Creating a brand aims to strengthen relationships and sustain emotional bonds between parties. By representing a guarantee of excellence, a brand can influence decision-making. It is unique and, therefore, differentiates itself from all others on the market, increasing the likelihood of its offering being preferred in the eyes of consumers.
Hospitals are places where customers go for personal clinical needs, so they certainly want the services provided there—whether clinical or non-clinical—to meet their expectations in terms of care, appointment scheduling, waiting times, contact with healthcare professionals, and the entire journey afterward.
Hospitals are no longer simply healthcare providers and, therefore, need brands to define and direct their strategy, showcase their service offerings and assets, and build trustworthy, lasting relationships. The brand is also an important asset in uniting employees around a specific culture and mission. Raising awareness of the global and integrated concept of the entire communication and marketing process is essential. Knowing how to implement and manage a project strategy, communicate effectively with stakeholders, view the sector as a whole, and have the ability to structure a robust plan, recognizing the added and differentiated value it brings to the future of healthcare.
At São João, several years after creating a Communication and Brand policy, new challenges arise daily, leading us to redefine strategies and implement new approaches. Now a new project is born: working on the São João Brand and the Primary Care Brands—the ULS São João brand.
The São João Communication and Brand Service (SCM), or now the newly created Unidade Local de Saúde São João (ULS São João), is the Communication and Brand Service across the entire ULS São João, including the São João University Hospital (Porto and Valongo) and the Primary Healthcare Units of Maia, Valongo, and Porto Oriental. It encompasses several units, such as Management Units, Clinics, Public and Community Health Units, Autonomous Management Units, Reference Centers, and Integrated Responsibility Centers, among others.
The SCM's mission is to add value to ULS São João with excellence and effectiveness through integrated Marketing, Communications, Digital, and Strategy initiatives. Aiming to capture and engage all stakeholders related to ULS São João, the SCM aims to ensure the sustainable and credible development of all actions that convey the institution's brand.
Leveraging a global vision, the SCM aims to make ULS São João a leading institution and benchmark in its sector, with values of respect, recognition, relevance, differentiation, excellence, and reputation, positioning the São João brand as one of the most valuable assets in the healthcare sector, both nationally and internationally. It aims to create, deepen, and disseminate an identity for ULS São João that the entire community can identify with and be proud of, and to project this identity externally through an image associated with a prestigious clinical, scientific, and cultural profile. The user is the core target audience, and all stakeholders involved in the communication process are important.
Communication, Branding, and Marketing in a healthcare institution the size of São João, with the importance and proximity of Primary Care, are supported by the results of the work performed, the relevance of the entire brand strategy, and adaptation to the times and needs we live in, in an increasingly volatile and dynamic world. The healthcare and healthcare training market is changing radically, and Communications and Marketing must keep pace with this change, sometimes serving as the cornerstone of this aspect due to the potential these tools offer.
We know that the Brand is what positions ULS São João and all its units, differentiating and reinforcing its global strategy for a vast, dispersed, and increasingly demanding target audience. We are committed to providing excellent service. Today, the "São João brand" is a reference in the city, the region, the country, and the SUS (Unified Health System), recognized with numerous awards, conference appearances, and various national and international accolades. The commitment to elevating the São João brand to levels of excellence is the core mission of SCM from its inception. Now, with the noble mission of doing so in Primary Care.
Faced with this new challenge in Primary Care, we see an opportunity to "close" a value chain in the relationship with the client/user. CSPs are often the "gateway" to our client, and we know that if the work is done well, the value of the relationship throughout the entire "journey" will be maximized.
Although it is a complex process, (Like all others), there is a huge opportunity to achieve major transformation in terms of user proximity. Primary health care, through its proximity to the user, completes a valuable cycle in brand building and in the value delivered to the relationship the user has with their healthcare facility.
One of the pillars of success in all communication is always built from the inside out. What is called "Internal Communication" is this pillar. Well-structured, well-shared, involving everyone, and transparent, gains in the overall strategy are initiated. Even in a reality where information is increasingly faster and more agile, where the term "influencer" is gaining traction, good internal communication, in addition to winning over the institution's "loyals," has the power to spread the message 200 times more than any external communication. In a universe the size of São João, with approximately 8,000 employees, if we have the ability to use this asset as a message carrier, we are gaining value for all parties.
We also live in another reality: that of social media. Although they are not new platforms, the entire universe of algorithms on these platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, etc.) is evolving and adapting to the demanding consumer, who wants information immediately, transparently, and in their pocket. It is no longer information that the customer/user seeks, but information that meets them.
We are in the era of now. Of artificial intelligence. Of data volume. Of ever-present health information. In this age of proximity, the word "Hypersegmentation" ends up being the most relevant. If we combine all the assets available today, including the entire user track record, medical and scientific knowledge, and all marketing tools (notably APPs), we face a huge opportunity to engage the customer and create differentiation.
We are moving towards the future of personalization. In fact, we have been for a few years. The "here," the "now," the "instant" intersect with the "me" and "mine." We lived in an age of information that quickly transformed into the age of personalization. "I want access to valuable content that only concerns me." Whether through artificial intelligence or deep learning, we are taking the right steps to ensure healthcare content is in our customers' pockets and with access to their privileged information. And no less important, the personalization of information is "proactive," anticipating individual behaviors and episodes, with true health literacy reaching the individual with unprecedented hyper-personalization.
Ultimately, hospitals are no longer seen as mere healthcare service providers. Change is increasingly present on the daily agenda of healthcare organizations, which are beginning to understand that, given the vast number of clinical services offered, it is necessary to improve and personalize their offerings to build customer loyalty. Therefore, an organization the size of São João seeks to involve the customer/user as much as possible, ensuring they have an active voice throughout the entire contact process. Offering users a variety of tools and/or options allows their experience at São João to be much more positive, ultimately retaining them. Finally, we strive to understand our users, how they act and think, so that we can meet their expectations as closely as possible.
What makes the difference in organizations, processes, projects, and successful results are people alone. For us, it is a privilege to be surrounded by the best. Every day, we rely on the energy, dedication, and talent of everyone around us to reach our audiences with clear and useful messages, continuing to build an emotional and trusting relationship with our users, continuing to strive to make a difference, together. Along our path, we always realize that, together, we are worth more than each of us individually.
Adapted to the realities demanded by institutions and the people who comprise them, we must present new approaches to each situation every day, always based on a solid, viable strategic plan that, most importantly, involves everyone.
We are in an age of opportunity. We must all be in sync for the greater good: the informed, enlightened, and connected user.
