Hospital Marketing Journal

Branding Webinar - Branding in a New Era of Healthcare: Not Your Father's Hospital

Does your brand connect consumers to the comprehensive healthcare support they seek? Healthcare today is far more encompassing than it's ever been before, touching virtually every aspect of how we equip ourselves to live our lives - physically, mentally and spiritually. Healthcare is no longer confined within the walls of your hospital, your ambulatory care centers or the offices of the physicians you employ. It’s more a product of the thousands of choices we, as individuals, make every day. As a result, how consumers view healthcare and their expectations of providers is changing significantly. Your organization - and your brand - are judged on the basis of your value to consumers in very broad terms - the extent to which you integrate with their lives, anticipating and proactively addressing needs based on information they have provided. Join Ten Adams on May 17th at 3 PM Eastern to discover how to deal with these changing expectations and their impact on your hospital's success. In this 30 minute webinar we will discuss: • Today's New Proposition in Healthcare and How it Touches Every Aspect of Our Lives • The Emerging Challenge of Brand Leadership • The Five D's of Brand Strategy Creation and Execution • The Value of Customer Relationships and Emotional Connectivity as Demonstrated by Harley Davidson and Apple Don't miss this opportunity to take a deeper look at how hospital brands must change to meet consumers' expectations in the new era of healthcare. Space is limited. Register here to hold your spot.

A Pinteresting Case for Healthcare Marketing

by Lauren Wunderlich

Pinterest is the hot new social media phenomenon.  But will it succeed in the long run? Many believe Pinterest’s unique place in the social media atmosphere will help it succeed, while some critics believe privacy issues might hint at a bumpy road ahead. For hospital marketers, the overlap of the key healthcare decision maker + the demographic of the average Pinterest user — higher income women ages 18-34 — is more than enticing. (TechCrunch). This is one obvious case for Pinterest’s value in healthcare marketing strategies — but is it worth precious marketing dollars and time?  Read on to find out. The Basics So what makes Pinterest so…um, interesting?  After all, it’s just pictures, right? Hive Strategies says this:  “People use Pinterest to organize their favorite things and browse other people’s favorite things.”  Users create boards to pin items of interest and share them with others.  Pinterest goes far beyond pretty pictures and gives the user something else entirely — inspiration. (And a way to nurture their inner Martha Stewart.) Value to Healthcare Marketers Pinterest is a great way to organize content so it can quickly + easily be accessed. This ability to curate content is a great argument for Pinterest’s value to hospital marketers. By aggregating content in one space, whether from your own hospital website or other sources, a hospital can easily educate + engage patients. Think of it this way: instead of sending a patient home with brochures on stretching exercises or a new diabetic meal plan, staff can just direct them to the “Rehabilitation Exercises” or “Diabetic Recipes” board on your hospital’s Pinterest page. http://pinterest.com/summitmedicalnj/rehabilitation-exercises/ http://pinterest.com/trishbarker/diabetic-recipes/ Another sell for healthcare marketers is Pinterest’s ability to generate web traffic.  Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google+, LinkedIn + YouTube combined, according to Shareaholic. Impressive numbers — made all the more impressive knowing most of these visitors are our coveted female, 18-34 demographic. Still need convincing?  Check out these stats from ragan.com: Pinterest retains and engages users two to three times more efficiently as Twitter did at the same age. Pinterest accounts for 3.6 percent of referral traffic, while Twitter is just barely ahead, accounting for 3.61 percent of referral traffic. In July 2011, Pinterest accounted for only 0.17 percent of referral traffic.  More than one-fifth of Facebook-connected users are on Pinterest daily. This represents more than 2,000,000 members In May 2011, an average Pinterest visitor spent 13.7 minutes per month on the site. In January 2012, each Pinterest visitor spent an average of 97.8 minutes per month on the site. Who’s on Pinterest? As the statistics show, Pinterest is definitely catching the attention of marketers. However, it has yet to be a real hit in the healthcare industry.  Brands like Etsy, HGTV, Whole Foods + Nordstrom have a presence on Pinterest, but only a handful of hospitals have decided to climb onboard.  Here are a few of the early joiners: Dayton Children’s Medical Center Dayton Children’s Medical Center uses content from their website to increase traffic.  Check out how they’re using inspirational patient stories to direct users back to their own website: Baylor Health Baylor Health has boards on interactive health quizzes, healthy holidays, family health, health awareness, fitness + more. With over 200 followers already, it looks like they’re doing something right. Some additional healthcare organizations using Pinterest are Inova Health, Summit Medical Group, + MD Anderson Cancer Center. Check out their Pinterest sites for some fresh ideas + inspiration. Potential Setbacks Although Pinterest seems like a fresh approach to social media, as with anything new, there are always improvements to be made.  As mentioned earlier, privacy (or more the lack of it) has come into question for some.  Also, there has yet to be a healthcare or wellness listing within Pinterest; so in order to be noticed, you must direct people to boards/ page directly. Using social media to generate traffic to your hospital’s Pinterest page is a great way to go, but Pinterest isn’t likely to generate unsolicited traffic. Finally, it might be hard to justify the extra time + resources spent cultivating your presence on Pinterest. Not only is there no analytics component to measure brand performance within the site, but there’s also the intimidating thought of developing a whole new social media presence. Wrap-Up Pinterest is a fun, visually stimulating + inspiring approach to communicating with  hospital consumers, but whether or not it will be viable in the long-term is still too close to call.  At the very least, hospitals should keep their eyes open for any new opportunities that are bound to present themselves with Pinterest. Is Pinterest worth your hospital’s time and valuable marketing resources?  Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Why Culture Matters to Patient Experience

