Ask the expert

Lisa on Branding – Do you understand your audience and their emotional needs?

We all make connections and assumptions based on associations we have with certain things. Brands use colour, shape, and texture that have common connotations to influence how people feel. They advertise in certain places to build an association with that brand and that place or event.  These associations build up over time to give us an unconscious good or bad feeling about a brand so when we see that brand, regardless of the product, that unconscious part of the brain makes us feel attracted to or repelled from it. Similarly, long-standing consistent brands can create a feeling of familiarity, which creates a sense of trust, so people feel safe when buying that familiar brand.

A significant change in environment, moving house, having a baby, a global pandemic, allows new brands to enter the market. Life-changing moments interrupt old habits and make room for new ones. So take advantage, there has never been a better time to communicate with your audience.

Because the unconscious part of our brain makes the decisions, emotion is the driver, not logic; brands often tap into emotional needs rather than practical ones. Marketers design campaigns to make us feel, brands know that there are lots of similar products which will fulfil the same primary function as theirs, so they need to affect how we think to motivate us to choose their brand.

Now more than ever, brands need to look at the emotional connection they make with their audience. These audiences are under pressure, which can make them easily alienated, but they are equally receptive to new experiences and new offerings.

Emma – How can emotion, empathy and humility make better business leaders?

What does good leadership look like and why it is so jarring when we experience bad leadership? At the very heart of good leadership is acknowledging emotion, having empathy, humility and vulnerability.

Building trust is a two-way relationship and leaders need to listen. To sit alongside someone who is struggling and listen to them without judgement, recognise emotion and feel with them is open, honest and empathetic.

Active listening and understanding more than what is just being said to you during an appraisal is really important for someone to feel valued. It’s a skill but one which doesn’t always come easily – there has to be a human connection.

As we emerge from working through a pandemic, leadership styles may flex. This is perfectly normal as a more directive style is often needed during a crisis. However once we settle on the other side of the crisis curve, leading with calmness, using open communication and working as a human-to-human will stand leaders in good stead.

James Dempster – How can the private sector help the NHS?

So you might ask, what has this got to do with marketing? Well, a lot. With headlines such as “now wait a year for your hip op” in general circulation, there is a chance for private healthcare to relieve some of the burden and help patients that can afford it.

I love the NHS. It’s part of the reason that I’m proud to be British and it’s been highlighted just how much we need them over the last few months. There is sometimes some negative feeling towards private healthcare. Often there have been some accusations that it doesn’t help the NHS and creates a tiered healthcare system, but there is room for both, and, more than that, a huge need for both.

Over the 12 years that I’ve been involved in healthcare marketing, there has been a seismic shift from people buying private insurance to the self-pay market. Those people that have saved money are now presented with a number of finance options to bypass the need for waiting up to a year, plus choosing the clinician of their choice on a day that works for them. Which will obviously reduce the burden on the NHS, saving it for those people that cannot afford other options. Understanding and promoting the services to the right people is paramount in getting this messaging right.

For private hospitals, dental practices, physios and beyond, now is the time to promote your services. It all starts with targeting the right people. Know your audience, understand their motives and show why your organisation is the answer to their problems.