5 “Strategies for the New World” from Monigle’s 2022 Healthcare Brand Playbook

In a series of posts, we’ve been digging into some of the nuggets provided by brand consultancy Monigle in its recently-released report, Humanizing Brand Experience: Healthcare Edition – Volume 5, created in partnership with the Society for Health Care Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) and the  American Hospital Association (AHA). 

Our previous two posts in the series provided glimpses into some of Monigle’s findings regarding why consumers choose health systems and one thing healthcare consumers say they want: peace of mind. In this last post, we provide snippets from Monigle’s five key takeaways and strategies included in its “2022 Healthcare Brand Playbook.”

1. “Fight for humanity in the new battleground” 

Monigle: “Despite all the pressures and changes our industry has faced in the past couple years, it’s our shared responsibility to keep pushing for humanizing experiences at all costs.” 

Three strategies to embrace: 

• Track it: “To know how to improve it, you’ve got to track it.” Include questions related to “the humanness of your brand experiences” in key places—such as exit surveys, other patient satisfaction tracking tools, and during leadership rounds with staff.  
• Consider culture: “Your people are everything.” Assess culture “planning, training, and scripting” to ensure empathy holds a prominent role.  
• Be a relentless advocate: Be the person “who always demands a human perspective” and advocates for consumers during executive and team meetings. 

2. “To win in the whole-person health era, prioritize offerings and access” 

Monigle: “While you can’t be everything to all people, you can enable more self-care and wellness management among your consumers and patients by embracing new touchpoints.”

Three strategies to embrace:

• Revisit your brand’s strategy: “How does your positioning accommodate the new reality of consumer health and wellness behaviors?” Monigle says the answer will inform which offerings to focus on. 
• Draw the map: “To truly understand what your consumers are going through, you have to map more than their care experience.” That means adopting a “broader, more holistic view” of how patients and prospects engage with “overall health, care, and wellness.” 
• Speed up your research: “We live in a faster-paced world than ever before, and it’s time to get comfortable with quick tests and rapid research results.” Create a means of obtaining rapid feedback from consumers, patients, and employees. 

3. “Gear up to go virtual”

Monigle: “If you were one of the healthcare brands that put together a virtual offering with ‘duct tape and elbow grease’ at the onset of the pandemic,* it’s time to make things official.”

Three strategies to embrace: 

• Know the landscape: “Map the entire consumer experience, including the intersection of physical and virtual care modalities.” Understanding the details of how individuals traverse your physical and digital spaces is essential.  
• Tailor your expression: “How does your brand express itself visually and verbally in the digital landscape?” Both design and tone of voice should be prioritized to optimize the experience and help your healthcare brand stand apart. 
• Seize digital opportunities: “Start treating your virtual experiences like a digital marketing testing ground.” Test key factors and concepts, track consumer behavior, and ask for feedback. 

* Monigle says, “Yep, we actually heard that from a client.”

4. “Embrace human diversity and nuance” 

Monigle: “It’s essential to explore and document the rich diversity and nuance that define the consumers that make up your market. To do so requires a repeatable segmentation model that flexes by service line, life stage, and health engagement.”

Three strategies to embrace: 

• No excuses: “If you don’t have a budget to prioritize segmentation, start with our consumer segments.” Monigle says, “Please, go use it,” because it will have an “immediate impact on how you view your market.” (A link to the tool is available in the full report.)
• Build your own segmentation model: “Conduct the quantitative research that will inform a custom segmentation model for your market.” Base strategy on the insights obtained from exploring consumer behaviors and nuances—as well as what types of engagement and messaging are most effective.   
• Build your segments into your systems: Specific strategies for doing so can provide “incredible richness, balancing consumer-based behavior data with actual usage experiences,” and provide extensive opportunities for analysis.

5. “Changemaker: It’s time to own the role” 

Monigle: “We can help influence our experiences, our offerings, and our industry to be more equitable and accessible for all. It’s time to lead the way.”

Three strategies to embrace: 

• Own the narrative: “As brand and experience leaders, we need to drive the dialogue internally and ensure inclusivity is top of mind.” Make sure DEI & B leaders coordinate efforts and be sure “this story gets told.”  
• Put on the pressure: “Put pressure on payors, vendors, and service providers to be more inclusive. … Making change happen starts with the little things, which are actually big things to those who are impacted by them.” 
• Revisit your purpose: “The last few years have pushed us to ask bigger, bolder questions as an industry and a society. How will you and your brand answer the call?” 

To get a comprehensive and detailed look at Monigle’s findings and recommendations, please access the full report, Humanizing Brand Experience: Healthcare Edition – Volume 5.

Contact us today to find out how we can help level up your healthcare marketing strategy.