Social proof is a principle of influence and persuasion that can be highly effective in healthcare marketing. People want validation that they are making the right choice or proper decision and the actions of others like themselves is compelling guidance. Here's how it works and ways to use it. There was an interesting item about […]
There are times when hospital and health system publicity or public relations can leverage current news or events to a positive advantage. Healthcare reform and the many faces (and continuing implementation steps) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) for example, is an ever-timely springboard to being part of the news. There can […]
[SHSMD13 Podcast Series] Awhile back, the world-renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center recognized that it had a patient experience problem at their front door. Associate Vice President of Marketing Alicia Jansen explains it this way: “One of the things that we noticed early on was that the biggest sticking point that our patients had in interacting with […]
Success often arrives wrapped in a compelling story. And “storyselling” is a highly effective path to achieving your medical marketing or advertising goals...from winning case acceptance to bumping up the price of a service or product. Here’s a quick look at how this idea applies to the business side of healthcare. A Las Vegas pawnshop […]
[SHSMD13 Podcast Series] David Marlowe is the founder of Strategic Marketing Concepts and a past president and board member of SHSMD, the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development of the American Hospital Association. And in our podcast conversation with Lonnie Hirsch, David provides expert insight about tracking and metrics for effective and profitable hospital marketing. […]
Healthcare marketing is more involved than simply hiring someone to write an ad or create a brochure for you. (After all, your practice is not a simple box of detergent or a used car lot.) To be successful, you will need a well-considered marketing plan and budget, complete with ethical, appropriate and proven strategies. While […]
Our Senior Consultant and Training Specialist Lori Ann Waltz just sent over another marketing success story, and you may be able to relate. This time Lori was off to Kentucky (birthplace of Abraham Lincoln). She went there at the request of a specialty practice that may have been one of “the best kept secrets” in the […]
We had a call the other day from the lead doctor in a group practice. She wasn’t exactly in a panic, but it was obvious that a festering marketing problem was close to bursting. It was a familiar story, and many readers can probably relate to the red-flag warnings she described. The problem for this […]
[Healthcare Success Podcast] Hospital marketing professionals are not immune to a form of “white coat syndrome.” It’s the somewhat common phenomenon where patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in a clinical visit—but not in other settings—due to anxiety of being face-to-face with the doctor. Similarly in healthcare marketing, communications professionals can be nervous talking with physicians […]
[What Stewart’s Reading Series] I was reminded recently that FEAR is one of the most powerful emotions at play in marketing and advertising. On one hand, fear can encourage a purchase decision. Consider the amusing television advertisement where a klutzy neighbor saws off a giant tree limb and it crushes the adjoining homeowner’s car. It’s […]
Everyone likes to think that his or her marketing and advertising efforts are creative, fresh and energized. (Let’s hope that’s always so.) But what we rarely notice is their rapid decay. Familiarity can lead to benign neglect, and even the best of marketing efforts often become stale long before we’re aware of it. Unless we’re […]
Chances are you’ve seen the occasional Tweet that’s larger, longer and more impactful than the standard 140-character, text-only allowance. Among several types, Twitter Cards create breaks in the Twitter stream that grab attention with photos, video, summary notes, songs or other expansive content and inspire a click-through connection. Twitter says it delivers “a beautiful consumption […]
[Podcast Series] Our interview guest today is Eula McKinney, Director of Ancillary Clinical Services Outreach Development at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. In this installment in our series about healthcare industry and marketing topics is hosted by Healthcare Success Co-Founder Lonnie Hirsch. “Vertical integration” is the healthcare industry term that includes assuring excellence in […]
In our work with clients across the United States, we often help medical providers understand what their primary constituencies need and want. A starting point for a provider group for instance, would be an exercise in discovering what patients, referring physicians and payors want to know. And when you recognize the questions of these groups—what […]
Editor’s Note: Although he’s on a much-deserved vacation, Healthcare Success CEO Stewart Gandolf unintentionally bumped into an article idea. So, 2,347 miles away from home, Stewart shares these healthcare marketing insights that apply to anyone in healthcare marketing. Stewart begins with a little story about a chance encounter…
[SHSMD13 Podcast Series] There are dozens of ways that hospital marketing and advertising can benefit from a readily available feedback channel. For some facilities, an online patient insight community taps into their customer base for a valuable “voice of the patient” resource. In our continuing series of podcasts, Healthcare Success Co-Founder Lonnie Hirsch talked with […]
[Another in our series of posts about free, low-cost, affordable and effective tactics to make your medical marketing sizzle without breaking the bank.] Genuine business growth is the product of a well-designed marketing plan and budget. But there are serious ways to drive more “umphff” to your efforts without adding serious bucks to the budget.
