The Purple Cows and White Coats of Medical Practice Advertising

The medical marketing landscape has changed dramatically over the past decade. Although some physician, surgeon and provider markets will differ somewhat, we find this to be true across the board. One key difference would be how sharply the competitive forces in hospital marketing and medical practice advertising have shifted and intensified. More than ever before, […]

Bet You Can’t Top This: Orthodontist Shows How Office Décor is Fun Marketing

This post is mainly for fun. But there’s a practice marketing lesson in this exceptional example of wildly interesting and unique office décor--from an orthodontic practice. You’re going to have to drive to Conway, Arkansas to experience the office decor of orthodontist—and admitted car enthusiast—David J. Myers, DDS, MS. If you’ve never seen a medical […]

Will EHR Adoption Help or Hurt Patient Experience? A Physician Practice Marketing Challenge for Tablet Computers.

It’s a little frightening that in physician practice marketing we often discover more examples of “poor” patient experience than “good” ones. In fairness, the good stuff rarely gets the spotlight that it deserves, and the negative examples are often magnified. The doctor-patient relationship is often strained, and positive, personal relationships—among patient, provider and staff—is often […]

Magna Health Systems: Marketing a Center of Excellence

Editor's Note: Healthcare Success was pleased to contribute to this feature profile of Magna Health Systems for publication in SurgiStrategies magazine. This article provides a close-up look at the marketing activities at one of Chicago's leading outpatient surgical centers, examining their work with and for surgeons, as well as their weight loss outreach direct to […]

One Physician’s Candid Assessment of Social Media in Medical Practice Marketing

One of the most intelligent and insightful physician practice marketing assessments of social media that we’ve seen comes from Kansas City (MO) pediatrician Dr. Natasha Burgert. She committed herself to a one-year project to see if social media would enhance or distract from her pediatric practice. Fast forward to today. After 12 months of using […]

How to Trigger Word of Mouth Advertising and Physician Practice Referrals

Lately we've been increasingly aware of the growing importance of word of mouth (WOM) advertising in physician practice marketing and medical marketing in general. WOM can be either positive (resulting in a patient referral and new business), or it can be negative (resulting in, well, nothing). Having experienced both edges of that sword, we all […]

No One Meant To Lie To You - BUT - Simply being good does NOT guarantee success

Faulty logic may keep you stuck as the "best kept secret" in town. Healthcare practitioners often fall victim to the widely-held, but mistaken belief that being a good doctor is sufficient to attract new patients and assure success. In reality, this non sequitur often leads to failure, and the frustration of feeling like a "best […]

Don’t Miss These Three Creative Ideas for Hospital and Healthcare Promotion

From a hospital wedding to rockin’ oncologists to disco-beat CPR, here’s a quick roundup of noteworthy medical marketing and PR ideas that promote a healthy message of awareness. First, the “nobody wants to miss the wedding” department…

Traditional Meets Digital: Don’t Twitter Away Your Medical Practice Marketing Budget

We applaud the podiatrists—and other professionals—that have embraced social media to market their practices. Many are so eager to hop on the digital bandwagon that some folks are beginning to ask, “Is it time to scrap traditional media advertising?” Our answer is an emphatic “No!” Used to their best advantage, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other […]

Look Who’s Talking: Physician Marketing Finds New Voice for Patient Communications

Patients are increasingly technically oriented and equipped, and they want to open the door to digital communications with their doctors, according to InformationWeek Healthcare. And that only makes sense for a general public that is largely broadband-installed, smartphone-equipped and increasingly involved in their own healthcare decisions. What’s new about this situation is that InformationWeek reports […]

Do Only "Bad Doctors" Actually Pay For Marketing?

