Provider & Vendor Word of Mouth Marketing, Four Strategies to Energize the Channel

 

Image by Anastasia Gepp from Pixabay

Word-of-mouth marketing. We all talk about it. We all understand the importance of patients and clients spreading the good work of our hospital or business. So, while we all talk a good game, little attention is paid to the "how" of how you leverage word-of-mouth marketing.

Taking an "if it happens, that's a great approach,"providers and vendors then turn their attention to the traditional and digital marketing channels to get the brand message out. Interruptive marketing is easier the implementing a word-of-mouth marketing plan. Word-of-mouth means you will take a risk to identify strategies, tactics, and metrics to execute.  It also means that in highly undifferentiated markets such as those that exist for hospitals and revenue cycle management companies, word-of-mouth marketing can be a powerful way to break away from the competition.

Word-of-mouth marketing is far more targeted and persuasive than traditional forms of marketing in establishing deeper ties with patients and customers, allowing you to eliminate much of the noise people have from using multiple online channels. It is also more efficient because you target groups and communities rather than individuals. So, while the patient and the potential client uses word-of-mouth as a significant influence in making decisions, few providers and vendors make any attempt to gather positive online reviews. Yet, surprisingly, word-of-mouth marketing can generate double the volume of use for providers and sales for vendors.

What steps should the marketing leadership in providers and vendors be taking to implement a word-of-mouth marketing program? 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

1.       Focus on the patent or customer experience.Trust is an important consideration on the part of patients and clients in establishing your brand image. People gravitate to those brands that share their values and work with them. Patients and clients do not accept the advertising that brands do. Much more savvy today, they are skeptical about the claim's brands and desire authenticity that brands will live up to their promises and ideals. Purchasing decisions today are not about the what but about who is providing the care or service. 

2.       Find the influencers in your provider market or vendor segment. Since people trust the recommendations of others, the role of social media has grown exponentially over the past few years. Now considered the hub of word-of-mouth, social media's impact on purchasing decisions can no longer be underestimated. If patients and customers are pleased, they share positive reviews online. Conversely, if they are displeased, patients and customers share the negative experiences too. Therefore, providers and vendors should be using influencers who people they respect and can relate to actual users. Identifying those influencers is not about how many followers they have but their engagement rate with their followers. It also never hurts you to directly ask your users to comment online about your care, products, or services. 

3.       Content generated by users. People trust other people more than they do brand advertising. It makes sense that word-of-mouth marketing has taken off, given the proliferation of online and social media platforms with patients, customers, and clients can voice their opinion, which is user-generated content. While the content of a case study, white paper, or blog post is still valuable, it does not carry the weight of a user writing about experience against their expectations for brand performance. The provider and vendor can collect this feedback and share it on multiple platforms. The other exciting aspect of user-generated content is analyzing what your patients, customers, and clients are telling you. Then, you can act on the insights to improve the brand experience. Remember that user-generated content is always on and the tools and platforms they use need to be continually monitored to determine current patient or customer sentiment without waiting for satisfaction survey results. 

4.       Brand champions, come on down. Every provider and vendor needs a brand champion. These individuals will talk about the brand to their friends, in the breakroom to the community. These champions will be responsible for providing constructive feedback, actively recommending the provider or vendor, making known that their needs will be in the future, and defending brand loyalty. The key is identifying these individuals and keeping them engaged.  But while the brand champion in supporting the brand and loyalty, it's incumbent upon the provider or vendor to remain competitive and provide the best possible experience every time.

There you have a formalized word-of-mouth marketing strategy. Now the question is, are you ready to stop talking about it and start doing it?

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 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. 

Connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Flipboard, and Triller. Use 815-351-0671 to message me on WhatsAppor Telegram for safe and secure end-to-end message encryption. Video conferencing available via Zoom,Goggle Hangouts, and for Skype use live:michael0753_2.

Signup for the e-newsletter Healthcare Marketing Daily and have the latest healthcare marketing and business news for providers and vendors delivered right to your mailbox daily. Add your email address in the signup in the blog sidebar. You will not receive additional general or specific marketing emails.

For more topics and thought-leading discussions like this, join  Healthcare Marketing Leaders For Change, a LinkedIn Professional Group.

The opinions expressed are my own.