Healthy Conversations
Imagining & Creating New Value For Health Brands & Consumers

Are patients and consumers synonymous? Are they two sides of the same coin?

Your organization views your audiences as patients. Your key competitor views this same audience as consumers. Or maybe they refer to them as health consumers, clients, or maybe even e-patients. Does this distinction make a difference? I think the answer is yes.

Let me clarify that I’m not talking about patients from the standpoint of being ill, living with a chronic disease, or the relationship that a physician has with his or her patients.

Rather, I’m referring to “patients versus consumers” from the standpoint of a marketer. And from a marketing perspective, I’m not a big fan of labeling people as “patients.” Because patients denotes a captive audience. It puts guardrails around who they are, the choices they have available to them and the fact that they have lives beyond that of being a “patient.”

Yet patients are far from captive. They’re armed with the knowledge, tools, and ability to reach out to their trusted social circle advisors to make informed and independent consumer choices. And more often (though clearly not all the time), they are in charge. They can choose to involve themselves (to engage) with you or not.

Changing your lens lets you see your healthcare audiences in a different light. While patients perpetuates sameness, consumers open your eyes to imagine and create new and greater value beyond “patient” solutions.

So how can you integrate into the lives of your patients healthcare consumers more meaningfully and completely. How can you gain their participation through content, dialogue, experiences, and solutions beyond that of what you’re doing today. How can you more broadly affect the world in which they and their families live, and the things they want to do?

What do you think about this topic? Please let us know.

People really don’t care about your products and services. This might be tough to accept, but it’s true.

What people do care a lot about, however, is how you make them feel about their decisions. How you help them improve their lives. How you help them achieve what they can’t on their own. And for healthcare marketers, these benefits translate into pretty important outcomes, from preserving life, to being able to live healthier and happier lives.

This is the incredible connecting power of your brand. By being about them, but having a strong vision about your place (what it is and what it can be) in their lives. This is the stuff that cements relationships, builds advocates, drives loyalty, gets people talking about you, creates communities and attracts others to you. This is the enormous power of your brand to help you achieve what your business alone can not.

So why do we keep talking about us? How caring we are. How celebrated we are. How trustworthy we are. How smart we are. How about turning the dial 180 degrees to the care they want. The recognition they deserve. The trust they desire. How smart they are. And how about paying this off with actions versus words (but more about this tomorrow).

Be more about your customers, and they’ll be all about you.

Any comments to share?