On Friday, September 16th, 2011, from 3:30pm to 4:45pm, Ten Adams will present an exciting and informative seminar, Why Culture Matters to Patient Experience, at Connections 2011, the annual conference and exhibits of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD). The seminar is part of the Leadership/Development track and examines the importance of workplace culture in delivering an optimal patient experience. Hospitals are facing serious challenges today. According to the American Hospital Association, the total number of hospitals declined from 7,156 in 1975 to 5,795 in 2009 due in large part to financial pressures from decreasing reimbursements and increasing operating costs, forcing them to merge into larger hospitals to benefit from economies of scale and decreased competition. Healthstream Research (HSR), one of the healthcare industry’s foremost research resources, recently reported that in order to overcome financial challenges today, hospitals need to focus on employee satisfaction and retention and the employee’s role in providing high-quality patient care. The HSR study concluded that without employee engagement, there can be no patient engagement. The Ten Adams presentation explores employee engagement and its relationship to hospital culture and patient satisfaction. The presentation points out that improving employee engagement is vital to establishing a new mindset in healthcare organizations and developing a culture that promotes care, safety, service and value for the patient and their families. Ten Adams will share with the audience a real life example of a hospital that needed a significant transformation in multiple areas of organizational performance and how Ten Adams was able to help them. Participants will be educated on the difference between marketing and branding and how an organization’s culture becomes the brand promise. The session closes by providing practical and useful insights into what hospital leaders need to do to energize or transform workplace culture. The two presenters for this seminar are Scott Mosley, VP Strategy for Ten Adams and a seasoned health care marketing professional with more than 25 years of experience in the profession and Jon Headlee, President of Ten Adams since 1992 and an expert in hospital strategic marketing, branding and consulting. The SHSMD conference is being held this year in Phoenix, Arizona, September 14th through the 17th, at The J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and is entitled, Exploring New Horizons. SHSMD is celebrating its 15th Anniversary with special sessions, events, and surprises. This year, participants will be able to get up to date information on the latest trends, issues, and best practices in healthcare strategy, take away new ideas and skills that will pay off back at the office, network with colleagues from around the country and find the latest marketplace solutions in SHSMD’s Exhibit Hall. (SHSMD) If you are attending SHSMD this year, please visit Ten Adams’ Booth #100 to learn more about us and talk in person to Jon, Scott and other Ten Adams personnel.

