Back to the basics: Health Care Marketing Revisited

Of course you care.

Repeated exposure to most health-care advertising could result in a case of diabetes. There’s just too much sweetness in all that slow-motion video, glowing light, tender touches, compassionate smiles, soft music, and sincere voice-over announcers.

The underlying message in this approach is almost always the same—We Care.

Well, of course you do. Most everyone in the business can—and does—say the same thing. And it’s usually true. Health-care providers tend to be caring, compassionate types who enjoy helping others. Otherwise, they’d be accountants or plumbers or work for the DMV.

The thing is, spending your hard-to-come-by marketing communications budget telling prospects you care is tantamount to a soft-drink bottler saying their stuff is wet, or an auto manufacturer saying the wheels on their vehicles turn.

Some claims are just too generic—and expected—to matter. People already know, and expect, that you care. So does that other place across town. Or in the next city. Or state.

There are plenty of things you can say about your hospital or clinic or treatment center that you can bring to bear to convince prospects to consider coming to you. Focusing on one of those reasons, and presenting it in an unusual, unexpected, creative way without all those syrupy clichés will prove much more persuasive.

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Next time: Jumping on the bandwagon is a ride to nowhere.