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The Speed of Trust: One Doctor’s System for Physician-Patient Communications

To hitchhike on a brilliant concept by Stephen Covey: information flows at the speed of trust.* For physician-patient communications and healthcare marketing there’s a powerful payoff in getting the communications cycle right—beginning with the basics. Four of the benefits that flow at the speed of trust are compliance, engagement, improved outcomes and a prospectively positive […]

AAOE: Building a Physician Referral Network

We frequently address professional audiences around the nation, and this month is no exception. HSS Founding Partner Stewart Gandolf will speak at the 2012 American Association of Orthopaedic Executives (AAOE) Annual Conference in New Orleans. Calendar Note: Stewart’s presentation, Importance of Marketing in Building a Physician Referral Network, will be on Tuesday, May 22nd, beginning […]

Little Playbook of Emotions for Healthcare Branding and Patient Engagement

Medical practice and hospital marketing professionals have an extremely challenging job on the forward facing frontline of healthcare communications. Suffice to say that it’s a complex task to effectively “speak healthcare” to the public. But it’s helpful to know that effective medical messaging—from patient conversations to mass media—will nearly always relate to a short list […]

Twitter Tips: Social Media & Healthcare Marketing

How to take advantage of online social media The explosion of social and community centered websites is an Internet evolution that seems to be everywhere. But approach with care. These are upper-level marketing tools for some healthcare organizations, group and individual practices, hospitals and businesses. This is the second in a series of articles about […]

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Google Just Made Your Practice or Hospital Website Disappear. (Seriously.)

The search engine giant Google made its fortune by finding things online. Google dominates the world of Internet search in a way that "dominate" doesn't seem like a strong enough description. In reality, if Google doesn't find and list your website on the first page or two of search results, you are destined to be […]

Why Social Spending Sites May Not Be a Bargain for Physician Advertising

Just when you thought (perhaps hoping) the various “daily deal” sites had reached their peak, it turns out they are continuing to grow in popularity with consumers. The trouble is, results for hospital or medical practice advertising can be spotty. Hidden behind the glitz and glamour of worldwide growth, industry observers and studies caution that […]

Paying Patients: Are Rewards Programs Next for Physician Marketing?

From airline frequent flyers to auto parts bonus buys, American consumers are consumed by loyal-customer incentive schemes. Purchases earn points, miles, discounts, and even cash rewards…all to inspire buyers to buy again and buy more. (How many little “advantage” scan cards are in your pocket?) It works in retail. And not surprisingly, this proliferation of […]

Digital Healthcare Decisions: Social Media Opportunity for Marketers

The virtual environment of social media is growing in importance as a vital connecting point. Social media is the online environment where consumers (prospective patients) evaluate healthcare providers, and make decisions about their health, medication and hospitals. A new Health Industries Group/PwC study declares “Social media is changing the nature of healthcare interaction, and health […]

7 Media Buying Myths: Reducing Financial Risk in Healthcare Advertising

The single most financially dangerous line item in a healthcare marketing plan is usually labeled Media Planning and Buying. An otherwise sound medical advertising plan can become a major waste of resources. When hospitals or doctors who own a practice fail to understand how media buying works, they either spend more money than they need […]

LinkedIn: The Social Media Town Car of Physician Marketing

The many and various social media platforms seem to have their own “personality” of sorts. One might imagine Twitter as a Corvette…a fast little sports car. It’s nice to look at, but it’s quick to disappear down the road. That would make Facebook something like the family station wagon. A casual and universal transport for […]

Doctor Marketing: Patients Are Always Judging You

It doesn’t happen as often these days, but from time to time we find ourselves in a discussion with a practitioner who confidently declares that they have no need for “doctor marketing,” much less any need for a health care advertising agency. The back-story in each conversation varies, but we often discover that their mindset […]

A Clear and Sensible Business Case for SEO and Healthcare Marketing Analytics

Sometimes it’s doubly curious to discover valuable medical marketing lessons and useful tools in…well, curious places. For example, one of the most articulate business cases we’ve read recently originated in Vienna, Austria, and it’s not about healthcare. Remarkably, author Dan Taylor offers a business-smart discussion of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and the value of analytics—without […]

