[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.
In many respects, St. Louis, MO, in the heartland of America, is a typical hospital marketplace and serves as an example of the national trend in hospital advertising of proliferation. Competition is increasing, and in this metro area, hospital marketing and advertising reaches out to the consumer public frequently and constantly. But it isn't without […]
The month of December often triggers a bit of personal and professional reflection and self-evaluation for most of us. And generally, that's a good thing. Perhaps we appreciate the achievements and milestones of the year ending. And we look ahead at the New Year with visions of opportunity and progress. From a medical marketing perspective, […]
[Case Study] There’s a lot to like about Sutter Health System’s interactive website for women. From a consumer perspective, MyLifeStages.org is a robust and highly useful health and wellness resource for residents of the Sacramento, CA community and Northern California. In fact, it’s been repeatedly recognized as one of the nation’s best consumer health websites. […]
About a month from today everyone will be hanging a fresh calendar on the wall for 2013. And even from this relatively close perspective, the issues and challenges of what’s ahead for hospitals, physicians and healthcare providers are beginning to focus. As we see things, one dynamic in the New Year will be that change […]
The recent "superstorm" that hit the East Coast reminded us that seasoned healthcare and hospital public relations professionals are a bit like professional journalists. With little or no warning, they may need to document unannounced or spontaneous events including capturing on-the-spot photos or videos. Let's hope it doesn't happen often, (or as serious as a […]
Three reasons why digital signage should be part of your healthcare marketing and PR planning Printed posters and static signs have evolved to a digital format that's attention getting and versatile. And digital signage is an affordable and cost effective marketing tool that should not be overlooked. It's a significant lost opportunity for many medical […]
Perhaps the single biggest barrier to the adoption and proliferation of telemedicine has been a financial one. Physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers have avoided or resisted the various forms and formats of "telehealth" because there's no obvious path to monetize the time and effort. Frankly, that's still an issue, but it's changing. Some practitioners […]
Our Managing Editor at Healthcare Success is normally an easy-going person who doesn’t get upset easily. After all, he easily handles the daily high-strung environment of publishing deadlines and life in the medical advertising agency fast lane. But now and then some things cross his desk that make him cringe, “This is dumb." Moments like […]
Our (occasional) Friday Video post today is truly awesome. And it’s clearly our new favorite in the hospital/healthcare category from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. If you haven’t seen the Hey, Jude! Make it Better online campaign, take three minutes to watch patients, staff, researchers and a string of celebrities present an unforgettable […]
One of the oldest forms of advertising is everywhere, but it's tough to do it right. The first American "billboard" appeared about 175 years ago to announce the circus was coming to town. These days the billboard is only one of many forms of Outdoor Advertising-and that's a totally different animal. Approach with caution, however, […]
How to know what you want to achieve, so you know how to hire right for success. How you define the job of an in-house marketing person sets the road to success (or failure). Marketing and Physician Referrals go hand-in-hand, but there are different skill sets for each, and they don't all fit into a […]
This is a curious business concept: One of New York’s largest hospital networks wants to keep their hospital beds empty. That notion, says Kaiser Health News, would be the case for some hospitals that want to provide health insurance. Disruptive business ideas are innovations intended to improve a product or service in ways the market […]
Those of us who know (or know of) Ed Bennett have to applaud his pioneering work in creating and maintaining the Hospital Social Network List. His work during the past few years resulting in the highly informative list—a giant scoreboard really—of hospital social media resources around the nation. For professionals in hospital marketing and communications, […]
In the greater Cincinnati area, The Christ Hospital Health Network has a novel idea to capture testimonial-type comments from patients, employees and friends. In fact, it’s a healthcare and hospital marketing idea that literally speaks for itself. (Really.) This idea may also be suitable for some group practices and other provider situations. Here’s how it […]
We'd like to hear about your experience with Facebook ads. The popular social media giant is experiencing considerable challenges in rolling out its advertising revenue model. By many accounts its present form seems to be a Facebook Fail. Has that been your experience? Holy Timeline, Zuckerberg Fans! Healthcare and hospital marketing and advertising will want […]
We don’t want anyone to miss this insightful “best practices” marketing resource. And, for a short time, it’s free for the asking. Presented by HSS founding partners Lonnie Hirsch and Stewart Gandolf, this new seven video series for doctors and hospital executives is titled, How to Profitably and Ethically Attract The Patients You Want.
