Branding for the optical practice
The branding of an optical practice is the identity the customer recognises even before reading the sign: the character of the business expressed in range, services, space, the way of selling and communicating. For an independent, it is the answer to the question: who am I and who am I for.
You do not need to be big. You need a unique character. An independent optical practice that tries to be everything to everyone loses both those looking for price and those looking for a choice. Identity is built by deciding, not by adding.
Choosing a pair of glasses is choosing who I want to be: the same applies to the optical practice. The magazine interviews with those who have built a brand with a character of its own show how it is done.
Professional identity, strategy and action
The Charismatic Method starts from the professional identity of the person leading the optical practice and translates it into strategy and action. An independent brand is not designed in an afternoon: it is the consistency between what you promise and what the customer experiences in the practice.
Where to start
From the magazine, on branding
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The Charismatic Optical Center
The role of the entrepreneur, one’s own idea of the profession, the relationship between personal identity and the name above the door: the “Thinking” part of the handbook.
The logo is the last thing. The brand is what the customer recognises in range, services, space, the way of selling and communicating. Without those choices, a nice logo is just a nice logo.
Yes, and often more easily than a chain: it can decide who it is and who it is for, and keep every detail consistent. You do not need to be big, you need a unique character.
By asking customers why they chose your practice. If the answers are all different, or only concern price, the identity is not getting through.
A great deal, in independent optics: the Charismatic Method starts precisely there. The relationship between personal identity and the name above the door is one of the strategic decisions of the optical practice.
From an honest reading of value proposition, audiences, offer and competitive context. Trade Up does this on your practice’s figures; from there you decide whether and how to develop the visual identity.
Alessandra Salimbene is a consultant, trainer and author for optical retail. She helps independent optical practices, groups and companies in the sector with strategy, marketing, branding, digital marketing and training, using the Charismatic Method and the Optical Retail Marketing Wheel. She founded Optics & Love and wrote Il Centro Ottico Carismatico, L’Optometrista Carismatico and Eyemage. Alessandra’s page →