Question Mark: Competing with National Brands
Mark Shipley answers your healthcare marketing queries
Q: How can I compete with retail and national providers entering my market?
A: Hospitals and physician practices are facing new competition. We have big brands like the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic starting to advertise on national cable, we have minute Clinics and Retail care providers like Walgreens and Walmart getting into the primary care game. Whether we like it or not these competitors are here to stay.
Here are some ways to protect your market share…
Communicate a compelling brand position
The big players have established brands – whether in retail or health care segment and they’ve spent a lot of money and effort building those brands and the reputations behind them, so if you want to compete with them, you have to find a compelling brand position for your hospital or practice.
Dominate with hyper-local marketing
National brands market on a national level – it’s not scalable to the local level. Dominate your market with media they just can’t buy, like
- Local Spot TV
- Geo-targeted Mobile
- Targeted Out of Home
- Advertise on shopping carts in local grocery stores
Build partnerships with competitors
If you can’t beat them join them. Create partnerships to refer patients to the big providers Become the care providers for the retail channels
Pick your battles
Know when to fight and when to give in . Sometimes a competitor can provide a service more cost effectively or credibly than you can. Save your budgets for areas where you can take market share from them.
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