The Future of Medicine: Your Health System’s Brand Strategy
Many health systems proclaim “the future of medicine” by showcasing advanced robots, AI tools, and state-of-the-art labs. These important and exciting
innovations can help a brand build a reputation for clinical excellence and innovation, attracting both patients and top clinicians.
But your brand is more than technology and research. In fact, many patients and clinicians find that real progress begins with the way a healthcare system focuses on the basics. The most important promise a health system can make is to support strong patient-provider relationships and a healthy workplace. This matters even more as public trust in healthcare continues to erode and many people — almost one third of adults — no longer have a primary care doctor.
As you build your health system’s brand strategy, look beyond the bright shiny objects of technology, specialties, and research. Make sure you also focus on human-centered values that matter to everyone.
Authentic, universal values
In today’s health system environment, focusing on strong patient-centered care plans resonates more than highlighting technology or scientific advances. A simple, accessible, and empathetic brand demonstrates understanding and connects with what people value most: having a great patient experience and receiving genuine care.
It’s vital to remember that your current and future staff see the messages you broadcast to the community. Patients, providers, and staff will notice if your public messages match or don’t match their daily experiences — and they will talk about it. Likewise, potential new hires will judge your promises against what they hear from others who already work with you.
Lead with humanity
Assuming your organization is currently on track with person patient-centered care and employee relations, can you find opportunities to infuse your communications strategy with greater humanity? Consider the following directions as starting points.
- Invest in boosting brand awareness and visibility through earned and paid media presence and community engagement. This will position you as a sustaining force in the community and convey your true commitment.
- Use relatable stories to show patient satisfaction and successful clinical results. This builds trust and confidence in your organization. It also models patient-centered values and norms for the current employees in your audience.
- Highlight your commitment to social responsibility and health equity, to mirror the personal values of your audience.
- Publicly showcase the ways you support staff growth, encourage work-life balance, and invest in a healthy work/patient environment, assuming you have a good story to tell.
- Create forums to transparently address the future of a patient-centered approach to medicine, including clinician capacity, the rise of digital health, etc.
A case in point
A good example of this strategy is our work for the University of New Mexico Health System (UNM). UNM’s previous advertising, which focused exclusively on physicians and advanced technology, wasn’t moving the needle. Our research uncovered a deeper truth: While patients demand clinical excellence, they also want and value reassurance, connection, and outcomes.
Accordingly, we developed a fully integrated campaign grounded in UNM’s unique culture and the lived experiences of its patients. Through powerful, authentic stories — told by actual patients — we spotlighted the high quality care only UNM could provide. These narratives, woven together with comments from UNM clinicians, humanized the institution and built emotional trust, shifting long-held misperceptions.
We reinforced the brand campaign with targeted service line mini-campaigns to educate the public about available pediatric, women’s health, neurology, and cancer care. Their clear, compelling proof points supported our overarching message of excellence in patient-centered care.
Conclusion
Be sure your brand communications campaign is not tone deaf to the real, everyday needs and desires of your target audience. Contact us if you would like to assess your current strategy, learn more from your audience, and define your future in medicine.