QR Codes Gaining Popularity

by Nancy Daugherty

Information at the click of a mouse, in the palm of your hand—and now by the scan of a code? That’s right. QR codes, short for quick response codes, are those small barcode look-a-like things that you may have seen in the corner of advertisements, magazines, or billboards that literally connect you to information when scanned. These two-dimensional codes are more than just funny looking black and white squares. When scanned by a smartphone’s QR reader, the code directs you to a landing page where you can view videos, promotional content, or other information. While QR codes are just beginning to gain popularity in the U.S., they have actually been around since the 1990’s. Created in Japan by Toyota in 1994, QR codes were originally used to track automotive parts as they were distributed to various manufacturers across the world. Now, they have become mobile-friendly ways to instantly connect people to online resources. Fast-food restaurants place them on food and beverage containers to connect consumers to their product’s nutritional information. It’s a tool that businesses use to engage consumers with their brand by placing them on business cards or brochures to drive traffic to their website, social media platforms, and to coupons or discount codes. Hospitals are also using QR codes in many ways: on their hospital directories to give people directions to various locations, introduce new services or facilities, and promote teen health education.  QR codes are emerging on print campaigns to promote new physicians directing viewers to a YouTube interview with that physician or to promote a service line with a patient video testimonial. Caution must be used; however, because thought and creativity are essential when including a QR code in promotions. It's work to scan a barcode, so users have higher expectations as to what content they will find. If you think QR codes are just a fad, consider this; now you no longer have to find the nearest computer, or spend time Google searching on your phone to access information because QR codes allow you to be directly connected no matter where you are, and with the rising number of smartphone users, QR code usage rates have steadily increased. Businesses, organizations, and marketers are also seeing the value because they can track user engagement by seeing the number of people who scanned their code, how much time they spent on their site, and what they are doing on their site. That data can be analyzed and used to make decisions about future marketing campaigns. In today’s world that relies heavily on hand held devices to access information, QR codes are definitely something to look out for. Have you utilized QR Codes for your organization?  Have you ever scanned a QR Code?

Measuring Social Media on the Web

by Nancy Daugherty

Digital communications over the internet have opened, to hospitals and healthcare organizations, a growing trove of marketing channels; particularly those built around search and social networking.   With an opportunity of abundance comes a challenge of control. Using social media marketing to build awareness and affinity around your brand and web presence can be a boon, but trying to understand the complexities of how well your marketing vehicles perform online can seem like an anchor.  A solid digital presence relies on your ability to recognize your reach and influence within the world of the web. Significant resources are often applied to this challenge, but there are free options available that give healthcare managers – marketing or otherwise – access to basic measures of engagement and effectiveness. These tools measure an array of elements; from visitor page counts and tracking, to the ‘hottest’ spots on your site (through analysis of click patterns). These examples cover many of the more popular marketing channels on the web: Google Analytics – gives you a view of the traffic flow into and around your website. It can tell you if visitors arrive through search engines, display advertising, pay-per-click networks, or email marketing.  It also provides data on time spent with your site and the next web destination for visitors. FaceBook Insights – a tool for understanding your followers on Facebook. Demographic info, as well as psychographic clues like activities, comments and wall posts, give a glimpse into the consumer who is most engaged with your social media. Feedburner – if you are blogging or providing other content, know more about your content consumers.  This tool gives you data on where and how your subscribers came to find your RSS feeds. Post Rank – if your site is powered by WordPress, get analytics that identify where and how visitors engage your site, and what they do while visiting.  This tool provides near real-time snapshots, as it refreshes data daily. Twitalyzer – analytics for the Twittersphere.  This tool, provided by Twitter, delivers detailed metrics on engagement and ‘clout’ for individual Twitter accounts. YouTube Insights – view detailed statistics about the videos that you upload to your YouTube site. Understand the number of unique viewers as well as total views, broken-out by geographic regions.  Benchmark your data against all videos in that market over a given time period. Maximizing viewer engagement and optimizing your reach is at the core of success in any digital marketing campaign; and social media marketing on the web is becoming a more and more valuable ‘community communication’ channel for healthcare organizations. Measuring the impact of your campaign on the web should give a much better picture of overall effectiveness. Have you had experience or success with measuring your online impact? If so, how has it impacted your present marketing efforts?