Free Weekly Ezine

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.

Conference Preview: HMPS24 Will Keep You Educated, Informed, and Connected

Dean Browell, chief behavioral officer, Feedback

When a health care conference sends out a call for speakers nine months in advance, you might wonder how current the sessions will be by the time the live event rolls around. That’s where the Healthcare Marketing & Physician Strategies Summit (HMPS24) advisory committee — made up of industry leaders convened by conference producer Judy Read More

How One Health System Unifies its Brand Message Across Diverse Markets

Jeff Stewart, FACHE, vice president, strategic marketing, CHRISTUS Health

How do you craft a cohesive message platform that makes sense for an expanding organization comprising three separate religious congregations with hospitals and health care facilities spread across Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico? The answer? Build from your mission and stay focused on purpose. Jeff Stewart, vice president of strategic marketing for CHRISTUS Health, and Read More

How Can Health Care Organizations Bridge the Digital Divide?

David Grandy, national vice president, innovation for Kaiser Permanente

For most Americans, expansion of digital health care at hospitals and health systems across the nation has improved the patient experience and medical outcomes. But for individuals unable to access broadband internet service or lacking ability or desire to use web-based tools, modern medicine’s benefits are beyond their grasp. Innovators at California-based Kaiser Permanente (KP) Read More

An Innovative Approach to Reducing Workforce Shortages and Burnout in Health Care

Debora Goldberg Ph.D., associate professor, College of Public Health, George Mason University

People stay in their jobs when they feel valued, respected, and where relationships and teamwork are strong in high-pressure environments. At a time of unprecedented change in health care, the twin challenges of workforce shortages and burnout have emerged as formidable adversaries that impact the delivery of health care services to patients across the U.S., Read More

Unlock Health Aims to Fulfill Industry Need for Unified Growth Platform

Brandon Edwards, CEO, Unlock Health

Whenever there’s an announcement about a major M&A move, it makes you wonder about the backstory. Why did Company A decide to acquire Company B? What did both sides hope to gain? What market needs did they solve for? And how will customers benefit? Unlock Health announced its acquisition of SPM Group on November 28, Read More

Northwell Health Inspires Brand Love with “Resolutions” Campaign

northwell-logo

Welcome to the first Strategic Health Care Marketing Advertising Showcase. Each month, we feature challenges, tactics, and outcomes of a multimedia advertising campaign — offering you strategic and creative insights from some of the nation’s leading hospitals, health systems, and health-related organizations. Opportunity This past holiday season, the Northwell Health marketing team saw the opportunity Read More

Improving Access for Vulnerable Patient Populations

Laura Ferrio, senior vice president and chief operating officer, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

Traumatic injury of the brain or spine can be caused by a sports or work accident, age-related, or other medical issues. Whatever the cause, physical rehabilitation requires a significant amount of follow-up home care after a patient leaves the hospital. But all too often, social determinants of health ­and barriers to access impact a patient’s Read More

“Fasten Your Seatbelts”: Health Care Trends to Watch Out For in 2024

Political, social, and marketplace trends crisscrossing the health care landscape going into 2024 present actionable strategic and operational challenges — and opportunities. Overall, the 2024 forecast for the health care sector is “fasten your seat belts.” Investments in technology adoption or replacement, labor costs, spending on infrastructure, and a volatile economy translate into higher insurance Read More

Should Your Health System Invest in Nontraditional Partnerships?

Jared Johnson

Nontraditional partnerships provide unique opportunities for hospitals and health systems to enhance consumer experiences, expand service offerings, and address emerging health care needs. 2024 is a year of hope and new possibilities for health system leaders who look to do more, with fewer resources, than ever before. Amid uncertain financial forecasts, leaders increasingly look to Read More

Data-Driven Media Planning: How to Optimize Your Strategy

Maggie Checinski, director, integrated media, SPM Marketing and Communications

The continued growth in channels makes precision media buying more important than ever. Today, consumers have a seemingly endless array of media options to choose from, causing many health care marketers to ask: “How should I allocate my limited budget to maximize the effectiveness of media buying?” It’s a crucial question that will often determine Read More

