This is because survival comes from sustainability and sustainability is driven by the generation of sufficient profit to ensure growth. Nature abhors stagnation as much as it abhors vacuums, such that what doesn't grow automatically dies.
I attribute the healthcare profession's positioning challenge to Florence Nightingale. Branded “The Lady of the Lamp”, by The Times, Florence Nightingale came to epitomise healthcare during the Crimean war of March 1854-February 1856. What made her even more special is that she was from an upper-class, well-connected British family. She rejected the advances of politician and poet, Baron Richard Monckton Milnes to follow her calling.
Through her career Nightingale embodied this higher calling and a selflessness that has come to be expected on the healthcare industry. It is therefore no wonder that through the centuries, the industry has had a problem with thinking or being seen to think in business terms. A hospital CEO would virtually be burnt at the stake if she was heard to say “business is great and we expect a huge influx of customers come the cold season. It is our best time of the year!” This is despite the fact that patients expect the best facilities in place, top notch well paid professionals to care for them and shareholders expect a decent return on their investment. The industry has a problem with thinking of patients as customers.
According to Fortune magazine, “In the 21st Century, branding ultimately will be the only unique differentiator between companies (read healthcare institutions)”. The truth is that hospitals and other healthcare institutions are all companies or organisations in competitive businesses. They compete for patients, funding, volunteers, talented personnel and recognition, to name just a few areas. With time, physical facilities, specialised equipment and qualified personnel are becoming a given, a reason to exist rather than a reason to compete and win. Winning here can be measured though cash for the pure capitalists or through social impact for those seeking the greater societal good. Whichever side of the philosophical divide you choose to sit on, success in healthcare will be determined by the relationships the institution's brand builds with its patients, donors, government or the society the institution operates in. A brand is an enduring differentiated promise made and consistently kept over time. This builds a relationship with consumers and therefore secures future revenues.
Why is branding going to become more and more of an issue in the healthcare industry? According to Steve MacDonald, a partner and director of account management at Hydrogen, a Seattle-based advertising agency, “in today's complex and competitive healthcare industry, brand and reputation are more important to organisations than ever before”. We live in a world ruled and shaped by consumerism. The consumer is demanding the same level of quality, service and personal attention of the healthcare industry as they are demanding of every other industry.
Unlike fast moving consumer goods brands, healthcare brands aren't built through advertising but through personal experience with the brand. Every detail is important; from the interaction with the security guard at the gate, the warm smile (or not) of the front office staff, the ambience of the waiting area, to the nurses in triage, the consulting doctor, to the radiology department, pharmacy, physiotherapy and other specialised areas, to the theatres, wards, and the list just goes on and on. This forms a chain of touch points (instances where the consumer experiences the brand), all of which must be consistent with the brand promise. Just like a chain, any break in the consistency of experience across any single touch point may be disastrous for the entire brand as it may be the only touch point a particular customer experiences.
At the beginning of 2007, Healthcare Branding Group Inc conducted a survey of over 3,000 top executives across the United States to gauge their challenges in achieving differentiation, treatment of competition, perceptions about differentiation and beliefs regarding the improvement of stakeholder attitudes and opinions. The report titled “The Changing Hospital Landscape 2007”, had one notable finding from a branding perspective, “Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed believe that a powerful brand can be a differentiating factor and an instrument to achieve growth objectives. But two-thirds of respondents recognise they aren't doing nearly enough to achieve differentiation.” I can bet the results would be mirrored in the local healthcare industry.
