Establish yourself as the healthcare marketing expert

My fiancé and I recently started re-drywalling our house.  While I trust that he can tear down walls, and lift heavy things, I didn’t feel as confident about his mudding, taping, and actual installation skills.  After a long debate he admitted that someone trained and seasoned would be better at doing the job.  While it hurt his ego a little bit … the end result spoke for itself.

It’s funny how much the story relates to the lives of healthcare marketers across the world.  Many of you deal with a similar issue day-to-day with your internal audiences.  Too many of them think they can do your job.  I’m sure many of you have received a call from a Dr. saying he didn’t like your recent marketing campaign.  And this pretty much sums up the feelings on that ….

So, how do you prove to them that you are the expert and that they can allow you to do what you do best?

Here are a few ways that may help guide you:

• Be confident.  This is your turf.  You have been doing this for x amount of years.  You went to school for this.  You’ve launched x amount of campaigns that have resulted in a great ROI.  Think of it this way, would you trust a doctor that sounded like he was second-guessing his capabilities?

• Build a sound strategy.  We all know a campaign won’t work if you don’t have a smart, thought through strategy with specific outcomes stated.  And remember, no one can argue the right strategy.

• Get buy-in.  Explain your strategy to those that matter and get their buy-in before you develop a campaign.  Meet with them, gather their input and use it to help strengthen your position.

• Remind them who the target audience is.  Sometimes it’s hard for them to remember that they are not the target audience.  It always helps to verbally tell them to take off your “Doctor hat,” and think like the target audience.  Then have them ask themselves – does it connect with me, does it breakthrough to me, will it make me take action?  After they do that exercise, they tend to get it.

• Tout your successes.  If a Doctor didn’t talk about her outcomes, how would anyone know she’s a leader in her field?  Make sure you shout your positive results from the rooftop.  Let them know when your marketing campaign successfully increased web traffic, brand awareness, calls to the call center, etc.

Do you have any more hints?  I would love to hear what you have done to help establish yourself and your team as the marketing experts within your healthcare organization.