Make Your Brand Memorable With a “Brandformance” Approach
In the dynamic healthcare marketing landscape, it’s easy to get caught up in the need for immediate results. With the rise of digital platforms, social media, and big data, performance marketing seems like a quick win for your brand, driving short-term results that can be measured in real time. However, in healthcare, building trust and relationships is essential to the sustained, long-term growth of your brand. In this article, we’ll explore the importance of consistently building your healthcare brand while focusing on performance – an approach known as “brandformance.” See how these brandformance strategies can help you develop a memorable brand that resonates with consumers and drives lasting success.
INTERTWINE BRAND MARKETING AND PERFORMANCE TEAMS
While performance marketing focuses on immediate action, such as getting someone to book an appointment or sign up for a service, brand marketing is about shaping healthcare consumers’ perceptions and building relationships over time. When these teams work in silos, your marketing efforts become fragmented, and it’s challenging to create a cohesive experience for your audience that achieves your combined goals. Integrating your brand and performance teams allows for consistency in your messaging across campaigns and touchpoints. This unified approach ensures that your performance efforts don’t just convert consumers today, but also help build the foundation for future loyalty and growth.
PRIORITIZE THE SMALL PRACTICE FEELING
Even though large healthcare systems may offer unmatched convenience with expansive networks of physicians, facilities, and services, patients still crave the personalized attention that smaller, local family practices provide. Patients want to know that they are seen, heard, and cared for as individuals, not just viewed as numbers in the system. To tap into this need, use local, personalized marketing strategies that emphasize community and human connection. Highlight the importance of tailored care, local relationships, and the familiar faces patients have come to trust, even if they’re visiting a large healthcare system. Fostering this “small practice” feeling within a larger infrastructure can increase prospective patients’ comfort levels and trust and can significantly improve your brand’s reputation compared to competitors.
UNDERSTAND CONSUMER SENTIMENT
One of the most powerful tools in healthcare marketing today is social listening. By paying attention to what people are saying on social media and other online platforms, you can gain insights into patients’ challenges and concerns. Regularly monitor conversations around key topics, such as access to care, specific health services, or patient experiences within your hospital or health system. This data will help you identify patients’ pain points and potential areas of improvement while providing a direct line to your target audience’s emotions, needs, and healthcare goals.
ADVERTISE ACCESS
Access to care is one of the most significant challenges healthcare consumers face today. Yet, many healthcare systems fail to communicate the steps they are taking to make the care they provide more accessible. Address this under-communicated opportunity by clearly articulating how your brand is improving access to care, whether it’s through telemedicine, extended and weekend hours, improved appointment scheduling, mobile healthcare services, or partnerships with other local providers.
DARE TO BE DIFFERENT
Healthcare marketing often falls into a pattern of using generic, predictable messaging. “High-quality care” phrasing and stock images of diverse patients can only take your brand so far in an industry where everyone’s saying the same thing. To stand out, you must dare to be different. Inject creativity and emotion into your campaigns. Showcase what makes your healthcare system unique, and be bold in your messaging. This bravery can make a real difference in how your audience perceives your brand and can lead to greater engagement and trust.
GET CREATIVE – IT’S CRUCIAL
Research has shown that 49% of a campaign’s impact is determined by the creative, 21% by the brand, and 14% by the reach. This means that while performance-driven tactics that prioritize measurable results and maximize audience exposure are important, your creative messaging and how it aligns with your brand identity are crucial to your success. Prioritize imagery and engaging messaging that will resonate with your target audiences – whether you’re evoking emotional connections through patient stories, sharing impressive outcomes data, or inviting consumers to focus on their wellness using clever or humorous tactics.
DEFINE YOUR CORE MESSAGE
A strong central idea across campaigns is vital for building brand recognition and consistency. Your messaging should be unified and cohesive, whether you’re running a campaign on social media, through TV ads, or via email marketing. A central theme or message reinforces your brand’s core values and creates a more memorable experience for your audience.
CAPTURE ATTENTION AND EMOTION
Video is a powerful tool for engaging with your audience. People are more likely to engage with and remember emotional content, so focus on storytelling that taps into feelings of compassion, hope, or empowerment. Inspiring stories from patients and providers will help foster a deeper connection with your audience and keep them engaged with your brand long after the video ends. Investing in high-attention platforms, such as streaming video and social media, can help you share creative campaigns with strong central messages and eye-catching imagery more effectively.
BUILD MEMORIES THAT SHAPE BEHAVIOR
While performance marketing focuses on immediate results, long-term growth comes from changing people’s behaviors over time. By building memory structures that influence consumer behavior, you’re shaping how people think and feel about your brand in the future. Consistently reinforcing your brand’s key messages, providing excellent patient experiences, and creating campaigns that resonate emotionally can influence your audiences’ future behaviors, promoting lasting brand loyalty and stronger consumer relationships.
LET HAPPY PATIENTS TELL THEIR STORIES
In healthcare, personal recommendations still hold more weight than online reviews or national health system ratings. Consumers trust the advice of their friends, family, colleagues, and peers when choosing a healthcare provider. Focus on building a reputation for exceptional, accessible, personalized care and positive patient experiences that will inspire word-of-mouth referrals. Explore community-based marketing strategies that encourage satisfied patients to recommend your services. And, whenever possible, share positive patient testimonials on social media and through radio or video campaigns.
By breaking down silos between your brand and performance teams, embracing the power of emotion in creative content, and focusing on personalized, local marketing, your healthcare brand can build trust, foster community, and drive growth over time. If you’re ready to elevate your “brandformance” efforts, we can help! Contact LIGHTSTREAM today.
