CHRISTUS Health’s Journey to Market Maturity
You can have it both ways. You can enjoy the benefits of centralized marketing for a geographically distributed health system and keep the local connection strong and vital.
// By Jane Weber Brubaker //
A five-year timeline for market maturity? Really? Jeff Stewart, vice president of strategic marketing at CHRISTUS Health, was skeptical at first. “I’ve been very stubborn to many parts of this over time, just not sure that it was necessary, not sure that it applied to us, not sure if it was the right step.”
Jeff Stewart, vice president, strategic marketing, CHRISTUS Health
Today, halfway through the process, he’s a believer. Following a structured market maturity model, CHRISTUS Health achieved some goals earlier than expected. Other goals that seemed out of reach now seem attainable. “We are focused on making wins where we can get them, and as those wins begin to pay off, it makes the next thing that seemed unthinkable a while ago a little bit easier to think of now,” Stewart comments.
Stewart and Julie Benton, president of &well, CHRISTUS Health’s advertising and marketing agency partner, shared the health system’s journey toward market maturity during a Strategic Health Care Marketing webinar in July.
When Stewart came on board four years ago, CHRISTUS Health, which spans 12 health systems in Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico, had an inconsistent and fragmented brand experience that wasn’t capitalizing on its strengths.
Stewart’s task was to bring everything together and convey the benefits of an integrated health system to patients while providing better support for regional marketing teams.
Read on for highlights of CHRISTUS Health’s journey toward market maturity and learn how a unified approach to marketing accrues benefits for all stakeholders.