by Jon Headlee
Boring. Expected. Physician-driven. Trite. We get it — you're close to home. Convenient. You have the most advanced technology. A robot. 95 doctors, who, amazingly, can all fit on one billboard. We've heard it before. You’ve heard it before. Who cares? Okay, maybe we're being harsh. But sometimes the truth hurts. And we’re here to take a stand — because, as hospital marketers, we're better than that. If we can’t clearly express what makes a brand different — and why that matters — then we’ll never grow out of the status quo. Communicating a brand isn’t about reciting a tagline — it’s about building something that lives and breathes the brand — through every interaction your hospital has with its people.
Selling The Expected? Don't Expect to Seal the Deal.Believe it or not, patients can actually choose where they want to go for care. So, to get people in the door, your hospital has to be seen as more than a high-quality (ugh — another ambiguous phrase) healthcare facility. Yes, patients want to be treated with brilliant minds and brilliant technology. And, yes, as marketers, we should make those points clear. But those points should only play a supporting role. Because the Oscar goes to the message that can wrap your patients in a warm blanket of confidence in your brand. After all, your competition is offering a lot of the same stuff. (And, sometimes, they're doing a better job.) So, put faces on your people. (Just please, don't squeeze all those faces on a single billboard.) Show off your softer side (but be transparent + believable). Give your audience a feeling about your brand — not just information about your brand.
Relatability + Credibility Builds Trust.So how do we do this? We think like our customer. We establish a common ground with them — before they need us. We get on their level. We are empathetic — and in the healthcare industry, it’s something we should all be pretty good at. When we do that — when we market the ‘why’ and not the ‘what’ — we are saying “I understand what you need and why you need it, so choose me.” We become a partner. We become a trusted resource. So, here’s the tough question for today — where does your hospital marketing stand? Soul search for a bit — if all that soul-searching produces feelings of sheepish anxiety or even a yawn or two, know this — no worries. So, you’ve got some work to do. But, the good news is, once you figure out the secret sauce of your hospital, you’re on the path to a great recipe that will out taste-test all the other bland hospital advertising we’ve been choking down all these years. And, remember, if you ever need help in the kitchen, we know some pretty good chefs. |
by Jon Headlee
An Ounce of PreventionPersonal awareness plays an important role in prevention. But, many times, that's the toughest nut to crack — because many of us just don't have a realistic picture of ourselves, especially in terms of our own health. That's why we need a partner to help us get a clear perspective — that could be a spouse, a parent, sure — but, ideally, this person is a doctor (who has less of a personal bias than a family member). Clinicians are working to develop models that can better predict outcomes so that doctors can see the signs and find opportunities for early interventions. We all know that an increased emphasis on prevention and wellness is going to help with rising health care costs — as well as improving outcomes. And, the birth of the mighty EMR is generating vast amounts of patient information that can give us new insights about prevention in real-time. Providers can focus on population health management and outcomes rather than on episodic care that only looks at the symptoms of the moment. Prevention is a strategy. And it touches every aspect of our hospital and its operations — long-term planning, marketing, our culture and the way we deliver services.
Strategic PlanningThe Affordable Care Act is no longer this thing looming in the distant future. It's here. And it's real. While this is scary to some folks, luckily, smart marketers like us are armed with the knowledge that, by focusing on prevention, we can come out ahead of the rest of the pack. So, exactly how do we increase patient awareness and get them excited about wellness? Major changes in technology have enabled our staff and patients to access information faster — and to use it more effectively. Mobile diagnosis and even treatment increases convenience and immediacy — and provides that instant gratification our society has groomed us to crave. Our consumers are more mobile than ever — they want to interact with us. They want an experience. So let's give them what they want!
MarketingAs hospital marketers, we must position our hospitals as places of prevention and wellness. We must provide an experience that is rooted in prevention, in wellness. This requires a holistic approach to content development and delivery, whether we're engaging patients digitally, traditionally or in person. Smartphones are a vital tool to distributing our marketing messages and even health information. In fact, the ability to interact with doctors and health coaches via text message is becoming increasingly popular, giving patients the health relationship they crave. The experience they are looking for. We can use technology and communication tools to build our reputation as trusted resources.
CultureIf we expect patients to take charge of their own wellness, then we should expect the same from our employees. After all, if a patient is holding themselves to a high standard, they certainly hold us to one that’s even higher. Not fair, but it's reality. Our interactions with them have to be relevant. Believable. After all, taking health advice from a physician who could obviously take some of his or her own advice is a pretty tough pill for a patient to swallow. We have to walk the talk — and practice what we preach. This builds credibility — and can inspire patients to make changes of their own. Focusing on prevention will also affect how we interact with our corporate audiences. Our industry partners, from our own physicians to insurance and pharmaceutical companies, will have to work more closely with us to achieve positive outcomes. How will each of our roles change? And how will we benefit?
OperationsBy focusing our business model on prevention, we can provide an efficient back-office experience that eliminates inefficiencies and frustrations — and helps build a healthier organization, both financially and operationally. It enables us to be more proactive than ever, to achieve the ideal healthy state for our hospital. Prevention is a powerful tool in every hospital marketer's bag of tricks. What does a prevention-oriented future look like for you and your hospital? |
Celebrating a birthday away from my native home of Bangkok, Thailand always leaves me feeling as if something is missing. The more years that pass by, the more I crave childhood fun and memories — food, friends and family. Well, no more searching, I found it all right here in Evansville at the Zesto Drive-In. Ten Adams treated me to a birthday celebration with an American twist. We all indulged in the Big Hug burger (only Bob Fichtinger dared to order this giant!), Zesto funnel cake fries and soft serve ice cream — not quite the same as Thai cuisine but it gave me the same feelings from birthdays past that made the experience feel like home. There’s nothing quite like some authentic Evansville flavor to add to my birthday memories.
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As we gear up to launch our new campaign for Riverside Medical Group next month, we thought we’d offer another behind-the-scenes peek at a Ten Adams photoshoot…and, of course, lessons learned along the way.
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