If you haven’t dusted off how you think about your brand strategy in the last few years, the time is now. While some data will tell us that consumers’ attitudes toward their health have not changed much since COVID, the trend toward health as a priority focus is indisputable. And, while most healthcare delivery organizations are rebounding, it is clearly the time to accelerate based on a few key trends, such as demand, choice, supply, and trust, among others.
There isn’t another industry that is as complicated and as vital as healthcare delivery. So in the interest of how to think about moving your brand forward for today and tomorrow, we offer seven key recommendations for strengthening healthcare organizations and aligning them with the needs of today’s consumers.
1. Redefine Inclusivity: A forward-thinking healthcare brand must cater to an increasingly diverse and aging population. With individuals aged 70 and older expected to double by 2030, brands must anticipate a surge in demand for aging-related services and chronic condition management. Brands must also address cultural, socioeconomic, and health literacy factors to ensure equitable access for all.
Designing programs tailored to various demographics and enhancing accessibility—both physically and digitally—demonstrates inclusivity in action. Recognizing and embracing senior care to the levels seen in other countries, for example, could help fill critical gaps in managing complex chronic conditions, showing that truly inclusive brands meet patients where they are now, while preparing for future needs.
2. Optimize Technology Efficiency with Emotional Interconnectivity: Consumers expect seamless, digital-first approaches to healthcare based on their other experiences. From user-friendly portals to telehealth, today’s patients demand accessible, adaptive technology that delivers convenience without sacrificing meaningful interactions.
Healthcare brands can take cues from retail to enhance these digital touchpoints. Providing digital tools for scheduling, prescription refills, and direct provider communication creates positive, streamlined experiences. Brands that prioritize technological sophistication will be positioned as innovative, trusted partners in care. By integrating humanity into these solutions —through video consultations, patient education, and follow-up reminders—healthcare organizations can balance digital efficiency with emotional engagement.
3. Empower Patients and Caregivers: Empowerment is no longer a choice for healthcare brands—it’s a necessity. As one physician recently shared, “...it is no longer the patriarchal approach to patient care. Patients need to be more proactive in their care.” Many patients today expect to play an active role in their health, and organizations that enable this shift can foster deeper trust and better outcomes.
Empowering patients starts with education on proactive, preventative care and resources for chronic condition management. Equally important is recognizing the crucial role caregivers play. By offering training, support, and openly sharing expertise, brands enhance their caregiving resources and strengthen their reputation as holistic care providers. The result? Stronger partnerships with patients and caregivers alike and better outcomes, even in the face of labor shortages.
4. The Experience+ IS the Brand: We are at a beautiful inflection point marked by shifts in the post-COVID landscape, an aging population, the prioritization of team member experiences, and rapid technological advancements. If you haven’t yet aligned your brand strategy with your experience strategy, now is the perfect time to do so.
With this you can:
- Improve relevance of what your brand stands for now as well as how your brand may be impacted by potential supply shortages and other market-driven events
- Change the language and definition of how you think about access, convenience, and engagement in your organization and what that means for team members and patients
- Embrace the frustrations of our patients and break down silos
- Try new things—test and learn
- Ultimately, define your vision. What do we want to stand for and own? What is the ideal patient experience?
5. Disrupt to Connect: While more than 75% of Americans struggle with the complexity of navigating the healthcare system, over 85% still deeply trust their physicians, according to NRC. Reshaping how care is delivered depends on finding moments to disrupt old paradigms, not for the sake of productivity, but for creating more connective experiences.
Explore what might be overlooked within your organization. Could call centers extend beyond mere scheduling into proactive patient engagement or education? Could telehealth platforms add empathetic tools like real-time emotional support chat features? Identifying opportunities to simplify and elevate interactions fosters trust while encouraging patients to remain actively engaged. Strategic disruption builds the connective bridges that ultimately strengthen the provider-patient relationship.
6. Better Integrate Brand and Demand: Gone are the days of disconnected paid advertising. It's time to harness the power of synchronized strategies—combining brand-building with highly targeted demand generation—to drive revenue, boost efficiency, and maximize the impact of your owned, earned, and paid media. If you don’t already have a smart measurement and reporting plan with clear KPIs, now is the time to implement one.
7. Be Brave. Be Creative: Healthcare brands must demonstrate bravery by reshaping their culture to put patients at the heart of every decision. While this principle is easy to agree with, remaining steadfast in its execution can be challenging. Still, the rewards are consistently worth the effort.
Additionally, creativity is at the heart of all innovation. And, while data is vital, it is only one part of the solution. Innovative views, creative problem-solving, and thoughtfully designed patient experiences are the heart of this fantastic enterprise that is health.
If you’d like to spend some time sorting through priorities, workshopping the vision of the ideal brand experience, or inspiring your team to think differently, our team is here to help!