Home Care is Special
Posted by Mike Ferris on Thursday, July 19, 2007 and posted in Home Health CareJust as the National Association for Home Care and Hospice carries the banner for the entire home care industry in Washington (and the state associations on national and state issues), to be really successful with your marketing program you must constantly and consistently convey what it is that makes home care special. The greater the knowledge within the community, the more likely it is that everyone from elected officials to consumers of the services will make best use of the services and understand the issues of the day for home care. It falls on the shoulders of the individual agency to educate its community.
The good news is that if you do it right, you will improve the climate for home care and get more business. Like the old adage says, “You must first do well before you can do good.” One of the most important elements of a successful home care or hospice marketing program is the ability to convey the importance of your agency and its services to the community.
Disseminating this information well will improve the effectiveness of the sales and marketing program. This may seem like a “no brainer” but many agencies that I have worked with have not taken the time to really think through the process.
Without marketing the world does not know just how special home care is and how special the home care professionals are. Home care is populated with incredible people that many times do not receive credit for their greatness. The agency must enlist each and every member of the staff in getting the message out to the community. I like to refer to this process as creating evangelists for the agencies. The use of the term evangelist is intended to underscore the depth of belief that is necessary and attainable. The key to making this approach effective is twofold, first, all of your team needs to believe that they are in marketing and second, you must provide them with the tools to relay the message. Concise and simple to understand explanations of the special nature of your agency and home care are needed to enable your people to spread the word.
Instinctively you know what makes your agency special, but can you convey that the community that you serve? Here are some tips to craft the message that will make your agency the logical choice to provide home care services to the customer:
Make the list - with a list of all of the different elements that make the agency special, you can then convert that into a message to use in all of your marketing materials and communications with the customers of your agency.
Use the list - distribute the list to all of the employees and use it in creating any communication or collateral material. This includes all communication – not just that generated as part of the sales and marketing efforts.
Values - how are you conveying to your customers (patients, clients, referral sources, staff and their families friends and neighbors) what the agency’s values are? Value driven marketing will always win out over programs that do not take values into consideration.
Recruiting - many agencies today are constantly having to recruit staff and remembering that all recruiting efforts are part of the marketing program. With the culture that is at ease selling the agency to others, the recruitment of home care professionals becomes much easier. Potential hires referred to the agency by your existing staff prove to be the best and most qualified prospects.
Patient Advocacy - there is a tremendous opportunity to act in the best interest of your patients and support their needs and requirements. A well crafted public home care message should always take into consideration how it will advocate for the patient as well as the home care and hospice industry.
Take the time to review your message today. Make sure that it accurately reflects your agency and reflects well on the industry. By doing so you will be doing a service to the home care and hospice industry and yourself. Happy Marketing!
