials. Use videos — especially you explaining things, as well as testimonial videos. And make it easy for people to do business with you, whether it’s on a smartphone or a desktop.

Ben Tuinei: Yeah, relatable and making it human is what I heard out of that, which I like. You know, for me personally, there’s a lot of AI going on…

Sorry, American Express — I love you guys — but, you know, we had a dispute with one of the issues with them a couple of weeks ago. And when we called, we were speaking to an AI. It sounded just like a human being, but it didn’t have the emotional quirks of a human being. So you knew it was AI.

But, you know, the world is evolving. The world has changed. And we kind of have to keep up with all these changes to figure out what’s best for business today, you know?

So, going back to the website concept — Naren, is a good-looking website enough? What else matters other than just how the website looks?

Naren Arulrajah: Yeah, I really think the more important thing — more than the website — is the fact that people are going to the website.

You can get people to go to that website through ads or through SEO. Now, ads — people don’t trust. So that’s not my cup of tea. Usually, it’s five to ten times more expensive per new patient versus SEO. So I would really lean in on SEO.

Now, SEO won’t work for everyone, but it’ll work for 5% of you. Why not our listeners be in that 5%? Why not you be one of those practices that’s ranking for hundreds of keywords?

If you’re ranking for 100 or more keywords on page one — what is a keyword? Like “dentist near me,” “Invisalign dentist,” a zip code — that’s a keyword. If you’re ranking for hundreds of those or more, that means you’re in the top 5%.

Naren Arulrajah: That means you’re gonna get 95% of the free traffic from Google — which is the place people go to find a dentist, look for information, especially local information.

So I really think that’s where I would lean in. I would really focus on dominating Google. I would really focus on working on all the things that lead to you dominating Google, like NAP, your Lighthouse score, Google E-E-A-T, and so forth.

So dominate Google. If you’re not ranking for hundreds or more keywords, that’s a huge opportunity. Yes, you have to have a long-term perspective — at least a year or so — to really do well. But if you have that perspective, and if you’re willing to stick with it, you will do really, really well with SEO.

Ben Tuinei: I love it. I love it. To me, looking at how dentists are marketing today, I think there’s a lot of power in what you just said — in terms of SEO being a place to look at.

So, if I’m a dentist and I have all kinds of marketing programs that I’ve tried or I’m still trying things — how do I know if the marketing that I’m doing now is working? And what steps do you recommend to review something like that, Naren?

Naren Arulrajah: Yeah, that’s a great question. So I really think you need to start looking at your reviews to understand your brand and then see — is your website talking about those things? Does your website have proof around those things?

If they say you do great dentistry — are there cases? Is there pictures? If they say you treat me like family — are there video testimonials or Google reviews on your website?

So I would start doing some audits. I think you need some professional help, because most of the time, you know, there are people who have been doing this for years and years. And we would, at no cost, do this review for you. We call it the Marketing Strategy Meeting.

We spend several hours studying your website, studying your competition, giving you a report card — like how well you are doing versus your competition. And then finally, we’ll help you navigate this.

So, in other words, we’ll give you a plan as well — like what needs to be done within the first 12 months, help set goals and targets, and then go achieve it.

So that’s kind of what I would recommend — book a Marketing Strategy Meeting. It’s complimentary: insuranceuntangled.com/msm. And take the findings, take the information, and then decide if you need to make tweaks to your brand, tweaks to SEO, or tweaks to your marketing.

Ben Tuinei: Wonderful, Naren. I always believe that a beautiful website — that’s just the start. Now the real work begins. At least the website developer could be part of the real work.

But, you know, if you’re ready to create a practice that stands out, attracts the right patient, keeps them coming back — I always recommend creating a marketing strategy or a plan that helps, that at least works for you and the type of practice that you’re building.

So thank you for mentioning that. Naren, for our listeners — book a Marketing Strategy Meeting with Ekwa today. You know, do that today. Let’s make sure that your website and marketing reflects the amazing work that you do for the type of people that you enjoy treating.

So Naren, thank you so much again. It’s always great chatting with you. You always impress me with the knowledge and concepts with regards to marketing.

Closing Thoughts

Ben Tuinei: I just want to take a minute to thank you for the amazing content that you shared today.

Now I want to take a minute to thank our listeners for joining us on another amazing episode of the Insurance Untangled podcast. If you liked today’s episode, don’t forget to share this with your friends and family on social media. We also appreciate reviews, because that will help other doctors find our content.

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Folks, until we meet next time, we wish all of you the best of health and, of course, the best of success. Take care now.