Many natural healthcare practices confuse their potential patients with unclear messaging. StoryBrand provides a formula to craft your message so that your ideal patients will be captivated and want to engage. Follow this blog series to discover how StoryBrand is a natural fit for marketing your naturopathic, chiropractic, acupuncture, or functional medicine practice.

This article is part 5 of 11 in a series on StoryBrand for Health and Medicine. Check out the entire series here.

StoryBrand for Health and Medicine Part 5: Coming from the Heart Matters

When people are searching for a healthcare practitioner, they mostly want to know that their new clinician will solve a problem that they have. Most people are not too interested in how many awards or accolades their new doctor has, but they do want to know their doctor cares.

That’s where empathy and compassion come in.

Most people go into a healing profession because they care, so empathy comes naturally. The part that may not come so naturally is figuring out to use empathy in your marketing message.

Ways to Show You Care

Talking about how much you care about the health and well-being of your patients could come across as forced, cheesy, or downright fake. But there are ways to show that you care that are gentle and eloquent.

• Share your story. If you have gone through a struggle that is similar to what you help your patients overcome, it might be helpful to share your story. If you, for example, have had cancer and now survive and thrive, your patients with cancer might feel comforted to know that you understand. If you choose to share your story, however, keep the details brief. Focus on how that experience now helps you better serve your patients. Always bring it back to helping the people you serve. If you fall into the trap of only talking about yourself, you’ll lose your audience and money while you’re at it.
• Say you understand. You don’t need to have gone through the same experience as your patients in order to understand how hard it is for them. If you know they struggle with a certain problem or feeling, you can simply say that you understand. For example, “I understand how distressing it can be to be told you have a serious diagnosis.” Sometimes all it takes is to acknowledge a feeling and uncomfortable situation.
• Tell what you have seen. Just because you haven’t gone through a certain struggle yourself doesn’t mean you are naïve to it. As a healthcare practitioner, you see a lot of people struggle. That experience helps you understand and relate to their situation. When you say that you have seen a lot of people struggle with a certain condition or situation, people feel comforted that you understand them. You can say, for example, “having seen dozens of patients with IBS, I know how frustrating it can be to feel tied to the nearest restroom.”

How to Use Empathy in Your Marketing Message

Some businesses might choose to use empathy as a central part of their marketing message. Others might choose to use it in small amounts and sparingly. Even a single sentence on your website can be enough to show you care.

You might have a line on your home page that says, “Our clinicians and staff have helped hundreds of patients like you overcome chronic pain. We understand how frustrating it can be when treatments that work for other people don’t work for you. We show up every day because we want you to feel healthy and free.” Then you link to your “about” page with a button that says, “Meet Us.”

Empathy in the StoryBrand Framework

Read Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller or check out the free online BrandScript tool. Showing empathy is part of the "Guide" section. You can learn more at storybrand.com or by hiring a StoryBrand Certified Guide.

Up next

This article is part 5 of 11 in a series on StoryBrand for Health and Medicine. Up next is Part 6: Nobody Else Knows What You Know