Healthcare Vendor Center of Excellence, what is Old is New- Eleven Strategies for Impact

 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I see a trend among various healthcare vendors reviving the outdated and misused Center of Excellence moniker that became popular with hospitals in the 1990s. What is old is new, I guess. Remember those hospitals' "Centers of Excellence"? Some hospitals still use that term today to differentiate themselves from competing hospitals.

The idea is good, but like in the 90s, the claim of having a Center of Excellence or program within a "center" is meaningless without benchmarks and proof points that provide validity and substance to the claim.

To coin a past popular phrase, "Where's the beef?"

Are you trying to find a differentiating answer in a highly competitive market, or just throwing stuff up against the wall to see what sticks to feed your ego? In a day and age when data is readily available and undocumented claims are easily refuted in the market, are your prospects doing an eye roll and chuckling at the mere mention of a Center of Excellence?

Marketing the Center of Excellence- it's about building perception, trust, and transparency.

Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

The opportunity immediately before you are to correct past marketing mistakes and make the Center of Excellence an actual entity, not vaporware or in your mind. 

The most critical thought correction for a Center of Excellence is to scrap the creation of a new logo, color palette, and messaging. Too many organizations went down the path of needing a new logo, tagline, color palette, etc., from the organization's already established brand—shame on the marketing departments for not exercising the leadership to stop the madness.

Your brand is everything.

The only logo that matters is your brand logo, color palette, and messaging.  Period. Change it at your own risk.  Leverage what you have because it makes life a lot easier and more cost-effective.

1.       Create a value proposition that shows the benefit to the provider. 

2.       Back you Center of Excellence claims up with meaningful data against accepted industry benchmarks for performance. 

3.       Create a client case study or two around the Center of Excellence performance. 

4.       Create sales content that speaks of the benefits and the business problem solved, not the features. 

5.       Identify key client influencers who can speak to and be brand ambassadors for the centers. 

6.       Always focus on and talk about outcomes and performance indicators and why they are essential with data transparency. 

7.       Use all communication channels- print, email, website, LinkedIn, social media, trade shows, and call center.  Integrate the messaging across platforms. 

8.       Make your marketing efforts sustainable.  Fund them accordingly to last a long period to be in front of the provider for months at a time. Presence builds preference. 

9.       Be creative. Be interactive.  Start and maintain a conversation with the provider on their terms and needs, not yours. 

10.   Take a market position of superiority along either the product, price, or service offering and dominate. Pick one, set meaningful benchmarks in the others. 

11.   Don't overpromise and under-deliver.

If you're going to call something Center of Excellence, do it right and differentiate.

Image by SplitShire from Pixabay 

Michael is a healthcare business, marketing, communications strategist, and thought leader. As an internationally followed healthcare strategy blogger, his blog, Healthcare Marketing Matters, is read in 52 countries and is listed on the 100 Top Healthcare Marketing Blogs & Websites ranked at No. 3 on the list by Feedspot.com. Michael is a Life Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives. An influencer in healthcare marketing strategy, communications, digital marketing, and social media, Michael is in the top 10 percent of social media experts nationwide. For inquiries regarding strategic consulting engagements, you can email me at michael@themichaeljgroup.com. 

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The opinions expressed are my own.