Anyone involved in healthcare marketing knows that having a clinician show how they are using your product to deliver positive outcomes is great PR.
This point struck home for me recently in a social media exchange involving a company called Patientrack. Nurses and NHS trust executives demonstrated at the recent Patient First event how they were using the electronic track and trigger system to record millions of observations on potentially deteriorating patients, which was helping to deliver a 50% reduction in cardiac arrests. This was reported on by trust employees on Twitter, providing a rich insight for others as to the benefits Patientrack can deliver. You can see the exchange on the Patientrack Twitter account.
Such testimonials are given great weight in any form of marketing; in healthcare marketing, especially so. Clinicians learn from other clinicians. They talk frankly about the tools that they use and how they can have an impact on patient care. If something does not help them, they will say so – patient’s lives could be at risk if they don’t.
Clinicians are also customers, and as such they help define a brand. An organisation may have an idea of how they want to be perceived by customers. Customers perceive things differently, and we all know that perception is reality.
Part of this perception is informed by the views of their peers. Customers can tell you what they like about your product. But when they start telling others in their network about how they like your product, you have hit gold.
Having a strong brand is important; it provides reassurance and can help guide a prospective customer into an understanding of your values, and how your products could meet those values.
But it is what your customers say about your products that demonstrate the value they are getting from your brand. Make sure that the customer voice is an important part of your marketing activity.
Rob Benson
With a passion for creative ideas and their practical application, Rob is committed to delivering excellence for his clients through a full understanding of their needs and aspirations.
He has worked across technical and communication roles with organisations including BT and the Department of Health, and has run his own marketing consultancy business. His healthcare experience covers web and knowledge management for a primary care trust and commissioning support unit, and includes digital consultancy for the national end of life care workstream.
In addition, his other core skills include marketing and communications, business planning, copywriting, training, social media, and market research.
“Healthcare depends on excellent intelligence and effective communication. Great ideas and sensible advice can get lost if they are not presented in the right way, and are reaching the right people.
“This is where marketing concepts and practices can help. Shaping services to meet people’s needs and aspirations is core to both healthcare and marketing professions. Bringing the two together can have a positive impact on everyone’s experience, and it is a privilege to work with colleagues and clients who deliver this in a dynamic and exciting field.”
A little bit about Rob:
- Yorkshire born Rob combines a love of rugby, cricket and golf with an active interest in real ale and TV detective shows.
- Currently living in Birmingham, Rob is a father, stepfather and grandfather, and spends most of the year saving up for birthdays and Christmas.
- Other interests including reading, walking, art and travel.
Latest posts by Rob Benson (see all)
- UK Health Show brings it all together for future NHS - 30th September 2016
- Wachter Review: Questions remain for digital health in England - 9th September 2016
- Reasons to be cheerful: Andy Kinnear on UK digital health - 22nd April 2016
- Carter Report calls on health technology to help save NHS billions - 5th February 2016
- 2015: Highland Marketing’s review of the year - 18th December 2015
