The SHSMD annual conference continues with a great health brand communications presentation by Joel English, Managing Partner of BVK. Joel succinctly shared the most important thing that every health marketer should know:
The valuation of a healthcare system’s brand is the highest asset on its balance sheet.
Here are some things to remember in protecting the integrity of your healthcare brand:
Health brands are goodwill. Your health brand is an intangible asset. In the healthcare context, a brand includes health system and facility names, marketing campaign names, slogans, and logos. It also includes marketing copy, images, and proprietary research, products and services. A healthy brand is the result of cumulative goodwill cultivated at great cost and expense to an organization.
Health brands can be injured. Healthcare brands, like other brands, are not immune to damage. In the health marketing context, this often is the result of failure to follow HIPAA marketing rules, trademark and copyright clearance, or making unsubstantiated advertising claims. So damage to a health brand is not just about attorney’s fees and monetary damages; it is about potential injury to your reputation.
Brand Health is your responsibility. According to Joel, a brand is the responsibility of all members of the healthcare organization; including their outside agencies, and everyone who has contact or who influences an organization’s customers and communities. Brand is the unified theory of everything; the context of how we act and communicate.
Editor’s Note: Healthcare brands spends millions of dollars per year on marketing and advertising. The overall goal of such efforts is to strengthen and differentiate the brand among relevant consumers. Done right, health brand marketing can result in greater revenue and improved brand equity. But if healthcare organizations fail to clear brand names or implement HIPAA marketing and related compliance training, their brand equity could quickly suffer from injury to brand reputation. This is in addition to potential six-or seven figure monetary damages and attorney’s fees that could result from unaddressed marketing risks.