Will you be the first to own wellness in your market?

We continue to push and cajole hospitals to establish a brand positioning in their market around wellness. That is, if your hospital is known for one thing, let it be known as the resource for health and wellness support, resources, content and offerings. Why wellness? Here are three primary reasons:

1. Wellness is relevant to consumers. (You’ve heard us beat this drum before.) Whether it’s advocating for “inbound marketing” strategies or pleading that “Joe Public Doesn’t Care About Your Hospital” at healthcare marketing conferences around the country, our message is the same: Make your marketing communications relevant to your audiences.

   Remembering that consumers are constantly thinking “What’s in it for me?” provides the primary argument against daVinci Robot billboards and advertising that features physicians. Truth is, most people don’t need laser surgery or a new physician, so those ubiquitous brand-building approaches will not resonate as well. It’s not that you can’t build brand with these messages — you can. But because they’re not relevant to the vast majority of people in your community, it takes much more time and money for them to have an impact. Most people do have some level of interest in living healthier lives, whether it’s losing weight, cutting stress, exercising more, eating right, or whatever. A message focused on health and wellness is a message relevant to a lot more people, one that actually will build their awareness, along with their perception, utilization — and loyalty. And it’s a message that’s completely natural coming from a community health leader — You.

2. Wellness also helps deflect the negative focus on hospital advertising. As we noted in our last e-newsletter, there’s a small but growing “assault” on hospital marketing. Right or wrong, it wouldn’t be surprising if this sentiment spread as politicians, regulators, the media and others start to dig deeper into how our organizations spend their money. (A recent NPR story on the subject started with the on-air personality stating in a surprised manner that hospitals actually are out there competing for patients. Can you imagine?) It’s one thing to spend millions of dollars on advertising bragging about your awards or touting your new technology. It’s quite another to be focused on helping those in the community improve their health and pursue wellness. This isn’t a reason to focus on wellness as a brand position (see above and below), but it’s a nice side affect.

3. Wellness messaging will actually help improve the health of your community. Yes, anything we do as hospitals from a marketing communications perspective that brings the right patient to the right service helps improve the health of consumers (assuming, of course, the right service is your service). As opposed to marketing messages focused on promoting the benefits of your organization, however, wellness-based messaging focuses on what’s best for the audience, and is bound to help those in the community improve their health. So not only is it the right thing to do from a business perspective, it’s just the right thing to do period. (And for those in your organization who argue you don’t get “paid” for health and wellness, so why focus on it, see our blog post “Gettin’ Paid.”

The good news is that we’re seeing more hospitals and health systems attempt to build their brand on a position of health and wellness. The bad news is that if you’re not one of those organizations, you may be left behind. You see, that’s the Achilles heel of wellness as a brand position — anyone can claim it. Of course, like everything else (clinical quality, convenience, patient experience, advanced technology, etc.), how hospitals actually deliver on this promise varies greatly. But unlike some of the other potential positions a hospital could take, nearly every organization can pursue this position. And at some point, it could become ubiquitous as a position in a given market, like “we care,” or “high-tech, high-touch,” or “we’re award winning” have become.

So the key is to jump out there first and stick with it. Not for six months, not for two years, but for a long, long time. Be the first, be the most, and be the best — don’t just talk wellness, but build offerings and content that support the brand and that will consistently keep you ahead of the pack. Once you’re out there, if you don’t let up, it will be very difficult for others to catch you. Of course, if you let someone else get first dibs, the same can be said for you.