Social Media

A Community Rallies Around Its Local Health System

Andy Lyons, corporate communications director at Roper St. Francis Healthcare

From Girl Scouts donating cookies they couldn’t sell, to chaplains bringing lollipops to nursing stations, to colleagues making posters and shout-outs to frontline staff, coronavirus isn’t spreading only an illness, but kindness and cheer as well. As hospitals and health care organizations seek much-needed personal protective equipment for staff, communities are responding by donating comfort Read More

How Health Systems Are Mobilizing Emergency Action Plans

Sara Vaezy, chief digital strategy and business development officer, Providence St. Joseph Health

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. health care facilities face a tsunami of rapid-fire change. Hospital marketing leaders, historically charged with promoting signature service lines, are rapidly transforming their role and their tactics to meet this unprecedented challenge. Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington, cared for the first confirmed COVID-19 patient in the U.S. on Read More

Spreading Kindness and Cheer to Caregivers

Wendy Stark Healy

// By Wendy Stark Healy // From Girl Scouts donating cookies they couldn’t sell, to chaplains bringing lollipops to nursing stations, to colleagues making posters and shout-outs to frontline staff, coronavirus isn’t spreading only an illness, but kindness and cheer as well. As hospitals and health care organizations seek much-needed personal protective equipment for staff, Read More

Marketing, Communication Experts Share Reflections from the Frontlines of the COVID-19 Pandemic

// By Kyle Hardner // Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. health care facilities face a tsunami of rapid-fire change. Hospital marketing leaders, historically charged with promoting signature service lines, are rapidly transforming their role and their tactics to meet this unprecedented challenge. The new key priorities for health care marketing leaders include providing up-to-the-minute, accurate Read More

Could a Celebrity Spokesperson Be an Advantage for Your Organization?

Sheri Scott, associate vice president of marketing and communications at Edward-Elmhurst Health

In 2014, Edward-Elmhurst Health, a newly merged two-hospital system in the Chicago suburbs, wanted to find a way to differentiate itself from the dozens of other hospitals in the area. “We are in a very crowded health care market. We knew it would be a challenge to break through all that clutter,” says Sheri Scott, Read More

Who Are You Trying To Reach Online – and Why?

Hospital marketers have to be active on social media and online review sites, right? We know the answer is ‘yes,’ but who is it for and how do you do it well? A recent national consumer survey conducted by Wax Custom Communications showed surprising results about who follows social media channels and to what extent Read More

Content + Swag Keeps Employees Engaged and Informed

Donna DeMarco, co-founder and vice president at Viddler, Inc.

If you’re a big, distributed health network with multiple locations and thousands of employees, how do you make sure your employees keep you top of mind when they’re out in the community? “We’re a large 10-hospital network — soon to be 12 — with over 15,500 employees,” says Mary Beth Golab, director of internal communications Read More

Shifting From an Internal Communications Focus To Strategic Marketing

Carla Bryant, executive vice president at Corrigan Consulting

As the only children’s hospital in the state of Arkansas, with greater than 90 percent awareness, Arkansas Children’s had historically not prioritized marketing, says Carla Bryant, executive vice president of Corrigan Consulting. “While they had a marketing department, it was more focused on internal communications than strategic marketing,” Bryant says. New leadership brought a new Read More

Arkansas Children’s Leverages Strategic Marketing to Support Growth

Jeff House, vice president of strategic marketing at Arkansas Children’s

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // What should a high-performing marketing function in a health system look like? And how do you leverage marketing to support growth? As the only children’s hospital in the state of Arkansas, with greater than 90 percent awareness, Arkansas Children’s had historically not prioritized marketing, says Carla Bryant, executive vice Read More

The Surprising Success of a Health Care Spokes-Puppet

Ely Thurmond, Patient Plus director of strategic initiatives

“You can do terrible things to a puppet for popular amusement that aren’t funny when they happen to real people,” says veteran copywriter and SHCM contributor Peter Hochstein. “You can make him horribly ill. You can afflict him with a swarm of bees. You can break off his leg, or worse. Almost no matter what Read More

Looking for a Memorable Symbol for Your Health Care Services? Here’s What Happened When a Chain of Urgent Care Clinics Got a Spokes-Puppet

Peter Hochstein

// By Peter Hochstein // Meet Bebo. He’s preposterous. He’s orange. He’s always sick or injured. And he’s helping Patient Plus clinics in Baton Rouge, Louisiana carve out a strong identity in a highly competitive market. You can do terrible things to a puppet for popular amusement that aren’t funny when they happen to real Read More

A Physician Communication System Doctors Actually Like — and Use

Hackensack Meridian Health Logo

Your communications team works hard to produce content that engages physicians. The problem is that your clinicians may completely ignore it. How do you get them to pay attention? Recruiting, retaining, and communicating effectively with your attending physicians affects everything from patient satisfaction and operating costs to hospital reputation and safety. As health care networks Read More

Want to Engage Physicians? Listen to Them

Jim Blazar, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Hackensack Meridian Health

// By Marcia Simon, APR // Your communications team works hard to produce content that engages physicians. The problem is that your clinicians may completely ignore it. How do you get them to pay attention? Recruiting, retaining, and communicating effectively with your attending physicians affects everything from patient satisfaction and operating costs to hospital reputation Read More

Pulse Nightclub Shooting: Orlando Health’s Lessons Learned

Kena Lewis, APR, director, public affairs and media relations, Orlando Health

In the wake of three shootings in Texas and Ohio in August and September, Strategic Health Care Marketing reached out to Kena Lewis, APR, director, public affairs and media relations at Orlando Health in Orlando, Florida. Lewis managed communications after the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting that killed 49 and wounded more than 50. We asked Read More

How To Land Top Talent in a Hot Job Market

Marc Cenedella, founder and CEO of Ladders

When Strategic Health Care Marketing caught up with Marc Cenedella, founder and CEO of Ladders, a popular high-end career website, he reiterated what we first heard last spring: “It’s the greatest market in 50 years.” “Job candidates don’t have the time of day,” he says. “They’re very busy. People have three or four conversations going, Read More

Hot Job Market Flips Traditional Hiring on Its Head

Tysen Kendig, vice president of communications, University of Connecticut

// By Wendy Stark Healy // Tysen Kendig, vice president of communications for the University of Connecticut, was recently hiring an assistant vice president for health marketing at UConn Health and noticed a much stronger applicant pool. Unlike past searches, he wasn’t getting a handful of good people mixed with marginally qualified applicants and those Read More

Women Make Health Care Decisions – Does Your Marketing Reflect This?

Kathy Selker

“While hospitals cater to everyone, their most influential consumers are women, who make 80 percent of health care decisions in America,” says Kathy Selker. Selker is president and CEO of Northlich, an independent full-service marketing and advertising agency. In our new article, Selker discusses how to connect with this key health care demographic. Here’s an Read More

10 Ways Hospital Marketers Can Connect with Women

Kathy Selker

// By Kathy Selker // While hospitals cater to everyone, their most influential consumers are women, who make 80 percent of health care decisions in America. It’s important to segment and target by gender, but remember that women prefer gender-neutral marketing messages. With recent social media movements toward greater equality for women (in all realms, Read More

Stay On Top of What People Are Saying About You Online

Aaron Clifford, senior vice president of marketing, Binary Fountain

For better or worse, in 2019, most organizations find that their online reviews have a profound influence on patient choice of a physician. In practical terms, this means you need to stay on top of exactly what people are saying online about your providers and facilities. This will allow you to respond to their compliments Read More