The right words and stories to tell to build and position your healthcare brand

The right words and stories capture attention and develop brand trust and loyalty and drive customers to pay more for its brand and tell others about it. Do you know what they are for your healthcare business? Learn 7 powerful approaches in this brief and informative article.

This article is applicable to my medical tourism followers, those trying to bust through barriers to entry or better reimbursement with third party payer contracts, and doctors, dentists and therapists who've decided to build a concierge medicine or professional authority brand for their small private practice.

Many of the consulting projects I am awarded around the USA and abroad center on healthcare marketing and advertising, public relations and branding. Clients hire me to help them develop and execute on a system or algorithm to guide their targeting, messaging, and efforts to create brand awareness. They need to differentiate their offer from competitors who seem to do similar things, and raise their prospects perceived value to the consumer. Without that, they are headed to the hit or miss abyss where investments of time and money are wasted and "at risk".

We all need a reliable template that produces great outputs, so we can communicate our brand value to a prospective customer. We do this through research, creativity and testing. This either costs great sums of cash or sweat equity and training.

In this article, regardless of the service you offer or the marketing, advertising and branding situation you face, you'll learn a few approaches so you can find the approach that fits your situation best. When that happens, you'll begin to master the forces that influence consumer behavior about healthcare provider decisions and you'll win more business, build better customer relationships, earn greater admiration and gain deeper consumer trust. Did I tick all the boxes? I think so. So now, we know the goals, right?

Trust begets loyalty. When you build brand loyalty, people who have awarded their trust in you will remain with your brand when faced with alternatives. As a result, you won't face "as much" risk when you invest time and money with a consultant to help you craft a strategy for your marketing that includes:

1. the story that persuades and converts your ideal potential customers to you brand from any other they may be aware of or have used in the past
2. the words you'll use in the story to enable strong defensible and immediate choices by your ideal customers (in 9 seconds or less)
3. growing the number of brand advocates you'll create who will believe, care about and repeat your story again and again without monetary compensation
4. forcing prospective customers to make decisions that position your solution over other more logical choices that may be available or more easily accessible or cost less.

What kind of marketing strategy will fit your situation?

In working with a client in Arizona recently, Ilan Geva and I spent a full day at a round table discussion with the brand's executives and a key partner. The client offers a diagnostic service that is designed to prevent debilitating complications of disease to an aging population. Located almost directly across the street from a competing healthcare facility, they asked us to come up with a marketing and branding strategy to launch their business. With about 80 years of experience between us two, we listened to a lot of information, and quickly realized that some specialized data about the target market was required but not readily available. The purpose of the data was to know more about the ideal customers so we could choose a tactical approach. At our disposal were seven different approaches we could use along with hundreds of combinations of more than one of the seven different approaches.

1. Building relationship with customers
2. Building confidence of customers
3. Taking the creative approach by focusing on innovation
4. Taking a prestige approach
5. Building trust in the technicians and diagnostic specialist physicians
6. Featuring details and statistics, threats and consequences
7. Zeroing in on slight competitive differences that give our client an edge over incumbents across the street, whatever those differences might be.

Brands that are successful in connecting with their customers enjoy up to 400% more return on investment and drive brand choices and command higher prices than competitors that fail to connect with anyone in particular

People who connect with a product or brand will spend more on something that they "feel" connected to - even if the feeling or belief is illogical and not easily explainable to others.

For example, I can't tell you why I am on my third set of the same model of Prada prescription sunglasses frames in 12 years other than I like them and they feel comfortable on my face and my nose.

I can't tell you why my Montblanc Meisterstück Solitaire Doué pen is more desirable to me than a Pilot G2 Gel Pen we can all buy for about a dollar at any general merchandise store. But I have several of Montblancs that I use all collector editions and in different colors and each means something special to me. I keep one in my wallet and I buy a special wallet that I know will hold and protect it and make it easy to grab in my cluttered purse. My choice wallet is also branded (Coach) as is the purse that carries the wallet (Kate Spade). I can afford (and I do own) Prada, Pliner, and Christian Dior handbags, but I don't carry those brands of handbag all the time.

When the Samsung Note 7 became the pariah of all smart phones, I returned back to the Note 5, not another smart phone brand. What connects me to those brands and keeps me loyal when cheaper substitutes that would perform the task are available and accessible?

Why are my suitcases all German-made Rimowa? I still have the nine Tumi pieces I bought before Rimowa, but they live full time in the garage now. I should sell them on Ebay or donate them and declutter. I haven't used them in over 7 years. My small Rowa cost me $695. Last week, Frontier Airlines lost the 32-inch Salsa Air for two days. It costs $865 to replace. I was more concerned about the replacement of the suitcase than the contents within it. (Luckily, I didn't have to - they reunited me with my suitcase after 2-1/2 days - after its escapade to LA"X" instead of LA"S"!) The baggage replacement limit was less than the cost of the suitcase, without any contents replacement. As much as I travel I beat the crap out of luggage. But would I replace it with another Rimowa? You bet I would - without equivocation! And no, I would not pull the Tumi out of the garage instead except in an emergency.

What should a medical clinic or hospital or a doctor or a hotel or spa say to me to capture my attention and develop my brand trust and loyalty and drive me to pay more for its brand and tell others about it?

The answer to this is the holy grail of branding, marketing strategy, advertising placement, and positioning the brand in the mind of the customer.

For each of our clients, this is what Ilan and I team up to create when we collaborate on client assignments. We may make it look easy, but it isn't. Not by any stretch of the imagination!

