// By Stacy Beers and Claire Hovis // When a new brand takes hold as intended, one tough job is over—but another has already begun. 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 Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // Today, the patient comes first in many health care facilities. This is thanks to developments brought about by health care reform that put an increased emphasis on stronger teamwork between clinical staff and health care consumers to ensure high-quality, value-focused care and patient satisfaction. But how organizations are putting Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // 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, works with Saint Agnes Hospital to help develop the creative marketing solutions for both the bariatric and cardiovascular campaigns. Read Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // Every day, people make an array of decisions, from deciding what time to leave for work to determining what route they will take to get there, often without even realizing what factors are influencing their choices. But for health care marketers, an understanding of how the subconscious affects people’s Read More
// By Michael Del Gigante // We live in the age of empowered individuals. Thanks to digital platforms and tools, it’s easier than ever for the average person to tackle a range of complex tasks on his or her own—from translating a paper into another language to editing an entire movie—using only a computer or Read More
// By Colleen Fahey // This second half of a two-part series continues to explore the concept of audio branding and looks at how a tailored audio vocabulary can boost your brand influence more than you might ever expect. In the first section, we focused on social media in the quirky world of hospital marketing Read More
Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // 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. Having filed for bankruptcy, “It was accepting bids for full acquisition from other hospitals,” recalls Read More
Q&A with Lisa Stockmon, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, City of Hope // By Lisa D. Ellis // 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 Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // 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 Read More
// By Lisa Arledge Powell // 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. But in the past few years, the growth of new media has opened up many more avenues for publicity and the process of how Read More
// By David Wildebrandt // There’s no denying it: Value-based population health management is here to stay. 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? The reality is that there’s no one strategy to win Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // 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 Read More
Tips from City of Hope’s Chief Marketing & Communications Officer // By Lisa D. Ellis // City of Hope has found its niche and been able to effectively convey this expertise to its target audience, including potential patients and donors. For other organizations to accomplish similar goals, says Lisa Stockmon, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Read More
// By Clay Cutchins // Over the past year, my teammates and I helped form the messaging and positioning of a new pediatric ACO in Texas. Previously, we had helped sculpt the brand framework for a Medicare ACO. Recently, we decided to gather to cull some of the lessons we have learned in our own Read More
Four critical areas of focus for every health care marketer, and how to make it happen! // By Lindsay R. Resnick // 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 Read More
// By Colleen Fahey // This two-part series explores the concept of audio branding and looks at how a tailored audio vocabulary can boost your brand influence more than you might ever expect. In this first section, we focus on social media in the quirky world of hospital marketing and introduce the subtle way branded Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // One size fits all. That’s the concept Kaiser Permanente is embracing these days when it comes to shaping marketing messages that will resonate with its diverse target audience. While the idea is obviously appealing—after all, one universal marketing campaign is always easier than many nuanced ones—finding just the one Read More
Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // Old and familiar hospital names sometimes die hard. A case in point: In 2007, the former Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center in New York’s borough of Staten Island changed its name to Richmond University Medical Center. Three years later, the hospital hired Wax Custom Communications of Read More
Find Out How Her Writings Helped a Children’s Hospital Make a Personal Connection with Parents—and in the Process, Spread Some Important Public Health and Safety Messages // By Lisa D. Ellis // With so many marketing and health messages out there today competing for people’s limited attention, how can your organization differentiate itself to form Read More
// By Aron Ezra // 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 showed up, and Read More
Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // This is a story about hospital advertising that’s also very substantially about numbers, all of them very nice numbers for a hospital to have. In the small city of Peoria, Illinois (population 116,513), OSF Saint Francis Medical Center (609 beds) used a very small media budget Read More
// By William Maples, M.D. // Your marketing department relies on strong communication skills and effective message development to promote your services and draw more patients to your facility. 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 Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // 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 Read More
// By Derek Mabie // By 2020, Merck Manuals wants to reach 3 billion people, giving them current, accurate medical information. The nonprofit organization has served as a trusted peer-reviewed resource within the medical community since 1899, providing health information to medical professionals and individuals seeking information on everything from flu vaccines to complex cancer Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // 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 Read More