The managing partner of a large, respected group called me recently to find out if my firm could help them answer a rising competitive threat and build volume for their associates. The trouble was, he was very guarded and hesitant. After a lot of coaxing, he finally blurted out the real reason behind his reservations. […]

Hospital Marketing and PR Spotlight: Kids and Puppies Are Always a Winner

From time to time we spot hospital marketing and public relations examples in the field that you might like. Here are two with the “can’t miss” combo of kids and/or dogs. Spotlight: St. Louis Children’s Hospital. When therapy dogs make the rounds in the hospital’s cancer wing it makes for a compelling story. Not only […]

Physician Marketing Dangers and Opportunities Grow as Doctor Employment Shifts 77%

The paramount question that nearly all physicians have been asking themselves is, "Where do I want to work?" Just six words, but it's an extremely complicated question. As the turbulence of healthcare reform forces change, almost every doctor in the nation is pondering some version of a question like this one and wondering about their […]

Advanced Technology Is A Star Trek Branding Opportunity For Hospital Marketing

Healthcare delivery isn’t exactly like Gene Roddenberry envisioned it on the Star Trek television series nearly a half-century ago. Or is it? Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy was armed with futuristic devices like medical tricorders, hyposprays for needle-free injections, and vital signs monitors in Sick Bay. So are any of the science fiction devices similar to what […]

When Doctors Slam the Door on Pharmaceutical Marketing Reps, Where Does That Leave the Patient?

The job of a pharmaceutical company field rep is tough. In our experience, it’s always been hard work, but lately pharma marketing—the up-close-and-personal kind—is getting tougher. (It’s always been a challenge to see a busy doctor during office hours.) What’s worse, now there are news media reports about doctors who refuse to see any pharmaceutical […]

Local Means Local: The Importance of Local Search in Hospital and Physician Marketing

One of the grand frustrations about the “world wide web” is that your medical marketing website might be found online by someone who is two hundred miles away and not by a prospective new patient who lives in your neighborhood. The first individual is not a prospect because of the distance. They’ll search again for […]

Mastering the Art of Healthy Storytelling for Better Physician Marketing

A few words from master storytellers. The payoff is in more engaging medical marketing, better physician-patient communications, patient satisfaction and more effective healthcare delivery. Stories and storytelling are at the heart of medical marketing, doctor advertising, hospital public relations and physician-patient interaction. Stories can be conversation, advertising and online testimonials, persuasive guidance for patients, news […]

Case History: How One Group Averted Disaster by Fixing Its Phone Inquiry Problems - and How You Can Do the Same

It's a tragic and extremely costly story - and unfortunately one that we see all the time. Perhaps it has even happened to you. Every day, hospitals and healthcare organizations across the USA invest hard-earned money into marketing, yet see zero new patients from their efforts.

Four Change Agents That Will Influence Your Future Healthcare Marketing

Here’s a heads-up snapshot of four recent news items. Each of these is likely to be of growing importance on your healthcare, medical or hospital marketing horizon. We’ll be watching and writing more about: Google takes a new swing at Facebook with Google+. This, we predict, will be big…or at least a big battle of […]

Doctor Marketing Insights from the Four Seasons Hotel and a Master Surgeon

Here are two distinctly different but well-told stories that are worth sharing. The two storytellers—a photographer based in the Netherlands and an orthopedic surgeon in New York—probably don’t know each other. One story is about social media at work in the hospitality industry. The other is about patient-physician communications. On the surface these topics are […]

Do You Really Know Your Competitive Landscape?

How to take a fresh and fast survey of your own backyard. For a whole lot of reasons, nearly all all healthcare organizations, hospitals and practices are doing business differently from what you might think. Especially in marketing terms, the previous 12 months are not a good guide to how your competition will be navigating […]

two business men a business woman and a doctor working and talking in modern office

Don't Shoot Holes in Your Physician Liaison's Marketing Efforts

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.

Lessons from the Super-Rich: Invest in your Own Business or Practice, Rather than the Stock Market

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 […]

3 arrows going through, under, and over brick wall

As Medical Specialists Race into Consumer-Direct Marketing, Watch for Legal Tripwires

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 […]

Doctors and Hospitals Take Note: Dentists Take a Public Punch for Marketing in Recession

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 […]

How to Give Healthcare Facebook Visitors Reasons to LIKE You

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.

Where to Find 8 Million, Financially Qualified, Elective Care Consumers Right Now

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 […]

YouTube Overview: 12 Helpful Tips About Using Video Sharing in Healthcare Marketing

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 You Can Learn About Medical Marketing from Bank Robber Willie Sutton

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 […]

Doctors’ Offices Follow Hospital Examples in Promoting Wait Times

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 […]

The Benefits of Live Chat on Your Medical Website. (But Does Healthcare Marketing Need It?)

