If you’ve just read the title of this blog post, chances are your eyes are zeroing in on the phrase ‘consolidating multiple brands. It possibly sounds like something you’d throw around at a corporate meeting. What does it mean in this context, though, exactly? For all intents and purposes, consider ‘consolidating multiple brands’ to mean the same thing as ‘merging multiple websites.
If you’re wondering why you’d need to merge multiple websites, perhaps you own only one brand. If nothing else, that’s a surefire way to keep things simple! Some of our clients, however, find themselves with more websites than they know what to do with. And these websites are often floating around like loose documents without any sort of filing system.
What if you could merge all these into one?
That brings us to the topic of our blog post. Merging multiple websites—or ‘consolidating multiple brands’—can be an excellent idea for efficient medical or healthcare marketing. There are also some times, however, when it’s not the best idea. Let’s unpack it all here.
When you should consolidate multiple brands
Let’s say you own a medical practice that has other health-related services on-site—these can include anything from allied healthcare services to a pharmacy. Despite the fact that each service may well be a different brand, it makes little sense to have a separate website for each one. So long as you own each brand, you should list them all together on the same website. This way, you’re showcasing your healthcare repertoire in one streamlined location that’s easier for users to find and navigate.
Hosting all brands under one digital umbrella also gives you every opportunity to cross-sell. Keep your brands segmented and users may not realize the full extent of your services or current offers. Our digital marketing advice for any medical practice or healthcare brand is to take advantage of every selling opportunity. And from a digital perspective, your best shot at this is to list related content together on one website.
When you should keep things separate
There are a few instances, however, where consolidating brands is not the best idea. Extending our initial example, let’s say that you own a dry cleaning business in addition to an all-encompassing medical practice. In this case, listing your dry cleaning business beneath a list of healthcare services would be ludicrous. Why? Because people will not be visiting a website about a medical practice in search of a dry cleaning service. The consolidation needs to keep a thematic consistency.
Sometimes, it pays to keep things separate, as well.
There can also be the issue of certification. Let’s say one of your healthcare services has a specific certification whilst the others do not. If you list all your services under the same website, and that website bears a certification, people could mistakenly generalize that certification to all services listed. To avoid confusion, keeping certified and uncertified brands on separate websites is best.
What’s best for your brand or practice?
VIS Healthcare Marketing is a healthcare marketing agency that has website design and brand consolidation down to a science. We can help your medical practice to thrive, as a marketing agency that also specializes in digital marketing and recruitment. For the full-service experience, call VIS Health on 1300 777 847 or book an appointment online. Our consultation is 100 percent obligation-free and you’ve got nothing to lose.
For the latest tips on brand consolidation (and also what not to consolidate), get talking to VIS. We are a medical marketing agency that understands your industry.
