[One of a series of posts about managing your online professional reputation, for doctor and hospital marketing success.] Most physicians regard their professional reputation as their most prized—and most highly protected—possession. As healthcare providers, there may also be a practice name, a group name, a hospital or medical facility name. Although the business entities also […]
Intellectually, a myth is understood to be a fable or false notion. But emotionally, a myth has great appeal. It is something that people collectively want to believe. Human nature tends to dismiss reality in favor of an alluring idea. What’s more, a myth gains traction and believability when it is often told or heard […]
“Call Now,” “Click Here,” “Act Now,” or “Find Out More.” In virtually all forms of advertising, if you don’t tell people what you want them to do, they won’t do it. It’s an elementary healthcare advertising rule, without a call-to-action, a message is at least incomplete. More likely, the advertising effort is probably an ineffective waste […]
[Study] The number of “Likes” on a hospital’s Facebook page can be used as a proxy for patient satisfaction and an indicator of hospital quality, according to findings published by the American Journal of Medical Quality. This study—titled Do Patients “Like” Good Care? Measuring Quality via Facebook—is an eye-opener for hospital administrators and marketing executives […]
The traditional textbook for hospital design and décor is a quick read. Historically, the hallmark of doctors’ offices and medical facilities—from reception areas to exam rooms—has been stark, sterile functionality…usually with a non-descript monochrome paint job. Fast forward to today. Who says clean facilities require a sterile look? Significant advances in printing technology have met […]
Two of the most important benefits that we bring to our clients—both hospitals and provider practices—are objectivity and experience. We were reminded of this again recently while working with a large specialty practice in the northeast. We’ve paraphrased the following quote, but it falls into our collection of “fatal last words,” which we know from […]
There’s an amusing but instructive doctor and physician marketing lesson to be found in listening to television interviews and discussions. The idea is to take note of a media pundit’s careful choice of words. The lesson is not so much in WHAT they say as in HOW they say it. In politics they call it […]
We have two winners in the Healthcare Success medical office sign contest. Our thanks goes out to all the subscribers who submitted photo entries. Picking a single winner was tough. In fact, we had to name two practices with marketing-effective outdoor signage as our winners. Here they are, in random order. Our congratulations to:
Two days after the State of the Union address, the President was answering questions via social media in a “Fireside Hangout.” (The “fireside” name taps into the legacy of the Franklin Roosevelt presidential Fireside Chats on the radio between 1933 and 1944.) And just last week, the First Lady discussed her Let’s Move initiative about […]
Simply having a Facebook page is less than half the challenge. To be an effective hospital and healthcare marketing tool, the greater obstacle is to understand reader motivations, and to provide content that will attract and engage. There’s no doubt that Facebook is a social media biggie. “Two-thirds of online American adults [67 percent] are […]
It’s no April Fools’ Day joke. Your Medicare revenue cut begins on the first of next month. Healthcare providers, pinched between limited resources and rising overhead, will see Medicare payments reduced by two percent. This adds up to a projected $11 billion less for doctors, hospitals and other providers in 2013. Sequestration will automatically trim […]
There’s a compelling lesson in physician marketing in this story. A while back, on an ordinary morning in Washington, DC, a street musician played his violin for 45 minutes in the L’Enfant Plaza Metro subway station. Few people paid attention to the music or stopped to listen. For his efforts, the street musician collected $32.17 […]
Facebook is mainly friends, family and fun. Twitter is playful, fast and furious. They have their role in healthcare social media, but among the many social platforms, LinkedIn is the big guy wearing a Brooks Brothers suit and a power tie. Although anyone can use it, LinkedIn is—more than ever—a relevant social networking tool for […]
Instead of pulling out our hair, we thought it would be more productive and helpful to write about the important lesson in leadership and healthcare marketing hidden in our recent flash of frustration. Our story begins with an innocent but revealing comment… Working with professional practices around the country, time and again we’re told: “Oh, […]
Marketing Trainer Lori Waltz is something of a healthcare Road Warrior with a string of success stories and travel anecdotes. Here’s the scoreboard: She has helped over 1,000 practices and hospitals in her career, including 48 states, plus a few nearby countries and territories. Oops…only 48 states? It’s true. Lori has provided marketing training—about telephone/front desk […]
Suddenly, it seems, there’s an explosive interest in video blog posts. This spike in popularity suggests that healthcare marketing professionals may want to add v-posts to their social media and Internet marketing mix. It’s tempting to think that video blog posts didn’t exist two nanoseconds ago. Then—out of the digital darkness—boom! Two-minute or less visual […]
Some of the best salespeople we know are also dedicated and successful healthcare professionals. On the surface, it seems like an unlikely combination of skills. After all, physicians and surgeons think of themselves as helping others and providing a service…certainly not “selling” something. It’s largely a matter of mindset: An essential principle of sales, according […]
