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.
A phenomenon you might call “big synergy” is powerful stuff. If you have the resources to somehow combine several strong elements of human interest seamlessly into one emotionally touching marketing and advertising campaign, each element can support, reinforce, and energize the others. This creates efficiencies of exposure and impact that eclipse most traditional advertising. And Read More
How do you get your news today? If the answer is mainly online, you’re certainly not alone. In fact, with fewer people reading printed newspapers and magazines than in past decades, you may be considering following the trend by ditching your health care organization’s printed material to focus your efforts solely on the digital side Read More
Seattle Children’s recently scored a touchdown when it launched a new campaign called “Strong Against Cancer” to raise awareness and support for groundbreaking research that holds the potential to cure childhood cancer. Leading the play is Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who has a personal connection to Seattle Children’s and who has used his platform Read More
While Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida is a well-regarded teaching hospital with a Level 1 trauma center, there was a perception that its facilities were outdated—which was particularly problematic for the facility’s maternity services. “When you’re talking about organ transplants, the quality of the room you’re staying in is not one of the top three concerns,” Read More
“Every great brand has a story to tell,” says Mark Shipley. And “an emotional, honest brand story can change the perception of a hospital or health care organization, eliciting consumer engagement, employee alignment, and a unique competitive position,” he adds. Shipley is the CEO and Strategy Director of Smith & Jones, a health care marketing agency Read More
“When a new brand takes hold as intended, one tough job is over—but another has already begun,” note Stacy Beers and Claire Hovis. “How soon is too soon to change gears from brand establishment to a new phase of promotion? Will new messages come across as mixed messages and muddy the clear impression you’ve worked Read More
At Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, several customer-oriented programs are deeply integrated into the facility’s framework to help people feel truly comfortable with the care they receive. Such customer-focused programs include (among many others) concierge services through the Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Heart & Vascular Center. Barnes-Jewish is Read More
Want to connect with your target audience on a more powerful level and motivate behavior change? Denise Aube, Executive Vice President and Healthcare Practice Leader at Crosby Marketing Communications, suggests turning to the principles of behavioral science to make your efforts more effective. “The challenge is how do we engage patients and motivate healthy behavior. It’s Read More
“The key to successful health care marketing is being able to anticipate how patients will react to and engage with the messages you are putting out,” says Kirstan Cecil, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, which is part of the Ascension Health System. Saint Agnes Hospital is a 276-bed, Read More
We live in a DIY age, observes Michael Del Gigante, President of MDG Advertising. Which is why it’s no wonder that consumers have eagerly hopped aboard the “DIY health care” train. “People are increasingly comfortable with using everything from websites to activity sensors to monitor their own health, diagnose problems, and self-treat issues without having to Read More
Hospitals present more audio opportunities than do most brands, says Colleen Fahey, the U.S. Managing Director of audio branding agency Sixième Son. But most of the time, this opportunity is wasted: “Walk into the admissions area of a university hospital and you’ll hear the clatter of carts, the chatter of announcements, the buzz of phones Read More
// An SHCM webinar on March 30, 2016 //
Patients are transforming health care as they demand that health care organizations provide them with a consumer experience. They expect the immediacy of a Google search, the personalization of Amazon, the convenience of Uber, the value of Target, and the ubiquity of Facebook.
And the changes are happening fast. Most health care organizations understand they must embrace change or be left behind.
But what does this mean in practical terms for your organization? How can we make health care access easier, more valuable, and more efficient? What tools can we use to improve delivery of care and empower patients to manage and improve their health?
What will it take for your organization to build a consumer-centric health care system based on wellness and prevention? How will the ability to collect, measure, and analyze customer data translate to competitive advantage?
Join us on March 30 for a webinar presented by Pamela DeSalvo Landis, Vice President, Information Services, Carolinas HealthCare System and Lindsay Resnick, MHA, Chief Marketing Officer, Wunderman Health. Learn more »
The corporate and health care sectors often talk in different languages and have different ways of doing business. But there are lessons from the business world that can translate well to the health care setting, especially when it comes to building a brand. Perhaps no one knows this better than Lisa Stockmon, the Chief Marketing Read More
St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers in Poughkeepsie, New York, wasn’t the first hospital to find itself drowning in a sea of financial troubles and it probably won’t be the last, notes veteran copywriter Peter Hochstein. Having filed for bankruptcy, “It was accepting bids for full acquisition from other hospitals,” recalls Barbara Kram, Senior Director, Read More
As one of the largest Catholic health systems in the Midwest, Franciscan Alliance recently decided to reach into its religious roots in an attempt to make a deeper connection with females in the local market and build up the women’s services line. The result is a unique marketing campaign for the health system’s women’s services Read More
“As a former TV reporter, I have had a unique chance to see multiple organizations and topics competing for media coverage in a crowded market,” says Lisa Arledge Powell, President of MediaSource, a content-focused health care public relations firm. “But in the past few years,” she says, “the growth of new media has opened up Read More
“There’s no denying it: Value-based population health management is here to stay,” says David Wildebrandt, a member of the Berkeley Research Group’s (BRG) Healthcare Performance Improvement practice. “But how can hospitals best manage the transition from a fee-for-service approach to treating sickness to adopting one that focuses on keeping patients well in the first place?” Most Read More
What do you get when you mix science, soul, and miracles? At City of Hope, an independent biomedical research institution and comprehensive cancer center near Los Angeles, these ingredients are the recipe for second chances. And the sum is certainly bigger than the parts. “City of Hope’s mission is to cure cancer, diabetes, and other Read More
Over the past year, Clay Cutchins of Franklin Street, a health care brand consultancy, worked with his team to help form the messaging and positioning of a new pediatric Accountable Care Organization (ACO) in Texas. This was not his first experience developing ACO marketing strategies. “Previously, we had helped sculpt the brand framework for a Read More
Seattle Children’s Hospital is using a simple—yet effective—approach to get personal with its target audience (many of them mothers who make most of the health care decisions for their family): an award-winning mommy-doc blog. Better yet, this blog is also helping to shape public health conversations and provide people with the information they need to make Read More
Aron Ezra, CEO of OfferCraft, sets the stage: “A specialty outpatient clinic was struggling with a problem common to many health care providers: Patients weren’t showing up for their appointments. The problem was particularly severe for this clinic, where the no-show rate was close to 50 percent. Doctors weren’t able to bill unless the patient Read More
“Spurred by the convergence of the Affordable Care Act, an extraordinary medical technology revolution, and our new on-demand, sharing economy mindset, America’s health care ecosystem is now set up to revolve around the customer,” says Lindsay R. Resnick, Chief Marketing Officer of Wunderman Health. Resnick says several “known unknowns” will affect the health care landscape Read More
In the small city of Peoria, Illinois (population 116,513), OSF Saint Francis Medical Center (609 beds) used a very small media budget ($45,000) for one of its services and got some big results. The service was mammogram screening. And, yes, there were other costs for production and Internet usage and design, too. Richole Ogburn, account Read More
There’s more pressure today than ever before on hospitals and other health care organizations to provide high-value, patient-centered care for a growing audience. As a result, marketing departments are being pushed to find creative ways to leverage their shrinking budgets and resources to help achieve these ambitious goals. If this describes your situation, and you’re Read More
By 2020, Merck Manuals wants to reach 3 billion people and give them current, accurate medical information, says Derek Mabie, President and Founder of Evolve Digital Labs. While Merck has been a trusted peer-reviewed resource within the medical community since 1899, he notes, the process by which medical professionals find the answers they are seeking Read More