A Logo is Not a Brand: The Mark of Meaningful Values

With increasing frequency, we hear from someone who believes that creating a logo is the primary consideration in creating a brand or branding message. In fact, a logo is not a brand, but it represents a brand. It's a common question. The ongoing reconfiguration of the nation's healthcare delivery system has many medical practices and […]

Surprised? The Increasing Importance of Physician-to-Physician Referrals

At first glance, this looks like another one of those instances of a “surprising secret” article where the subject material is neither too surprising nor too secret. It turns out that the recent WSJ/SmartMoney article about the work of physician liaisons and practice representatives is good info for patients, but it isn’t startling news to […]

More Tough-Times Healthcare Marketing Secrets

Keeping the roof over your head when it looks like the sky is falling. Healthcare organizations that stick to their marketing plan during a recession maintain and grow while the competition is hiding. And studies show they also enjoy a bigger up-side when the economy improves. We've published several articles about healthcare marketing in a […]

Picture This: Using the Explosive Trend to Visuals in Social Media

If you don't already have a "visual marketing strategy," your healthcare branding message could be quickly slipping behind the power curve. This is more than an exercise in graphics; some see it as an important trend for healthcare marketing. Healthcare providers, hospital marketing executives and medical advertising pros need to leverage the new emphasis on […]

Marketing Myopia: A Classic Insight for Winning New Patients Today

The following quote is at least 50 years old, but dentists, doctors and healthcare providers can put this classic insight to the task of winning new patients immediately. Marketing guru and Harvard Business School Professor Theodore Levitt often told his students: "People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!" The […]

Hiring a Healthcare Practice or Organization Rep

Hospitals want to constantly build rapport with their referring physicians. And, if you are a specialist (medical, physical therapy or dental), chances are you are heavily dependent upon referrals from other doctors. If you are currently looking to win more of those professional referrals, experience shows that one of the most productive and successful marketing […]

Healthcare Robots Sell High-Tech Branding and Benefits

Our recent post titled, Meet Two Virtual Nurses Now Working in Medical Marketing, attracted a lot of reader interest and feedback. These two examples of technology interacting with patients for patient discharge and infection control are also marketing opportunities on at least two fronts.They do an important job at a cost-saving rate, and they spotlight a […]

Goals, Strategies and Tactics: Drawing the Roadmap for Success

How to organize the tasks and responsibilities that will get you where you want to go. A marketing or business goal is not clearly defined without establishing what's needed to achieve it. Organizing the broad concepts and specific action steps that support the goal are the fundamental tools necessary to success in healthcare marketing. Here's […]

7 Dangerous Legal Issues to Avoid in Doctor Advertising

Fundamentals That Keep Your Medical Provider Marketing in the Safe Zone First in a Series: Ethical and professional advertising messages steer physician and healthcare provider advertising away from legal problems. We talk with a healthcare attorney about the proper handling of basic legal problem areas. A legal mistake in healthcare advertising can ruin your life.

Futuristic Stuff That Will Change Healthcare Marketing Someday (Soon)

The future is impossible to predict with precision, but it’s helpful to keep your eyes on the road ahead. Here are a few key things we see just over the horizon that have implications for healthcare marketing…soon, or someday soon. Facebook will challenge Google in search, and Google will challenge Facebook in social. Both are […]

Testimonials: The Rules of Effective Social Proof in Healthcare Marketing

Puppy dogs (and kittens) are cuddly cute. Babies (and kids) are scene-stealers. But in healthcare marketing, there's nothing more convincing-and downright effective-than an excellent testimonial. Sorry canine cuteness, but testimonials have been called "the single most powerful marketing tool." They are a close relative to word-of-mouth advertising, and they are effective in "closing the sale" […]

How Healthcare Marketing is Like Drilling for Oil

There's a five-step process that makes for best practice success. Healthcare marketing is very much like drilling for oil. Success requires a proven system not a shovel. Here's an analogy that I presented to a client recently. Suppose you want to drill for oil. You can begin making random holes in your backyard, or you […]

Get Small: The Digital World is a Mobile World

If you don’t have a mobile strategy for your healthcare marketing, your online presence may have disappeared from view. The critical question is: Is your medical, dental or hospital ready for the “small screen?” Just when you thought your healthcare marketing website was completely functional, along comes an overpowering wave of smartphones and mobile devices. […]