Does anyone still need to be convinced that Pinterest should be part of your hospital marketing plan? The typical objections might be that this social media platform is still too new…it may not deliver any value…or they’re still in a beta test phase. A conservative approach to online fads and fancies is reasonable. (This morning’s […]
How to know if the 30-minute format should be part of your marketing mix...and get it done right An "infomercial" is probably not what you think it is. Put aside any image of a rapid-fire, late-night TV demo of a Japanese knife set and let me tell you how this long–form of direct response has […]
Number-crunching executives, administrators and business-minded IT folks will love the remarkable detail in Hospitals & Health Networks magazine’s 2012 Most Wired survey of the nation’s hospitals and health systems. The social media and hospital marketing slice of data is important and informative. But this is a big report, so let me guide you a little.
The dues you pay to become a doctor are high. After investing ump-teen grueling years in education and training—not to mention a fortune in expense—one would hope that the average young physician would be happy with their chosen profession. But it doesn’t look like that’s the case. And the provider business model and physician marketing […]
Like the sound of fingernails scraping a chalkboard, bad hospital advertising drives us a little crazy. In our line of work, we see a lot of external hospital ads—in magazines, billboards and TV/video work. And frankly, much of it probably does a decent job—in fact, some of it is inspired. But then there are the clunkers and […]
As of today, only a few hospitals in the United States have ventured into “the new frontier for health ads,”—using Facebook or Google online ads to attract new patients. (By one estimate, a lonely few of 150 hospitals out of 6,000 have ventured out to this digital edge.) With 97.5 percent of the nation’s hospitals […]
HARO—the Help a Reporter Out online service—can be a useful tactic for hospital marketing. But it usually takes a bit of perseverance and creativity to get to the pay-off. The concept is great…sort of a speed dating approach to research and background info for reporters. HARO is a free (or tiered fee), crowdsourcing platform where […]
We want to spotlight two great hospital marketing and public relations examples that we noticed in the news recently. For administrators and communications professionals, these are hospital case examples with lessons worth emulating. Both Scripps Health (San Diego) and Cleveland Clinic (uh…in Cleveland) offered textbook performances just days ahead of the US Supreme Court’s decision […]
As the semi-fabled story goes, Toby Cosgrove, MD—CEO and President of the Cleveland Clinic—experienced a significant moment of awareness a few years ago. At a speaking engagement at Harvard’s business school, someone in the audience described a candid and personal experience about “empathy” over “outcomes.” The person in the audience told Dr. Cosgrove (a cardiac […]
Here's a news headline that comes as no surprise to marketing savvy healthcare providers: More Americans Are Checking Prices Before Getting Health Care. And, according to a new poll, price is a significant influence for two out of three shoppers. Marketing professionals are acquainted with the pervasive "new normal"—the buyer's concern about the cost of […]
This is an installment in the Healthcare Success series about how the significant changes in Google Search impact healthcare marketing and advertising, and what medical practices and hospitals need to know as the online search giant changes the rules. Think of it as "Facebook Friends" for Google...only much bigger and more important. Google, the undisputed […]
Curiously, there’s a physician marketing idea tucked into the baseball film Moneyball. It’s about dealing with change. Just about everyone in the nation’s healthcare delivery system is struggling—to a greater of lesser degree—with the dynamics of change. Doctors who have been building a private practice for decades, for example, have been challenged with options such as […]
Hospital based plastic surgery, for many facilities, is experiencing something of a new-business rejuvenation. But what is surprising is that it’s not just the 30-something crowd that’s considering cosmetic procedures. There’s a strong and growing interest among senior citizens who want a more youthful appearance. The marketing insight for physicians, administrators and hospital marketing professionals […]
Everything you need to know about healthcare marketing jingles but were too busy singing to ask. Healthcare marketing and advertising gets a boost in effectiveness and greater response using broadcast commercials that include musical jingles. And they're more affordable than in the past. Here are the four basic components and six ways to use healthcare […]
Medical practice and hospital marketing professionals have an extremely challenging job on the forward facing frontline of healthcare communications. Suffice to say that it’s a complex task to effectively “speak healthcare” to the public. But it’s helpful to know that effective medical messaging—from patient conversations to mass media—will nearly always relate to a short list […]
From airline frequent flyers to auto parts bonus buys, American consumers are consumed by loyal-customer incentive schemes. Purchases earn points, miles, discounts, and even cash rewards…all to inspire buyers to buy again and buy more. (How many little “advantage” scan cards are in your pocket?) It works in retail. And not surprisingly, this proliferation of […]
With increasing frequency, we hear from someone who believes that creating a logo is the primary consideration in creating a brand or branding message. In fact, a logo is not a brand, but it represents a brand. It's a common question. The ongoing reconfiguration of the nation's healthcare delivery system has many medical practices and […]
