Hospital Marketing is Not the Same...

After a lunch-and-learn about branding, and a "red paper" from SPM Marketing, I'm seeing an intersection of the ideas. Hospital marketing can learn so much from marketing in general, in how they reach their audience, and the ways they do it effectively. BUT, and this is big: people don't want to go to the hospital. (I want to buy some Sugar lip gloss and a Dyson vacuum cleaner, to name two ads that reached me today.) But still, you are marketing to them in many of the same ways: online, on billboards, mobile ads and magazine spreads with friendly yet competent-looking doctors, and they still don't want your product! 

That's why I think that branding is the most valuable tactic. Because when they do need to go to the hospital, it will be the sum total of all their impressions about your facility, doctors, emergency room and staff that tips it one way or the other (your competitor's nearby hospital.) In his fantastic book, "Joe Public Doesn't Care About Your Hospital," author Chris Bevolo gets it. Being a marketer in this space is hard. Everyone thinks they know what patients need.

I am a big believer in asking patients what they need. And in general, that works for doctor's office and specialty care, and maybe even lifelong health care like skilled nursing and rehabilitation. In those cases, you may want to use some marketing tactics used in other industries. But for emergency room care, it's an emotional decision. That means branding needs to appeal to our deep need for life-saving; our hope that we'll get the smartest doctors and the most compassion nurses. In surgical care, they may have more time to make the decision, but it may also be an emotional choice based on what you've built your brand on. 

Health care is essential. That doesn't mean it doesn't need to be marketed, but it must be marketed differently than our earbuds, lip gloss, paper towels and vacuum cleaners.