One of the most common branding challenges we see isn’t a visual identity problem — it’s a messaging problem.
When an organization targets multiple audiences, it’s easy to blur the lines. Messages get generalized. Priorities get muddied. And your communications start to feel like they’re trying to do too much.
That’s where DocuBank found themselves.
A membership-based service, DocuBank stores and delivers an individual’s advanced directives to the right people — doctors, caregivers, and loved ones — during a health emergency.
Their model is smart: they work with partners, including lawyers and estate planners, who provide their clients with a free first year of DocuBank membership. The goal is for those clients to become long-term, paying members.
But with two distinct audience groups — partners and members — it became difficult for DocuBank to maintain clear, compelling, and consistent communications. The result was messages that felt vague — and easy to ignore.
From Everyone to the Right Ones
Rather than continue splitting focus, we helped DocuBank determine that prioritizing members would have the biggest impact on their business goals.
Through a persona workshop with DocuBank’s team, we evaluated the different stages of membership and identified two distinct groups:
- Legacy members — loyal “Lovers” who have made the switch to paying members
- Rookie members — emerging “Likers” still in their first year of free membership
Because prospects come through their partners, DocuBank’s direct communication starts with Rookie members — whose journey begins with a simple but critical challenge: converting to a paid annual membership.
Messaging Grounded in What Matters
Once the audience was clear, we could tackle the messaging. We worked with DocuBank to uncover the shared values between Legacy and Rookie members — the common ground that could anchor communication across the board.
By building their strategy around what both groups cared about most, DocuBank gained a message platform that was both flexible and consistent. No matter who they were speaking to, their communications now had clarity, cohesion, and connection.
It was only after the core messaging was in place that we were able to develop a set of segmented messages based on what each group needed to know, feel, and do.
Our work with DocuBank wasn’t just about refining language — it was about realigning their brand at a strategic level. With this clarity, they had a solid foundation for all communication: one that allowed for audience-specific adjustments while remaining rooted in a shared center.
Brand Strategy Isn’t Just for Rebrands
DocuBank didn’t redesign their logo or change their name. What they needed wasn’t visual change — it was strategic clarity.
And they’re not the only ones.
If you’ve ever wondered why your messaging isn’t sticking, why growth feels stalled, or why your communications seem disconnected from what your audience needs — it might be time to revisit your brand strategy.
Not sure? Download our What Do We Mean By Branding? guide that breaks down what brand strategy really means (spoiler: it’s not your logo).
Not sure where to start? Let’s talk!
