Value is About More Than Just Saving People Money
By Katie Armatoski, Au.D
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As an audiologist, one of the biggest challenges we face is communicating the value we bring to our patient’s lives through the work we do. It might seem like all anyone cares about is the bottom line: how much do the services cost and are they cheaper than that other place across town? It can be so frustrating!
You know that value is about so much more than just saving people money, but you might be wondering how to communicate that to the people in your community. At a time when it feels like everything is stacked against you, it is more important than ever to be able to communicate what you offer in a way that really speaks to your target audience.
It’s a fact that consumers who read educational content from a brand are 131% more likely to make a purchase, even one week later. This is why it is so important that you share informational content on your social media pages. Show people the cost of NOT doing business with you by illustrating the unmatched value you can personally offer them.
But First, Let’s Talk About Some Pain Points
Before we dive into the actionable tips I want to share, let’s talk about some new pain points that we’re dealing with. The main streem media highlights amplification as a “direct to consumer” option. Weather or not it’s affecting your business, it’s hurting consumers’ understanding of how much more value they get from visiting their local doctor of audiology.
We know we provide a level of service that no one else can match. However, for a lot of us this isn’t the key focus of our content marketing strategy. Simply put, if we don’t start talking about it, no one will!
So, here are a few talking points to incorporate into your digital marketing!
A Personal Touch
One of the biggest ways we add value is through our personal approach to healthcare. Sure, in the future direct to consumer might be more convenient on some levels, but they can also be more frustrating and confusing. I think we’ve all scanned our own groceries enough times to know that it isn’t always faster or better than having a human being do it for us.
Here are a few prompts to help you talk about how a personal touch adds value to your patients’ lives:
- Why face-to-face healthcare still matters in the 21st century.
- The benefit of having someone in front of you to answer your questions.
- Why you would want to build a relationship with someone who knows you and knows your hearing.
I think we all know that there’s nothing like personalized care, especially when our patients have questions or fears about their health and wellness. I bet you can think of at least 5 things that you can not do while on a virtual visit. This is where we start brainstorming, what value do we bring to a face-to-face appointment?
Experience
So many articles about the future of over-the-counter hearing aids vaguely mention “cutting out the middle man” and this is completely insulting to the expertise and experience that audiologists offer.
Here are a few prompts to help you talk about how our experience adds value to your patients’ lives:
- Have you seen disappointed patients bring in amplifiers or locked hearing aids requesting your service? They would have saved both time and money if they started with you on their journey to better hearing.
- Often, hearing aid users need hand over hand guidance to appropriately insert a hearing aid. If a hearing aid does not fit right, it will not provide proper amplification.
- Experience isn’t always about knowing all the answers. Sometimes, it’s all about asking the right questions to get the patient what they need.
- What else can you think of? Commnet below!
Safety & Effectiveness
Without oversight from an audiologist, some patients may run the risk of damaging their hearing or being under amplified. Of course, we don’t want to scare people into booking appointments with us, but we do need to explain that hearing and balance issues can be a sign of an underlying medical issue that should be ruled out before moving forward with a solution.
Here are a few prompts to help you talk about how the safety and effectiveness we provide adds value to your patients’ lives:
- A thorough health history helps identify any underlying conditions or medications making your hearing or tinnitus worse.
- A trained audiologist can identify any abnormalities in the ear canal or behind the ear drum which may lead to decreased hearing or infection.
- A patient’s dexterity, hearing loss, and cognition can also be a significant factor in hearing aid success.
Part of building a strong brand includes talking about the very real value you bring to the table for your patients. Hopefully, these talking points and prompts have inspired you to create some impactful content for your practice!