The Power of Branding

In the age of corporate healthcare, brand building is the reality in the business of healthcare

Vivek Shukla

Back in 1857, people in your city would have scoffed at you if you told them that 150 years later they will have to buy 'packaged' drinking water. How can someone sell water? Is it not a natural resource provided by the Almighty for all beings? Well, only if they knew about the power of marketing or to be more specific—branding!

The healthcare industry, like many other industries, is undergoing a major transition. The board rooms of hospitals today echo with the 'wisdom' of how building a brand is the next best thing. We see hospital brands on the traffic signals, in the copy of our mobile bills, billboards, airports and at almost every other outdoor media. The branding efforts are also working in subtle and not-so-visible ways like newsletters and previous patient clubs.

Like it or not, brand building is the new reality in the business of healthcare. If you are still waiting, jump in.

Brand for Differentiation

Putting a hoarding just for the sake of it or creating a website just because it is the 'in thing' are the biggest money wasters.

I recently saw a very good visual created by a hospital to promote their lasik procedure for removal of glasses. A classy hoarding with a mind blowing picture, I must say. But what was missing rather visibly was the reason why someone should go to that particular hospital for that procedure. Putting a pretty face is not enough. Putting up the benefits of the procedure may not be enough too. What if I see that visual and conclude 'yes, this is a good procedure and I have to go for it.' Then I pick up my cheque book, I look for the most convenient eye hospital with lasik facility and get it done from there. The lesson is—Do not ripen the fruit for someone else to eat. Differentiate. And differentiate vigorously.

Here is my mantra—Unless your branding effort makes you look radically different than the rest of the pack, it is not worth it. I will go a step further and conclude this point by saying that not only do you have to look radically different, you need to prove your claim when they finally land up at your door. So, branding in isolation does not and will not work unless accompanied by a palpable proof of its promises.

Brand the Experience

How many times have we heard hospitals harping about the best equipment, star doctors and even low prices? I think branding really works if we brand the experience rather than anything else. Experience of undergoing a treatment in hospital is one of the primary reasons for people to select or reject a hospital. Look at Startbucks coffee outlets in the USA. Most relevant example is of the multiplex theatres. When people had written off cinema viewing with the advent of the VCR and VCD players, branding of the experience of watching a film in a hall did it for the film industry. Now, I am not saying that people will get admitted to your hospital just for the sake of it. But when they need a hospital and they have choices, a branded experience will come to your help.

Remember, not only the experience has to be branded, it has to be unique also. The more difficult it is to copy the uniqueness, the better it is. If you have a system of delivering care that cannot be copied easily and that is relevant to the customer, you have arrived big time.

Full frill hospitals have already arrived, if you have noticed recently. I am even open to having a 'no-frills' hospital, on the lines of ginger hotels or Spice Jet airlines. In fact, there is a blue print for it already!

Perils of Brand Extension

A Maruti cannot be a scooter. Pepsi cannot be a tea bag. If you are branded as an 'x' hospital, doing a 'x+y' would mean you have no commitment towards the success of your brand. Many thinkers and researchers in the world of branding, including Harvard, have done research on the perils of brand extension. For many years, none of the top 10 brands have been the brands that had extended themselves. In hospitals, the danger is that not only the 'extended' specialities may not sell, the existing specialities may also take a hit. So, if you are a well-known cardiac set-up, I would suggest don't take the risk. It is not worth it.

Extension dilutes your brand. Extension meddles with your image. Extension is unsettling for your loyal customers. Extension is risky.

The way out is to keep it simple. Get better for what you are already known for. If you are not a well-known multi-speciality hospital, don't try to be one. If you are a brand which is known for mother and child care, don't add up an orthopaedics department. For your customers, it is like McDonalds selling a 'dosa'.

Lets face it—the industry is poised for many more years of growth. We have to keep up with the pace or we will be 'catching up' all the time. Brand building is here to stay. Brand building will separate the winners from the rest. Happy branding!

The writer is Healthcare Marketing Consultant Dharamshala
E-mail: vivekshukla2006@gmail.com