Healthcare Success

It's the woman who makes the healthcare decisions in most households. That fact hasn’t changed much over the past few years. Estimates have it that eight out of  10 times, it’s the woman, wife, mother who is the keeper of the family health choices for spouse, children and herself. The the “mom” sector has been […]

Editor's Note: Healthcare Success authored this article as one of a series for ImagingBiz, a unique industry publication that delivers business intelligence for hospitals, imaging centers and radiology practices. The marketing concepts regarding physician liaison, practice representative, physician relations or business development apply to many professional, medical and healthcare marketing situations.

Here’s a roundup of four interesting and informative healthcare and hospital marketing vignettes from the past few weeks. There are insights and observations in each, and we’d like to hear your comments.

This week I want to share with you some fascinating insights I've gleaned from some of America's wealthiest families, but more importantly, give you some new ways of looking at investing in your own business, practice or organization. Due to a prior business relationship, I have come to know a fair number of investors and […]

As a HealthLeaders Media commentary put it recently, “Expecting patients to shop for discount cancer treatments and bargain heart procedures is, of course, a non-starter.” But coupons, discounts and special offers can take many forms in healthcare and hospital marketing. What's more, the search for savings, and being value-conscious, is no longer a middle-income trait. […]

We see a ton of healthcare, medical marketing and hospital websites in our work. We review them, we critique them and we provide advice how to improve them. And sometimes it’s downright frightening what we find. Perhaps the scariest moment is when we discover a provider or healthcare organization that has no website at all. […]

Many of the “old rules” are up in the air. It seems like nearly every aspect of our nation’s healthcare delivery system is in flux. An example of this—one that we see daily—is the turbulent competition among and between providers. It’s skyrocketing. But please proceed with caution; there are legal issues to consider for your […]

Major changes and pivotal events in the growth of a medical practice require a solid marketing program—and a stream of new business—to assure success. Here's when to consider financing for marketing and how we can help. [Series installment.] In the kindest of terms, the current state of healthcare in the United States is "dynamic." Maybe […]

If you don’t know a lot about “The Father of Advertising,” please invest a few minutes with David Makenzie Ogilvy. Your return on investment will be an insight to some of the most powerful and effective ideas in advertising. This is a tiny piece of advertising industry history, but we can assure you that David Ogilvy’s […]

There are several important healthcare marketing lessons hidden in the recent Los Angeles Times article titled Dentists turn to marketing after getting brush-off from patients. Although it is primarily about dentists and dental marketing in the economic downturn, the important marketing takeaways also apply to medical practices and hospitals. We'll look past any immediate temptation […]

If you’re a little behind in reading your Federal Register subscription, we see that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is proposing to use “secret shoppers,” perhaps in your office. The HHS wants to sample Primary Care Physicians’ (PCPs) wait times, accessibility and availability. In government talk, the Proposed Project is titled Assessing […]

This is another segment in our continuing series of articles about effective social media and healthcare marketing. Survey information about Facebook user motivations to LIKE a company, brand or association leads to six useful tips in reaching and engaging patients and the public through effective social media. What motivates people to "like" a company, brand […]

We’re going to tell this tale mainly by the numbers. To “numbers people,” figures say it all; an Excel spreadsheet tells a story more excitingly and effusive than any Harry Potter novel. If you are not fascinated by columns, rows and formulas, please stick with us for a minute, then pass this along to your administrator, […]

You might be as surprised as we were to learn that there are about eight million people who have elective care financing instantly available--and don't know it. Astoundingly, they simply may not know that they can afford the dentistry, vision correction, hearing care or cosmetic treatments that they want. Here’s the hidden business and marketing […]

The 20 most important tips for working with news media; friendly or otherwise. A one-on-one interview or an elaborate news conference requires preparation and confidence when working with the news media. Although there can be no assurances about the media will do, here are the 20 most important tips for before, during and after a […]

What’s your hospital marketing, advertising and public relations strategy going to be with Goliath in your back yard? Here’s the picture… St. John Medical Center in Westlake, Ohio, is less than eight miles (and under 15 minutes) from Fairview Hospital, a Cleveland Clinic facility. If Cleveland Clinic isn’t a Goliath in the hospital world, it’s […]

Editor's Note: This is a further installment in our continuing series of articles about social media and healthcare marketing. YouTube, and other video content sharing platforms, represent a low cost, easy to use and highly effective communications tools to engage and inspire your medical and healthcare marketing audience. The enormous popularity of YouTube makes it […]

What if a medical office were to offer “same day appointments?” It’s an innovative notion, but a “patient driven” appointment just might be popular and become a unique point of differentiation.

