The AMA’s American Medical News carried an excellent article recently titled: Hospitals' new specialist: Social media manager. It told the tale of how various hospitals—such as Swedish Medical Center (Seattle) and Mayo Clinic—are hiring staff members dedicated exclusively to social and interactive media. What's more, other hospitals, health systems, and medical practices either have someone […]
Twitter is one of the four best known social media tools—YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. And if you look at Ed Bennett’s accounting of 890 US hospitals using social networking tools, almost 75 percent have Twitter accounts. (That’s a close second to hospitals with Facebook pages at nearly 80 percent.) But name recognition isn’t as […]
If you’re a member of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) you got the same email that we did about their new Principles and Practices for Marketing Communications in Hospitals and Health Systems. It’s another example of the SHSMD and American Hospital Association’s thought leadership, and we recommend downloading their advisory. It’s […]
Hospital marketing is increasingly using hospitality to differentiate their brand. News reports say hospitals are looking more like luxury hotels. And we’ve posted articles about facilities throughout the nation that have linked their hospital marketing, advertising and public relations messages to exceptional “patient experience.” These nonclinical patient benefits include spa-like women’s centers, family-friendly patient rooms, […]
Mark Zuckerberg wants you to “get on the bus.” His bus, of course, is Facebook. And Mr. Zuckerberg aimed his comments squarely at companies that have, so far, resisted using social media. His words of encouragement may be a tiny bit self-serving, but with 500 million members, and 250 million daily users, Facebook is a […]
17 Things Savvy Healthcare Providers Can Do To Keep Their Organizations Healthy Despite A Very Sick Economy There's no doubt that the nation's economic news is serious and troubling. Your own experience tells you that people—pretty much all of us—are justifiably concerned, from Wall Street to Main Street. While everyone's situation is different, you've likely […]
Did you know that Target Corporation has its own MD Medical Director? And well they should since about $6 billion of Target’s annual revenue comes from healthcare related products and services. The retail giant has made “health and wellness a key pillar of our company,” according to Dr. Josh Riff, medical director for Target Corporation. […]
The trend for hospital marketing and advertising professionals is increasingly: “think mobile.” It's a message that's reinforced with the introduction next week of an online “app store” by the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA). The first-ever mobile application store by and for healthcare professionals—doctors health care executives, nurses and other medical providers—launches in November […]
It's safe to think of Doc Gurley as web-and-tech-savvy. She's the only Harvard-trained and Board-certified practicing Internist that we know of who has a website, Facebook page, Twitter feed, blog...and a column at sfgate.com. That's not your every-doc CV, so we thought this was a well-qualified observer who posted an exceptional (and detailed) recap of […]
Community hospitals are scrambling, according to a recent article in USA Today, to survive and remain independent. But “scrambling” doesn't seem like an adequate description if you also read the article in Becker’s Hospital Review a few days earlier: Challenges Facing Community Hospitals. Both publications present authoritative industry voices. “Over the past decade, the number […]
The “Microhoo” Challenger to Google in Online Search and Internet Advertising If the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance news has fallen off your radar, here’s an update that’s important to SEO / Search Engine Optimization for healthcare marketing & advertising. Microsoft’s Bing is now powering organic search results on Yahoo! Search for the English language […]
How to take advantage of new opportunities to include TV ads in your marketing plan It is possible to control television production and media costs and still deliver a professional-quality message with strong results. TV may not be right for every healthcare marketing plan, but it's no longer out of reach. New media options, friendly […]
Healthcare practitioners ask us about budgeting more than any other single topic In fact, just this morning a dermatologist asked me how much money he should allocate to market his new dermatology / medi spa practice in Florida. It turns out there are three primary methodologies to establish a marketing budget.
Everyone wants their marketing materials to look attractive. After all, most patients have a very difficult time evaluating providers, and therefore consciously or unconsciously, look for clues about you based upon what they can see and understand. If your facilities, office, hospital and marketing materials look professional and inspire confidence, you are set up to […]
Like so many other business processes, marketing implementation is far more successful when a practice executes a solid marketing plan with the support of a structured system. Marketing Plan "If you fail to plan, plan to fail." Everyone's heard this saying, yet so few healthcare practices follow this sound advice when it comes to marketing.
The first four diagnostic questions to ask before you take a marketing leap... Imagine this happening in your office... A new patient presents himself and announces that he needs a broad-spectrum antibiotic. How's that again? Yes -- could you please write the prescription so he can be on his way? And thank you very much. […]