We sift and sort through our clients' respective stories, legacy (if any), qualities, and then have to place our bets on the black and red numbers just like our clients. Our clients don't pay us for marketing and advertising rocket science. Instead, they pay us to take the time to conduct the research, analyze the data and then choose or best and most practical recommendation(s), based on what we know about the roulette wheel, how it operates, probability, and what we know about the other betting competitors seated at the table.

Many clients pay us our professional consulting fees to recommend strategies that will produce results clients want in terms of growth and revenue. This is the same as when we pay our doctors and clinics and hospitals to do what they do best. We don't expect pie in the sky treatment plans from our doctors for the money we pay, nor should they expect strategies that cost money and produce nothing from us. Each of us agree to pay the other these negotiated professional fees to receive the other's best recommendations, right?

We don't just sit at the table with the client and do a Vulcan Mind Meld. We must research the situation and analyze the data and then experiment with each approach back at the office. The result is a well-thought out recommendation specific to each client. It doesn't matter if the client is a hospital, a clinic, a diagnostic imaging provider, a specialized laboratory, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, a concierge medicine practice owner, a medical specialist or surgeon, a medical tourism facilitator or other provider or stakeholder, or a government authority responsible for national messaging for a medical or wellness tourism destination brand strategy.

You don't have to hire us.

Our clients knew from the beginning that they could choose to invest time instead of money and do all these things for themselves. I feel fortunate that at the point they made their decision, they realized that they do something else better than they do branding and marketing and advertising layout and messaging. Therefore, they placed their trust in us to help them grow their business. That way, they could focus their undivided attention on treating patients. They assigned us to provide the level of expertise we can supply while they see patients and get both needs met. When we work on client projects, we do what you would have to do on your own without us. These include assignments such as:

• Inventing a surprising solution
• Turning an old product into something new
• Doing the opposite of what the competitors do
• Pushing a boundary, create or reinvent an expectation
• Finding their "wow" factor
• Incorporating the customer's five senses in their message and customer experience
• Eclipsing logical responses and create strong and immediate emotions
• Finding ways to lead and force competitors to realign
• Pursuing specific goals
• Establishing their professional authority at a local, regional or international level
• Increasing their customer's perceived value
• Setting new standards in their domain area of expertise
• Developing your brand's anthem and filtering for what is "on message" or "off message"; an anthem isn't a tag line. It is a persuasive communication combination that uses two words (an adjective and a noun) to describe what differentiates you that you do best. Which two best describe you? Are you too close to choose?
• Inferring scarcity, exclusivity and prestige
• Figuring out how to repeat and retell your story, when to do it and what to say
• Accelerating trust through familiar cues and messages and symbols
• Helping to develop authenticity over time from your brand's story in the marketplace, without manipulation
• Communicating just enough to protect your secret recipe and not tell too much to competitors
• Driving up customer (and competitor) curiosity and engagement
• Crafting messages that customers relate to at the right level of understanding
• Tailoring custom solutions for ideal customer personas
• Deciding if and when it is time to rent a stand at an industry event; which ones to choose and how to design your materials, back drops and talking points for your elevator pitches.

If that's something you feel would help you accelerate growth but you don't know how or you lack the time to do that and take care of patients, then you have a choice: D-I-Y or ask for help.

I invite you to call me for a complimentary 15 minute chat about your situation. To narrow down the focus of our discussion, pick a few of the above-mentioned objectives that you (and so many of my other clients over the past 35+ years) struggle with as business owners and executives. I'll get you started on a road map to success so you can continue conducting business and grow revenues and brand awareness simultaneously.

With your permission, I will summon experts that I trust to help me help you. Together we'll develop and implement messages and create strategies to select the right words and stories to tell to build and position your healthcare brand. You'll be positioned at the very top of what you do best, differentiated from your competitors, and earn the trust and loyalty of your customers so you can earn more net revenue than you thought possible.

About Maria Todd

Chief Executive Officer at Mercury Healthcare International, Inc.

Clients dramatically improve their profitability after working with Maria Todd. They realize increases in their reimbursement, volumes of new patients, and global brand awareness and appeal. Maria helps companies and physicians price for value. She zeroes in on clients' needs (like the list above) and meets or exceeds them. Her unique skill set comes from over 35 years of experience at all six seats at the table, clinical, administrative, insurance contracting, travel and tourism, marketing and branding, and health law paralegal work. She intertwines these skills in a way that no other consultant can offer because most usually only offer one of these expertise and have to call upon others - each with their own fees and expenses to comprise the other five. She solves problems for clients and shortens time and reduces expenses associated with hiring a consultant. This is an additional value added benefit of working with her.

Maria adds value to every project she accepts. If she doesn't believe she can add value, she turns the project down. In reality, the demand for her time is so high that she cannot accept every project she is invited to. After more than 35 years helping clients succeed, her time is scarce. She is often booked to start new projects or present keynote addresses and workshops as much as 18 months in advance. She loves watching her clients' successes and watching them grow and thrive. She is also brutally honest with clients which they tend to appreciate when working with her. She is direct. She pulls no punches and doesn't sugar coat bad news or constructive criticisms.

Reach out to her to at +1 (303) 823.4662 (office international land line) or by email. Maria accepts most invitations to connect with her on LinkedIn and at her professional Facebook page. Maria prefers direct email to her @mercuryadvisorygroup.com address or through LinkedIn for all contacts via email.