Define your patient journey phases.

Start by mapping where the major decisions happen. For a typical GP, this looks like:

1. First Contact

2. First Visit

3. Treatment Acceptance

4. Retention

   Each phase contains multiple micro-moments that shape how the patient interprets you, so identifying the right phases gives you the structure you will design around.

List three key touchpoints per phase.

Before each decision, there are a handful of touchpoints that influence what the patient chooses.

These might include your website, Google reviews, Instagram, a referral from a friend, the greeting at the front desk, the cleanliness of the waiting room, the doctor’s communication, or the punctuality of the visit.

If a phase only has one or two meaningful touchpoints, that’s perfectly fine. Focus on the touchpoints that genuinely shape the decision.

For each touchpoint, ask: “If we leaned fully into our chosen extreme, what would this look like, sound like, or behave like?”

This is where your positioning becomes tangible.

You’re not trying to transform every detail into something radical. You’re choosing the most influential touchpoints and leaning your extreme into them in a way early adopters will immediately notice.

The goal is to be one or two steps ahead of the tribe, not so far ahead that the market can’t follow. That is why you choose a small number of key touchpoints and push them intentionally.

Identify the functional signals each touchpoint must fulfill.

Functional signals are the “proof” cues that tell the patient your practice is legitimate by category standards.

A tech-forward practice must visibly demonstrate real technology.

A comfort-focused practice must genuinely feel comfortable.

A premium practice must show quality through details.

Even if a touchpoint is creatively differentiated, it still needs the functional signals that reassure the patient they are in competent, credible hands.

Run a consistency check.

Look across all touchpoints and ask two questions:

• Is there any touchpoint where our chosen extreme disappears?

• Is there any touchpoint where we accidentally behave like the opposite extreme?

  Inconsistency breaks trust, and trust doesn’t reset to zero, it goes negative.

  The more your touchpoints reinforce the same direction, the faster trust compounds and the stronger your position becomes inside the minds of your core patient group.