Reputation Management

Subtopics: Reviews, Testimonials, etc.

Back to main topics page »

Don’t Overlook the Importance of Physician Relations

Ritch K. Eich, PhD

Q. What do the peach orchards of Northern California and most major health systems have in common? A. More than you might think, according to Ritch K. Eich, who worked on several ranches to earn his way through college before going on to build an impressive career that has included serving as vice president, senior Read More

Beyond Testimonials: A Fresh Way To Advertise Your Expertise

Peter Hochstein

“If you’ve been involved with hospital advertising for a while, you’ve probably seen it all,” observes Peter Hochstein, veteran copywriter and SHCM contributor. “Touching testimonials from patients telling what a hospital’s doctors did for them. Doctors explaining how they collaborated on a medical breakthrough. Pictures galore of high-tech tools, people in surgical masks, MRI images Read More

Is There a Fresh Way Left to Advertise That Your Hospital Is in the Front Lines of Medical Science? Here’s a Surprisingly Engaging One from Galveston, Texas

Peter Hochstein

Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // If you’ve been involved with hospital advertising for a while, you’ve probably seen it all. Touching testimonials from patients telling what a hospital’s doctors did for them. Doctors explaining how they collaborated on a medical breakthrough. Pictures galore of high-tech tools, people in surgical masks, MRI Read More

How Media Training Can Refine and Strengthen Your Message

Lisa D. Ellis

You go to great lengths to develop strong messages that will resonate with your target audience and reinforce your brand. But what your spokespeople don’t say may come across louder than their actual words. This is because body language is essential when it comes to establishing trust and connecting with viewers on television and video. Read More

Media Training: Nonverbal Cues May Drown Out Your Messaging

Lisa D. Ellis

How to Address the Problem and Connect with More Potential Patients // By Lisa D. Ellis // You go to great lengths to develop strong messages that will resonate with your target audience and reinforce your brand. But what your spokespeople don’t say may come across louder than their actual words. This is because body Read More

On Humorous Health Care Advertising, Media Planning, Conservative Doctors, Cold Feet—and Possibly a Few Rueful Afterthoughts

Peter Hochstein

Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // This story is a departure from what you usually find in this space. It’s about television advertising for the services of a single practitioner, not a group practice or hospital. It’s also about a rare occurrence—real knee-slapping humor in a spot supporting treatment for a medical Read More

Strategic Marketing’s Response to Rising Health Care Consumerism

Bill Tourlas

// By Bill Tourlas // Historically, consumers have played a relatively limited role in their health care decisions, especially as it relates to selecting an insurance plan. People had little concern for price or health plan comparison since employers dominated consumer choice, paying most, if not all, of the premium and typically offering employees plans Read More

What the New HHS Restrictions on Media in Patient Areas Mean for You

Lisa D. Ellis

Flip through the channels of your television set any evening and chances are you’ll stumble across an episode of a reality TV series that was filmed in a hospital emergency department. Over the past few years, such “real” medical TV that presents traumas as they unfold has grown in popularity among viewers, and some organizations Read More

Emotional vs. Rational Health Care Advertising—With a Nod to a 1960s Hit Song

Peter Hochstein

Peter Hochstein, our crackerjack marketing writer, likes to interview hospital marketing departments and their advertising agencies for his column. “And I often ask them identical questions. I justify this with an analogy concerning two people viewing an elephant from opposite ends,” he notes. “One party tells you the animal’s most notable feature is a skinny tail. Read More

Launching a Successful Hospital Rebrand After Merger of Opposites

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

Merck Manuals Gets an Effective Digital Facelift

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

From Market Data to Content: How Merck Manuals Digitally Connects with Consumers and Physicians Across the Globe

// 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

The Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Health Care Price-Comparison Ad

Peter Hochstein

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

Speechless in Toledo: A Group Medical Practice Ad Compared Its Prices to Those of Local Hospitals. But Suddenly, Nobody Seems Willing to Talk About It.

Peter Hochstein

Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // Early this year, 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 Read More

A Rebrand That Keeps Residents From Fleeing To The City for Health Care

When your health system lives in the shadow of academic medical centers and urban-based powerhouse healthcare brands, its takes real work to compete. Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC) has undergone a transition to do just that, according to Patrick Kane, Senior Vice President of CCHC’s Marketing, Communications, and Business Development. A series of organizational changes have Read More

Could You Gain by Affiliating with a Larger Health Network?

Grinnell Regional Medical Center Logo

Is bigger better? For Grinnell Regional Medical Center (GRMC), a 49-bed rural hospital in Grinnell, Iowa, affiliating with the larger Mercy Health Network in Des Moines has certainly had its benefits. Back in 2009, when GRMC first decided to explore creating an affiliation with a bigger network, there was growing recognition that for a community Read More