In a market flooded with digital health solutions, a compelling brand identity becomes a critical tool for differentiation. Your brand identity is like your North Star – it guides all of your marketing efforts. With a strong brand identity, you can tell your story and create content that speaks to specific segments of your audience – driving acquisition and retention.

In reality, building a strong brand and visual identity takes considerable time and financial resources – posing a significant commitment for startups. While it can be a worthwhile investment, the question we have to ask is: How much time and money should you invest in your branding work?   

When we first launched Healthie in 2016, branding admittedly was very far down on our list of priorities. We were focused on building an industry-leading EHR that would transform the ability for healthcare providers and companies to deliver virtual-first care. In hindsight, our laser focus on infrastructure turned out to be a great thing, but we still needed to invest to some degree in our website, logo, and brand. Over the years, we wound up making some small but significant upgrades to our brand, ultimately leading to a much larger rebrand that wasn’t a success (more on that below) – and a recent rebrand that was successful.  

Reflecting on our past 8 years, from initial launch to high-growth, here are the best lessons we’ve learned about branding as a startup:   

1. Don’t over-index on your brand image early-on.

In our early days at Healthie, our emphasis was solely on delivering value through our platform rather than on crafting an elaborate brand image. With limited resources, our focus was on building a product that resonated with healthcare providers. We opted for a minimalist approach to design and marketing, putting resources towards building functionality rather than over-finessing our visual identity. For us, focusing on brand identity would have led to unnecessary complexity and dilution of our core mission. There’s this misconception that companies need to have a visually stunning brand, in order to sell their product or services. While we don’t want to discount the value of branding (because it is critical), it’s not the only factor that drives the needle towards success. 

Our initially “bootstrapped” brand did its job for us for years. Our brand wasn’t the key to our initial success – it was our product that was driving our growth. We built something that healthcare providers loved, and that was worth our resources. 

Our takeaway: Prioritize substance over style when it comes to what you’re selling. Whether that’s services or products – focus on offering something that people will love. Your refined visual identity will come in time. 

2. Let your brand organically evolve over time.

As an early-stage startup, we did a lot of pivoting as we found our foothold in the market. Our mission and main value proposition never changed – Healthie was (and still is) the platform that  powers virtual-first care outside of the hospital setting. 

Post-Covid, the digital health landscape completely changed – ushering in a new era of virtual-first healthcare. Healthcare specialties that were traditionally in-person, now started to integrate virtual care into their practice. At the same time, the door swung open for digital health innovation, and care delivery companies rushed to bring their services to market. 

For Healthie, this meant an opportunity to explore our market fit better. As an API-first platform with a high degree of customization and scalability, we were able to partner with digital health companies to provide business-critical infrastructure.

So we made some small rebranding efforts. – Our language highlighted the new era of virtual-first care. Visually, we darkened our logo and leaned into the technical abilities of the platform highlighting capabilities specific to digital health companies (see our API/white label graphic below!) We  wanted to better showcase the level of innovation and scalable infrastructure we brought to the market. Iterations over time allowed us to explore what worked for our brand, whether it was with messaging or our visual identity. 

‍Our takeaway: Your business is going to evolve as you find your foothold in the market, and narrow in on your target customer. Large revolutions to your brand aren’t always necessary if you allow space for smaller evolutions to happen.

3. Don’t force a rebrand when it doesn’t feel right.

One of the downsides to letting your brand evolve over time, and pivoting in the market (even slightly) can lead to a muddled, lost feeling in identity. For Healthie, we were a great fit for many healthcare specialties, and were serving businesses of virtually every size. When you try to be everything to everyone, you run the risk of not resonating with anyone through your marketing.  

With that sentiment in mind, we felt compelled to go through the motions of a larger rebrand. There were a lot of valid reasons to do so, but we failed to realize that while rebranding was appropriate, we weren’t ready as a team. We got a few months into the project, and on reviewing initial deliverables, we realized they fell short of our vision and expectations . . . When we reflect on our “failure to (re)launch” experience, it’s easier to see that there were some business critical decisions we needed to align on first, before tackling brand strategy. 

-Fast forward a year, and we had a completely different rebrand story. We were able to successfully undergo a major rebrand. The main difference from the year prior? We were much more confident, and aligned, in our larger company goals. 

Our takeaway: Even if you have valid reasons for rebranding, it doesn’t mean that it’s the right time to do it. There is a significant time and cost investment in rebranding, and it pays to hold off until you’re clear in your expected outcomes. 

4. Everyone has opinions when it comes to branding; limit the number of decision makers.

One of the biggest mistakes we made when attempting a larger rebrand, was to not have the confidence to keep the decision-makers to a minimum. In order to “get it right,” we had internal stakeholders weigh in on everything — from brand voice, to tone, to storyboarding. 

The reality is, branding elements like typography, palette, voice, tone, etc are… subjective. Yes, there is a degree of science and alignment with your brand personality, mission, values – we know. But there are hundreds of micro-decisions that need to be made when tackling a large rebrand. If each decision needs to be debated and voted on internally, there is a high chance of a slow and fiery death for your project.

Our Takeaway: Have the confidence to limit the decision makers in your branding journey. Leverage the right people, in the right capacity, at the right times.   

5. Find the right brand partners, the ones that are invested in your journey.

Over the years, we’ve worked with multiple branding experts and agencies, on projects both small and large. Our most successful branding projects to date have been the ones where we experienced true collaboration. The right brand partner for us understood that while they are experts in branding, we are experts in our technology and customer needs. They listen to us, just as much as we listen to them, and ultimately, we’ve been able to craft something magical together. 

It’s critical to find collaborators who are not just vendors but true partners invested in your success. Whether it's an agency that shares your passion for innovation in digital health or in-house designers who embody your startup's entrepreneurial spirit, surround yourself with individuals who are committed to bringing your brand to life.

Our takeaway: Branding is a journey, not a destination. Even after your brand has been launched into the world, the relationship with your brand partners doesn't end there. Work with partners that allow you to lean on them for their expertise, just as they lean on you for yours.

As we reflect on our journey, we take pride in the strength and impact of our brand. Through collaboration with our partners we've created a brand that represents who we are, our product, and our mission - to power healthcare outside of the hospital.