Healthcare Success

I have been fascinated with vanity phone numbers for a long time. Early in my career, I came up with 1-800-WORKOUT and 1-800-FITNESS at J. Walter Thompson for our client Health & Tennis Corporation (later Bally Total Fitness). At that time, they owned multiple brands in dozens of markets and required $500,000 a year to […]

The COVID pandemic accelerated a longstanding issue within the healthcare industry: balancing labor shortages with increasing patient volume.  While market disruptors such as Telehealth and other retail clinics provide communities with more care options, they also drive higher staffing demands on an already small pool of candidates. Not only that, but many doctors and nurses […]

While we are very excited to announce our agency just launched our new website featuring a brand-new design, functionality, backend tech, and fresh content, we expect you’ll be more interested in the following three takeaways:  Why we decided to rebuild our site completely, Why you may need to similarly “start anew” with your website, and […]

Google Analytics is an extremely powerful tool for healthcare businesses.  According to BuiltWith, more than 28 million websites use Google Analytics to better understand how users engage with their web properties—including more than 66% of the top 100,000 websites worldwide. The development and subsequent launch of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) in October 2020 was spurred […]

Marketing to doctors, physicians, surgeons, and other health care professionals can be extremely challenging, complicated, and expensive. What’s more, most doctors work in a hospital or multilocation medical practice, making it even more challenging to identify key decision-makers. Not only are doctors and decision-makers difficult to reach—and even more difficult to persuade—you have to contend […]

By Stewart Gandolf, MBA (Editor’s Note: I wrote the first version of this blog post back in 2006 when we launched Healthcare Success. While I intentionally wrote it with a quick, playful tone, more than sixteen years later, it remains one of our most popular posts. I recently updated it here for your reading pleasure!) Every time I run […]

Today, healthcare brands have more photography and videography options than ever. For many situations, hiring professionals, such as a professional photographer, a production company, or a videographer, will be best.  In other instances, you and your team can utilize a high-quality smartphone camera, affordable software programs, and inexpensive starter equipment to quickly, cheaply, and easily […]

More companies are making high-quality healthcare easier to access and more affordable by embracing data and technology. While healthcare has historically been among the slowest to accept new technologies, the pandemic has sped adoption. Healthcare businesses must offer leading-edge services and build patient-centric marketing strategies to differentiate themselves from competitors, boost retention and recruitment, and […]

If you’re in business, you have competitors.  Whether you represent a hospital, health system, or multilocation practice, competing healthcare businesses are developing innovative business models—right now—and they’re targeting your market. What’s more, your highest revenue service lines are likely already facing stiff competition from all angles.  Even worse, the marketplace for virtually every type of […]

The pandemic fast-tracked the growing notion of healthcare consumerism, spurring several changes in the healthcare industry. These changes include modernizing business processes and focusing on improvements that positively impact patient wait times and appointment times.  It is well-established that longer patient wait times negatively impact patient satisfaction, specifically regarding patient confidence (in the provider) and […]

Healthcare consumerism has drastically changed the way healthcare professionals need to market and deliver their services. Today’s consumers expect a healthcare experience as innovative and digitally advanced as any other industry. Hospitals, health systems, and medical practices must evolve to meet these changing needs to remain competitive or risk falling behind. As more healthcare professionals provide accessible online […]

We're living through a seismic shift in how physicians deliver medical care in the United States.  Here's a brief timeline: In 2012, 60.1% percent of physicians worked in physician-owned practices. By 2018, that percentage had fallen to 54%. At the end of 2020—for the first time ever—less than half (49.1%) of patient care physicians worked […]

We know that today's healthcare consumers want instant and accessible services.  The QR code allows hospitals and healthcare providers to satisfy this need with immediate physician-patient interaction and engagement – all through smartphones and tablets.  Placed strategically, the QR code does wonders for marketing. And today more than ever, they are considered the green, hygienic, […]

As more businesses favor social media channels for timely business communications, you may think press releases have become outdated or old-fashioned. You might even ask yourself, "Do we even need press releases anymore?"  The answer is an unequivocal "Yes." Consumers and journalists still view press releases as one of the most trustworthy sources of brand-related […]

