Like every other health care operation, fundraising has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Foundations, trusts, and development departments have had to squeeze all the creative juices they could muster to tackle an unpredictable, unprecedented situation. Boston Children’s Hospital sets the bar high. Named the country’s #1 Pediatric Hospital by U.S. News & World Report for Read More
// By Marcia Simon, APR // When you have hundreds of runners raising money for you, and the Boston Marathon — usually held on the third Monday in April — gets canceled, how do you bounce back? Boston Children’s Hospital Trust, the pediatric hospital’s fundraising arm, found lots of ways to keep the donations flowing Read More
“Coming off an incredibly challenging 2020, health care marketers face a potentially rocky start to the new year,” says Danny Fell, a senior strategist with Optum’s innovation team. “Positive factors, like revolutionary new COVID-19 vaccines, are coming up against the ongoing reality of a pandemic that is still very much with us across many parts Read More
While many health care marketers seek to limit their media outlets, the reality is that successful marketing plans need to incorporate a blend of many efforts to produce a desired reach, frequency, and outcome. Here’s an excerpt from John Gonda’s new article on this topic: For many years, hospitals have used traditional media outlets such Read More
// By Danny Fell // Marketers can help their organizations thrive in an increasingly competitive environment by introducing creative “outside the box” approaches that will help accelerate change. Coming off an incredibly challenging 2020, health care marketers face a potentially rocky start to the new year. Positive factors, like revolutionary new COVID-19 vaccines, are coming Read More
// By John Gonda // While many health care marketers seek to limit their media outlets, the reality is that successful marketing plans need to incorporate a blend of many efforts to produce a desired reach, frequency, and outcome. For many years, hospitals have used traditional media outlets such as newspapers, direct mail, radio, and Read More
More than ever, it’s important for health care executives to understand that broad brand strategy alone doesn’t drive business. Successful service-line growth campaigns are based on insights from marketing and consumer data. Without direction from digital marketing data, health care organizations will struggle even more in the post-pandemic world. Brand/MarCom strategist John Marzano recently spoke Read More
// By Jared Johnson // More than ever, it’s important for health care executives to understand that broad brand strategy alone doesn’t drive business. Successful service-line growth campaigns are based on insights from marketing and consumer data. Without direction from digital marketing data, health care organizations will struggle even more in the post-pandemic world. Brand/MarCom Read More
The traditional view at many hospitals and health systems is that marketing departments are an operating expense called in after strategy has been established and budgets allocated. But that view has been changing at Providence, the Seattle-based nonprofit healthcare system that operates 51 hospitals in seven states. When Providence separated its marketing and communication functions Read More
// By Jim Samuel // The marketing department is increasingly regarded by the system’s leadership as a revenue generator rather than a cost center. The traditional view at many hospitals and health systems is that marketing departments are an operating expense called in after strategy has been established and budgets allocated. But that view has Read More
Marketing budgets were already starting to tighten for some health systems at the beginning of last year. But when the coronavirus pandemic hit, some of those budget cuts became even more severe. Other systems saw budgets remain the same, but marketing departments had to be ready to quickly shift their strategy, messaging, tactics, and media Read More
Do you read billboards when you’re driving? If you do, you’re not alone. According to the 2019 Nielsen out-of-home advertising study, eight out of 10 Americans consciously look at billboard messages. As technology evolves, more and more advertisers turn to digital billboards — a computer-controlled display that shows advertisements on a rotating basis — to Read More
The coronavirus continues its rampage throughout the country, sickening people, taking lives, devastating the economy, and overwhelming our health systems. Even if we are not sick, COVID-19 wears down our will to keep fighting until vaccines are widely available. That includes abiding by public health guidance: avoiding large group gatherings, social distancing, handwashing, and wearing Read More
// By Jim Samuel // Three health care marketing executives share how they use data and agility to justify budgets, achieve their marketing objectives, and measure the results. Marketing budgets were already starting to tighten for some health systems at the start of 2020. But when the coronavirus pandemic hit, some of those budget cuts Read More
// By Althea Fung // Switching from renting to owning digital billboards gave Willis-Knighton Health System ultimate control over messaging. Do you read billboards when you’re driving? If you do, you’re not alone. According to the 2019 Nielsen out-of-home advertising study, eight out of 10 Americans consciously look at billboard messages. As technology evolves, more Read More
Marketing has played a key role in the growth and success of one of the nation’s largest regional networks focused on population health and value-based care. Vanderbilt Health Affiliate Network (VHAN) is a physician-led clinically integrated network that coordinates care for 300,000 patients across the state of Tennessee and in several bordering states. Launched in Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // If marketing is about influencing people to change behaviors, then a new public service campaign launched just before the Thanksgiving holiday — #MaskUp — is marketing at its best. The coronavirus continues its rampage throughout the country as of this writing in early December, sickening people, taking lives, devastating Read More
CHI Memorial Health System had a robust physician communications platform in place before COVID-19 came along. But the pandemic created new urgency among providers to acquire and absorb the latest knowledge about the disease and how to treat it. The content platform MedNews Plus, powers CHI Memorial’s physician newsletter Physician e-News. This publication, already a Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Vanderbilt University Medical Center led the formation of a successful high-performance provider network that has met 100 percent of its quality goals in recent years and returned millions in incentives to network members. Marketing has played a key role in the growth and success of one of the nation’s Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // During the pandemic, we have seen many examples of health care organizations that had technology in place that could be quickly adapted, enabling communicators to disseminate relevant and timely information. CHI Memorial Health System had a robust physician communications platform in place before COVID-19 came along. But the pandemic Read More
Using Amara’s Law to Analyze Pandemic’s Effect on Marketing // By Jeff Stewart // VITAS Healthcare AVP of digital communications Jeff Stewart urges marketers to stick with fundamental marketing principles and keep focused on consumer needs — especially during a time of unpredictability such as the coronavirus pandemic has caused. The annual health care marketing Read More
“Hey, there’s a pandemic going on!” writes Peter Hochstein, crackerjack copywriter and regular SHCM contributor. “Hospital workers are supposed to look harassed, grave, and ready to collapse from exhaustion, right? That’s not quite the way the communicators and staff at Johns Hopkins Medicine saw it. Result? Internet views by the — no, not by the Read More
As the marketing communications function has grown in health care over the years, many hospital systems find their MarCom organizations continually growing in responsibility and staff size, with no master plan for how everyone will work together. David Feinberg, senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer of Mount Sinai Health System, and Karen Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // SHSMD hosted Part I of its annual conference virtually this year, convening cross-functional thought leaders spanning the industry to reflect on the many twists and turns of 2020. A second conference, SHSMD Connections Bytes, also will be held virtually October 27-28. In mid-September, the AHA Center for Health Innovation Read More
// By Sheryl S. Jackson // As the marketing communications function has grown in health care over the years, many hospital systems find their MarCom organizations continually growing in responsibility and staff size, with no master plan for how everyone will work together. David Feinberg, senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer of Read More