3 reasons to stop putting doctors in your health system’s ad campaigns

I love my doctor. Still, I would never feature him in an advertising campaign.

Don’t get me wrong, my doctor is charismatic, personable, compassionate and really knows his stuff—all qualities any “good” physician should have. However, my care isn’t about my doctor. My care is about me. I think your patients will agree.

At the same time, I understand the pressure health care marketers face when developing consumer-facing advertising campaigns. Sometimes, you need to feed the ego of a service line’s medical director. Other times, you’re forced to feature physicians in ads because tops execs are trying to keep up with the competing hospital. (“They’re featuring doctors in their ads. Our doctors are better! We must feature doctors in our ads, too!”)

The next time you consider featuring physicians as the subjects of your advertising campaign, I encourage you to consider these three reasons to feature patients instead.

Physicians are features, not benefits.