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 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 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
// 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
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
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
“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
// 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
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
Initiative Builds on Commitment to the Health of Area Residents and Helps Attract Talented Staff // By Lisa D. Ellis // 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, 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
What if your flagship hospital were directly across the street from your biggest—and most worthy—competitor? Would that threaten your market share? It could for some community hospitals, but this doesn’t seem to be the case for Mon General Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia.
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