Take a few seconds (actually, six seconds or less) to get acquainted with Twitter’s new video sharing app, VINE. This latest-and-greatest social media (SM) phenom is catching on among Twitter-ites. Vine--along with a new wave of image sharing apps--is new, but it may or may not belong in your healthcare social media toolbox. Clever new […]
We’ve noticed a disturbing sameness among some hospital and medical advertising. Fortunately, it’s not everyone or even most healthcare advertising, but there are all too many instances when the message of one organization is monotonously similar among competitive facilities. Regrettably, being “the same” is not a leadership message. Nor is it compelling, or even interesting. […]
This is a brief post with a really big lesson… My fourth-grade daughter Natalie was asked to draw pictures of her vocabulary words this week. We asked her about one of the drawings, she said her word was "boring." The picture was of waiting in a doctor's office. (Apparently we've forgotten to teach her the […]
One of the most common medical advertising mistakes that doctors and hospitals make every day—one of many that we discover all too frequently—is using the wrong advertising channels. Physicians, hospital executives and other healthcare marketing decision-makers are distracted by a hundred other daily demands on their time, and they fail to fully evaluate their media […]
How to find the greater value and medical marketing opportunity in negative comments The marketing vernacular is "voice of the customer." Either praise or complaint, it's the most direct feedback for medical professionals, group practices or hospitals about service delivery and satisfaction. Here's how to deal with negative comments, increase patient satisfaction, enhance your reputation […]
The thing about social media is that its greatest value is in being social. A balanced, “sociable” mix of healthcare marketing posts—via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, G+, LinkedIn, and others—attracts, engages and connects with your audience. It’s the mix (or variety) in social media where you can show your online “personality” and inspire continuing interest and […]
Healthcare marketing professionals cringed at the news in our earlier post, Little Blue Book Blues: Doctors Think Their Website is a Failure. It’s a gut-wrenching awareness that only 8 percent of physicians feel their website is the source of new patients. Hopefully, your website has a significantly better track record. But another survey tells us […]
The many and various “doctor review” sites seem to be as popular as the flu bug floating around the office. Doctors don’t like them and patients don’t use them, according to two recent surveys. Related: 9 Essential Steps to Improve Doctor Ratings Online But here’s why healthcare marketing professionals and medical providers shouldn't dismiss consumer […]
Although US doctors recognize that many (perhaps most) new patients are searching online for healthcare information and providers, it seems that few doctors believe their website motivates patients to call their office. The majority of medical practices in America have a website, but data from The Little Blue Book’s National Physicians Survey 2012: The Health […]
Our podcast today is another in our series for the Physician Strategies Summit. In today’s interview, Healthcare Success Founding Partner Lonnie Hirsch talks with Martin Hickey, MD, CEO, New Mexico Health Connections, Albuquerque, NM. As the Accountable Care Act (ACA) continues to unfold, it introduces new nonprofit health plans aimed at uninsured individuals and small […]
This podcast is another in our series for the Physician Strategies Summit. In today’s interview, Healthcare Success Co-Founder Lonnie Hirsch talks with Suzanne Sawyer, Chief Marketing Officer for Penn Medicine, Philadelphia, PA. Physician Relationship Management (PRM) has been known by various names over the years, but it is playing an increasingly important role in the […]
Our podcast today is another in our series for the Physician Strategies Summit. In today’s interview, Healthcare Success Founding Partner Lonnie Hirsch talks with Jennifer Close, Vice President of Operations at Dean Clinic in Madison, WI. Consistently delivering value in our healthcare delivery system is a multi-faceted effort. In our interview with Jennifer Close, she […]
Editor’s Note: Most physicians are completely comfortable with digital technology. Several studies confirm that they often look online for medical or professional information, and they frequently use email to communicate with colleagues. But when it comes to patient communications, as few as 20 percent are emailing patients. Not only do patients want email, text and […]
As long as everyone's preoccupied with the big game this weekend: Remember, you don’t win football games by getting the football as far as the Red Zone. It’s crossing the goal line that makes you a winner. There’s a much-neglected technique in online advertising that you can use to push across the goal line, bring […]
If you track the evolutionary and revolutionary changes of the Internet you’re probably wondering—or a bit confused—about Facebook’s new “Graph Search”…and what it will mean for healthcare marketing. Facebook, the king of social media, is challenging business rival Google, the king of online search. Although Graph Search is in what Facebook officially terms “a very […]
You’re going to want to block out a few hours for quiet reading and concentration. Healthcare marketing and communications professionals will want to (carefully) read all 563 pages of the Final HIPAA Omnibus Rule. It becomes effective next month, with a compliance date of September 23rd of this year--with increased fines for non-compliance. How will […]
