Using various communication channels
Creating an effective message based on the fundamental tenets of timeliness, relevance, transparency, fidelity, clarity and bedside manner is a big part of marketing.
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Marketing foundations
Marketing | 7 micro-guides | Read time: 5 minutes
You have a mission: to help your patients live their healthiest and happiest lives. Humana can help you extend your reach past the exam room. We’ll help you promote preventive screenings, medication adherence and vaccinations. We’ll help you get your messages in patients’ mailboxes, inboxes and feeds so they can take charge of their health day in and day out.
These marketing foundations will help you determine answers to key questions for any marketing effort, use multiple channels to boost your effectiveness and give you the benchmarks to help you gauge your success.
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Marketing foundations
Marketing foundations
Writer Milan Kundera once said, “Business has only two functions— marketing and innovation.” The business of healthcare is no different. As a provider, understanding the basics of marketing will help build your patient panel through a multi-pronged approach. You’ll understand how outreach efforts, referrals and patient loyalty all work together to grow your healthcare practice.
This course kickstarts the library of helpful resources we’ve created specifically to fuel your success. We’ve added links, videos and more to make this experience as enjoyable, interactive and educational as possible.
Happy learning!
The Marketing Cycle
Marketing, building patient trust and earning patient loyalty are different parts of the same cycle, each reinforcing and feeding the next. You may have heard of a marketing or sales funnel. The idea is like a funnel you’d use in a chemistry lab. You pour a lot into the wide-open top, but a smaller, controlled stream comes out the narrow end. Use this same approach with sales and marketing.
By now, you’re probably thinking, “But I’m not in sales or marketing—I’m a healthcare provider!” Though you may not think of them in this way, your patients are your consumers, and the product you are marketing is positive health outcomes. As consumers progress down the funnel, they get closer to making a decision. In this case, your patients get closer to selecting a provider who best fits their needs of quality, convenience and care. But the funnel analogy captures only part of the picture.
The funnel makes the marketing and sales process appear linear. But your work doesn’t end with a patient’s first visit to your practice. Keeping your patients coming back is equal parts excellent healthcare and proactive, helpful communication, which lead back to marketing. It’s a cycle, not a funnel.
In the marketing phase of the cycle, you want to promote your practice and your services as solutions to your patients’ needs. You can assess their current health and educate them on options for getting and staying healthy. You’ll want to understand what they really need and want so you can propose the right treatments or lifestyle changes to fit those needs while building trust.
Once they’ve earned a patient’s trust and established a good rapport, providers can focus on providing them with exceptional care and support. Set them up for success early on. Help them achieve their personal health goals. Connect them with specialists and other healthcare services to get their existing conditions managed. By advocating for your patients, they’re more likely to tell their friends and family about their experience with your practice.
Marketing Basics
You might have heard the terms communications, marketing, advertising and branding used interchangeably. They are related, but separate. The chart below quickly defines these terms and what they’re used for.
| Communication | Marketing | Advertising | Branding | |
| What it is | Information News Ideas |
Story Image |
Actions Notices Announcements |
Perception |
| What is it used for | Share Exchange |
Promotion | Persuasion | Reputation |
Why ongoing provider/patient communication matters
Effective communication not only helps better serve patients’ present healthcare needs, but also helps anticipate future challenges.
Providers benefit from communicating effectively with their patients in many ways. Not only does good communication help build a patient panel and earn more referrals, it strengthens relationships with existing patients to empower them to make better health choices. Healthier patients mean being able to direct time, energy and resources where there is greater need.
Effective communication also significantly benefits patients. Receiving timely and relevant information adds value to their interactions with their providers, which improves trust, increases loyalty and elevates their overall patient experience.