Strategic Issues/Trends

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One Hospital’s Approach to Tapping into the Subconscious to Motivate People’s Behavior, and 5 Steps Your Organization Can Try to Replicate the Results

// By Lisa D. Ellis // Every day, people make an array of decisions, from deciding what time to leave for work to determining what route they will take to get there, often without even realizing what factors are influencing their choices. But for health care marketers, an understanding of how the subconscious affects people’s Read More

4 Ways Health Systems Can Capitalize on the DIY Health Care Trend

Michael Del Gigante

// By Michael Del Gigante // We live in the age of empowered individuals. Thanks to digital platforms and tools, it’s easier than ever for the average person to tackle a range of complex tasks on his or her own—from translating a paper into another language to editing an entire movie—using only a computer or Read More

Franciscan Alliance To Women: “We Love You Just The Way You Are”

As one of the largest Catholic health systems in the Midwest, Franciscan Alliance recently decided to reach into its religious roots in an attempt to make a deeper connection with females in the local market and build up the women’s services line. The result is a unique marketing campaign for the health system’s women’s services Read More

How To Effectively Use Brand Journalism at Your Health Care Organization

Lisa Arledge Powell, President of MediaSource

“As a former TV reporter, I have had a unique chance to see multiple organizations and topics competing for media coverage in a crowded market,” says Lisa Arledge Powell, President of MediaSource, a content-focused health care public relations firm. “But in the past few years,” she says, “the growth of new media has opened up Read More

Could an In-House Blogging Doc Help Build Your Health Care Brand?

Seattle Children’s Hospital is using a simple—yet effective—approach to get personal with its target audience (many of them mothers who make most of the health care decisions for their family): an award-winning mommy-doc blog. Better yet, this blog is also helping to shape public health conversations and provide people with the information they need to make Read More

Games Can Effectively Encourage Desired Patient Behaviors

Aron Ezra, CEO of OfferCraft

Aron Ezra, CEO of OfferCraft, sets the stage: “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 Read More

At Lafayette General Medical Center, Advertising-Driven Patient Traffic Goes Up, Up, Up. But Media Spending? That’s Down.

Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // There’s nothing new about testimonial advertising campaigns for hospitals, right? Well, not so fast. Sometimes factors ranging from how the testimonials are executed, to the community where they’re broadcast, to even the media strategy, can make a striking difference. A case in point, the testimonial campaign Read More

Health Care Marketing on a Shoestring: Small Budget, Big Results

Peter Hochstein

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

Marketing and Branding Lessons From 3 Biotech Companies

AxoGen Logo

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

One Mommy-Doc Blogger’s Story

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

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

A Winning Proposition: How Playing Games Can Change Patient Behavior

Aron Ezra, CEO of OfferCraft

// 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

A New Kind of Residential Health Care Campus in Florida

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

A Print Health Care Newsletter In This Day and Age? Yes, Absolutely.

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

Hint: The Secret to Transforming Health Care Is Hiding in Plain Sight

Dr. William Maples

// 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

Are You Training Staff and Clinicians to Be Effective Communicators?

Dr. William Maples

“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

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