A hospital marketing strategy for a political climate

The race for the White House is heating up, but how can your hospital heat up its competitive edge?

The race for the White House is hotly contested — making it one of the most dramatic in recent history. Will U.S. citizens elect a woman to the Oval Office or will it be the businessman from New York? We have narrowed our candidates down to two influential people with vastly different backgrounds and ideas on how to run the country. But, for better or for worse, hospitals can’t be as political about how they promote their organizations or what they stand for as a brand. This can make it a challenge when trying to get patients to choose your hospital over the competition.

If you live in an area that has more than one hospital then you probably get served the same amount of ads for why you should select one hospital over the other as you do for why you should choose Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Vote for Donald and you might get a wall built between the United States and Mexico. Cast a ballot for Hillary, and you might get comprehensive immigration reform.

Selecting a hospital isn’t as clear as siding with one political belief over another. Sure one hospital might have the latest cancer equipment or more experienced surgeons, but making a decision isn’t like leaning toward the left or right side of the political spectrum.

So, how can hospital and health systems differentiate themselves if not by politics and drama? To create meaningful differentiation, we must get into the mindset of our consumers.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What’s important to the people we are trying to serve?
• Do they have a need that we can fulfill
• How do our competitors position themselves and what can we own that is truly ours?
• What promises can we live up to and which ones can’t we?

Once we have our positioning in place, we need to create buy-in. Hospitals and health systems must ensure their actions live up to these messages. Just like we’ve witnessed in past presidencies, failing to follow through with promises can lead to a damaged reputation and loss of trust. Learn from history, but also be historic in how you position yourself against the competition.