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 […]

Why Hospital Marketing Has an Incentive to Compete with Amenities

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 […]

Facebook Fundamentals: A Guide to Social Media in Healthcare Marketing

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 […]

Physician Marketing Made Ethical AND Effective

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 […]

7 Mistakes Doctors and Healthcare Organizations Make When Getting Their Website Done

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.

Pretty Poison: When Graphics Kill Your Healthcare Marketing Message

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 […]

A Word About Word-of-Mouth Advertising: How to Dispel Old School Misconceptions.

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, […]

Seven Key Reasons to Harness Video Power Now...Ahead of the Competition

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 […]

The Free "Performance Dashboard" For Your Healthcare Marketing Website

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 […]

Doximity is Not the New LinkedIn. Two Important Digital Tools that Every Physician Can Use

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 […]

How Bottom-Line Success is Really About Creating Top-Line Relationships in Healthcare

How the patient experience is increasingly vital to financial success in our changing healthcare delivery system. From large health systems to hospitals, to medical practices, relationships and satisfaction connect directly to the bottom line. Professional practices, hospitals and virtually all healthcare providers of any size are increasingly aware that, like the retail business down the […]

Doctors Aren’t Passively Resisting Social Media. Some Are Candidly Bitter About Something

Do doctors see social media in their practice future? Have you (or patients) ever wondered why a particular doctor isn’t using social networks? Some doctor comments are harsh. Of course many healthcare providers actively use social media routinely and effectively. Patients look online for health and healthcare info, and at least a few thoroughly professional […]

Doctors: How to Choose between Internal Marketing or External Advertising?

What's on First? What's most important and where to begin? Here's a terrific marketing question that popped up again recently: "What's on First? Which is more important, INTERNAL Marketing or EXTERNAL Marketing...and which comes first?" It's a great question that we hear from time to time, especially as practitioners become more comfortable about marketing and want […]

The "Robot Dance" and Six Other Video Clips that Leverage Your Healthcare Content

Video content in healthcare marketing is increasingly affordable and useful for many reasons, but to our budget-stretching mindset, but using “leverage” is the best part of the equation. We talk about leverage in our popular instructional series about the many uses of video. (All six video segments are on this page.) But the compelling value idea […]

Brand v. Bland: The Top Seven Reasons Healthcare Branding Means Business

We launched our new series of marketing articles at ImagingBiz this week with a short lesson in branding. We’re pleased to contribute to the ImagingBiz educational and informational portal on a regular basis. It's for decision-makers in medical imaging in both the outpatient and hospital environments. And although our initial article is directed primarily to […]

The Chicken or the Egg: Balancing Growth Considerations in Your Healthcare Organization

One of the most common dilemmas facing healthcare practice owners is negotiating the delicate balance of priorities and timing required to successfully create and manage the growth of the business. Marketing consultants often refer to this as the "Chicken or the Egg" question because, as a business owner, you have to determine whether you focus […]

Medical Spa Marketing: 5 Essential Promotional Strategies

Don't start without at least one of these or your "Medi-Spa" may go down the drain. The cross-over blending of a medical practice and a day spa continues to grow in popularity. The public finds value and authority in medically directed services to improve personal appearance, and many physicians recognize how a "medi-spa" can add […]

Delivering an Exceptional Patient Experience: Sometimes Leadership Rolls Uphill

by Steve Smith, Healthcare Success Senior Consultant A recent consultation with a client in the Midwest revealed that the physician partners only gave lip service to customer service. Oh, they want each patient to have a good experience, of course, but that's as far as their involvement goes. Unfortunately, that put my office manager contact, […]

How Do They Do That? Marketing High-Touch Primary Care That's Less Than the Cost of a Weekly Latte

What’s not to like about personalized healthcare service? Same day and on time appointments, email access to scheduling and to your doctor, physicians who are not in a hurry and have the time to listen to patients—these are the patient benefits of a concierge practice without the typical (premium) concierge fee schedule. An article in […]

Creating an Annuity Instead of an Embarrassing Disaster with Coupons and Flyers

How to avoid classic direct marketing mistakes and what to do instead Promotional flyers and coupons are growing in usage, and have been increasingly popular with the public for more than a century. On the plus-side, done right, they often work well in the healthcare marketing mix, but it's easy to make mistakes. Here are […]

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