It’s amazing how often we encounter real life examples of opportunity lost, simply because someone was afraid to ask. More about that in a minute. Here’s a personal note that brought this to mind for me again recently. At the time of this writing, my mother, 95, is gravely disabled and in a skilled nursing […]
There’s nothing trivial about website analytics. And it’s not our intent to oversimplify an important (if sometimes confusing) subject. But, among the pages-and-pages-and-pages of available site performance metrics, there are four indicators should always be top-of-mind. Some tech-minded and numbers-driven people in marketing immerse themselves deeply in website performance statistics. These are the potentially daunting […]
Healthcare reform hit a bit of speed bump a few weeks ago when enforcement of the employer mandate requirement was delayed for a year under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Businesses with 50 employees now have until 2015 to provide insurance coverage for workers instead of 2014. In our view, this delay in the business […]
Physician Relations resides at the intensely active intersection of doctors and hospitals. Sometimes a battlefield, sometimes a love fest, hospital-physician collaboration has never been more critical than during today's healthcare reform evolution. In this dynamic playing field, both the facility and the provider have a bigger-than-ever stake (with incentives and penalties) for clinical quality, cost […]
For every hospital, health system or facility, your online presence goes well beyond the primary website. As a starting point, it is a bewildering challenge to manage the tens of thousands of online directories, each with scores of entries and a ton of data points for each entry. But, in this installment of our continuing […]
Eight out of ten times (probably more), the Internet is where the first encounter between a doctor and a prospective patient occurs. But it doesn’t stop there. Long before an individual selects a healthcare provider, hospital or facility for their medical needs, they often begin their decision journey with online due diligence. And when providers […]
Three community-minded ideas that your hospital might want to “borrow.” Plus an enjoyable, and completely unique, billboard concept that you probably won’t be able to steal. The Affordable Care Act rollout continues to inspire ideas that promote wellness and healthy living. Hospitals, medical centers—and in some instances group medical practices—are increasingly open to various ways […]
Empowered patients, engagement and satisfaction are the new watchwords of Internet marketing for healthcare. But it can be challenging to know who’s pleased with your medical website, and just as importantly, who’s not so happy. Here’s a new and useful way to test the waters in real-time. Google Consumer Surveys has extended a helping hand […]
[SHSMD13 Podcast Series] In a few months, 2014 will be the tipping point--when the most significant components of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) take effect...with strategic implications for hospitals and healthcare providers. In another in our continuing series of healthcare industry podcasts, Marc Sauve, Senior Healthcare Strategist with Gresham, Smith and Partners, talked with Healthcare Success […]
I have to admit that I have a reputation for being a bit “attention deficit,” especially in meetings with my internal team members. Like Dug, the talking dog in the Disney/Pixar movie UP, I can easily get distracted. (Squirrel!) Take 20-seconds to meet Dug in this clip from this Academy Award-winning animated feature.
We often advise our clients that a professional website requires regular “care and feeding.” To remain visible, viable and effective as a marketing tool, it’s vitally important to regularly add fresh and interesting content and remove dated material. The upkeep and maintenance allows you to stay “friendly” with search engine algorithms and avoid visitor habituation. […]
If you don’t include cave paintings (30,000 BC) or variations of ancient Egyptian picture writing (3200 BC), sometime in the 1960’s a blending of “information” and “graphic” produced the contemporary adjective INFOGRAPHIC. By definition, infographics are graphic, visual representations of information, data or knowledge. Admittedly, our thumbnail profile oversimplifies the rich legacy of—by various names—information […]
Be careful what you say. The words and images that you use might be working against you, or at least producing unexpected (and undesirable) “message meaning.” It’s elementary mar-com 101, but you might be amazed at how often some folks neglect the receiver-side of the communications loop. Sometimes it’s an innocent oversight, or unexpected consequence, […]
[One in a series of posts about finding and using free, low-cost, affordable and effective tactics to make your medical marketing sizzle without breaking the bank.] In our experience, “marketing-on-the-cheap” has never been a useful or effective solution to anything. Over the years, we’ve often received an urgent call after some well-meaning (but ill-advised) stabs […]
Two interesting items in the online news caught our attention recently. Both were serious reports from the business world about the comparative effectiveness of search engines, social media and email. Both were completely credible, widely circulated, and good fodder for strategic thinking and planning. The contrasting information asks and answers vital questions. With an equal […]
“With the diagnostic and treatment techniques available today, successful and safe treatment of venous disease conditions is the norm,” according to Dr. Steven Zimmet, President of the American Board of Venous and Lymphatic Medicine (ABVLM). “Yet many patients don’t realize this, and many physicians in other fields and disciplines are not aware of this.” In our […]
