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Becoming a Patient Will Improve Your Marketing

By The SHSMD Team posted 08-31-2016 04:10 PM

  

 

In most industries, it’s a given that marketers will regularly use and intimately understand the products they are asked to promote. In fact, you would rarely be given much of a choice. I imagine that showing up to Ford headquarters in your new Toyota or putting your feet up on your desk and displaying your Adidas running shoes at Nike would result in serious consequences or at least some severely disapproving looks from colleagues.

A few months back, I came down with a bad cold and was generally miserable for the better part of two weeks. Yet, I did use my illness as a chance to visit Providence’s new Express Care service, which we are aggressively marketing this year. It was extremely gratifying to see that the marketing messages we have been using were totally consistent with the patient experience I received. Yet, I never would have known that without using the service myself – there is truly no substitute for firsthand experience.


Marketers at traditional consumer-focused companies understand all aspects of their products because they use them every day. In healthcare, most marketers won’t (thankfully) be put in the position of using the services their hospitals and clinics provide every day; however, there are still some steps you can take to improve your "product" knowledge:


  1. Engage with primary care. None of us can say that we don’t need at least occasional check-ups every few years or a visit to urgent care when an unexpected illness or injury hits. If your organization employs primary care physicians, it’s vital that you get to know the system. By becoming a patient, you will learn how easy or difficult it is to make an appointment, how well the EMR works, whether the staff is nice and so much more. In short, you’ll be fully prepared to understand the patient experience and respond to requests for marketing, including pushing back when that experience doesn’t offer you an inspiring marketing message.

  2. Shadow a physician. If you’re a few years out from your next physical exam or just want to learn about something highly specialized, you can find out how those services are delivered by spending time shadowing physicians and getting to know what they do firsthand. As busy as most physicians are, I have never had one refuse a request to let me observe what they do. In fact, they are usually quite happy to bring me up to speed regarding the realities and complexities of delivering care.

  3. Spend time in your clinics and hospitals. Many marketers – myself included – are located in office buildings away from care locations. It’s important to get out and visit hospitals and clinics on a regular basis. You don't have to wait until you are scheduled for surgery!

In closing, the Harvard Business Review shares one of the best reasons for employees using their own products: they will become engaged, believe more strongly in your brand and help drive organizational success:

“We’ve found that when people care about and believe in the brand, they’re motivated to work harder and their loyalty to the company increases. Employees are unified and inspired by a common sense of purpose and identity.”


By Alan Shoebridge | August 31, 2016

2016 SHSMD Board Member and Editorial Advisory Board Member
Senior Director of Brand Marketing

Providence Health & Services

1 comment
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Comments

09-01-2016 01:16 PM

One additional benefit I didn't mention in the article is that being a patient of your organization also helps build and maintain volume, which is vital at a time when so many health systems are in a tight financial squeeze battling lower reimbursements and competitive threats.

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