Since the launch, the system has slowly undergone a fundamental shift of monumental proportions.  Starting with siloed service lines and variety of facility agendas to a single bottom line and the realization that communicating continuum of care through a value-creating customer experience is a priority in their share-gaining strategies.  A unique twist is the Maryland law that creates a single cost/charge per service, thereby eliminating price-oriented competition.  This particular client does not have its own staff of member physicians, but rather contracts with physicians that have privildges at a number of health systems.

This opportunity is a great one.  A few of the layers of complexity:

1. How do you make Hospital XX the hospital of choice for physicians providing referrals?  There are B2B implications here.
2. How do you communicate the depth and breadth of value the whole system provides, while nurture existing patient/consumer interest around localized care?  Hospital X is part of a whole network, but I go to XX down the street.  How can that “pieces of a whole” be conveyed effectively on the web?

In fact, Suburban Hospital does a nice job of that, utilizing cues including a color system and (consistently) stylized illustrations, and a page template with element placements that don’t require the consumer to re-learn navigation.

The sphere of influence, in this case, is one layer out.  The Hospital X must cultivate physician rapport and affinity, which in turn could lead to stronger referrals which presents Hospital X with the opportunity to provide a positive, highly relevant branded patient experience that could engender higher satisfaction levels that organically result in viral and word-of-mouth value.  Talk about a bunny trail!

It pains me to think of the losses – missed awareness, narrow and exclusionary viewpoints, lost revenues, lowered satisfaction – that our client suffered when the organization was more fractured and managed old-school, with the egos leading the way.  New mothers weren’t aware of reduced-price lactation merchandise, in-home consulting services – at least not through the “OB/GYN” service line section.  Because hey, that’s retail and aftercare, respectively, right?  So how many new mothers sought support elsewhere, hmmm?

I have several points, in closing.  Do some research.  Find out how your constituants feel about their physicians.  Do they trust them implicitly?  What messages resonate the strongest – implied expertise due to size or familiar local care?  Once entangled, its a hassle for patients to go somewhere else to get some ancillary or supplemental services/products.  They want one-stop health care.  Tell them about the related stuff you have to offer.  They’re yours to lose.

So by now, after a few decades of television spots, radio commercials, mail directed to “Or Current Resident,” outdoor boards, and the like, we pretty much know when we’re being played. We hear you, but we’re not really listening. We can make up our own mind without you, Thank You Very Much.

Enter the genius of brand experience. I mean, it’s an easy concept to get (duh, think Target vs. Wal-Mart or Publix over Aldi) but frankly it’s like being sprinkled with pixie dust. You find a happy place where somewhere in the background is some subtle relaxing music, you see cool things merchandised in ways that make you think you, too, can have a totally feng shui living room and chairs are superfluous.

That’s because brand experiences (like Target), whether physical or virtual, can convert prospects into customers and customers into card-carrying (literally!) brand evangelists. These experiences are by definition interactive, encouraging dialogue and ideally an intimate and unforgettable dance between brand and consumer.

When brands create experiences that create real value, the brand pulls customers into it, rather than pushing a message out at them. The natural entanglement deepens the relationship with existing customers, forms strong bonds with new ones, and helps generate favorable viral contagion.

The experience must derive from a strategic insight relevant to the brand.