Identifying Your Unique Value Proposition in Community Health

Welcome back to the CHM Micro-Credential podcast! I'm your host, Dr. Tami Moser, and today we're delving into a vital element of community health program implementation: understanding your competitive landscape and identifying your competitive advantage. In this episode, we'll explore why it's crucial to grasp the competitive environment, identify gaps in services, and differentiate your program to best serve your community. We'll guide you through the process of conducting a thorough competitive analysis, gathering essential data on your competitors, and creating a compelling value proposition for your program.

Using the Healthy Kids Millbrook Obesity Prevention Program as a case study, we'll illustrate how to pinpoint underserved segments, innovative approaches, and unique strengths that can set your program apart. Additionally, we'll emphasize the importance of focusing on your program's unique value without disparaging others. Whether you're refining your marketing strategy or ensuring your program remains relevant in a dynamic health landscape, this episode has invaluable insights to help you make a lasting impact. Stay tuned and let's dive in!

Tami Moser [00:00:00]:
Welcome to our community health management design tutorial. I'm doctor Tami Moser. And today, we're diving into a crucial aspect of program implementation, understanding your competitive landscape and identifying your competitive advantage. Now you started on some of the work with this last week by doing competitive analysis. So now we're gonna start looking at how you work with that information. Before we drive in, let's address why this matters. In community health, we're not just competing for customers. We're competing to make a difference.

Tami Moser [00:00:35]:
Understanding your competitive landscape helps you identify gaps in current services, learn from other successes and failures. That can be very helpful. Differentiate your program effectively, why you versus them, and allocate resources wisely. Now let's walk through the process of conducting a thorough competitive analysis. You've done part of this, but this we're gonna talk about to make sure that nothing's been missed. Right? So you're gonna start by casting a wide net in community health competitors. They aren't just other programs. They can include hospitals and clinics, community organizations, government health initiatives, online health resources, even informal community support networks.

Tami Moser [00:01:21]:
For our Healthy Kids Millbrook Obesity Prevention Program, competitors might include local pediatric weight management clinics, school based health education programs, online fitness apps for kids, community sports leagues. So while you did a Porter's 5 Forces to understand what the competitive landscape looks like, which means that you would have some insight into who competitors are, now we're getting into the specifics for your program. So let's talk about gathering some information. Once you've identified your direct competitors or even indirect in some of this, it's time to gather information on them. So focus on services offered, their target audience patients, community they're targeting, pricing strategies that they're using, their marketing approach and what channels they're using to reach their market. And channels is not TV channels. Channels can be Facebook, Twitter. Those are channels.

Tami Moser [00:02:22]:
Right? Standard newspaper. It's a channel, marketing channel. So think about their marketing approach in terms of what channels are they using and how are they approaching their audience with those. And then strengths and weaknesses of that competitor. Use a variety of sources. Their competitor website and social media, can be great places to look for information. Public health reports, community surveys, interviews with healthcare professionals, all of those can give you insight into your competitors. So create a competitor matrix to organize this information visually.

Tami Moser [00:03:01]:
This at a glance view helps you identify patterns and gaps in the market. So, now let's analyze this data. Look for underserved segments of the population, services that are in high demand but low supply, innovative approaches that seem to be working well, and common pain points or criticisms by patients and providers of those programs. For healthy kids Millbrook, we might notice that while there are several weight management clinics, few programs offer comprehensive family based interventions. That could be our opportunity and where we could create value and differentiation. So based on your analysis, we wanna identify what makes your program unique. Competitive advantages can stem from unique services or approaches, specialized expertise that's brought to the table by your team, strong community partnerships, innovative use of technology, more accessible pricing or locations. For Healthy Kids Millbrook, our competitive advantages might include our family centered approach, our integration with school health programs, use of community gardens for hands on nutrition education, and a sliding scale fee structure to ensure accessibility.

Tami Moser [00:04:26]:
Finally, articulate these advantages clearly. Create a compelling statement that communicates your unique value proposition. For example, Healthy Kids Millbrook offers a unique family centered approach to childhood obesity prevention. Unlike traditional weight management clinics, we integrate our services with school health programs and use community gardens for hands on nutrition education. Our sliding scale fees ensure all families can access our comprehensive program regardless of their financial situation. Remember, identifying your competitive advantages is not about putting others down. It's about clearly communicating the unique value you bring to your community. This is something that needs to be really focused on for a minute and that none of your communications out to your program should say something bad about another program that you're competing with, nor in face to face or any communications that happens between your team and those individuals should you talk poorly about someone else's program.

Tami Moser [00:05:28]:
Even if it's not done well, doesn't serve the purpose it's supposed to. I mean, whatever your views of that program may be, you don't speak poorly about it. You continually focus on what your program offers that's advantageous to your audience. And in 1 on 1 communications, if someone asks you just point blank about x program because they happen to be in it, don't say anything about that program. Say, I understand why you would be interested in that program. Let me tell you about how we can help you. And so you're continually bringing them back to what you can do for them and the, you know, the value you offer. It's ultimately up to them to decide and compare the 2 and decide which one they wanna do.

Tami Moser [00:06:15]:
You spend your time and focus on highlighting what's really valuable that you do that's different also or more than what that other program does. So again, not talking poorly about it, just focusing on what you're bringing to the table. Remember, identifying your competitive advantages is not about putting others down. It is about clearly communicating the unique value you bring to your community through your program. Regularly regularly revisit your competitor analysis. The health landscape is always changing, and staying informed helps you adapt and stay relevant. In other words, you shouldn't just say these are our competitors and that's it. There will be times when new competition enters the marketplace.

Tami Moser [00:07:02]:
And if you're not paying attention, you may miss that and not only miss it, but miss something crucial that can start having a negative impact on your program. Now it's your turn. You're gonna conduct a competitor analysis for your community health program. Identify at least 3 main competitors, create a competitor matrix, and articulate 3 key competitive advantages for your program. You have a tool to do the competitor matrix. So look to your spreadsheet to find that. In our next video audio, sorry, we'll discuss how to use these insights to refine your marketing strategy and program positioning. Remembering community health, understanding your competitive landscape isn't about outperforming others.

Tami Moser [00:07:49]:
It's about finding your unique way to serve your community effectively. Keep analyzing, keep innovating, and keep striving to make a difference. This is doctor Tami Moser signing off. Thank you for listening to this episode, and until next time.