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.
What would you do if your ads were actually sending your customers to your competition? Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University recently faced this challenging scenario. Further complicating matters, the brand had gone through several name changes in recent years, leaving its target audience confused about what the health system was and what it stood Read More
If you’re traveling through Logan Airport in Boston anytime soon, you’ll probably be drawn to a collection of portraits, and accompanying personal stories, lining the walls between terminals. You’ll see beautiful, larger-than-life portraits of: Teens. Single men and women. Parents. Grandparents. Athletes. Lawyers. Physicians. Musicians. An author. A former soap opera star. Some have light Read More
“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
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
When is the last time you received from your employer an email or text so enticing you wanted to open it right away? Most likely, the answer is “never.” That’s because most employee communications are talking at you or providing you with information they want you to have, but they somehow miss the boat entirely Read More
Audiology First is a private hearing center in Columbia, Maryland. While the staff prides itself on taking a personalized approach to meeting the needs of each patient, its marketing efforts were strictly generic. This mismatch led to a lagging customer base. “We were getting customers, but not as many as we wanted,” explains Diana Wagner, Read More
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
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
Bay Area Regional Medical Center, in Webster, Texas, first opened its doors in July 2014. As an independent facility in the Houston Bay Area not affiliated with any larger systems or networks, it had to work hard at first to establish its reputation in an already crowded market. “Initially the goal was to find a Read More
Has your health care organization’s marketing strategy kept pace with your largest payer — Medicare? If not, you could be missing important opportunities to target seniors and caregivers with your services and keep them coming back for more. As organizations have become more focused on trying to keep people well and heading off illness, the Read More
“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
The technology landscape is rapidly evolving, creating new challenges — and also new opportunities — for marketers in all industries. For those working in the health care sector, this means that the time is right to draw on the latest tools to have the most meaningful impact in a variety of situations. Marketers need look Read More
Competing for — and winning — awards can be an important part of your health care organization’s marketing strategy. Awards can help you raise awareness about your service lines, driving new business; recognize individual employees as leaders, improving staff morale and elevating performance standards; and promote your organization as a stellar workplace, helping to attract Read More
The Call for Entries for the 2018 eHealthcare Leadership Awards is now open. This leading awards program, which draws some 1,000 entries, exclusively recognizes the very best websites and digital communications of healthcare organizations (both large and small), online health companies, pharmaceutical/medical equipment firms, agencies/suppliers, and business improvement initiatives. These awards highlight the role of Read More
Love you, hate you, want something from you. When any of your patients have these or other strong feelings about you, chances are they’ll turn to social media and share their sentiments in a very public way to a very wide audience. This makes it essential to stay on top of the latest comments posted Read More
“Until very recently, advertising aimed at combatting drug use has pretty much been within the purview of government and nonprofit anti-drug organizations,” notes copywriter and regular SHCM contributor Peter Hochstein. “Partnership for a Drug Free America, for example, ran a famous TV spot during the 1980s showing an egg getting cracked into a hot frying Read More
The SHCM Editorial Advisory Board is made up of leaders in the health care marketing field who are committed to shaping the future of the industry. They offer ongoing feedback on our editorial coverage, write occasional articles, and point us to developments and people SHCM members like you should know about. I’m very pleased to announce that Linda MacCracken has joined Read More
How often do you go to Starbucks, and what do you order? Your answer likely will be different from that of your co-worker or neighbor, since everyone has his or her own unique lifestyle and taste. The same premise also holds true when it comes to selecting health care services. Different people have different needs Read More
“The health care field is in a state of constant disruption today, with mounting competition coming from many outside sectors,” says Craig Allan Ahrens, MHA, MBA, a leader at national health strategy firm BDC Advisors. “But the time is also ripe for health systems that understand the current marketplace to capitalize on growing opportunities to position Read More
Does your brand fully resonate with your employees? If the answer is “no,” and your mission and goals aren’t connecting internally, it’s important to invest time and resources to capture and distill market research data to create a unified vision. Then you’ve got a brand to promote externally. Look at Spectrum Healthcare Partners, a physician-owned Read More
When the powerhouse brands of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase recently pooled resources to form a new independent health care delivery system to serve 1 million collective employees, an entire industry took notice. While lots of questions remain as to how the company will operate, one thing is clear: The health care industry has Read More
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
In an elementary school science classroom in the Fort Worth area, children work diligently on their assignments, eager to earn a chance when they finish to participate in a fun deskside exercise break that gets them up and moving . . . playing silly games, following mazes, and learning catchy dance moves. In the process, Read More
It’s no coincidence that people who like the Apple brand tend to be loyal customers, keeping all of their technology purchases within the Apple family. This is because Apple goes to great lengths to ensure its customers always have a very positive, consistent experience in stores, online, and by phone, according to Steven Maskell, chief client Read More
Have you incorporated audio content in your health care communications strategy? If not, you could be missing an opportunity to engage prospective patients who live in your service communities, and to position your organization as a leader to referring physicians across the country. While some health systems dabble in producing radio content and developing podcasts Read More