One – you’re helping the u.S. healthcare system

As we’ve discussed, and is undoubtedly well known and understood, the healthcare system in this country is broken. There are many, many issues with the system, and many, many ways to improve it. As health system marketing leaders, there’s little we can do about outrageous health insurer profits, or federal spending cuts that decimate the ACA and raise costs for consumers, or the fact that millions face financial hardship or bankruptcy from medical debt. What we can control is our marketing budget and how it’s used. When every dollar matters, we need to make every dollar count. Yes, that budget is relatively small compared to the overall operating costs of our health system. One might even argue that our promotional marketing spend is not the cause of the significant problems facing our U.S. healthcare system. But it’s hard to argue that the billions we spend collectively on selling consumers on our services rather than serving them in some way isn’t helping our US healthcare system or those we serve either. And as we contend, health system marketers can help the patients and consumers their organizations serve by reallocating those resources dedicated to promotional marketing to improving everything from the patient experience to access to public health to health literacy. There is so much marketers can do to improve the healthcare system in this country, and pursuing ServingOverSelling achieves that outcome.

Two – you’re helping your organization

If promotional marketing was proven an effective strategy for growing health system revenue and profits, asking health systems to reallocate those budgets would be a difficult task. But as we’ve laid out, that is not the case in the vast majority of situations. So given your promotional marketing is mostly ineffective, expensive and a waste of money, just cutting that spend is helping your organization because you’re saving it money. But that’s just the start. If you can reallocate those resources to focus your efforts on improving the patient experience, or access, or patient education, or your organization’s reputation through PR, or engaging the community in public health initiatives, you will actually benefit your organization even more from a marketing perspective. That’s because all of those efforts equate to helping people rather than selling them, and as we’ve said, health system brands are built by what they do, not what they say. So if you actually engage your community positively in some or all of these ways, you will be improving your organization’s brand reputation in a far more effective and lasting way than blasting out promotional advertising. And you’ll be improving the healthcare system in the U.S. along the way. Win win.

Three – your peace of mind

Maybe you disagree with the principles of ServingOverSelling and believe that your promotional marketing efforts do drive material value to your organization. If that’s the case, you likely won’t see much benefit in joining the movement. If you’re like many health system marketing leaders however, you’ve questioned the actual value of what you’re doing. But because you fear losing your job or standing if you aren’t responsive to the pressures of the organization, you keep on plugging on. If this describes you, then ServingOverSelling is for you. Aspiring to improve your organization and the U.S. healthcare system overall by adhering to the principles of ServingOverSelling may bring you new energy, a new sense of purpose, or just the peace of mind that you’re doing your part from your position to make the world a better place. And depending on where you sit on that spectrum of frustration and disillusionment, that peace of mind may make all the difference in the world to you personally.