Sales and Promotion

Subtopics: Service Line Promotion, Internal Communications, etc.

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Hospital Leapfrogs Competitor’s Robotic Surgery Technology, Advertising Campaigns Leverage the Differentiation and Drive Dramatic Growth

May 6, 2015

Advertising Worth Noting By Peter Hochstein This tale begins in 2008, when the people running things at Covenant HealthCare, today a 643-bed multiple facility institution with campuses in and around Saginaw, Michigan, began hearing rumors about robots. Well, not just any robots. These were da Vinci Surgical System robots, those high-tech devices increasingly used in Read More

How Marketing Communications Can Navigate Patients Right to Your Door: 4 Steps to Get Your Facility on Your Customer’s Map

May 4, 2015

By Claire Hovis In health care, it isn’t just the care that’s changing. Power is changing. “Expert-driven” communications that placed providers and large corporations atop the information market are giving way to a generation of empowered consumers who are more engaged and have higher expectations. Access is changing. The Affordable Care Act has brought health Read More

Case Study: Targeted Use of Digital Media by OB/GYN Practice Leads to Better Branding at Lower Costs

April 23, 2015

Word of mouth may help to build your brand over time—but sometimes advertising really helps get the ball rolling quickly. Such was the case in and around Phoenix, Arizona, where Arizona OBGYN Affiliates (AOA), now the largest OB/GYN practice in Arizona, consolidated from several smaller practices in 2007. AOA soon found its future growth and Read More

Why Better Physician Onboarding Leads To Higher Profits

April 16, 2015

Serving the central and northeast regions of Pennsylvania, Geisinger Health System is one of the largest rural health systems in the nation, operating nine hospitals, along with a 1,200 member multi-specialty group practice, two research centers, and a 467,000-member health plan. While some hospitals communicate with providers themselves, Geisinger decided to try a different approach, Read More

Small Budget, Big Clout: OB/GYN Group Enters the Advertising Fray with Narrow Targeting and Mixed Media Branding To Grow Their Business

March 24, 2015

Advertising Worth Noting By Peter Hochstein You could argue that there’s nothing new about doctors running ads. In New York, one maverick dermatologist has been the star of his own earthy subway car posters for decades. They are busy horizontal spaces that simultaneously display his photograph and such things as rhyming headlines, before-and-after acne treatment Read More

Barnabas Health Builds Its Brand In the Real World by Building Its Brand Online—And Vice Versa

March 12, 2015

As more and more people turn to the Internet to get their health information, the digital world becomes an increasingly important space for hospitals to market their services and engage with their communities and consumers. We all know this. What’s critical—with so much opportunity for online promotion—is to make strategic decisions with your digital efforts Read More

Rural Health System Maximizes Profits Through Better Physician Onboarding; Can You Cut Your New Docs’ Time to Profit by 78%?

March 12, 2015

By Lisa D. Ellis Relationships are the focus of attention at Geisinger Health System—and not just with patients, but also with its practitioners and specialists. In fact, aligning with providers, as well as with all of the internal service lines, is a key part of the organization’s strategy, enabling everyone to work collaboratively within the Read More

Spectrum Health’s Internal Communications Strategy Manages Medical Group Growth

January 28, 2015

Spectrum Health Medical Group (SHMG) has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years, and so has its onboarding and communication efforts, which are essential to helping new providers acclimate to the large, multi-disciplinary system. Headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Spectrum Health is the second largest health care provider in the state, offering inpatient and Read More

Advocate Health Care’s Comprehensive, Interactive Social Media Strategy Boosts Engagement and Appointments

January 15, 2015

While many hospitals grapple with how best to use their social media efforts, Advocate Health Care in Illinois leads by example. This faith-based health delivery system has developed a comprehensive social media strategy that supports its broader communications goals on multiple levels. As the largest health system in Illinois, and one of the top five Read More

Marketing Is a Two-Way Street at Advocate Health Care

January 1, 2015

by Lisa D. Ellis While many hospitals are grappling with how best to use their social media efforts, Advocate Health Care in Illinois seems to be leading by example. This faith-based health delivery system has developed a comprehensive social media strategy that supports its broader communications goals on multiple levels. Better yet, it includes an Read More

Marketing Health Care to Multicultural Audiences

September 1, 2014

// By Cheryl L. Serra // If you market health care, you know a cookie-cutter approach just doesn’t cut it. You need to determine a number of factors: Who makes health care decisions in the family? What does your audience believe about health care and health care providers? Increasingly, you also need to consider how Read More

