Notes from CBM Day 1: Three Not So Obvious Roles for Healthcare Marketers
In healthcare, as in other service industries, marketing is allabout managing the service and the customer–or patient–experience. And, the role of the service marketer differs from that of a product marketer in important ways. In their keynote session this afternoon, The Service is the Marketing, Leonard Berry and Kent Seltman described three “not so obvious” roles for the healthcare marketer.
First, the healthcare marketer is a Clue Manager. The service experience is influenced by numerous clues … including technical quality of care, the look of the facility, noise levels, and how the patient is treated by the many people they interact with. No one in the organization should be more conscious of the need to orchestrate these clues to paint a positive picture than the marketing director, says Berry. The marketer should take a leadership role in helping the organization close the gap between what the patient and his or her family want to feel and the actual experience.
Second, the healthcare marketer is the Internal Brander. It is the marketer’s role to sell the brand promise to employees. That involves educating staff throughout the organization about the desired brand experience along with celebrating brand-strengthening behaviors.
Third, the healthcare marketer is a Quality Service Champion. As Berry and Seltman point out, the healthcare marketer cannot be successful in his or her job if the service and the experience are poor. The marketer must champion excellent service because the service IS the marketing–it is the quality of the service delivered, of the patient experience and all that goes into it, that will deliver the positive word of mouth that is so essential to marketing healthcare.