Episode 12 covered the topic of branding and how athletic trainers could better understand how personally and professionally they are the face of a brand. We gave examples of great brands and how they have not only achieved great recognition, but awareness as well. If you’d like to listen to the full podcast, it can be found on iTunes or Soundcloud.

Coming off the heels of National Athletic Training Month, we thought it would be a great opportunity to discuss branding. We just spent an entire month spreading awareness and educating others on who we are and what we do, so let’s continue those efforts in the branding of ourselves as professionals and sports medicine specialists.

If we talked about branding perhaps it would encourage ATs to think of themselves as a brand for the profession. If we begin to think on a more global scale, like we all did during NATM, we could start to see a shift not only how we present ourselves, but also how we are seen and understood. 

Branding is a name, term, design, symbol or other feature that distinguishes one seller’s product from those of others. It has been around for centuries, dating back to when farmers would brand their cattle to distinguish their product from that of others. Branding can be powerful as an identifier of a product or service.

One of the most difficult aspects of developing a brand and brand recognition is knowing & understanding the audience. As important as it is to understand internally what we’re doing, branding is also about the consumer or customer. So, really, it’s knowing what they are looking for and how to convey ourselves appropriately to them.

If you don’t think branding applies to you because you aren’t a company, service, or product, you’re wrong. Everybody is a brand and your professional choices reflect an entire occupation.  

You need to be able to make yourself relevant and valuable to the consumer, which in the case of athletic training are likely parents, administrators, or coaches. Making the brand valuable is displayed in our everyday actions, including developing EAPs, conducting PPEs, creating prevention strategies, and displaying ourselves as healthcare professionals.

• Creating a brand is about who you are, who you intend to be, and how you want to be perceived. It is about knowing what you stand for and how you communicate the values of your services.
• Brand awareness is the ability for the consumer to readily identify the brand with the product. If we state “I am an athletic trainer” the other person should automatically know all that comes along with this role. This is where we as a profession are still working to strongly identify.

NATA has done a great job of establishing a nationwide brand for all of us to stand behind. It’s now our responsibility to be the regular interaction of our customer’s with this brand. If you’re interested in knowing more about the NATA’s switch from the previously logo (running man) to the current one, watch this video.

We have to decide both professionally and personally who we want to be and how we want to be understood. NATA has taken the charge on this, giving us a foundation to build on, but now its our turn to be the face of that brand every day. We get to interact with the consumer and either solidify or change their minds about what they thought an athletic trainer was.

Take a few moments to determine what you want your personal & professional brand to be. Come up with a few sentences that you could quickly and easily convey about yourself and what your brand is, if asked. The better you get at defining who you are, what you want to be, and how you want to be perceived, the stronger we will all become in representing ourselves as a recognizable brand.

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