Your Patients Want Something—Badly

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 2 of 11 in a series on StoryBrand for Health and Medicine. Check out the entire series here.

StoryBrand for Health and Medicine Part 2: Your Patients Want Something—Badly

People long to become better versions of themselves. They want to be happier and healthier. They want to have more freedom and the ability to live a good life. They want something that you and your health and wellness business can help them achieve.

But your ideal customers (or clients or patients) will only know that you can help them if they see themselves in the story you tell about your business.

StoryBrand teaches us to tell the story of your business in a way that captures the attention of the people you serve. Every good story starts with a character who wants something, so your marketing message should too.

Part of the reason that StoryBrand is such a natural fit for the health and wellness industry is that the people who you serve want something BADLY. When you articulate what it is that they want, they will be instantly drawn in to hear more about what you do.

How to Know What Your Ideal Patient Wants

Some of your patients want to be free from pain. Others want to have the energy to play with their grandkids. Others want to wake up feeling refreshed for their workday. Every person has their own unique needs, goals, dreams, and aspirations.

The trick is to find the common thread.

Start by brainstorming all of the desires that your typical clients or patients have. Then look for where they overlap. Consider how YOUR products and services fulfill a need or desire that most of your ideal patients share. Here are some ways to discover what it is that they want:

Listen. If you are a naturopathic doctor, chiropractor, acupuncturist, or functional medicine practitioner, you are listening to your patients every day. Your patients are telling you what they want and what they long for. For one week, listen with the intention to hear their deepest desires. Why is it that they come to you? What is it that they really want?
Ask. Another way to collect information about what your ideal clients or patients want is to send them a questionnaire or survey. What were they searching for when they discovered your clinic? What do they hope to gain from treatment? What have they achieved by working with you that they would not have achieved otherwise? When you ask these questions directly, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of what your patients are seeking and wanting so badly.
Meditate. You won’t discover the answer to what your patients want by meditation alone, but it can’t hurt. Once you have listened or asked your patients what they are seeking when they come to you, you need to have a way to make sense of the information. Take a step back and look at the big picture. Go for a walk, meditate, or talk with a friend. Search for how the various desires of your patients are all the same.

Once you can verbalize a common desire that most of your patients or clients have—and one that you can help them achieve—you’re ready to use that information in your marketing message. You’re ready to StoryBrand your business.

How to Use ‘What Your Patient Wants’ in Your Marketing Message

Knowing who your ideal patients are and what they want will guide all of your marketing messages. Part of the reason to get clarity on their desires is so that you can craft your message in a way that speaks authentically and empathetically to THEM. Here are some ways to use this information in your message:

Put it in your header. There’s no right or wrong way to craft the leading line on your website, but one option is to call out exactly what your customer wants. If you specialize in anti-aging medicine and your patients want to maintain their youth, your website header might say, “Look and feel young at any age.” If your practice focuses on pediatrics and the parents want peace of mind, your header might say, “Peace of mind for your family’s health.”
Capture it in images. Use the images on your website, social media posts, or printed materials to capture what your ideal patient wants to achieve. If they want to be free from joint pain, show an image of someone riding a bike. If they want to have a happier and more balanced mood, show people smiling and enjoying life. Pictures and images are powerful ways to showcase what your ideal patient wants.
Keep it at the front of your mind. You don’t need to directly state what your ideal patient wants in order to use it when crafting your message. Get a clear image of the person you serve in your mind. When you talk about your business, speak as if that person were sitting right in front of you. When you have clarity on who you serve, your message will naturally speak to that person.

Your Ideal Patient in the StoryBrand Framework

Please read Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller or check out the free online BrandScript tool. When we are talking about what your ideal client or patient wants, we are touching on two different parts of the StoryBrand framework: the character and the aspirational identity. You can learn more at storybrand.com or by hiring a StoryBrand Certified Guide.