Who are you?

Back to the basics: Health Care Marketing Revisited

No matter the message, no matter the medium, no matter the audience, your first and most important goal is always, without fail, awareness.

If no one knows who you are, no one will care about what you do. If they don’t know your name, they won’t know what you’re all about. And if they don’t know what you’re about, there will never be a relationship.

It a simple concept, but it’s too often forgotten.

We get so enamored with hitching ourselves to the latest shooting star, climbing aboard the shiny new bandwagon, and chasing after the latest fad that we sometimes forget to introduce ourselves.

The default position of so many businesses is that people know who they are. Unfortunately, as research Holmes & Co. has conducted over many years reveals, you’re probably not as well known as you think you are. We grow so familiar with the places we go every day, the people we work with, the services we provide, and the good things we do that we naturally assume it’s all common knowledge.

It’s not.

Even in communities with a single hospital; in market segments with little competition; in service lines with few challengers awareness is often seriously over-estimated.

Gaining—and maintaining—awareness requires a consistent, relentless presence in the eyes and ears of your audience. And that’s true whether you’re using traditional media, new media, social media, or any and all other media that can connect you with your prospects. Say “hello, my name is…” and offer a handshake and a smile often enough and, eventually, you’ll be remembered.

That’s a beginning. But only a beginning.

Next time: What are you about?