Programmatic advertising has transformed the way people buy and sell online ads. In 2021, U.S. advertisers spent 41.2% more on programmatic display ads than in 2020—and it’s easy to understand why.  Leveraging automated software and artificial intelligence (AI) to collect real-time data gives key stakeholders complete visibility over where their ads appear. It also highlights […]

Patient reviews can make or break a business in this era of healthcare consumerism and online reputations. And they're here to stay.  More than 94% of healthcare patients use online reviews as the first step in researching physicians and hospitals. They’re also the third most crucial driver in consumers’ decision to select a new healthcare […]

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are searching social media for reliable healthcare news and resources. As expectations for trustworthy, up-to-date information continue to increase, it's not surprising that some of the most followed and engaged accounts are in the healthcare industry: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): 4.2+ million Facebook (FB) followers […]

If you want to dominate organic, paid, and local search results, you've got to study your business from several angles.   Building a deep understanding of your competitors' strengths and weaknesses and what makes your shared audience click improves branding, SEO, paid search, social media, and other general marketing strategies.  However, understanding which marketing tactics you […]

Is your hospital or medical practice website optimized for local searches? If not, you're missing out on a high-intent audience ready to convert.  Why? Because healthcare consumers can’t find your business online if it’s not optimized for local SEO.   Effective local SEO for doctors, hospitals, and health systems requires a complete understanding of the […]

While many businesses long for a return to pre-COVID normal, savvy healthcare organizations and health systems embrace virtual and digital services that champion a patient engagement future that exceeds expectations in our new reality. Has your business embraced virtual and digital patient experience trends, or are you still waiting for things to “get back to […]

Google Ads are about to change more than they have in years—are you ready? The days of creating a set of stand-alone ads, setting your daily advertising budget, and periodically checking your analytics are long gone. Even as I write this, the very idea seems archaic, and I suppose it is when you consider how […]

If you don’t have a local SEO strategy for your hospital or practice, you’re missing out on a large, high-intent audience. The Google business page – Google Business Profile – is one of the best—free—ways to improve your local SEO ranking and attract new consumers.  Google receives more than 2 billion visits every day, making […]

How much of your marketing budget is allocated to paid social media advertising? Are you wondering if it’s worth investing in healthcare Facebook ads? If it’s not something you’re taking seriously in 2022, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity to attract new audiences, increase awareness, drive conversions, and improve your bottom line. With approximately […]

Business leaders in every industry understand that morale starts at the top.  When the C-suite is aligned and shares a unified, consistent message throughout the entire organization, it instills loyalty, trust, and confidence in your brand, mission, and goals.  Ideally, marketing relays this message to your consumers.  But since marketing happens in many channels, or […]

The digital advertising industry is constantly evolving.  One major evolution is in the way people buy ads in the first place.  The traditional method was a manual, complicated process.  But recent technological advancements – such as programmatic advertising – have improved and automated the way people buy and sell online ads.   Programmatic digital advertising is […]

Social media is an indisputable knowledge hub for every type of consumer, including the healthcare consumer. In the United States alone, eight in 10 internet users search for health information online and 74% of these people use social media. Consumers are returning to their favorite social media platforms time and again to get the information […]

Targeted advertising is powerful and effective.   It relies on data about who your audience is and what they are looking for.  Up until recently, advertisers had easy access to valuable third-party data and targeting options from giants like Google and Apple. These companies gathered this data through cookies, hence the name, third-party cookies.  But things […]

Are you ignoring Generation X in your healthcare marketing strategy? You shouldn't be, and here's why: Gen Xers have the highest rate of brand loyalty, period. They are partial to the brands they trust and are willing to pay a premium for their products and services.  Not only that, the 65 million Gen Xers are […]

The pendulum has swung dramatically from traditional to digital media marketing in the healthcare marketing industry over recent years. Digital ad spending surpassed traditional media spending in 2019 and is expected to exceed two-thirds of total media spending by 2023.  Healthcare audiences live and communicate in a digital world. Understandably, healthcare organizations and the agencies […]

