Why Healthcare Providers & Vendors Need to Market Core Values

 

Image by Peter Linforth from Pixabay.

Marketing changes a lot. Sometimes driven by leadership in providers and vendors. It could be an old idea they used in their early leadership days, “with it worked, then it could work now.” It could be from reading an article, attending a conference, a recommendation from the Board of Directors, or private equity ownership.  But in any case, leadership always chases the shiny new marketing nickel.

Fads and trends come and go in marketing all the time. What is old is new and what’s new is old. But some things do remain the same. While tactics, messages, and channels change all the time, it can be a case of the tail wagging the dog.

Don’ take me wrong. Marketers need to innovate, create engaging content, and drive an exceptional experience while finding the mediums that patients, providers, and vendors inhabit with an attention span of a newt.

It can explain why so many providers and vendors focus on features, not benefits, which in reality doesn’t differentiate one competitor from another.

But suppose one was to take a step back. In that case, I maintain the providers and vendors have a uniquely differentiated marketing opportunity if they could stop being enamored with all their technology, facilities, and themselves.

The prologue brings us to the headline for this blog post—a way out of the trap, which still allows innovation, new channels, and messaging.

The provider and vendor should be marketing their organizational core values.

Connection image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay/

Core values are essential behaviors. Successful, next-generation provider and vendor brands know that aligning their organization around core values is critical for marketing. The employee experience drives the customer experience, which then creates the brand experience. Values create clarity and accountability around brands.

The fundamental shift in the market is that people are demanding to know the core values of the provider or vendor and need to know if those values align with their values, either personally or organizationally.

Hands aligned image by truthseeker08 from Pixabay

The modern buyer- patient, provider, or vendor- cares more about the brand’s core values than offered products or services. By marketing your core values, you’ll find that your connections will last longer because they are based on the mutuality of value and not money.

After all, isn’t that the ultimate goal, to create and keep a customer and the lifetime value they bring? It’s not about making money. Money is a prerequisite of business. If you don’t make money, you’re out of business.

By marketing your core values instead of features, you’ll be connecting on a much deeper and meaningful level with your audience. And what follows is growth.

Meaning you can still do all the shiny new nickel marketing you want, as long as you focus the message on core values to deliver more engagement and resonate with your targets at a much deeper level.

Michael is a healthcare business, marketing, communications strategist, and thought leader. As an internationally followed healthcare strategy blogger, his blog, Healthcare Business & Marketing Matters, is read in 52 countries and ranked No. 3 on 100 Top Healthcare Marketing Blogs & Websites to follow by Feedspot.com. Michael is a Life Fellow American College of Healthcare Executives.  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 call directly or message me on WhatsApp or Telegram for safe and secure end-to-end message encryption. Video conferencing is available via Zoom and  Skype; please use live: michael0753_2.

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

Join Healthcare Marketing Leaders For Change, a LinkedIn Professional Group, for more topics and thought-leading discussions.

The opinions expressed are my own.