LC Branding Tips

In today's consumer market, a successful LC practice needs excellent branding.  It's more than a logo — branding is the design scheme that ties together all the visual elements of your practice to elevate your professionalism and recognizability, and also conveys important messages about your business.  Here's a good article explaining more about why you need good branding.  

Good Branding Starts with a Great Logo

All small business benefit from having a great logo.  It's the foundation of your brand and becomes the icon (face!) of your business.  It also conveys important points about your practice that can make all the difference when a potential client is looking for a lactation consultant to hire. 

After over a decade of creating hundreds of headers with logos for lactation consultants around the world, here are a few points that I've found are important to keep in mind:
  • Even though it's a quick way to get a logo, it is always best to have a unique logo for your company.  Here's why:


    Although there are many great stock images available to use as a logo, they can also be used by other companies (unless you pay the large fee for exclusive use).  This can cause "brand confusion" if people see your logo at another LC business (even online) and think it's the same LC or company as yours.  They may even wonder if you copied another company's logo or they copied yours, which can decrease their confidence in your integrity. 

    Far better to create your own original logo.  If that's not possible or you don't have the time to do it yet, it's better not to use a logo at all.  They're important for branding, but not at the risk of brand confusion.

  • To make your logo usable in maximum places, both digital (online) and printable, it's better for the main background color to be white or transparent because a square logo with a strong background color can restrict or clash with places that it may be used

  • Consider NOT using the "madonna" image — most LCs use an image of a mother and baby breastfeeding or cuddling, but I recommend going in a different direction for these reasons:

    • The madonna image is SOOO ubiquitous in lactation consultant logos that it's almost cliche — it can be more eye-catching to have something that stands out from the rest

    • If you have any non-binary or transgender clients, they may be put off by an image of a very feminine mom

    • Using a mother-baby breastfeeding image could be off-putting to parents who are pumping exclusively by choice

  • Look for subtle aspects in the design that might convey unintended messages — for example, a prominent letter "T" or cross can be evocative of Christianity which could put off people of other (or no) faiths (although some LCs do use a cross in their logos intentionally to appeal to their mostly Christian region, which is entirely valid).  It's important to step back and look for anything that can be interpreted differently than you mean

  • Other logo design tips that may be helpful (not LC specific)

Free Logo/Graphic Design Sites

Canva.com
Wix
Looka
Squarespace
Adobe

Low-Cost Logo Design Services

  • For as little as $5, you can hire a designer at Fiverr
  • Tailor Brands is a highly ranked branding company that offers a free low-resolution logo design generated by AI technology with low-cost options for high-resolution versions

     
    A Website is Fundamental

    I also strongly recommend having a website for your LC practice, whether or not you have a brick-and-mortar location.  It's the cornerstone of your online presence, which in today's world is the most visible component of your practice.  It's often the first glance that potential clients see of your practice, creating that all-important first impression.  It's also how most clients will find you and it gives them a chance to read about your services, fees, and perspectives before they hire your practice.  And it's a great way to host forms for completing before the consultation.

    Here's a good article with other reasons that your need a website.

    To create a website, you'll need to purchase a domain name and hosting service.  Domain name information is discussed below but here's hosting information first since many hosting services offer domain name registration as part of the service.

    There are many inexpensive options for hosting available, here are some of the most popular:

    Easy and cheap (depending on options)

  • Wix
  • Weebly
  • GoDaddy

    • If you need help developing the site, it's easy and fairly cheap to outsource it through services like Fiverr and Upworks.

    More complex with e-commerce and no plugin conflicts or broken pages

    Shopify
    Squarespace

    See below for more info about e-commerce capabilities.


    A Good Website Starts with a Good Domain Name

    The first step in building a website is registering a unique domain name (URL, like "lactforms.com").  A good domain name is fundamental not only for your website but also your business email address.  Many people today have Gmail or similar email addresses, but an email address with your domain name (like diana@dianawest.com) seems more professional and legitimate.  

    Once you've decided on what that domain name should be, you can check to see if anyone else has registered it by searching here or through the hosting service.  If the name you want is already taken, consider other variations, but try to keep it as simple and intuitive as possible.  I recommend that your domain name be:

    • As short as it can be (easier to type and remember, especially for sleep-deprived parents)
    • The name of your practice, like mine (DianaWest.com)


    A Good Domain Name Offers a Professional Email Address

    A good domain name is fundamental not only for your website but also your email address.  Many people today have Gmail or similar email addresses, but an email address with your domain name (like diana@dianawest.com) seems more professional, established, and respectable.


      Consider Adding E-Commerce Capability

      If you plan to sell anything through your site, including your services (allowing your clients to pay online) or products, you'll also need a website with e-commerce capability.  It usually costs more but can be well-worth the extra expense in convenience for both you and your clients.  I use Shopify for this site and can recommend it highly, after switching in 2022 from a WordPress website with e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce and EasyCart that were too glitchy and unreliable for me.