In this post-COVID pandemic era, healthcare institutions large and small are faced with a troubling shortage of physicians. An Oracle study projects that 6.5 million healthcare workers will leave the health field altogether by 2026. One cited reason for their exodus is burnout.

Working in health care can be mentally and physically draining. But providing rewarding and interesting opportunities for physicians can counter that burnout. Involving them in your marketing efforts can serve as such an opportunity.

Why You Should Activate Physicians For Your Healthcare Marketing Strategy

By empowering and guiding your physicians to become active participants in your marketing efforts, you can strengthen your healthcare brand, attract new patients and solidify your reputation as a trusted healthcare institution.

Making your physicians a key component of your marketing efforts is mutually beneficial for your marketing team and your physicians. Specifically:

• For marketers: Make marketing a collective effort that would otherwise be ineffective without the unique perspective of physicians. In the ongoing pursuit of authenticity and human connection, 88% of consumers say authenticity and relatability in marketing are key decision drivers for which brands they like and support. Who better to offer a more authentic, personable voice?
• For physicians: By making your physicians an active party in your marketing plans, they stand to gain a sense of purpose and pride in sharing their expertise and perspective. Beyond that, physicians also stand to gain patients. Your marketing efforts can drive appointments, screenings and inquiries, straight to their doors.
• For healthcare organizations: Healthcare institutions can improve their bottom line by ensuring that their physicians remain engaged in the organization. A Gallop study found that physicians who are engaged are 26% more productive than physicians who were not engaged. That increase equated to an average of $460,000 in patient revenue per physician per year.

When you involve your physicians in your healthcare marketing efforts, you’ll see a downstream effect whereby your patients also benefit:

• Quality of care: Engaged physicians are more likely to provide exceptional quality care. When healthcare providers are fully invested in their work and take ownership of the healthcare system, they are driven to deliver the utmost care to their patients.
• Patient satisfaction: Engaged physicians consistently demonstrate superior patient communication and interpersonal skills. When patients experience positive interactions with their physicians, they’re more likely to return for additional care and to refer their family and friends for care. Not only that, but by featuring your physicians within marketing content or campaigns can help humanize them and make them relatable for patients.

How To Activate Your Physicians In Your Healthcare Marketing Strategy

Of course, activating physicians in healthcare marketing involves the sometimes tricky human element. It’s important to distinguish between involving people and involving them in ways that benefit patients, providers, marketers and the overall organization alike.

Unlock Health helps its healthcare clients establish a phased approach that includes laying the seeds for a strong foundation; providing education to physicians on expectations, brand strategy and expected results; and activating your physician campaigns.

Here’s a look at how we help healthcare clients empower and guide physicians to become active participants in marketing efforts, and reap the benefits:

• Foundation: Before activating your physicians, it’s critical to ensure that your brand is well-defined and that you’ve established a value proposition for your physicians participating in marketing efforts. Also in this phase, your marketing team should determine the service lines that could benefit the most from marketing promotion based on capacity and profitability, then identify the internal evangelists among your doctors—the superstars you can rely on—through an employee engagement survey.
• Education: You’ll need to ensure that all physicians activated in marketing speak the same language—and that that language aligns with your brand voice. During this phase, you will socialize the objectives, strategy and metrics with your physicians, making sure your physicians fully understand the connection between their personal brand and the system brand.
• Activation: Clinicians are a critical audience because of their unique ability to affect both top- and bottom-of-the-funnel marketing. Leverage physicians for top-of-the-funnel thought leadership, and lean on physicians for bottom-of-the-funnel engagement by arming them with assets that convert brand promise into a unique and ownable clinical experience. And don’t overlook celebrating your physicians’ efforts and communicating your results.

Leveraging Physicians As Brand Builders

Consider your physicians an extended branch of your marketing team. But breaking down those barriers and welcoming providers as contributors can prove to be mutually beneficial. Physicians can provide value outside of the exam room, giving healthcare marketers additional resources to help the organization achieve and exceed business goals.

Leverage physicians as brand builders. Give them a voice. Involve them in the conversation.

Ready to kick-start your physician marketing strategy? Contact Unlock Health today.