Keeping the roof over your head when it looks like the sky is falling. Healthcare organizations that stick to their marketing plan during a recession maintain and grow while the competition is hiding. And studies show they also enjoy a bigger up-side when the economy improves. We've published several articles about healthcare marketing in a […]
Hospitals want to constantly build rapport with their referring physicians. And, if you are a specialist (medical, physical therapy or dental), chances are you are heavily dependent upon referrals from other doctors. If you are currently looking to win more of those professional referrals, experience shows that one of the most productive and successful marketing […]
If you don’t have a mobile strategy for your healthcare marketing, your online presence may have disappeared from view. The critical question is: Is your medical, dental or hospital ready for the “small screen?” Just when you thought your healthcare marketing website was completely functional, along comes an overpowering wave of smartphones and mobile devices. […]
We don't always agree with Arianna Huffington, but as a digital media observer, publisher and thought leader, she is spot-on in recognizing how online media has changed from mainly "presentational" to truly "conversational." In her words, "This is the golden age of engagement." The president and editor in chief of the Huffington Post Media Group described digital […]
Hospitals—at least some hospitals—have a reputation for being laggards on the technology adoption curve. There's some truth to that; after all, big medical devices have a big price tag and six- and seven-figure capital investments don't happen weekly. But the truth is that many hospitals and group medical practices have discovered new ways to apply […]
In what is described as “the first systematic assessment of hospital websites,” a new study suggests that most physician, hospital and health system websites could improve their websites. The analysis, published in the Journal of Healthcare Management, evaluated over 630 websites from four dimensions, ACCESSIBILITY, CONTENT, MARKETING and TECHNOLOGY. And, according to this in-depth study, […]
More than a few times recently we’ve heard the comment: “Patients choose doctors, not hospitals.” We wonder if you agree…or not. Evaluate a random selection of hospital advertising from around the nation and a casual observer might wonder if facilities are promoting quality care or creature comforts. Is this a fine hospital or a five-star […]
We begin with a true story...with an object lesson for medical practices, healthcare providers and practice administrators about emotionally engaging (and retaining) new patients. Imagine for a moment that you've moved to a new neighborhood. You have two neighboring families...one on either side of your new home. It quickly becomes apparent to the new residents […]
Is there a future for “virtual nurses” in healthcare? How about your medical practice or hospital? Here are two intriguing examples of emerging technology—both labeled “virtual nurse”—that are being tested in the real world of marketing and healthcare delivery. Both interact with the public, although each virtual nurse has a different assignment. Can you see […]
In many hospital-owned practices, physician salaries are endangered when productivity and net collections drop. Sadly, it’s a common and documentable by-product of the ongoing shift from privately owned practices to hospital-owned practices. It turns out that in many instances, if you sell your practice to a hospital, your income may go down. The causes behind […]
Do you need to apologize for marketing your healthcare services? We’d like to hear from you about the controversial questions raised in last week’s USA Today article about some of the marketing methods used in healthcare. (The primary focus of this piece is hospital marketing, but the implications extend to private practices, health systems and providers […]
Everyone in healthcare and hospital marketing likes business performance metrics. (Well, nearly everyone.) The benchmark or progress numbers that quantify exactly how we’re doing. It’s how marketing people (and the boss) keep score. Metrics tell us if a project is meeting its goals, or if an advertising campaign is producing results, and sometimes how we […]
A guest post by Randall S. Barton, PhD, Managing Partner, Ideopolis LLC We recently read a great article on the Healthcare Success site titled "Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition”—a Surprising Lesson for Doctor Marketing. It prompted us to write about a prevalent misconception in the medical industry today…that meaningful improvements must be big. In reality, […]
Not so long ago, only a few hospitals and medical practices had some sort of “ambassador” on their staff. But as healthcare marketing and delivery systems have changed in recent years, this occasional and sometimes informal position has evolved significantly. Practices, hospitals and health systems large and small have hired physician liaisons for the primary […]
It’s no wonder that many physicians are frustrated with a lack of patient compliance and continued unhealthy lifestyles. Healthcare providers now have to contend with an “action gap,” and we’d like to hear your suggestions. How can healthcare marketing and advertising close the “action gap?” Here’s the problem. There's another survey out that confirms that […]
At a recent seminar, some of our attendees joined us in a rant about the pitiful customer service endemic at so many hospitals and practices. Some examples: 1. One surgeon shared a story about the time he "went home for Christmas," but ended up accompanying his very ill and nervous mother to the ER. A […]
