Guide to Nurse Practitioner Branding

How to Communicate Your Powerful Personal Brand:

A step-by-step self-study guide for nurse practitioners

"Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright, critic, and author of Pygmalion.

If you are a nurse practitioner, you are to be commended on your educational accomplishments and service to patients! If you are a candidate to become a nurse practitioner, congratulations will soon be in order as you begin to serve patients with your knowledge, skills, advanced license, and certification(s).

Every nurse practitioner is a unique individual who has chosen to practice in an amazing profession. Because you are one-of-a-kind, this guide is for you.

You will learn the basics of personal branding – quickly and almost effortlessly – and then prepare a concise written plan to communicate your personal brand (your one-of-a-kindness, so to speak) to patients, the public, workmates, managers/administrators, and current/future employers.

You must communicate a powerful brand to avoid “blending in” with other healthcare professionals. Would that be a problem? Absolutely! You chance being perceived as a commodity. And you don’t want to be perceived as a commodity.

“How much will it cost us if we add a nurse practitioner to our group?” Commodity.

“Jane Harris is an exceptional nurse practitioner. She is recognized in our community for her expertise in _____________. Jane would be an asset to our group if we could entice her to join us.” Not a Commodity.

About this Guide:

This guide may be completed at your convenience, is cost-free, and is internet accessible. Any nurse practitioner or future nurse practitioner who wants to get on track to communicate a powerful personal brand should be able get started by answering the questions and completing the exercises in this step-by-step guide.

CLICK HERE to download cost-free question and exercise response sheets in printable PDF.

Applications:

This guide is intended to be used:

1) as an independent self-study by nurse practitioners and students;

2) in whole or in part in an academic course for nurse practitioners; and/or

3) in whole or in part as a continuing education offering of educational institutions and organizations of nurse practitioners.

Facilitator's Packet:

If you represent a nurse practitioner educational program or organization of nurse practitioners, please use the CONTACT PAGE to request a cost-free Facilitator's Packet that includes: 1) this guide in reproducible PDF, 2) participant question and exercise response sheets in reproducible PDF, 3) authorization to reproduce these copyrighted items, and 4) Author's Notes with discussions of questions and exercises.

Module 1 – Terms and Concepts:

You will define and differentiate the terms personal brand, nurse practitioner brand, personal branding, organization brand, mass marketing, and niche marketing.

You will identify, compare, and contrast nurse practitioner personal brands that are powerful, mediocre, and weak.

Module 2 – Preparing Your Written Plan:

You will prepare a highly personalized written plan to communicate your powerful personal brand via actions that may include but not be limited to the following –

Create your personal card

Create your name badge

Create your biographical sketch

Create your door sign

Create your email signature

Create your email contact list

Send “personal” email messages

Obtain a second email account

Call on health professionals and health product vendors

“Teach” students in local schools

Make presentations to local groups and organizations

Connect with local television news producers

Participate in local health advocacy organizations

Participate in state and national professional organizations

Coordinate a support or special health interest group

Create a personal website

Now, you may be thinking, “That seems like a lot of work!”

Yes, the branding process can be a lot of work - and it also can be a lot of fun!

So please keep the following in mind:

you don’t have to adopt all the above captioned actions in your communication plan;

some of the suggested actions require little effort or involve a one-time effort;

multiple actions sometimes can be accomplished simultaneously;

communicating your personal brand will occur over your professional life; an

the actions that you select for your plan need not be accomplished immediately, during the next few months, or even during the next few years.

About the Author:

Quentin Srnka is a graduate of the University of Tennessee (Doctor of Pharmacy) and the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis (Master of Business Administration – Marketing).

Quentin is a licensed Alabama pharmacist and former faculty member of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis where he participated in teaching, patient care, administration, and research in the College of Pharmacy.

During his 31-year tenure on the faculty he conducted courses in the College of Allied Health (Dental Hygiene Pharmacology and Therapeutics) and the Department of Community Medicine of the College of Medicine (Pharmacology and Therapeutics for Nurse Practitioners). Dr. Srnka has owned and operated a retail pharmacy and has managed pharmacies in a variety of healthcare settings, including hospitals.

Prior to becoming a faculty member of the University of Tennessee Dr. Srnka served as a commissioned officer in the United States Public Health Service, Indian Health Service Branch (San Carlos, AZ and Owyhee, NV) where he provided pharmacy, radiological, and clinical laboratory services.

Disclaimer: No individual living or deceased and no organization presently or previously in existence were knowingly used to create the illustrations in this guide.

Photos: Some of the photos in this guide are from Shutterstock.com.

Quotes: Quotes cited in this guide are from AZQuotes.com.