Corporate and Brand Strategy Alignment Offers Competitive Advantage for Recruitment and Retention

Marcos Irigaray

When brand promise rings true for employees, organizations have a competitive advantage when it comes to recruitment, retention, and engagement. In health care organizations, the relationship between corporate strategy, culture, and brand is vital, complex, and often overlooked. But it holds immense potential for driving success. Across all industries, successful businesses achieve this relationship by Read More

3 Health Care PR Challenges to Be Prepared for in 2024

Ross K. Goldberg is president of Kevin/Ross Public Relations

What is the greater challenge: identifying challenges that health care public relations will face in 2024 or limiting those truths to a 1,200-word article? The answer is clearly the latter. Year after year health care public relations professionals see unanticipated new challenges pile up on those left over from the year prior until the hill Read More

Strategies to Turn Your Health System’s Executives Into Effective Thought Leaders

Among the most important currencies in health care is trust. Meanwhile, trust in leadership today is at an all-time low. According to PwC’s 2022 Consumer Intelligence Series on Trust, 87 percent of executives think customers highly trust their companies. In reality, it’s roughly 30 percent. That makes thought leadership from hospital executives a key method Read More

Tension in the U.S. Health Care System is Growing: What You Need to Know

Paul Keckley, managing editor of The Keckley Report

Conflict between the sector’s “haves” and “have-nots” has been brewing for years and is coming to an inflection point. Health care in the U.S. has been very good to those who participate on the business end of the enterprise, but the comfort they enjoy is often at the expense of others. Those frictions are likely Read More

How Community Engagement Can Boost Your Health Equity Strategy

Lindsay Cosimano, senior director of marketing communications, Nebraska Health Network

How can a health system make a difference in utilization, quality and outcomes, and cost — and improve engagement with underserved members of its community? This was the topic of a recent presentation at the 2023 SHSMD Connections Virtual Conference. Lindsay Cosimano is senior director of marketing communications at Nebraska Health Network, an accountable care Read More

Beyond the Headlines: Health System Leaders Share Their Crisis Communication Strategies

Lauren Landwerlin, vice president, strategy, marketing, and communications, Saint Francis Health System

Health systems rely on their communications teams to keep all stakeholders informed during a crisis and help to bring healing to the community in the aftermath, through empathetic messaging. At SHSMD Connections in September, three health system communications leaders shared their experiences following a crisis in their respective communities. “Sometimes the strength of the people Read More

Creating the Blueprint: 5 Ways to Develop National Health Care Brand Recognition

Karen Brodbeck, vice president of Brand Management, OSF HealthCare

An effective public relations effort can give organizations a megaphone to amplify health care brand recognition. As a faith-based, mission-oriented organization, OSF HealthCare (OSF), founded in the late 1800s, has historically met internal and external challenges through innovation. In the past decade OSF, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois and serving patients in Illinois and Michigan, has Read More

How a Data-Driven Media Strategy Can Deliver Cost-Effective Results

Andrea Becker, senior director, marketing, WellSpan Health

Last year, Central Pennsylvania-based WellSpan Health established two major goals to combat breast cancer and strengthen the health system’s market position: 1) heighten awareness of breast care services, and 2) increase mammography screenings. These relatively common goals for health care organizations are often supported by the same time-worn tactics that marketers have used for years Read More

Boosting Your Fundraising Success With Effective Advertising

Eric Peters, vice president communications, MCV Foundation

A recent report on philanthropy trends in the U.S. describes giving as “getting bigger and wider.” The proliferation of big-ticket donations continues, with billionaires pledging to give away their wealth. However, growth in donations is not limited to the super-rich. Online donation platforms and social media campaigns along with the can-do attitudes of younger generations Read More

How Marketing and PR Collaboration Can Help Address Staffing Shortages

Suzanne Bharati Hendery headshot

According to a recent report in Becker’s Health IT, health care marketing budgets have declined by 8 percent over the past year — down markedly from 2019 when budgets peaked. Marketing leaders also indicate that they are experiencing increased pressure to quantify results and demonstrate a return on investment. Aligning marketing and public relations efforts Read More