Is Your Hospital a Walmart or Target Brand?

Articulating a brand platform and positioning can be challenging work, but the benefits to a well-defined brand outweigh any short-term pain and suffering. After all, brands like Apple, Ford and Target succeed by knowing who they are as brands and replicate that brand through product, price, service and design experience.

There are many paths in discovering your health system’s brand essence, but one of the tools we find very helpful (and fun, too), is the This or That? exercise.

For example: Is your hospital a Walmart or Target brand?

There’s no right answer, of course, but the feedback you get from internal stakeholders will be enlightening and encourage debate.

Other examples:

Thought-starters:

• Are you cosmopolitan or tried and true?
• Do you focus more on packaging than the product?

Thought-starters:

• Is your organization conservative, moderate or liberal-minded?
• Are you recognized for technology or spokespeople (like physicians)?

Thought-starters:

• Are you known for heritage or reliability (or both)?
• Do you appeal to the “everyman?”

In healthcare marketing, it’s easy for us to get caught up in the high tech/high touch debate. The fact is, men and women want both from their healthcare providers.

As you hone in on your brand’s position, investigate the emotional and intangible qualities of your organization. It’s in the emotional landscape that we make connections with our audiences. Great brands know and harness this truth. Good luck discovering yours!