How to attract candidates with lifestyle marketing

 

In a highly regulated industry, it's the little things that matter. If you travel from one end of America to the other visiting hospitals, you'll likely find small differences between each healthcare organization, but ultimately they would begin to blend into one another.

You probably won't confuse the snowcapped mountains of Aspen for the Florida Everglades, however. Each location is visually different, and therefore it offers a distinct lifestyle opportunity. Physician recruiters can use these variations to appeal to job seekers. Here's how:

Focus on the local culture

When product manufacturers use lifestyle branding to attract shoppers, they create aspirations the reader might not have considered before. A perfume advertisement picturing a yacht may make readers wish they had access to a boat – but the perfume is more affordable and might just make you feel like you should own a yacht.

You can apply the same tactic to physician recruitment by using the local culture. Say you're recruiting for a provider group in Austin, Texas. You could run a display ad featuring a nice picture of a hospital and a few people in white coats enjoying the sunshine – but that picture could have been taken anywhere from California to Florida. Instead, why not highlight Austin's world-renowned music scene or mouth-watering barbecue?

To further convey your message, pair something from the culture with a researched persona. Social analytics expert Jack Holt recommended building your personas with hobbies and activities in mind. If you're hiring in Austin, you can appeal to music lovers. In Honolulu, you might target surfing enthusiasts. Make the message uniquely suited to your location.

Always stay on brand

You'll probably never see an advertisement for Whole Foods that highlights great prices on national cake brands like Hostess. Why? Because it would go against the Whole Foods brand. While the grocer certainly carries less-than-healthy snack foods, advertising those items would seem counter to everything the brand stands for.

In short, generic appeals sound too unauthentic and unbranded. A memorable image or location-based benefit is a better bet. A hospital near a ski resort could use exciting winter imagery to differentiate itself from competing brands.

Applying the lifestyle marketing strategy to your recruitment advertisements requires a multi-channel advertising approach in order to generate maximum impact. That means attracting physician job candidates through peer-reviewed print journals as well as digital editions, eNewsletters, online banners, and expert-curated industry websites. To learn how a multi-channel approach can help you find job seekers, post jobs on myHealthTalent.com or contact t.peppers@elsevier.com for a customized plan. If you were to travel from one end of America to the other visiting hospitals, you’ll likely find small differences between each healthcare organization, but ultimately they would begin to blend into one another.