Fungible: able to replace or be replaced by another identical item,
mutually interchangeable. - The New Oxford American Dictionary
In marketing, fungible simply means that the customer does not perceive a difference between your product or service and the competitor’s product or service. Gasoline serves as a good case in point. Most oil companies have long since given up on convincing the public that there is a difference in product (“Put a Tiger in Your Tank!”). Indeed much of the gas distributed by different companies comes from the same pipes. Instead of advertising a better product, one oil company is currently on a campaign to say it is a better company – a tactic that can also work in healthcare.
For referral-based healthcare providers (home health care, physical therapy, etc.), fungibility represents a problem and an opportunity in the company’s communications strategy. It is rare that competing healthcare providers are truly fungible. If a significant portion of your referral base acts as if your services were fungible, adjustments to marketing strategies can garner good returns.
First, here’s how to know if the doctors do not perceive a difference between your home health services and those of your competitors. Do any of the following statements reflect your perception of dominant referral source behavior in your area?
- Nurses decide which agency gets the referral; doctors just call instructions down the hall to make a referral.
- Doctors tend to make referrals with whoever brings them the best lunch or whoever brings them lunch the most.
Ultimately, doctors, nurses, and PAs are concerned with the wellbeing of their patients. If they perceive a worthwhile difference between you and your competitor, that perception will make a difference in their referral behavior.
If a significant portion of your referral sources perceive your services to be fungible, you have an opportunity. Perceived fungibility means your competitors also have not differentiated themselves in the eyes of their referral sources.
Step #1:
Be different from your competitors in a tangible way that is easily communicated. Doctors are less susceptible to power words like “caring,” “compassionate,” “pioneers,” etc. They want facts.
Step #2:
State your difference to your referral sources over and over. This means sales and marketing. It is not the referral source’s job to discover your strengths. It is your job to define and communicate your strengths with sufficient repetition and frequency to achieve and maintain awareness.
Many home health agencies are unaware that they have attributes that could serve as marketing strengths. Many more know they have strengths in which referral sources should be interested, but they have trouble consistently implementing methods that successfully communicate those strengths to their very specific target audience. You do not have to do all the work or generate all the ideas yourself. For experienced help with referral-based healthcare marketing strategies and implementation, simply contact Brazzell Marketing Agency.
