Partner at Ascendant, a CEO branding agency & #3 ranked overall firm (Ad World Masters) helping CEOs increase visibility for their companies
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Healthcare executives face unique challenges. The demand for healthcare has grown exponentially over the last two years after already being at a fever pace prior to the pandemic. With the increased demand from baby boomers entering retirement and the emergence of numerous advances in healthcare technology, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their options and more punitive to those who struggle to keep up with demand.
When you add in the Great Resignation and concerns around inflation, it becomes increasingly more important for healthcare companies to earn the support and trust of their employees, stakeholders and customers.
A shortcut is strategic healthcare CEO and executive branding mixed in with a compelling corporate communications strategy. With the right personal branding, you can represent your company’s values and goals and lead it to new levels of growth and success. With the right branding strategies, the possibilities are endless.
As the CEO of a leading CEO branding and PR firm, I have worked with many clients in the healthcare industry and spent lots of time speaking with top healthcare executives. Over my years of experience, I have identified four top branding strategies for healthcare executives to utilize in order to reach their maximum potential and help their company reach new heights.
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• Personalized Human-to-Human Care
Healthcare CEOs need to cultivate brands that think beyond the B2C and B2B silos and instead resonate on a human-to-human (H2H) level. This requires rapport building through authentic and relatable storytelling. Leaders must be willing to show and communicate their own beliefs, hopes and opinions. Healthcare is deeply personal, and executives failing to emulate that will come off as robotic and distant and lose their audience. Stakeholders on every level (except maybe certain shareholders) prefer leaders that are courageous, transparent and empathetic. In other words, they want to know you care!
• Improved Online Presence and Communication
In healthcare, you must build a social media following through thought leadership and authentic and consistent engagement with your audience. However, in the healthcare industry, many companies have a weak social media presence. There is a huge opportunity for differentiation here. If you utilize your social media platforms correctly, you can set yourself apart from the majority of industry leaders.
When posting healthcare information, try to keep your language simple. The topics healthcare executives are addressing online are often dense and hard to comprehend. As a healthcare leader, clarity is vital so that your audience understands and trusts your messaging. Imaging becomes sensitive with platforms like Facebook. For example, utilizing what many would consider a totally appropriate body image could get you flagged on Facebook, lower your advertiser quality score and potentially get you banned from the platform. It requires an elegant balance to communicate the right message and imaging together.
• Localized Messaging
You can connect with audiences better when you take a larger healthcare topic and demonstrate how it relates to their daily lives. Whether it’s a topic trending nationally or globally, making the greatest impact requires connecting it to your local audience. Show impact to people in the immediate area you are targeting. Why is it important, why should they care, and what can you do to help? Be ready to articulate this to your audience.
This doesn’t mean seeking national media isn’t a good strategy. However, think of it as an outside-in strategy. Secure national media to demonstrate third-party credibility with your local community, and show regional media that your angle is getting the attention of national and industry-based outlets. This can make you a “safer” play for local media to highlight your organization and expertise.
• Increased Community Impact
In order to prove to your audience that you are taking an H2H approach and truly care about their health, try increasing your community impact. Show them that you care about their needs by building relationships within your community. Listen to what they have to say, and inform them of the advances you are bringing to their community.
As an executive, you are the chief storyteller for the entire organization. So, it is especially important that you personally show that you listen to—and care about—your community. By doing so, you will build trust with your audience and drastically improve your organization’s image and your own CEO or executive brand.
We work with one of the top healthcare providers in NYC on having a multiple executive presence and putting together unique programs such as fireside chats, food pantries and community awards to bring their local presence and commitment to life. These are strategies that shouldn’t be deployed in a cookie-cutter way; they must be customized based on your local population.
If you utilize all four of these strategies, I have no doubt that you will notice a substantial improvement in your social media reach and overall image. In a time when consumers have become increasingly critical of healthcare companies due to their response to the pandemic, it is especially important that you work on improving your personal branding now. Show your audience that you care about their health. Build relationships with them on social media and in your community. Communicate with them in a clear, concise way that they understand. Emphasize that personalized care is your priority. All of these strategies will help you ameliorate your personal brand and stand out against other executives in the healthcare industry.
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Author: Raoul Davis, Forbes Councils Member
