Differentiating Your Clear Aligner Brand in a Competitive Market

Introduction

The clear aligner market is booming with multiple brands entering the space to offer their doctors a discreet way to straighten patients’ teeth. Therefore, differentiating your brand in such a competitive environment is crucial for success. This blog post will guide you through various strategies including competitive mapping, customer journey mapping and other strategies to help your clear aligner brand stand out in the market.

Strategies to consider when differentiating your clear aligner brand based on your phase in the market

Phase 1: Pre-launch 

1) Competitive Mapping

• Identify your competitors 

Start by identifying your competitors, consider looking at direct competitors such as other clear aligner brands and indirect competitors such as traditional braces.

• Analyze competitor offerings

Analyze and evaluate your competitors offerings such as: product features, pricing, marketing strategies and customer support.

• Assess competitors strengths and weaknesses

 Identify areas where your competitors are strong and where they fall short. This could be in their product offering, customer service, marketing techniques or pricing. Use this analysis to identify gaps in the market.

• Identify opportunities for differentiation

Based on your competitor analysis, identify opportunities for your brand. This could involve offering unique features, customer support or a different pricing model.

2) Customer Journey Mapping

• Identify Touchpoints 

Identify all touchpoints your doctors go through when interacting with your brand. This includes your website, social media, emails, your case management platform and customer service.

• Analyzing customer needs and pain points 

After identifying the touchpoints, analyze your doctor's needs and the pain points they experience throughout their journey by engaging in interviews with trusted doctors within your network of doctors. These trusted doctors can serve as a pilot before launch for implementing specific updates and gathering feedback on competitor offerings, thus enabling you to tailor your solutions accordingly. 

• Identifying opportunities to enhance customer experience

Look for opportunities to enhance customer experience at each touchpoint in your customer journey.

3) Brand Positioning and Messaging 

• Establish a brand positioning in the market 

Position your brand in a way that clearly distinguishes it from competitors. This could be through technology, superior customer service, or unique product features.

• Craft your brand messaging 

Create a brand messaging and identity that fully resonates with your target audience. Highlight the benefits your brand offers to your doctors and what sets it apart from competitors.

4) Unique Value Proposition

• Define your Unique Value Proposition (USPs)

Your USPs are the north star of your brand. It’s what makes your brand unique and valuable to doctors, it should also address a specific need for your target audience.

• Communicate your USPs 

Make sure to communicate your value proposition on all channels. This includes social media, website, and email marketing campaigns.

• Align your USPs across the company 

Your USPs should be aligned with all your team members to ensure all communications are saying the same message to your customers. This includes but is not limited to your sales team, customer success team and marketing team.

5) Pricing Strategy

• Determine pricing strategy based on your brand messaging and USPs

Set your prices based on the value your product offers in terms of the services, benefits and the main value proposition your brand is offering and ensure that your doctors perceive your product to be worth the price in return of the service they’re receiving from your brand.

6) Sales and Training Enablement 

• Sales training program

Equip your sales team with the necessary knowledge and skills and ensure they understand the product and how it can benefit their practice. Train them on objection handling and how to position it in comparison to competition. Ensure you continuously offer training and support for your team and keep them updated with new product features and all industry trends.

• Utilize sales enablement tools

Offer your sales team resources such as brochures, case studies, and product demos. These can act as visual aids to help streamline the sales process and improve its effectiveness. 

7) Doctor Onboarding Process 

• Develop a streamlined onboarding process 

Create an onboarding process for your doctors to ensure they understand what to expect throughout their journey with your brand. Begin with your sales team providing detailed information about the onboarding process. Follow with support calls from your customer success team and clinical team to explain the intricacies of your product and how it works.

8) Partnerships and collaborations

• Identify specific doctors to calibrate with 

Identify specific doctors to pilot and calibrate with, who can provide valuable feedback on your product offerings and help promote your product during the launch.

Phase 2: Launch

1) Education and engagement

• Providing comprehensive educational resources

Offer your doctors a list of comprehensive resources such as educational modules to support them in treating cases with clear aligners.

• Continuously engage with your customers

Engage your doctors online and offline, share valuable content, and host events to foster community building.

2) Partnerships and collaborations 

• Collaborating with micro-influencers 

Build partnerships with doctors that have a micro-influence within their community to support you in promoting your brand and expanding your reach across other treating doctors.

• Leverage partnerships for brand exposure

Utilize partnerships with doctors to gain exposure and credibility by co-hosting events or creating joint-content.

3) Customer support and experience

• Utilize customer feedback to improve brand experience 

The first step in improving your brand experience is to gather feedback from your doctors to identify areas for improvement. Use this feedback to enhance your brand experience.

• Ensure a seamless experience with the brand 

Ensure that all interactions with your doctors are seamless and positive. This includes direct messages, calls, customer service, product experience as well as the full cycle from case submission to delivery and support.

4) Marketing Techniques 

• Cross-channel marketing 

Use a mix of marketing channels in line with the regulations, including but not limited to social media, email marketing, website, direct messages, whatsapp, blogs, SEO and traditional advertising such as: roll-ups, in-clinic flyers or brochures.

• Utilize digital marketing tools

Make use of digital marketing tools such as analytics and automation to optimize marketing efforts.

Phase 3: Post-launch

1) Product Updates

• Continuous updates in clear aligners

Stay ahead of your competition by continuously updating your product. This could involve new updates to the portal or new advanced treatment planning features.

• Address specific customer concerns 

Feedback is important to understand your doctor’s concerns. It’s crucial to have a continuous feedback loop between your brand and your doctors. This helps you in addressing any concerns and stay ahead of the competition.

2) Expand your partnerships

• Explore new opportunities for collaboration

Continuously look for new opportunities to collaborate with doctors who have an influence within their community to expand your reach and enhance your brand’s capability of treating different types of cases with your clear aligner brand.

• Build long-term relationships

Focus on building long term relationships with your key doctors. This helps ensure your brand messaging is consistent across different influencers along with your marketing efforts.

Conclusion:

In a competitive market, differentiation is crucial for success, keep collecting feedback and refining your strategies to ensure your brand remains relevant in the market. Building partnerships and expanding them will play an important role in maintaining and growing your brand in the market.