If you think your logo is your brand, think again. Brand identity is the overall perception of your business—your mission, messaging, and the emotional connection you create with your audience. Visual identity is the design system that represents your brand, including your logo, colors, and typography.
In this article, we’ll dive deeper into the distinction between visual identity and brand identity in healthcare, why both are essential to long-term success, and how aligning them can strengthen trust, engagement, and credibility in a competitive market.
To learn more about refining your brand identity, contact Best Friend Jack today.
The most important thing you should take away from this article is that visual identity is a subset of brand identity. While interconnected, they each serve distinct roles in shaping audience perceptions of your brand and how your audience engages with your content.
Many healthcare businesses focus heavily on the visual side—logo, color scheme, typography—without considering the strategic foundation that guides it. However, without a well-defined brand identity, even the most polished visuals can lack meaning and consistency.
As the name suggests, visual identity is everything you can see about your brand. This includes:
Essentially, it’s what comes to mind first when you think of a famous brand. The Nike swoosh. The yellow McDonald’s arches. The iconic Disney font.
Having a consistent look and feel lends your brand instant credibility. Over time, this consistency builds recognition and trust. However, visual identity is meaningless on its own—this is where brand identity comes in.
Before defining brand identity, let’s clarify what a brand actually is.
Your brand is not your logo. Your brand is the sum total of all the interactions and impressions that someone has with your company. This includes:
Essentially, your brand is your reputation—and your brand identity is the intentional shaping of that reputation.
It answers questions like:
These are all aspects of brand identity.
While visual identity is what people see first, brand identity is what sticks in their minds.
A well-defined brand identity:
Without a strong brand identity, your visual assets might look appealing—but they’ll lack depth, meaning, memorability, and consistency.
What is your brand called?
Sometimes, a brand name provides insight into the type of company you are (e.g., TeleDoc), while others are more abstract but memorable (e.g., Parsley Health).
Brand positioning is the strategic heart of your brand identity. It helps people understand the value of what you do compared to their alternatives.
Key questions to consider:
This is where concepts like unique value proposition and unique selling proposition come into play. Your ultimate goal? To communicate why customers should choose you over your competitors.
Messaging is how we communicate the benefits and features that support this value.
These define the big picture of your brand.
For example, Maven Clinic puts women and families at the center of healthcare. Larger, more established companies often emphasize their mission as a central part of their positioning, while early-stage companies focus more on product positioning.
Your brand’s personality shapes how people emotionally connect with you.
Just like people, brands can be:
Your personality influences everything from website copy to ad messaging.
Your verbal identity defines how your brand communicates. It includes:
Finally, we have visual identity—how your brand looks.
This high-profile element includes your:
A well-executed visual identity maintains consistency across all touchpoints, from websites and ads to emails and packaging.
At Best Friend Jack, our recommendations depend on the type of company you’re building and the unique opportunities and challenges you face.
For early-stage companies, we recommend that you:
We run focused workshops to help companies clarify their value and provide a basic visual identity for websites and pitch decks. It’s all about credibility, professionalism, and flexibility at this stage.
For growth stage companies, it makes more sense to spend more time and money developing your brand identity. We advise growth-stage companies to:
At every stage, brand identity is strategic work that must be owned and supported from the top down. Without buy-in from the CEO, this work often makes zero impact on your business.
Your brand identity also must be practical and easy to use. Whether you’re outsourcing to an agency or working in-house, never stop at brand guidelines—always translate them into customer-facing materials that have an immediate impact and set an example for your team.
As we’ve seen, visual and brand identity are closely linked. Let’s look at two examples from the mental wellness category. Despite sharing many similarities in the type of services they’re providing, both companies use their brand to communicate a different purpose and appeal to a different type of customer:
While both brands promote mindfulness, Headspace is positioned as a practical tool for busy users, with a friendly, no-fuss design that makes meditation easy to integrate into daily life. Calm, on the other hand, offers a more immersive relaxation experience, using soothing visuals and nature-inspired branding to encourage deep rest and emotional well-being. Each brand has a distinct positioning and market segment, which shapes its unique brand identity.
No matter what stage your health tech or healthcare company is at, Best Friend Jack can help you improve your brand. Our digital marketing specialists will help you develop a clear brand identity to establish trust and build a solid customer base.
Contact us today– let’s build a health tech brand that lets people know who you are.
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Best Friend Jack understands the challenges and opportunities confronting health-tech clients at every stage of the funnel. Get in touch for a complimentary brand audit today.
