I'm focused on the healthcare industry, in which I've been working in one form or another for 30 years. My challenge, as I see it, is to help these companies understand how developing their brand (or rebranding) can have a strong impact than fiddling around at the margins solely by tinkering with blog content, press releases, white papers and the like instead of branding exercises.
The challnege here is that not too many people really understand branding, similar to the way people understand marketing. It does not have a consistent meaning.
You will have to educate your csuite or key personnel on the value of developing their brand. Use examples of other companies in your industry that are brand focused, and call out things they do. Using a SWOT analysis can help as well.
Another way is to start with the purpose of the organization. Is the purpose aligned with everything decision made in the organization? If not this is a good indirect way to start your branding campaign.
Hope this helps! I'm available for followups if needed!
Congratulations on your experience! What kind of influence do you have within the industry? Do you have existing clients? Have they pigeonholed you into a content marketing strategist? If so, you'll fight to overcome that.
But the pivot for you is not hard. Instead of professing the benefits of content marketing (blogging, whitepapers, etc) - focus on the benefits of brand development. Discuss the Dos and Don'ts, options, strategic purposes, and implementation of proper branding.
I'm happy to discuss more, just send me a note or book a call.
All the best,
-Shaun
I work in the Sports Management world, and we have what I think are some of the same basic challenges that healthcare industry has. I say that because both industries have long standing practices and niches in our daily lives that either would either take an act of God to change because of the traditionalists or because of the requirements of the industry and the end customer will never change.
So I would challenge you to first and foremost specifically define the challenges in the industry. I would also make sure there's an understanding of the issues that are organic to the 40 year old and up to the senior citizen, the young customers who are looking for something that's on an app, convenient, customer service friendly, and what is identified as a challenge across the board.
Branding is obviously an easier sell to the younger generation. I might even make the argument they should be the early target of your branding scheme as they'll be No 1. accepting and receptive of something they've seen or social media or in a new app. They will then either pass the word on to the older relatives or be asked by their older relatives how did either get their meds or solve the paperwork and financial issues.
You would also have to be very engaged to political discourse and discussion on the subject of healthcare. The healthcare industry as whole as missed the boat on an opportunity to rebrand itself when it drug its feet on the Affordable Health Care Act. So now the opportunity must be to brand yourself as a part of the solution not as another cog in the mess.
