In our new article, David Marlowe, principal, Strategic Marketing Concepts, and Strategic Health Care Marketing Editorial Advisory Board member, shares results from five recent nationwide studies he’s conducted of what consumers consider to be “reasonable” wait times for routine, non-urgent visits. Will this type of information give marketers the hard evidence they need to stand Read More
Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // In the testimonial-heavy world of hospital advertising, is there a fresh way of doing a testimonial campaign? How well can it perform for you? And what can you do to increase the impact of the advertising? Is there room in this world for yet another hospital Read More
// By David Marlowe // In a recent SHSMD discussion board posting, one member raised the question: “Do you continue to market your specialists that are booked out for six weeks?” This posting highlights a challenge that has faced marketers in medical groups, hospitals, and health systems for many years — do we yield to Read More
The latest marketing efforts at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts have a very important goal: to engage employees to do whatever it takes to provide the very best experience for patients. While most health systems recognize the importance of internal engagement, Newton-Wellesley’s approach — which includes seeing the employees as “brand ambassadors” to extend the system’s Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // The latest marketing efforts at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts have a very important goal: to engage employees to do whatever it takes to provide the very best experience for patients. Tackling a Challenging Market While most health systems recognize the importance of internal engagement, Newton-Wellesley’s approach — which includes Read More
Is there a strong reason to create a hospital branding campaign that dispenses with emotional appeals to make a rational sales argument? How can you keep it visually surprising and compelling? And how can you show that you’re talking about a hospital without resorting to the visual clichés? Notable Health Care Advertising // By Read More
// By Braden Russom // What drives consumers to look for alternatives to traditional medical care? And how can health care marketers respond? Here, Braden Russom, account planner at Smith & Jones, shares some of the factors contributing to changes in consumer behavior, particularly among millennials, and recommends proactive marketing strategies to stay relevant. 2019 Read More
An inspired name — and a bit of student high jinks — transmogrifies a mass vaccination program into an annual form of entertainment. Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // Quick, which would you rather do? Interrupt your daily routine, stand in a long line, and then get poked in the arm by Read More
Some of the savviest health care marketers are reaching out to connect with people on a personal level through live events. This premise is at the heart of a growing trend called experiential marketing. According to Becca Lyon, senior manager, marketing strategy at agencyEA, “Some of the innovative ways the health care industry can leverage experiential includes using technologies like virtual reality, which allows people to experience a facility from a remote location, hosting grand openings for a new hospital or clinic, so people can come and take an in-person tour, and sponsoring a booth at a trade show to introduce new products, medications, or supplies to a large audience.”
What would you do if your ads were actually sending your customers to your competition? Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University recently faced this challenging scenario. Further complicating matters, the brand had gone through several name changes in recent years, leaving its target audience confused about what the health system was and what it stood Read More
How do you stand out in the crowd — especially when your #1 competitor is a world-famous brand? Pamela Maas, Gundersen’s chief business development and marketing officer, was able to overcome this challenge. “It seemed like so many systems in health care were looking and feeling exactly the same,” she says. “We recognized that brand positioning was really about building an emotional connection with consumers.” In Peter’s latest column, we’ll see how a new campaign triggered a deluge of fan mail — accolades from patients who had been touched by Gundersen staff members.
// By Lisa D. Ellis // As the name implies, experiential marketing builds on the concept of creating in-person experiences that directly engage the target audience. For health care marketers in particular, experiential marketing provides an opportunity to get people to pay attention to what you have to say, even in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
// By Lisa D. Ellis // What would you do if your ads were actually sending your customers to your competition? Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University recently faced this challenging scenario. Further complicating matters, the brand had gone through several name changes in recent years, leaving its target audience confused about what the health Read More
If you’re traveling through Logan Airport in Boston anytime soon, you’ll probably be drawn to a collection of portraits, and accompanying personal stories, lining the walls between terminals. You’ll see beautiful, larger-than-life portraits of: Teens. Single men and women. Parents. Grandparents. Athletes. Lawyers. Physicians. Musicians. An author. A former soap opera star. Some have light Read More
“Last month, this column dealt with two advertising campaigns that you’d never guess were for hospitals — at least not until the last few seconds when a hospital logo appeared,” says copywriter and Strategic Health Care Marketing contributor Peter Hochstein. “In recent years, marketing people I’ve interviewed at hospitals and their advertising agencies have more or Read More
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Audiology First is a private hearing center in Columbia, Maryland. While the staff prides itself on taking a personalized approach to meeting the needs of each patient, its marketing efforts were strictly generic. This mismatch led to a lagging customer base. “We were getting customers, but not as many as we wanted,” explains Diana Wagner, Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // When an audiology practice wasn’t growing at the desired rate, the owner turned to the experts for help sharpening its online presence and marketing efforts. The results have been impressive, with a steadier stream of new and repeat customers now coming in. This success was recently recognized by the Read More
Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // Last month, this column dealt with two advertising campaigns that you’d never guess were for hospitals — at least not until the last few seconds when a hospital logo appeared. In the interest of population health, one campaign demonstrated how to make a healthy and eye-appealing Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // If you’re traveling through Logan Airport in Boston anytime soon, you’ll probably be drawn to a collection of portraits, and accompanying personal stories, lining the walls between terminals. You’ll see beautiful, larger-than-life portraits of: Teens. Single men and women. Parents. Grandparents. Athletes. Lawyers. Physicians. Musicians. An author. A former Read More
In today’s hectic world, it’s the little things that matter, especially when it comes to making life a bit more convenient. And when this convenience brings tangible benefits to families with young kids, including those with chronic medical needs, it can be enough to spark a compelling public relations angle that has real traction. When Children’s Read More
Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // For the 36 or so years I’ve been writing this column, hospital marketing managers and their agencies have been telling me they didn’t want their ads to look like “typical hospital advertising.” And much hospital advertising really has been atypical. I’ve seen senior citizens doing stand-up Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // In today’s hectic world, it’s the little things that matter, especially when it comes to making life a bit more convenient. And when this convenience brings tangible benefits to families with young kids, including those with chronic medical needs, it can be enough to spark a compelling public relations Read More
Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // For readers younger than 45 or so, this story requires a bit of history. In the 1960s, the “slice of life” TV commercial (or “slice” for short) dominated America’s TV screens. The formula, most often used to sell detergents, toothpaste, food products, and other packaged goods, Read More
“Until very recently, advertising aimed at combatting drug use has pretty much been within the purview of government and nonprofit anti-drug organizations,” notes copywriter and regular SHCM contributor Peter Hochstein. “Partnership for a Drug Free America, for example, ran a famous TV spot during the 1980s showing an egg getting cracked into a hot frying Read More