Supermarket Chain Offers Infusion Services

August 1, 2014

by Nancy Vessell When a Midwest supermarket chain began offering chemotherapy and other infusion services, a few heads were turned. “When I first learned about it, it did catch me by surprise. To my knowledge, I haven’t heard about other grocery chains getting into this [medical area],” says Michael Abrams, managing partner of Numerof & Read More

How Boston Children’s Hospital Stands Out in a Crowd of Standouts

August 1, 2014

// By Peter Hochstein // Despite specializing in kids exclusively, Boston Children’s Hospital confronts a wall of competition that hospitals elsewhere might find daunting. Liz Vanzura, chief marketing officer for Boston Children’s advertising agency, MMB, can list 10 other local hospitals that treat children—among them such formidable names as Mass General, Tufts Medical Center, and Read More

Physician Onboarding: Four Steps in One Process

May 1, 2014

by Nancy Vessell With 40 to 60 new physicians arriving every year to serve an eight-hospital system and its medical group, where 40 people are involved in physician recruitment, onboarding, orientation, and retention, the opportunity for “dropped balls” measures in the tons. That’s according to Jim Zache, vice president of physician recruiting and physician relations Read More

What Happens to Marketing When the Boundaries Between a Medical Institution and an Insurer Blur?

April 1, 2014

by Peter Hochstein Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more hospitals may begin offering health insurance, while insurance com­panies may increasingly supply some limited health care services. True, a few organizations, perhaps most notably Kaiser Permanente, have explicitly and extensively offered both health care and health insurance for years. And some health plans offer their Read More

Dedicated Men’s Health Programs Can Reach Reluctant Consumers

April 1, 2014

by Kris Rusch “When it comes to health,” asserts an article in Harvard Men’s Health Watch, “males are the weaker sex throughout life.” Com­pared with women, men on average have more chronic illnesses, die at higher rates from diseases, and have a lower life expectancy. Men also take more risks with their health. They use Read More

Marketers Change Tactics as Proton Therapy Services Increase: Reaching Patients Directly Through Online Marketing

April 1, 2014

by Sheryl S. Jackson The United States will be home to 27 proton therapy centers by 2017, almost double the number in operation at the end of 2013, according to U.S. Proton Therapy Outlook 2017, a report produced by RNCOS, a business re­search and consultancy firm. The growth of the specialized cancer treatment is attributed Read More

A New Model Attempts to Give Health Care Wings

March 1, 2014

by Cheryl L. Serra Imagine bringing health care to patients instead of requiring patients to travel to health care. Ernie Clevenger, co-founder and president of CareHere, LLC, did just that. The result? His company has a health care clinic with a retail component, the CareHere Walk-In Clinic and Wellness Store, located in the Nashville International Read More

Los Angeles Area Hospital Finds Benefit in Event with Worldwide Exposure

February 1, 2014

by Mark S. Gothberg Why would the City of Hope, a Los Angeles area research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases, participate in the 125th Rose Parade on New Year’s Day? For pretty much the same reasons it has been involved in this world-famous parade, held in Pasadena, CA, for the Read More

The Best Way to Be an Effective Storyteller in This Digital Age

February 1, 2014

by Dan Dunlop The best marketers have always been accomplished storytellers, and that is still the case today. The stories they craft are meaningful and connect with the audience in a manner that meets some fundamental need – educational, informational, emotional, or entertaining. The most effective stories allow the audience members to become part of Read More

Go with Emotional Ads? Or Use Some Ads with Almost No Emotion? A Common ‘Look’? Or Several?

February 1, 2014

by Peter Hochstein You know the drill: Effective hospi­tal advertising campaigns should consist of a single idea and a single graphic treatment to produce results with the sheer power of a concept, preferably emo­tional. Licensed for 760 beds, Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, KS, has taken a decidedly contrary route. Faced with an unusual marketing Read More

QR Codes Are Obsolete

January 1, 2014

by Michele von Dambrowski Not only are Quick Response codes dead, they “should have never lived,” claims Dean Browell, PhD, execu­tive vice president for the social media strategy firm Feedback in Richmond, VA. Browell likens QR codes to the ill-fated CueCat, a cat-shaped code reader that plugged into a computer like a mouse. Wired and Read More