Each week we email a tip or news that we are covering in Strategic Health Care Marketing. You can view the archives of this weekly ezine below.
Telemedicine came to the rescue when COVID-19 first rattled the capacity and safety of health care delivery. It didn’t take long for hospitals, providers, and patients to embrace the conveniences, especially when federal waivers allowed for expanded access to virtual care services, and payers relaxed their reimbursement guidelines. But there’s a problem: The pandemic shed Read More
Los Angeles is home to many world-class health care organizations, and they compete vigorously for the same patients. But even in a competitive market, joining together for the greater good may be the best way to get an important message across to the community. “It became apparent early on that people were not accessing health Read More
In this topsy-turvy world we’re living in, everything familiar has had to change to accommodate the new normal, and conferences are no exception. The Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development annual conference, SHSMD Connections, will now be held virtually as two conferences, “Navigating a New Reality” on September 14-16, and “SHSMD Connections Bytes” Read More
“The situation seemed dire at Vassar Brothers Medical Center,” writes Peter Hochstein, copywriter and SHCM contributor. “Doctors at a large medical group were under orders to refer patients to a different hospital. Then Vassar launched an ad campaign that empowered patients to defy their doctors. And everything changed.” Here’s an excerpt from Hochstein’s new article: Read More
“People will remember how they’re treated,” says Rob Klein, founder and CEO of Klein & Partners. “And how you treat them will determine whether your brand comes out of this with momentum.” Klein & Partners and The DRG recently released the results of the third wave of an online national survey measuring consumer reactions to Read More
Health care marketers know that building a successful brand is not just about new logos, taglines, and ads. The brand must accurately reflect the vision and beliefs that make up the culture of the organization, drive all strategic decisions, and form the foundation for communications with all audiences. “If your brand is authentic, you can Read More
The pandemic is hitting hardest among certain racial, ethnic, and minority groups. Through mid-June, non-Hispanic Black people had a COVID-19 hospitalization rate about five times that of non-Hispanic White people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hispanic or Latino people had a hospitalization rate four times that of non-Hispanic White people. In Read More
As the U.S. emerges from what is likely the first wave of the COVID-19 global pandemic, many health care organizations are launching campaigns to encourage patients to seek the medical care they have delayed. Northwell Health, a 23-hospital system with nearly 800 outpatient facilities in the New York metro area, wanted its campaign to communicate Read More
Rebranding a large health system is a complex undertaking that is more than a marketing and design challenge; it requires a thoughtful, strategic approach to be successful. ChristianaCare, the largest health care provider in Delaware, unveiled its new brand identity in October 2019, after an 18-month planning process with its agency, Wax Custom Communications. The Read More
“A group of musicians in Iceland demonstrated that promoting social distancing doesn’t have to sound like somber, top-down marching orders from an authoritarian central command,” says SHCM contributor and copywriter Peter Hochstein. “Instead, they tapped into something uplifting, communal, and perhaps instinctively primeval.” Here’s an excerpt from Hochstein’s new story: I feel sorry for the Read More
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” is the motto at Richmond-based NDP. Last year, the full-service marketing and advertising agency added a media planning division — Neathawk360. As the name implies, this new service embraces a 360-degree approach to the many and diverse forms of media that can impact a consumer’s engagement Read More
During the initial stages of the pandemic, health care marketing leaders found their mission changing from brand and service-line promotion to crisis communication management, with staffs focusing efforts on sharing up-to-date information for patients and communities. Now that businesses are beginning to reopen, employees are returning to work, and restrictions on daily activities are loosening, Read More
“Nothing triggers an emotional reaction like watching someone trying to resist it. There’s a kids’ game in which the object is to stare at all the other kids and try to make one of them laugh while they resist. Trying not to laugh usually ended with an explosion of giggles all around,” notes veteran copywriter Read More
People age 50 and older represent the largest demographic of health care consumers. But do you know how to best reach and market your health care organization to this audience, and which products and services resonate the most with them? A recent national consumer survey conducted by Cox Media Group revealed surprising insights about how Read More
The United States has experienced hundreds of thousands of confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 100,000 deaths. On the economic side, millions have been furloughed or have lost their jobs. And, sadly, “we are not anywhere near done yet,” notes David Marlowe. Here’s an excerpt from Marlowe’s new article: The health care system has been hit Read More
From Girl Scouts donating cookies they couldn’t sell, to chaplains bringing lollipops to nursing stations, to colleagues making posters and shout-outs to frontline staff, coronavirus isn’t spreading only an illness, but kindness and cheer as well. As hospitals and health care organizations seek much-needed personal protective equipment for staff, communities are responding by donating comfort Read More
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. health care facilities face a tsunami of rapid-fire change. Hospital marketing leaders, historically charged with promoting signature service lines, are rapidly transforming their role and their tactics to meet this unprecedented challenge. Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington, cared for the first confirmed COVID-19 patient in the U.S. on Read More
“In ordinary times, we are a nation of people with high levels of anxiety,” says Howard Gershon, a founding principal of New Heights Group and a member of the SHCM Editorial Advisory Board. But “[i]n times of a pandemic such as we are experiencing now with the ongoing fear of the deadly coronavirus, anxiety and Read More
In the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, health care organizations around the U.S. are focused on safeguarding the health of people living in their communities. At Boston Children’s in Massachusetts, the pediatric teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School, caring for the health of families in the greater Boston area has long been a priority. Read More
Crisis management is a standard part of hospital communication preparedness, but who could ever have anticipated the coronavirus pandemic? How do you communicate to your community and patients about a pandemic when nobody anywhere has all the answers? Yale New Haven Health clinicians and ancillary staff quickly came together, launching a call center to handle Read More
Well before cases of COVID-19 began to spike in the U.S., health care organizations were watching the response to the pandemic unfold worldwide and preparing for the worst-case scenario. Communications to myriad stakeholders have been and are being created, coordinated, and standardized across multiple channels. Accurate, up-to-date information is essential for all of us. To Read More
“Health care has lagged behind other areas such as financial services or retail in the use of technology to provide a single, consistent customer experience,” says Alexandra Morehouse, chief marketing officer at Banner Health, a nonprofit health system based in Phoenix, Arizona that operates 28 hospitals and several specialized facilities across six states. Morehouse’s background Read More
Health care spending for older adults is disproportionately higher than for other age groups. According to 2016 research from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the 65 and older group — 16 percent of the population — consumes 36 percent of health spending. The cost of care for older adults is higher, but reimbursements are lower. “It Read More
A Strategic Health Care Marketing webinar on demand for health care marketers and digital strategists
Originally presented March 24, 2020.
Your Presenters:
Investing in a physician engagement program may achieve better ROI than traditional consumer-facing mass media marketing efforts. In our new article, John Gonda, senior healthcare account manager at ddm communications & marketing, explains why. Here’s an excerpt: Physician burnout is on the rise. Across the country, the ability of doctors to practice medicine and care Read More