Sales and Promotion

Let’s Go Blue: University of Michigan Health System Ad Campaign Hits Powerful Notes

Dave Brudon, director of marketing (retired), Michigan Medicine

“Last month, this column dealt with two advertising campaigns that you’d never guess were for hospitals — at least not until the last few seconds when a hospital logo appeared,” says copywriter and Strategic Health Care Marketing contributor Peter Hochstein. “In recent years, marketing people I’ve interviewed at hospitals and their advertising agencies have more or Read More

Learning What’s Truly Important to Your Target Audience

Marketing to people with similar interests and needs is usually intuitive — but what about when your target audience is completely different from you? How do you know what they care about? If you can get to the core of what makes your audience tick and what they may respond to (hint: it may not Read More

How To Turn a Clinic Opening Into a PR Windfall

chnola-logo

In today’s hectic world, it’s the little things that matter, especially when it comes to making life a bit more convenient. And when this convenience brings tangible benefits to families with young kids, including those with chronic medical needs, it can be enough to spark a compelling public relations angle that has real traction. When Children’s Read More

Could an Alliance with Local Employers Work for You?

David Lansky, PhD, president and CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health

Have you considered contracting your services directly with large employers in your area? There is a growing movement to bring employers and health care organizations together to provide high-quality care for patients while managing costs and making them more predictable. Changing forces in the health care field are leading organizations to implement a variety of Read More

Marketers’ Role in Exploring Employee-Driven Health Plans: Good Idea or Risky Business for Your Organization?

David Lansky, PhD, president and CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health

// By Lisa D. Ellis // Have you considered contracting your services directly with large employers in your area? There is a growing movement to bring employers and health care organizations together to provide high-quality care for patients while managing costs and making them more predictable. SHSMD recently released Futurescan 2018-2023: Healthcare Trends and Implications, Read More

Cross-Cultural Messaging Can Improve Patient Satisfaction

Jill Mead

“With patient experience increasingly recognized as connected to a host of measures, including patient outcomes and your bottom line, it’s essential to reach all of your target populations with education and messaging that resonate with people’s cultural backgrounds and native languages,” says Jill Mead, in-house compliance counsel for full-service language solutions company Vocalink, Inc. “More Read More

Cross-Cultural Communication Strategy: Improve Your Health System’s Patient Satisfaction Scores with Training and More Inclusion

Jill Mead

// By Jill Mead // With patient experience increasingly recognized as connected to a host of measures, including patient outcomes and your bottom line, it’s essential to reach all of your target populations with education and messaging that resonate with people’s cultural backgrounds and native languages. More than ever before in our history, U.S. hospital Read More

Leverage Current Events To Promote Your Health Care Organization’s Offerings

Wonder Movie Poster

When the movie Wonder was released in fall 2017, sharing the fictional story of a fifth-grader named Auggie coping with a facial difference called Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS), Dayton Children’s Hospital saw this as an exciting opportunity to raise awareness about groundbreaking treatments offered for children with TCS through its own Craniofacial Center. “We do Read More

National Happenings Open the Door to Promote Dayton Children’s Local Offerings

Dayton Children’s Logo

// By Lisa D. Ellis // When the movie Wonder was released in fall 2017, sharing the fictional story of a fifth-grader named Auggie coping with a facial difference called Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS), Dayton Children’s Hospital saw this as an exciting opportunity to raise awareness about groundbreaking treatments offered for children with TCS through Read More

Using “Real” Staff to Deliver Your Video Messages? Here’s How to Make the Messages More Engaging

Peter Hochstein

Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // Any number of hospitals post videos on the internet featuring their doctors and other staff discussing their institutions and specialties. Too often, these standup “talking head” presentations feel unspontaneous and uncomfortable. Eyes shift nervously as speakers obviously read from cue cards. Language that looked good on Read More

Children’s Hospital Advertising Campaign Targets “Compassionate Moms”

Donna Teach, Nationwide Children's

“Sorry, family health care decision-making moms, ages 20-something to about 50. For once, you’re not the specific target of a children’s hospital advertising campaign,” says veteran copywriter and frequent SHCM contributor Peter Hochstein. “Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, with 618 licensed and leased beds and 1.4 million patient visits annually, has been running a Read More

Omaha Hospital Celebrates Its Storied Past in New Marketing Campaign

Jenni Stoll, senior director of marketing for Methodist Health System

What’s old is new again at Methodist Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. Methodist recently celebrated its 125th anniversary, and this milestone provided a valuable opportunity for the health system to build on its past to position itself for the future. While most health care systems pride themselves on being ahead of the curve when it comes Read More

Doing Hospital Fundraising? Meet Your Latest Target: “Compassionate Moms”

Peter Hochstein

Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // Sorry, family health care decision-making moms, ages 20-something to about 50. For once, you’re not the specific target of a hospital advertising campaign. But then, Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, with 618 licensed and leased beds and 1.4 million patient visits annually, has been running Read More

Silicon Valley: Where You Can Call Potential Patients “Nerds”

Veteran copywriter and regular SHCM contributor Peter Hochstein suggests an interesting proposition: “Run some hospital advertising that flat out calls your potential patients nerds. Nah, come to think of it, that probably wouldn’t work, and might prompt some irate letters to your CEO. Well then, how about offering advice that sounds financial, and encourages people to ‘go Read More