By knowing and building on your strengths – especially as they're perceived by the community, you help audiences differentiate your hospice from others. One way to do this is by telling people why your hospice is better than your competitors.

On the surface, all hospices could look alike to the uninformed. So your job is to highlight the important ways that your hospice stands apart from others. This is a powerful approach to your communications. If your hospice has been in the community for a long time, be sure to mention that. If you only serve certain counties in your community, mention that. If you employ more physicians than your competition include that strength as a key message. If you have a unique service that your competitors don't have, play that one up. Rather than simply providing a bulleted list of services, try to determine those that make you special. Just by adding specific information such as "You can reach us 24 hours a day for answers and assistance," you can begin to differentiate in those areas where you know you are stronger and people can distinguish your identity in the market.

While we have talked exclusively about the "copy" or words in your communications, they are just one of the two major factors which persuade. The overall brand of your hospice is very important to effective marketing. The creative, graphic design of communications are very important to convey a consistent brand, to evoke an emotional response and to visually help readers comprehend the information. We'll discuss this in-depth in our next issue.

TRIVIA – HOSPICE WHO'S WHO
One lady played a pivotal role in creating the modern hospice movement. Do you know her name?

If you said Cicely Saunders you know your hospice history! Dame Cicely led a fascinating life which included work as nurse, social worker and physician. But it is her very personal reaction to individuals facing death which led her on a mission to help ease pain. She turned her personal experiences with the deaths of loved ones into a philosophy and worked to establish many hospice organizations in England and America. But she also had romance along the way!

Read more about this fascinating woman or get this book: Cicely Saunders - Founder of the Hospice Movement: Selected Letters, 1959-1999 by David Clark and Cicely M. Saunders. It is available on the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization's Marketplace.