Way back in my
eighth-grade English class, we learned about a rhetorical device called
synecdoche—a curious little figure of speech that people use more frequently
than we might realize says Maurice Woodberry. Synecdoche occurs when we refer to a part of something
to reference the whole. For example, you might refer to a car as “a set of
wheels,” or hear a news report summarize the large movements of a government
effort by saying “the White House” did something on a given day.
It might
seem easier to turn to synecdoche as a way to simplify complicated systems into
smaller, individual pieces. However, this approach isn’t appropriate in every
situation, and it seems we’ve been misusing it in healthcare content marketing.
Think
about the last time you were sick and hopped on WebMD to find out what was
wrong. Most articles approach topics with a symptoms-first approach, giving the
sense that—at least while we’re sick—our illness must be what defines us.
Can you
imagine if this was the same way hospitals and doctors’ offices operated? How
would you feel if the next time you had an appointment, a nurse didn’t address
you by name but instead loudly called for “strep throat,” “broken arm,” or
“weird rash that won’t go away—seriously, I’ve tried everything?”
It would
be an awful and dehumanizing experience. I’m sure none of us would ever go back
to the doctor’s office.
It is
possible to address the specific needs and concerns of healthcare audiences
without reducing them to their worst ailments. In fact, a number of brands are
seeing fantastic success by taking a different approach entirely: an
empathy-first content strategy that considers the whole person.
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