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.
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
In southeast Massachusetts, residents can shop for fresh fruit and produce at community farmers markets sponsored by Southcoast Health. This is part of Southcoast Health’s commitment not only to take care of its patients but also to protect the health of a high-risk community. And in the process of “doing good” for others, the health Read More
While most health care systems today are going to great lengths to promote healthy living for patients and staff, Florida Hospital in Orlando is extending its visions beyond the confines of its medical campus, creating a comprehensive residential living arrangement right within the broader community. The 1,217-bed acute-care medical facility in Orlando, a member of Adventist Read More
Publishing your health care organization’s print newsletter can be a time-intensive—and costly—endeavor. You may wonder if it’s really worth the investment, since the results can be challenging to measure. With people increasingly getting their news and health information online, you could even be tempted to retire your print efforts. But if you’re getting ready to Read More
“Your marketing department relies on strong communication skills and effective message development to promote your services and draw more patients to your facility,” notes Dr. William Maples. “But have you thought much about training the rest of your staff and clinicians to be effective communicators with one another and also with your target audience? If Read More
Early this year, says copywriter Peter Hochstein, “a group medical practice called the Toledo Clinic in Toledo, Ohio, got what must have seemed like a bright marketing idea. “With the help of a mom-and-pop advertising agency called Modern TECHnique in Avon, Ohio, the clinic ran a full-page ad in the daily Toledo Blade. The ads Read More
We are proud to announce that on Wednesday, Nov. 18, Theresa Komitas, Marketing and Public Relations Director at KishHealth System, and Tim Hanners, Chief Healthcare Strategist at TrueNorth Custom, will present a new webinar on content marketing for hospitals and health systems. This comprehensive session, “Health Care Content Marketing: How to Drive Awareness, Engage Customers, Read More
A new partnership between Signature Healthcare and The Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center brings highly respected Boston pediatric specialists to Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital (about 25 miles outside of Boston) and makes these experts available 24/7, 365 days a year. But how best to get the word out about this compelling new offering? Brockton Read More
In the aftermath of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, Ochsner Health System bought up several of the independent hospitals in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge area. It rehabbed and upgraded them, and incorporated them into Ochsner’s system. But even by 2007, the newly acquired hospitals had not been branded as part of Ochsner. “When we got involved Read More
Consumers are bombarded with an average of 5,000 marketing messages a day. New research shows the average attention span is a mere eight seconds. The brain processes 70,000 thoughts each day. These stats, sourced and shared by Jason Skinner in a new article, “reflect the harsh reality you face as a health care marketer: Engaging Read More
Ever wished you could get a bird’s eye view of what your competition is doing so you could use the information to sharpen your own efforts and make them more effective? Some health systems are turning to secret shoppers to gather key information about what’s happening in their target area, tracking details like whether physicians Read More
Neuroscientific research is helping marketers better understand how to reach the inner recess of our audience’s brain, which, because it has been evolving for millennia, still makes decisions better suited for survival on the savannas of Africa than in today’s world of modern health care, according to health care marketing consultant Dan Fredricks. Understanding the Read More
“The bench, which fuels [the] pipeline of an organization’s future leaders, is just as important in business as it is in sports,” says Ritch K. Eich, Ph.D. “Unfortunately, many health care organizations and hospitals underestimate the value of developing future leaders or developing a culture in which current leaders teach or mentor others to follow Read More
Does your hospital or health system really live up to the brand portrayed in the messages you send to your audience? Honestly, does it really? If you’re like many health care groups around the nation, you may have a serious disconnect between how your internal culture operates and the image you try to convey to Read More