Consumer Intelligence: Hard Questions for Concierge Practice Marketing

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) put forward the challenge questions for consumers, “Is Paying for 'Concierge' Health Care Worth It? What to Ask Before Signing Up for a High-End Plan.” With the nation’s healthcare delivery system changing, the thoughtful article [here] was intended to inform prospective patients about the growing number […]

Engaging Patients Online: 18 Fundamentals for Medical Marketing

We don't always agree with Arianna Huffington, but as a digital media observer, publisher and thought leader, she is spot-on in recognizing how online media has changed from mainly "presentational" to truly "conversational." In her words, "This is the golden age of engagement." The president and editor in chief of the Huffington Post Media Group described digital […]

Why Healthcare Marketing Needs to Wakeup to Caregivers and Influencers

Healthcare marketing is in need of an overhaul, according to Advertising Age (AdAge), the respected advertising and marketing industry publication. They arrived at this conclusion after talking with 25,000 consumer/buyers of healthcare products and services. Marketing and advertising that only targets the prospective patient might miss the mark and not get the job done. As […]

An Actual Patient, an Exceptional Practice Story and a Fun Production Shoot

In professional circles, almost any corner of the film production industry is casually referred to as working in “the biz.” And those same professionals will quickly add that it’s a lot more hard work than the popular PR image of “glitz and glamour.” But the considerable effort behind a healthcare television commercial is not only […]

Lead-Balloon Letter: How Not to Announce a Fee Increase

Right up front we want to say that we’re more than understanding about the financial struggle that goes with operating a medical practice. The nation’s economy remains soft, reimbursements are down, overhead costs are up; private practice is a tough business. (Most businesses—large or small, product or service, retail or otherwise—feel a financial pinch, including […]

Every Sign in Your Medical Office Has a Double Meaning

We've all seen desktop-generated signs in the waiting rooms or reception areas of doctors' offices. Presumably the intent is to help the staff and help the patient. But the problem is that regardless of what they say, they are often a signal of a culture focused on admin and processing and not on a culture […]

Vasectomy Advertising is a Popular New, Non-Contact Sport

Way back in August, 2010, we ran a post titled, Urology Marketing: Vasectomy Friday, the Couch Potato, and Big Game Weekend. Flash forward to this month. Now, about a year and a half later, the clever promotional idea seems to have taken off in a big way. It’s no coincidence that it’s just in time […]

Is This What a Unicorn Economic Recovery Looks Like?

We think the current economic picture just might be a “unicorn recovery.” Like the mythical beast, everybody talks about it, but nobody has seen it. Hopeful signals filter through the media, but—in our slice of reality—we have yet to hear a client or prospective client say that they see evidence of a real economic turn […]

The World's Shortest Marketing Survey: One, Four-Word Question

This is a quick post about a clever little idea. Healthcare marketing professionals can use this powerful four-word question to engage patients and inspire instant, on-the-job comments from the public. Here’s how it works. The four words are: “How am I doing?” Put this question and a brief invitation immediately below your signature block for […]

Telling Your Tale of Texting Technology: A Medical PR Opportunity

Hospitals—at least some hospitals—have a reputation for being laggards on the technology adoption curve. There's some truth to that; after all, big medical devices have a big price tag and six- and seven-figure capital investments don't happen weekly. But the truth is that many hospitals and group medical practices have discovered new ways to apply […]

Success Story: Orthopedic Center of Illinois’ Unified Marketing Message

Generally, we’re a bit modest about the work we do as a healthcare advertising agency, but once in a while we like to tell a good success story. And this tale is worth retelling for several reasons. First, it was a complex marketing issue…and we like that kind of challenge. Second, the client is pleased […]

4 Tested Ways to Uncover New Healthcare Business Opportunities

A while ago a doctor came to us with the complaint: "I haven't been in practice 15 years...I've been in practice one year 15 times." That conversation lead us to help him discover medical practice marketing opportunities that not only enriched his business, they enlivened his professional satisfaction. There's more to discovering new healthcare marketing […]

Most Doctors Are Gloomy About Their Financial Future and Patient Care

We speak with physicians and surgeons every day, and by way of our ongoing sampling of attitudes and opinions they are not optimistic or enthusiastic about healthcare reform. Unfortunately, these first hand, from-the-field reports range from “pessimistic” to “survival threat.” First, there’s the unhappy news. Just last week the results of a national research study […]

