Better Data and Agility Help Marketers Justify Budgets and Measure Results
// 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 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 to meet their community’s ever-changing needs.
Marketing departments throughout the health care industry now face new pressures as they continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for a post-pandemic marketplace. As they look to 2021 and beyond, health systems will need to address how they focus on consumers, how they deal with budget constraints, and how they can organize their departments to create agile teams that can quickly meet any challenge.
Three health system marketing executives shared their experiences and predictions during a panel discussion at the recent SHSMD Connections Bytes virtual conference. Kevan Mabbutt, senior vice president and chief consumer officer at Intermountain Healthcare in Utah; Jennifer Carbary, who was then director of marketing at Beaumont Health System in Michigan; and Peter Miller, administrator in the division of marketing and communications at Cleveland Clinic, participated in the session.