LinkedIn just keeps getting better. Early iterations of the professional networking platform were a step or two above an online resume with interactive connections. Functional and good for a start, but decidedly lackluster. Over time—particularly in the last year or so—LinkedIn has muscled its way up the value ladder as a power player among social […]
With 30 million prospective new patients just over the healthcare horizon, hospitals and other provider organizations are rethinking service channel opportunities. (And alliances perhaps.) Retail medical clinics, as one example, appear to be trending from competitive “foe to friend” on many marketing plans. A recent business study by consulting firm Accenture indicates that the number […]
A few weeks ago, when we spoke with Dr. James Merlino, Chief Experience Officer of the Cleveland Clinic, he was looking forward to the upcoming Patient Experience: Empathy + Innovation Summit. In that conversation, he told us, “Patient experience impacts all of us, and the only way healthcare organizations can get better is to share […]
[Series Installment] Our recent post in this series declared the “Gen-Y” population group to be the “biggest ever” slice of the population. It turns out that “biggest” depends on who’s doing the slicing. Take a look at the Jones crowd. Medical marketing professionals need to keep up with the Jones Generation cohort, a “sweet spot” […]
Nothing personal, but most corporate CEOs don’t have a high opinion of their own marketing team. They think operate in a “marketing-la-la-land” and don’t have their shoulders into the heavy lifting of “generating, tracking and boosting customer demand.” We’d like to hear what you think about this study. How does the working relationship among hospital […]
Broadcast advertising—both radio and television—have been evolving as choice media options for many advertisers. Placement opportunities are up, costs are reasonable, and results can be strong. To illustrate, we wrote recently about how it might surprise you to find that television is still an effective beast.
Personally, I’d jump at the opportunity to learn about business at the right hand of Bill Gates, Chairman and co-founder of Microsoft. That would be an insightful brain-picking session. It would be on par with talking about business with Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffet. But can you imagine a meeting between two of […]
We’ve been working on redesigning and refreshing our marketing information newsletter. And since the subject of newsletter content and construction was top of mind for us, we wanted to share a few how-to tips about the process. Not long ago we conducted a Reader Survey that was open to our 15,000+ subscribers. The responses helped […]
[One of a Series] Millennials are a significant slice of the population that’s important to healthcare professionals. And if they are not a consideration in your marketing game plan today, they definitely will be soon. Disclosure: I’m outside of the age parameters of the Millennial Generation. I’m pretty sure about that, but the trouble is […]
Our office sign contest a while ago spawned the following case study from a subscriber about success with attention-getting vehicle graphics—know in the trade as "wraps"—for healthcare marketing. Public Relations Specialist Kandice Dickinson shares the particulars in this guest post.
The numbers are simply painful. On the face of it, you’ve got to wonder if social media—and Facebook in particular—is worth the time and effort. “Only about 1 percent of fans ever return to your actual Facebook page after they’ve liked it,” according to Contagious Content, an eBook by author Brian Carter and the software […]
By Stewart Gandolf, MBA, CEO, Healthcare Success The Internet and social media presence of a physician is the sum of what most prospective patients know about you and your professional reputation. Here’s the “why-and-how” about using these tools to your marketing advantage. You’ve heard at least a dozen reasons why physicians dismiss—or steer a cautious […]
I had to look up the provenance for: “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” The attribution—so says GoodReads.com—is Allen Saunders, American writer, journalist and cartoonist…from 1957. And, while the reformation of healthcare continues at a lightening pace, it’s a timely planning reminder for medical marketing to consider how things […]
[Podcast] Today’s installment in our continuing series of healthcare and hospital marketing interviews spotlights University of Utah Health Care, a leading academic medical center in Salt Lake City. Healthcare Success Co-Founder and Hospital Division Director Lonnie Hirsch discusses AMC marketing issues with Senior Director of Marketing Dennis Jolley. When University of Utah Health Care began […]
Be forewarned, this is an “elephant in the room” post about dealing with difficult patients. It’s a common situation and a sensitive topic. And if you’re uncomfortable confronting the problem, or dealing with challenging, dependent, manipulative, noncompliant, upset and/or time-sucking patients…then read no further.
We've noticed that the most successful doctors and executives that we work with are constantly hungry for new information. By any of various names, continuing education is part of their personal fabric, something to be exercised daily, if not hourly. But what providers and administrators do for themselves, they sometimes overlook providing the value of […]
A prospective doctor’s long and arduous education has often been all about medicine, with precious little training or experience in the business of running a business. No sooner than a newly minted MD hangs out a shingle, but he or she is hit squarely in the face with the reality that “Healing is an art, […]