Updating your Website for Fun and Profit

Keeping your healthcare website content fresh pays-back in marketing dividends Healthcare marketing websites for organizations and practices of all types need to be maintained with regular changes for maximum effectiveness. It's a web-savvy rule that applies across the board for hospitals, manufacturers, physicians and surgeons, dentists, pharmaceuticals...virtually everyone. Here are the four main benefits that […]

Healthcare’s Consumerist Revolution and the Quality of Caring

Lately we’ve been thinking about the increasingly evident gap between patient expectations and provider expectations in healthcare today. As the nation’s health delivery system continues to redefine itself, there’s a shift from a provider-focused culture to a patient-centered culture. Past, present and future, healthcare is a caring and progressive profession. No one deliberately offends patients […]

Medical Marketing: Are You Setting Sail to Fail in the Sea of Competition?

Not so long ago, it was rare—extremely rare, in fact—to find a full-time marketing person working for a medical practice. The same was also true for many hospitals. At best, medical marketing was a part-time proposition. But the tide has changed. It began as a trickle and has turned into a tidal wave. Today, having […]

7 Tips to Writing the Perfect Healthcare Email Subject Line

Email, as a healthcare marketing tool, has a lot going for it. It's inexpensive. It's fast. And it can be highly effective. Email also has a lot of things working against it. It's easily ignored. It can be filtered as spam. And it just might not communicate at all. Arguably, the most important part of […]

Surprise Success: Attitude Shift Lifts New Patient Appointments 41 Percent

We just love to tell a good medical marketing success story, and this one has an unexpected punchline. Although the real world stage is an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) practice on the East Coast, the value lesson isn’t limited to otolaryngology marketing. The core concept is useful for nearly all medical practice owners and […]

Will Digital Dooh Loos Make a Splash in Medical Marketing?

Not everyone can use innovative ideas about digital signs, so let’s just say that sometimes our Friday posts can be on the casual and slightly amusing side of informative. Our little story begins more than a dozen years ago… The cardinal rule of a brainstorming session is that there are no bad ideas. So when […]

Practical Alternatives for Doctors Who Hate "Black Hat" Selling

Most doctors hate the idea of "sales," "selling," or being a "sales person." To many, the concept behind sales-and the old-school reputation-is more about taking than giving. And it's not just physicians. The culture and mind-set throughout professional ranks-medical practice staff, hospitals, and marketing communicators-is one of concern and providing solutions for individuals in need.

STUDY: Healthcare Websites Need Update as Hubs for Patient Engagement

In what is described as “the first systematic assessment of hospital websites,” a new study suggests that most physician, hospital and health system websites could improve their websites. The analysis, published in the Journal of Healthcare Management, evaluated over 630 websites from four dimensions, ACCESSIBILITY, CONTENT, MARKETING and TECHNOLOGY. And, according to this in-depth study, […]

Chicken-or-Egg Challenge: Who Chooses the Hospital, Patient or Physician?

More than a few times recently we’ve heard the comment: “Patients choose doctors, not hospitals.” We wonder if you agree…or not. Evaluate a random selection of hospital advertising from around the nation and a casual observer might wonder if facilities are promoting quality care or creature comforts. Is this a fine hospital or a five-star […]

What to Advertise: The Difference between Ho-Hum and Home Run

How to target your healthcare organization advertising for the best return and profitability. Not to say that a lot of doctors are out of touch, but... If you were to ask 100 doctors what Procedure "X' reimburses, more than 90 would be able to shout out an answer with 100% certainty. The trouble is, […]

Pinterest: Four Important Considerations Before You Board, Pin or Repin

The buzz around that “new” social media site Pinterest (the virtual pinboard where you “pin” things of interest) has been explosive in the past few weeks. But like many “overnight sensations,” this emerging technology has actually been around for a couple of years. Some medical and dental practices, hospitals, healthcare marketing professionals and health-condition-specific ePatients […]

Social Media Ideas Making a Breakthrough in Medical Practice Marketing

As recently as a year or so ago we probably couldn’t offer a post about the many and various ways that doctors were using social media tools in their medical practice marketing. Outside of the Innovators and Early Adopters, not much could be reported. At best it would have been a short article. But the […]

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