A highly successful medical device representative that we know jokingly refers to one of his first jobs in college as being a supermarket “samples lady.” And for physicians, hospitals and healthcare marketing professionals there’s a gem of an idea among the free samples and trials. Once or twice a week our friend would pack up […]

Social media is a means for patient and provider to interact, to humanize institutions, to learn from each other and to support a patient-centered system. It is a means to speak, listen, understand and begin a relationship. Social media isn't just for socializing, in the frivolous and inconsequential meaning of the term. In fact social […]

Doctors learn Sutton’s Law in medical school, although they may not recall that it was named after bank robber Willie Sutton. Willie’s namesake axiom can teach us something about healthcare marketing and advertising. If you’re not up on your historical “most wanted” trivia, here’s a bit of background. Willie “The Actor” Sutton (1901-1980) was an […]

The most neglected healthcare provider marketing opportunity, and how to break the habit Email is the communications means of choice for many individuals, but it's a surprisingly neglected strategy that never gets off the ground for the simple lack of opt-in email addresses. Here are seven easy ways to build a permission-based contact list and […]

We first spotted a “SuperColon” ™ article in a small town community newspaper. Who wouldn’t want to “take a stroll through a giant colon: an inflatable pink tunnel, lined with healthy tissue, abnormal growths, protruding polyps, and informative facts.” One of the world’s largest, most elaborate models of the human body is definitely attention getting. […]

Even in the nicest of “waiting rooms,” who really wants to wait for medical services…or anything else for that matter? And if reducing wait times for medical services is a key to improving patient satisfaction, doctors' offices can now follow hospitals in communicating wait times to patients. To illustrate, we can all relate to the following […]

This is a brief post about a deceptively simple and highly useful idea to help people find you online. Here's how doctors, hospitals and marketing professionals can quickly create a custom splash page—complete with analytics dashboard—to bolster personal reputation and practice branding, and heighten search engine visibility. The first thing you should know about About.Me […]

It is a daily challenge for most hospitals, medical practices and healthcare public relations professionals to get to and through the "gatekeepers" in the media in order to tell their story to the public. The problem is that prospective topics or story ideas that are important to PR professionals (and their employers) must also be […]

Live Chat—also called Live Help or Live Support—is getting some traction with healthcare marketing websites. More commonly found on retail sites, Live Support is that extra service feature which allows a business to open a real time text-chat conversation with online visitors for customer service and/or sales support. Some of the early adopters we’ve spotted […]

Internal marketing simply doesn't work without a patient-centered culture that fosters relationships and genuine patient satisfaction. An effective culture evolves by design, from the top down and needs training, practice and teamwork. There's no need for internal marketing tactics without an emotional connection. When we consult with a hospital, an established healthcare practice or even […]

Patients have more say in their choice of hospital. Through the eyes of the general public—patients and prospective patients—hospitals tend to look alike. A doctor is a doctor, and a hospital is a hospital. And when the typical “consumer,” is pressed to make a choice between “Hospital A” and “Hospital B,” they relate to what they […]

Last week’s feature newsletter article, Facebook Fundamentals: A Guide to Social Media in Healthcare Marketing, generated a lot of thoughtful comments from our readers. And—since this is part of a continuing series about social media tools in healthcare marketing—here’s a brief follow-up about Facebook:

When you jump into the Twitter stream and “Follow” someone, a Direct Message (DM) “Thank You” is a nice touch of connectivity. Establishing and retaining the initial involvement can help providers, hospitals and other healthcare entities keep their Twitter conversation going. Somehow you feel a little more involved even if the “personal” note is a […]

Why You Need Facebook and What It Can Do For Your Practice, Hospital or Medical Group Editor's Note: This is an installment in our continuing series of articles about the intersection of social media and healthcare marketing. A Facebook presence is a basic component of most social media plans, but the platform-and the way people […]

Starting a conversation is about as easy and automatic as breathing, right? Doctors talk with patients. Administrators talk with staff. Staff members interact with patients. Public Relations people talk with reporters. Physicians meet members of the community. Effortless? Routine? The answer is no, it’s not always easy. A meaningful conversation, a purposeful conversation, an engaging […]

One of the things we like about the ad industry term “out of home media” is that it can mean so many things that are fun, foolish and effective. But the first challenge for healthcare, provider and hospital marketing planners is budget—or lack of it—to do all the things that are creative and fun. But […]

