A helpful B-2-B go-to-market brand strategy primer for healthcare providers

The focus on "value-based care" one of the most popular buzzwords in healthcare, changed the way healthcare provider organizations and health facilities view and prioritize the importance of branding. When was the last time you gave some deep thought to your medical or dental practice professional brand, or the brand image of your hospital, clinic, laboratory, ambulatory surgery center, or healthcare product or service?

I define branding as a mark (e.g., name, term, design, symbol, message, slogan, a specific quality, or any other feature) that one uses to identify and differentiate one's goods or services from those of other sellers to create and/or enhance relevance to the brand's ideal buyer. The imagery positions the brand ahead of all others in the mind of the consumer.

In the new health care economy, branding creates relevance to build awareness and raise interest of new and established patients. The brand or symbolism enhances marketing efforts. When effectively implemented, the result of the brand creation and amplification is greater engagement and patient satisfaction, Efforts to attract, engage and retain patients through paid advertising, promotional campaigns and word of mouth when coupled with effective brand messaging result in higher demand for what is on offer to the ideal patient who needs what you sell and can boost revenues by about 14% on average.

So imagine if you could create a brand that people demand be available in their health plan's provider network to get a 14% increase in contracted reimbursement. How much is 14% more than what you got last year from your top five contracted health plans in your contracts portfolio? Well, if you have no contracts in that portfolio, that's difficult to answer, isn't it? But if you do have they typical hospital contracts portfolio, there may be as many as 50 contracts in it. How much would you be willing to invest to boost your top five margin producing contracts by 14%?

What if the number was 10%, 12%, 11%? It really doesn't have to be 14%. Most contracts don't increase any more than 3-4% in the aggregate at any escalation point, if you remembered to put an automatic periodic escalator in tied to anniversary dates or some other reference point.

In this article, I address B2B go-to-market brand strategy for healthcare providers, so if this is relevant to your business, read on.

B2B go-to-market strategy

A typical B2B go-to-market strategy is used to contract with third-party payers (health benefit plans, insurance companies, state and municipal governments, employers, unions, HMOs, PPOs, healthcare sharing plans, and others) who build bespoke networks of providers for their plan participants. They then "steer" plan participants to approved and participating network providers with the promise of certain amenities or advantages for choosing "in-network" providers. One of those network amenities is a discount traded for that steerage. The amount of the discount varies according to the value that the brand represents in attractiveness to participants of the third-party payer health benefit plan.

If demand and perceived value are high, the network developer is apt to pay more if that is what it takes to have what the plan participant wants to get them to join and pay premiums or fees to have access to the network. Conversely, if the demand for the brand is not high, and the brand is perceived as essentially undifferentiated from the other choices of providers in the network, the brand is positioned in the mind of the buyer or health plan contractor as a substitutable commodity and the result is that you get paid more or less what everyone else does. Without differentiation that drives demand, your brand has a much more difficult job to attract, engage and retain patients.

In a health system that includes hospitals, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, home care, pharmacies, inpatient and outpatient laboratory and imaging services, wellness products and services, physician and/or dental services, mental health and substance abuse (MHSA) treatment and recovery services, etc., all product families and product lines must reflect a consistent image to the consumer and the health plans that reflect the brand image, promise, and maintain the naming guidelines when they go to market. That's why integrated health delivery systems rebrand newly acquired assets they add to their family.

In marketing communications, marketing teams use images, colors and other brand identity standards by leveraging brand templates and campaigns. The logo and the brand name is included in the first reference to the product in both headline and body copy. Often, the individual products don't have their own logo, icon or any other special type of treatment associated with them, but that's not a hard and fast rule by any means. In one medical rebranding practice that was 28 years established, we redesigned the logo, and repeated it in three different colors to reflect different aspects of the specialty practice and combined the three colors in the logo itself. The mark was an "A", and the three legs of the letter "A" took on the three colors of the three parts to the brand. The colors were repeated throughout the website and marketing materials and advertising collateral, social media presence, stationery, even the bullets used on the website. But that was the logo, not the "brand" itself.

Additional effort went into training the employees on the promise of the brand that was their responsibility to live up to and deliver at every patient encounter, and updating the interior of the practice, (paint, furniture, uniforms, signage, brochures and leaflets, patient training aids, business cards, etc.,) The promise of the brand was first decided by the owner of the brand. That was data and research driven, which required some investment to learn how the brand was different from local competitors. The research required some mystery shopping, field research, and desk research. Once the composite was created and approved, only then did the brand training of the staff on the new message, promise, and essence begin, coupled with the new logo and imagery and website. If you aren't prepared to do all of these things, wait rather than cut corners and only do a part of it. If you don't do rebranding properly, you'll end up confusing your customers.

