How Storytelling Can Help Healthcare Providers Build Community Connections
Each year during the first week of April, communities across the country join together to celebrate National Public Health Week (NPHW). Organized by the American Public Health Association (APHA), NPHW is a time to “recognize the contributions of public health and highlight issues that are important to improving our nation’s health.”
For 2022, the theme of NPHW is “Public Health is Where You Are.” In preparation for this year’s celebration, the APHA encourages communities to “start thinking about”:
- Support and inclusion: “Having support and feeling included within our social communities can have a positive effect on our mental and physical health. This lets us give back to our communities’ health and make it stronger.”
- Accessibility: “While there are public health resources available where we live, some barriers may make it hard for us to get and use them. These could be physical, mental, financial, cultural and language barriers.”
- Health equity: “Some communities have had a harder time than others. It is important to listen to the Black community and other communities of color, the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities. This way we can make sure public health is fair for all.”
Since public health organizations and healthcare systems share a common goal of optimizing health outcomes for the members of their communities—and sometimes partner with each other to do so—providers across the care continuum can benefit from assessing their organizations’ efforts in the context of public health needs and boosting brand visibility as they communicate those efforts to the communities they serve.
The Power of Brand Narrative
One effective method for connecting with the community in this context is to embrace the power of brand narrative—which SHIFT Communications refers to as “a company’s most powerful growth accelerator” in 2022: “The right brand story seizes the imagination and positions customers and users to want to engage with the offer. Operationally, the brand narrative directly helps build a community of supporters, partners, investors and talent.”
To make the most of these dynamics, SHIFT recommends applying a “five-part frame” to your growth strategy:
- See brand narrative as a business product—that communicates “why your organization does what it does and why stakeholders should care and pay attention.”
- Appreciate the need for maintenance—since leadership teams too often view brand story as a “finished product versus an ongoing iterative process.”
- Understand internal application—by applying the brand narrative internally as “a core essence of the business” instead of just viewing it as a tool for marketing.
- Keep to the framework—to better ensure that “all your communications—from company narrative to website copy, social media profiles and posts, earned media articles, employee communications and emails to your network—come together to shape customer and market perceptions.”
- Bring brand story to life in your channel strategy—since “…the brands that are the most effective in having their narrative impact their audiences and stakeholders are ones that invest in a multi-channel strategy.”
As SHIFT says, “Growth depends on the ability to get noticed—by customers, investors, partners and talent,” and optimizing your brand narrative can help you boost your visibility and help you to connect more effectively with the communities you serve.
If you’d like the expertise of a partner who can help you make the most of your brand narrative, AMG Healthcare Marketing would love to help.
