Managing Contact Points

To create a brand identity, you will need to get to all your target customers and introduce yourself as the brand that you are. In a service industry scenario, important brand ambassadors are the people who come in contact with customers daily. In other words, your staff, doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and cleaners must all act in accordance to the brand identity. For instance, the nursing staff of the ‘pioneer’ hospital has to master modern communication skills and they cannot afford to wear the common old-fashioned uniforms. Doctors have to communicate with patients with an air of pride in the fact that they are a part of a pioneer team.

Other contact points where the customers come to experience the brand also need to be identified and managed. A hospital that projects itself as a latest technology provider cannot afford to have a pre-historic looking ambulance.

Physical appearance of the building, both exterior and interior, needs to be thought of. Brochures, website, letterheads, visiting cards, patient files and other documents have to be carefully designed. It will work to have a uniform basic design with uniform colour schemes for everything related to the hospital.

Traditionally, red is the colour of Coca Cola and blue is the colour of Pepsi. If you observe closely, it is the same shade of red and blue in all their contact points with the customers. I have even heard that a Pepsi employee coming to office in a red shirt will be frowned upon by his colleagues.

Brand Loyalty

It is a well-known fact that brand loyalty is very important for any business. In case of hospitals, it is all the more important. The reason for brand loyalty being of prime importance is that hospitals are at a ‘high-risk’ purchase decision for the customers. Any customer who will buy your hospital’s services for the first time is likely to ask about it to a few of his friends. Won’t you ask your friends and won’t you do some research work before buying a car or any other high-involvement purchase? Often, what people say about your hospital to its prospective clients is pivotal in whether they end up with you or not.

Please note that brand loyalty in case of hospitals does not mean repeat purchase. Once a surgery is done on someone, he may not have another surgery done to him in his lifetime. Brand loyalty in our industry means that the patient who got his treatment done with you acts as your die-hard fan and is the most vocal spokesperson of your brand in his community.

Good news with ‘high involvement’ services is that the brand loyalty for them is very strong. Seldom will a person switch over to another dentist or gynaecologist without sufficient reason. So, if you can have a person convinced about your brand strength he is there to stay. You may even create some tools to measure the brand loyalty of your customers.

Moreover, my standard suggestion to all my client hospitals has been to create and implement powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programmes. The programme will not only ensure brand loyalty, it will also be instrumental in communicating your brand attributes to the outer world.

Lastly, as they say – Rome was not built in a day. Brands are built and managed over years and decades. It is affordable to create and manage a brand, even though it may seem otherwise. But it takes time to reap the harvest of a brand-building exercise.

Day after day, month after month and year after year you will need to put in efforts to create a brand. Thriving brands like Coke and Lifebuoy are more than a century old and are still going very strong. It is worth every minute and penny you invest in brand building and management, especially if you are looking at a long-term competitive advantage for your hospital.

Vivek Shukla and Associates

Healthcare and Marketing Consultants

Sai Mahima Hospital

Ram Nagar Dharamshala

www.themarketingplans.com

Cell No.- 09816086868.

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Vivek Shukla
Healthcare Marketing Consultant
Sai Mahima Hospital, Ram Nagar,
Dharamshala H.P. 176215
India
Phone +91-9816086868
vivekshukla2002@hotmail.com www.themarketingplans.com Cell No.- 09816086868.