If your product is a white label product that will go to market under some other brand, then your product name and brand cannot be used. In the case of white labeling, none of your proprietary assets such as colors, photography, graphics design elements, slogans, should be used. The lost opportunity of featuring your brand and name are paid for in the licensing fee arrangement.

So, in the case of a physician who sells their practice to the local hospital, the hospital or integrated health system must pay fair market value for the practice. If the physician has a highly-regarded professional brand and sells to and becomes employed by the health system, he or she is now "white labeled" as an asset in the product family and product line of the integrated health system. Their own marks, colors, images, photography, graphic design elements, logos, slogans, etc. are retired and replaced by the white label of their new owner/employer. But if they really didn't have a high-value, professional "brand" established and highly-regarded in the community, then the fair market value of the practice is considerably less and the salary negotiated and benefits package are lower.

The tragedy of missed opportunity I often see, however, is that the practice assets (including the brand) are purchased, the physician who was highly-regarded in the community with an attractive and relevant professional brand in the community is then white labeled and the contracting team fails to exploit the new asset in contract negotiations with payers. The doctor is white-labeled as an integrated health system brand, which differentiates the health system because he or she is no longer available on staff at other competing health systems. This reduces the substitution and commoditization potential that was possible when he or she was independent and on staff at all the competing local and/or regional medical centers as a member of the active medical staff. It is why the integrated health system acquires the physician's practice in the first place (to limit his or her presence elsewhere and disassociate from the other competing brand's assets) but because the contracting team hasn't been taught the importance of branding on contract negotiations, they don't even consider brand value when negotiating rates and terms in a new or renewal contract.

But branding can also be a double-edged sword in payer contracting, especially true in the case of HMO contracts which can be negotiated as capitated reimbursement arrangements. In capitation, service equals expense instead of revenue. Therefore, higher utilization is not always good for the bottom line. This renders the physician's highly-regarded brand as a liability to the bottom line. In capitation, a set fee is paid per-member, per month.You might only be paid a copayment on each visit by the patient, but nothing more from the health plan. If this is the situation you are in, then the tactic is to negotiate a higher capitation up front tied to the value of the brand, because you won't get higher reimbursement per service rendered. This approach is a tactic I teach in my managed care contracting master classes and workshops.

Product naming and brand architecture

Healthcare organizations don't always pay adequate attention to brand architecture in developing a name. This is another missed opportunity but happens when those assigned to develop a name fail to grasp the foundation of the brand architecture and the role it plays in a go-to-market strategy. Typically, in a larger system, there is a masterbrand, which is the public face of the brand identity. It overarches all businesses, departments, products, events and programs, like an umbrella. The masterbrand identity is the symbol of everything the brand stands for, including its mission, vision, and promises.

With a masterbrand strategy, the equity lives at the masterbrand level, which allows the brand to be a multiplier in the marketplace. The idea is that people will choose the recognized brand, rather than specific products, as they know the brand value that is relevant to their needs and desires that the brand delivers. A brand may also create, develop and promote strategic sub-brands that have been created and are used externally.

There are three main reasons for a sub-brand include:

1. Legal or regulatory
2. New business relationships
3. Strategic growth business

Similar to the masterbrand, the brand equity lives in the masterbrand and sub-brand, rather than at the product or component level. This accelerates the go-to-market potential for new product roll out and engagement. Many medical tourism startups (both facilitators and suppliers) tend to skip the establishment of their brand and then try to enter the market at the product and component level. After a few weeks or months with no traction, they begin to wonder why their marketing strategy hasn't produced results or new patient growth. Without a brand identity and equity, or a who or why story, unbranded sellers provide consumers no basis by which to award loyalty or place trust in them and their products and services. Instead, consumers choose a branded competitor to move forward.

Product Taxonomy

Together with a refined product taxonomy, an established branding process helps sellers

• govern the product development process (for whom, why)
• govern product taxonomy and naming
• promotes quality development and timely launches
• helps product owners and managers establish a product governance board and product steering committee. Committee and Board members find it easier to navigate across multiple functions and understand who should be involved at each stage
• provides a single view of the products or services being developed, what stage it is in and what the expected value is to the entity and the ideal consumer
• enables the implementation and use of reporting and dashboard reports and other data driven business intelligence that will serve as a basis for evaluating portfolio risk and opportunities, and to create exit strategies and define declination metrics without injecting emotions and turf battles.

Naming strategies

Work in healthcare in the international marketplace for a few months and you'll stop shaking your head at how people name their businesses. Some are totally lost in translation. But ultimately, nothing will surprise you after awhile.

