Connecting with your Patient Population with Doug Pohl | E. 71

Healthcare marketing has seen a shift from ''patient'' to ''consumer'' in recent years. Doug Pohl explains to Jim Cagliostro how a focus on heart and emotions can help to reconnect hospitals with their patients. Episode Introduction Doug explains why hospitals need to prioritize ''humanity'' over the bottom line, how to become a two-way mirror to build patient relationships, and why Business 101 is all about listening. He also shares how his experience as a singer/songwriter helped him to understand the power of storytelling, and why true leadership is about helping people climb the ladder. Show Topics Hospitals need to focus on humanity in marketing Losing the community connection Healthcare marketing is a two-way mirror Business 101: It's about listening Tapping into the power of storytelling Leadership is about helping people climb the ladder 06:54 Hospitals need to focus on humanity in marketing Doug explained why the shift to ''consumers'' from ''patients'' creates a deeper problem. ''I feel like a lot of them are doing a decent job, in that there's been this shift to people, you can't necessarily even call them patients yet, but to view them as consumers. So, they market to us as consumers. And I get that, and I think it's effective in some ways, but my personal view is if we're treating people as healthcare consumers, there's a deeper problem that we're not addressing. And I think to ignore that is a long-term mistake. So, I think it's really important that we focus on people's humanity and do it in some powerful ways. You and I talked previously, there's some commercials out there that tap into the emotions of what people are feeling when they go into a hospital, whether as a patient or a loved one or whatever the situation is, a clinician, whoever. Everyone has these strong emotions that come with them into a healthcare facility. And understanding those, having genuine empathy, feels like a weak word these days because we use it so often. But genuine concern for those feelings and for those people and wanting to help in real ways, even if it means less efficient business or a lower bottom line, but focusing on the heart and the emotions, I think is really the best path forward for marketing. And in my opinion, for operations in general.'' 09:13 Losing the community connection Doug said the acquisition of a smaller hospital by a larger system pushes patients aside. '' I think it sort of starts in-house with a disconnect with the clinicians and administrators and everybody who works in that system at that regional hospital, where they feel less of a connection with their organization, they feel like things are being imposed on them by the mothership, and all of a sudden everything's changed. They feel a disconnect. They feel pushed aside. They feel like they're not as important as they should be, and perhaps as they used to be. And I think there's a trickle-down that comes from that. They pass on those feelings to the community, whether in the hospital or outside in their personal lives. It does change how people feel subconsciously, at least. I live in a small community, and we do have a small regional hospital that's connected to a larger one, but we're friends with the nurses and the doctors. We see them out in town and at the gym, and we talk to them, we hear their struggles, and we hear how tough it is for them. And so, these feelings are being shared in the community, and it does impact you as a patient that when it's your turn, you go and you know what people are going through, and there's this sort of inherent disdain for the organization as a whole because of it.'' 12:36 Healthcare marketing is a two-way mirror Doug explained why every brand needs to reflect the audience back to themselves. ''In marketing, our job as a brand, any brand is to be a mirror, but it's sort of a two-way mirror. So, we want to reflect the audience back to themselves. The things that bother them, their challenges, their pain points, whatever you want to call it, we acknowledge those. We say, "Here's what's going on with you, we understand your situation." So, we reflect that, and we can do that not just by saying it, but we have to say it in the right way. So, we also reflect their exact words. That's why getting those videos, those voice recordings are important. Hear that, get that voice of customer data, in this case patients or whoever it is, but get their actual words and use it. As an organization, you might call a certain program, you might have an in-house name for it. Let's just use our imaginations here. But when you start marketing, people don't understand that. And maybe you're doing your research with your audience and you realize they're actually using a different name for it. Well, name, use what people say and give it back to them. That helps them feel more connection, that sort of subconscious connection that we can't measure, but it makes a difference. It ...