They are barely 21. They’re the first digital natives. And…they are very stressed.  Gen Z, or Zoomers, are significantly impacted by today’s news, politics, culture, and climate issues. In the latest survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association, Gen Zers reported high stress levels, more than any other group, […]

Healthcare consumerism isn’t just “coming.” It’s already here.  What’s more, healthcare consumerism means big changes for healthcare organizations and officially ushers in a new era of the patient experience.   Are you modernizing your business to meet your patients' changing needs and expectations? If not, you’re already falling behind. In today’s blog post, I share some […]

Building a cohesive marketing strategy that supports your long-term business goals takes collaboration, time, and expertise—not to mention continuous oversight and optimization.  Hiring a marketing agency is an excellent option, especially when you need specialized expertise or simply don’t have the necessary resources available.  The challenge? Not every agency-client relationship is fruitful. And some can […]

As 2021 comes to a close, we have a gift for you -- a roundup of the best advice on our blog from this past year. It’s been a pleasure working with and interviewing so many experienced marketing professionals. Whether colleagues or team members, these experts are the people who bring this blog to life […]

A large part of how we plan our marketing strategies involves taking into account predicted trends for the upcoming year.  Looking back at my predictions for 2020, I'm intrigued by the speed at which some of these projections materialized.  As we look forward to a new year in marketing, I know the competition will be […]

As a leader of a healthcare organization, you’re focused on achieving your business goals.  So how does content fit in? Ideally, it should support your primary goals.  Today’s best content marketing is aligned with business goals and drives profitable action. What’s more, marketing teams can demonstrate how content contributes to business goals.  If the business […]

While branding can be difficult for virtually any type of organization, it’s often especially challenging for multilocation healthcare providers. We know this from experience. You see, most of our clients are multilocation healthcare businesses. We have worked with health systems, hospitals, practices, retail locations, urgent cares, ASCs, addiction treatment centers, and long-term care facilities. When […]

How does a healthcare brand stay relevant in the digital age? How do you expand your reach and increase engagement on social media? And, how do you remain relevant to new generations of customers -- all while staying true to your brand identity? Spoiler: You don’t do it by compromising who you are.  The only […]

A strong content marketing strategy includes a plan for picking the right assets for the job. While you might have worked hard to develop a brand message, the medium you tell that story through is just as important. But how do you know if you should create a blog post or a web page? Do […]

Live events can be a core part of the marketing strategy for healthcare systems, hospitals and multilocation practices. But, as we all know, the last few years have challenged how we market and serve our clients -- especially when it comes to live events.  I was recently invited to co-lead a webinar about events with […]

When done correctly, healthcare content can build trust and turn people into lifelong supporters of your brand. At the same time, creating superior health or wellness content can be challenging. It should always be engaging, informative, technically accurate, and compliant. The difficulty only increases when you want to produce amazing content regularly and within budget.  […]

Read the summary of our latest podcast, featuring Johnny A. Smith Jr. of Encompass Health and Stewart Gandolf of Healthcare Success.

Our paid search experts share the seven most common PPC mistakes in healthcare and how to avoid them. Read now.

Discover six key healthcare trends emerging from the pandemic, according to a podcast interview with Darwin Research Group.

In this guide, learn best practices for digital marketing to physicians, including tips on capturing the attention of today’s busy HCPs.

In part one of the CEO’s Guide to Hospital Marketing Strategies, learn seven wins to expect from your investment, including a positive ROI.

Get expert tips on how to market your telehealth services online and beat your competition.

Doctors and hospitals can educate patients on the safety and importance of COVID-19 vaccines. Learn how to craft your message.

Discover five ways to build a strong hospital brand for the modern healthcare consumer and reach your target audience.

Learn about the May 2021 Google Page experience update to prepare your site with Core Web Vitals metrics.

Learn Google’s high standards for content, including how to demonstrate Google E-A-T for healthcare content.