The first step for naming your product is to ensure the names you have chosen align with your product taxonomy.

The second step is to work within the hierarchy so that the name works hard to maximize descriptive product names and helps customers, brand trading partners and staff clearly navigate the breadth and depth of products offered by the seller.

• Names should be concise -- two to five words
• Names should be intuitive and descriptive and suggest the primary benefit. for example, "Jones Primary Care " is not appropriate for a multispecialty medical group (polyclinic) practice.
• Names should have language and terms that are easily recognizable to the target audience, business segment and category.
• Names should not be chosen that risk trademark infringement or similar category associations and conflicts.
• Avoid using names that can result in the user questioning the pronunciation. 
• Keep in mind that the majority of marketing communications will focus on the product family and product line, rather than the actual product or its components to align with a solution-focused sales approach. If you don't plan to use a solution-focused sales approach, you had better have a strong established masterbrand where the consumer already wants what you're going to sell before you develop it.

Naming of non-products is a different process. Non-product naming (e.g., events, programs, internal processes, etc.) should reflect your established naming guidelines. They should be simple, intuitive and familiar and not be easily confused with other competitors' trademarks already established in the marketplace.

Is your concierge medical practice or your new medical tourism department an extension of your existing ZYX Healthcare brand? If so, use an endorser-tagged logo, (e.g. A ZYX Healthcare Company). This tactic can be used during the transition immediately following an acquisition that might only last for 6-18 months until the business eventually becomes a member of the family and takes its place in the brand taxonomy.

Endorser Strategies

Celebrity branding or celebrity endorsement is a form of advertising campaign or marketing strategy used by healthcare brands, hospitals and research institutes, or a non-profit organizations which involves celebrities or a well-known philanthropist using their social status or their fame to help promote a product, service or even raise awareness on environmental or social matters. For example, the hospital where I was born in Hollywood, Florida (1957) was two floors in height and less than 100 rooms, and occupied a very small footprint on the lot where the original hospital is located. By the time I worked there as a surgical nurse (1980s), it was 754 beds in a mixture of private and semi-private rooms. Now it is one of the largest public healthcare systems in the nation and features the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital with a leading comprehensive center of excellence in pediatric services spanning two counties.

Marketers use celebrity endorsers in hopes that the positive images ("halo images") of the celebrity endorser of the brand will also be passed on to the products or the brand image associated with the celebrities. Celebrities bring mass communication skills which can attract people's attention and are helpful in reaching a wider audience to raise their awareness towards a certain organization or an issue, thus making celebrities effective fundraisers.

The endorser strategy is critical to continuing to grow the healthcare businesses' brands in a purposeful way, as it allows the brand to maximize its presence and demonstrate its scale in powering modern health care. An endorser strategy can also be where one strong established healthcare brand boosts awareness that the newcomer asset or location is a vetted member of the family of leading health services and innovation that consumers and insurers already know and love. Using an endorser strategy provides a stamp of approval, adding conferred credibility in the eyes of health plans, providers, employers, government agencies, individuals and families, etc. The endorser tag line helps the established brand showcase the breadth and depth of its growing list of services, products and achievements in a community or industry.

Co-branding strategies

When you decide to co-brand your healthcare products and services, which name goes first? What look and feel will the product or service transmit? Whose logo will occupy the position of prominence? How will you explain the business relationship between the two businesses as relevant to the consumer?

While labeling ("private labeling") is a co-branding strategy, but only when both names are presented. Partner agreements and licensing arrangements must reflect a meeting of the minds about what elements will and will not be present in the brand experience.

When you co-brand a healthcare experience, the primary brand is presented with all product documentation, client facing materials and touchpoints, sales tools, collateral, advertising, websites, marketing materials, and emails sent out. Co-branding programs and campaigns have a primary objective: to communicate the primary brand's initiative, product or program in which a partner provides a component or a part. The partner is typically not included in the primary message.

One co-branding program I often recommend to hospitals seeking to accelerate cash from patients in certain markets is to co-brand an HSA/HRA stored value card in co-branded affinity programs with local employer health benefit plan sponsors that offer these consumer directed health expense management tools. Employees are issued a co-branded stored value card for $500 that actually has buying power of 10% (or some other amount) when used at the health system outlets on IRC213D allowable purchases. Part of the agreement is to share in the purchasing data, trend expenditures and habits, identify new an innovative use cases, and steer purchases to the partner health system versus a competitor. It has proven to be a powerful marketing strategy and saves local residents money on copayments, deductibles and extras that may not be covered by their employer's health benefit plan but are eligible under IRC213D.