The new Health Online 2013 survey from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project is bound to raise eyebrows among healthcare providers and marketing executives. It boldly declares that for many people, the Internet is a “de facto second opinion—and even a first opinion” regarding serious health concerns or questions. What’s more, it underscores […]
The redesign of the nation’s healthcare delivery system is setting up for another wave of change. And this one’s certain to fuel public relations challenges for healthcare PR professionals with both internal and external audiences. The prospect of connecting doctors’ income directly to quality of care is already sparking lively discussions. What the New York […]
In our travels, we see a lot of “not-so-good” office signage, and we decided it was time to spotlight (and reward) the really good, hard-working external signs. Send a picture or two of your medical office or healthcare practice sign. We’ll evaluate the top contenders, and the best sign will win a free seat at […]
In a conversation the other day with Simona Ramos, one of our top artists at Healthcare Success, I was reminded how the general public has become far more visually aware and demanding. For healthcare marketing, good pictures are not good enough. The ability to “think visually” is a talent that not everyone has. They don’t […]
This is the month when everyone (anyone, it seems) cranks up their crystal ball and offers their predictions about the New Year. As our regular readers appreciate, healthcare in general—and healthcare marketing in particular—is better suited to posts that track current trends (which we do several times each year) than predictive thinking. Nevertheless, it is […]
There's a definite undercurrent of panic in the phone calls we've been getting recently about Google search results…or more often, the results that have disappeared. If you haven't checked your Google Search results ranking in the past few days, do it now. Take a minute and do a few Google searches just as the regular […]
In the past few years, healthcare providers and marketing executives have been actively sharing ideas and information as an effective means of reaching and engaging patients online. Doctors, hospitals and health systems are creating and maintaining meaningful relationships by presenting timely information today that prospective patients may need tomorrow. And content that they share is […]
Having and effectively using an online presence—website, social media, etc.—is a primary channel for connections between patients and providers. It is the principal means for the newly empowered healthcare consumer to find and act upon authoritative information.
[First of a two-part post.] Social media (SM) has swiftly engrained itself in nearly every corner of contemporary culture and daily living. And that includes healthcare where, among other things, the various social media platforms have become a significant agent for change. Fundamentally, social media is changing the nature and speed of healthcare interaction between consumers […]
Although some risk is inherent in healthcare marketing and advertising, smart planning and creative execution can minimize problems and maximize return. But while risks are manageable, money-wasting mistakes are a different animal. Over the years, we’ve encountered all kinds of mistakes; more than we have space to list here. But, if there’s a silver lining […]
[Hospital Advertising Success Story: Part Two] Texas Health Resources has been successfully using humor in their hospital advertising. The first part of this article [available here] looked at why humor in advertising is both difficult and dangerous. In this concluding part, we find that it can also be rewarding…but only when it’s done right. Many […]
[Hospital Advertising Success Story: Part One] Using humor in advertising—especially healthcare ads—is both difficult and dangerous. It’s difficult to find the precise balance between being funny (which makes it memorable), and communicating a product or service message (which makes it effective). What’s more, many health issues are no laughing matter. Potentially, it can backfire.
by Neil H. Baum, MD Editor’s Note: In this post, Dr. Neil Baum presents doctor-to-doctor ideas founded in his 30 years of real-world experience as a practicing urologist in New Orleans. He is a sought-after speaker, and the author of Social Media For the Healthcare Professional, Greenbranch Publishing, 2011. What is your first impression of […]
Most healthcare marketing professionals use Twitter, either personally, professionally…or both. It’s merely six years old, but the popular micro blogging platform has become a standard communications tool for hospitals, medical practices and health systems. But even experienced Twitter-ites may have been busy with the holiday season and not be aware of improvements to the social […]
[First in a series. Introduction to RTB. ] Internet advertising has always been more than a bit complicated and more than a bit technical. The typically rectangular Banner Ad is the most familiar, most prolific and usually appears in context with the web page content. The revenue model for banner ads can vary. Payment may be […]
[Podcast Interview] It’s a widely held—but decidedly incorrect—attitude that a hospital or provider “marketing person” is a “Jack-of-all-trades,” capable of anything and everything that drops on their desk. But veteran healthcare marketing executives know from experience that the “universal man or woman” perception is often fueled by limited resources and burgeoning tasks. The real world […]
Patients are no longer just patients. The Internet, healthcare system reforms and other social influences are shaping a new consumerism in healthcare. Healthcare marketing professionals understand that patients are better informed and increasingly empowered. Today an individual has more influential muscle than ever before. In our experience, the vast majority of private practices and medical […]