A Brief History... Physician marketing is unique because most of practice owners have historically refused to market their services. In fact, prior to the landmark 1977 U.S. Supreme Court case of Bates v. State Bar of Arizona http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/31/, professionals in private practice (including but not limited to healthcare professionals) were legally prohibited from advertising or […]

I don’t know anyone who isn’t occasionally guilty of using “medical-ese.” It's the verbal shorthand, technical talk, healthcare jargon, slang or hospital lingo that spells trouble. Doctors, nurses, hospital marketing executives, and practice administrators are all experts, but our audience is not. And we kill our well-intended message quicker than you can say "hyperlipidemia." The […]

How to avoid the most serious pitfalls in planning and producing a revenue-generating website.  These days, nearly all successful healthcare practitioners have a successful Internet marketing strategy keyed to their website. The Internet has become the tool of choice for many prospective patients in healthcare decisions and selecting a provider.

Here's what goes into a hard-working healthcare logo that does a powerful branding job without a multi-million dollar budget and global exposure. Why you don't need or want a logo like Pepsi. Picture this. Wouldn't it be terrific to have a logo for your medical group, hospital or physician practice that had the recognition impact […]

Here’s an early heads-up about Google’s brand new “social recommendation” product. If you haven’t heard about this, you might want to start tracking. In time, it’s certain to have an impact on healthcare marketing, Internet advertising and healthcare search engine optimization (SEO). Google, the giant gorilla of all search engines, calls it “the +1 button,” […]

Six fatal design flaws that can muzzle your results-and what to do instead. The effectiveness of even good-looking marketing materials can be poisoned by any of these classic design flaws. Here's how to spot the most common art and visual mistakes in the making and what to do instead. It's practically impossible to describe excellent […]

We have a collection of “classic comments” in healthcare marketing. Here’s a sampler of what we hear from time to time from medical providers, office managers or facility administrators about the age-old and ever-popular Word-of-Mouth advertising (WOM). “The only marketing I need or want is word-of-mouth advertising.” Or maybe, “I’m really good at my profession, […]

Editor's Note: The marketing concepts discussed in this article-authored by Healthcare Success for ImagingBiz-also apply to many professional, medical and healthcare marketing situations. ImagingBiz is a unique industry publication that delivers business intelligence for hospitals, imaging centers and radiology practices. This education and information portal offers a wealth of expertise on the rapidly changing world […]

There’s no doubt that Americans are going to the doctor less frequently than they did a few years ago. The downtrend in patient visits is well documented…there’s plenty of empirical as well as anecdotal evidence. We hear about it routinely from our clients in primary care practices, which is not surprising. But it’s a bit […]

Demystifying Web Analytics brings more patients through your digital doorway. Think of Website Analytics as your most important management tool to understand how your website is performing (or not performing). Free tools are available to track visitor activity and guide changes that improve performance and website results for your practice, hospital or healthcare organization. There's […]

First, do the hardball math. When the phone rings in your office, you are probably losing more new business than you’re winning. Close to 70 percent of new patient calls produce no revenue because the caller never comes into the office. That means your practice is seeing only three out of ten of these callers.

Physicians are both public and private individuals. There’s the inner circle of peers and colleagues, and there’s the outer circle of public and (prospective) patients. And for each of these, there’s a free digital tool that every physician can use to boost productivity, professionally present your “who-you-are-and-what-you-do” message, enhance your reputation and help your career […]

In many respects, marketing a health care organization or practice is not substantially different from marketing a small business in other industries. Basic business marketing principles that apply in other industries - including market and competitive research, strategic planning, budgeting, positioning, branding, marketing strategies, tactics, media options, public relations opportunities, implementation processes, tracking processes - […]

On December 21, 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau announced the results of Census 2010—the resident population of the United States is now 308,745,538. But Census 2010 data isn’t just about counting noses. You may be surprised to learn that there’s a “new majority” in town, and there’s an important paradigm shift underway for healthcare marketing […]

A doctor’s world was, at one time, relatively stable. Certainly not easy, but generally steady and secure. As recently as a generation ago, being a physician was less complicated than facing the rapid-fire changes that are still occurring in our nation’s healthcare delivery system. “For decades, medicine has been dominated by fiercely independent doctors who […]

Sometimes we think that Stewart Gandolf has way too much fun over at his blog, Gandolf’s Marketing Magic. I submit as evidence, and for your consideration, Stewart’s recent post that begins with the story about how a customer complaint became a YouTube music-and-video saga (in three parts) titled United Breaks Guitars. As a quick disclosure, […]