Hospital Marketing Journal

Advertising Webinar: 12/13 at 3pm EST

Healthcare advertising does not have to be bland or undifferentiated.  It does not have to translate to pictures of sick people, equipment or doctors. We’ve all been there… “Where’s the photo of the equipment?” “We are not showing the doctor.” “The logo isn’t big enough!”  “The patient doesn’t look sick enough.” …on and on and on. Sound familiar? If so, you may be in need of some serious help! If not, what we have found at Ten Adams is that a lot of healthcare advertising isn’t necessarily bad. It just does not stand out, causing consumers to pass over it. So, how do we stand out in a sea of sameness? Join Ten Adams for an hour long webinar on December 13th at 3 PM Eastern to discover how to: Reinforce the value of dynamic creative ideas while evolving your brand and brand architecture Use the right mix of media to get your message noticed Track results to know if marketing is working FEATURED SPEAKER: Kris Laufer, Vice President Creative, Ten Adams Kris joined the Ten Adams team in 1992, and has more than 25 years of creative experience in the advertising industry. The past 15-plus years have been focused solely on healthcare marketing. As Creative Director, Kris leads the award-winning creative team at Ten Adams’ in developing campaigns aligned with research and strategy. Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to evolve a brand through good, solid creative ideas delivered with the right mix of media to get your message noticed. Space is limited. Register here to hold your spot.

Hot Topics from SHSMD

We had a great time at SHSMD this year mixing with all the brilliant healthcare minds in Philly. We reunited with old friends, made some new friends + filled our brains to the brim over many exciting healthcare discussions. So, what were the hot topics? Digital Marketing – Interesting factoid: only 6.2% of attendees tweeted using the hashtag #shsmd12. What does this mean? Well, for one, many healthcare marketers aren’t completely comfortable with Twitter. It appears that for those hospitals who are just dipping their toes in the social media waters, the place to start is with Facebook, rather than Twitter. In our own research we have found that the most coveted healthcare consumers are more likely to spend their time on Facebook than any other social media platform. But digital marketing is so much more than social media: web, mobile, email, content strategy, blogs… Healthcare marketers’ heads are understandably spinning with so many options to explore. Physician Engagement + Alignment – Among the current challenges of healthcare reform, the relationship between hospitals and physicians stands out as a key factor. Particularly, there is a strong need for hospitals to achieve physician engagement as a way to ensure a healthy bottom line. From cultural changes to the regulatory environment, from patient satisfaction to Medicare reimbursement, physicians are increasingly at the center of hospital viability. Patient Experience – Hospitals are taking a long hard look at their mission, business models, marketing strategy, brand and the needs of the community they serve. Already many hospitals are measuring and placing great importance on the concept of patient experience. A combination of increased consumer access to information, rising healthcare expectations, the importance patients place on “softer” things like bedside manner and empathy, as well as greater community awareness of the importance of wellness, means that hospitals are accountable as never before to those they serve. These are just a few of the hottest topics discussed by many at SHSMD 2012. What are the hot healthcare topics that you deal with on a daily basis?

Anatomy of a TV Shoot

How does an idea go from this: To this: Well, come along for a never-before-seen, mind-blowing look behind the scenes at a Ten Adams TV shoot, as we share a few lessons we learned along the way. Lesson #1: Film crews are notoriously awesome at making a scene (wink, wink) + disrupting traffic. Especially when 40 feet of banners are involved. Lesson #2: Helicopters are just as cool now as they were when we were seven. (Helicopters with remote cameras? Even cooler.) Lesson #3: Creative directors + associate creative directors evidently are not insured to climb suspension bridges with the rest of the crew. (Lesson #3 ½ — this makes them cranky.) Lesson #4: Shooting a movie theater scene? Foggers are a great little trick used to achieve that awesome projector beam. Lesson #5: But, foggers can malfunction. (And when they do, the only other way to get a little ‘atmosphere’ is to set a piece of toast on fire. A very smelly solution that has the added benefit of shooting to the soothing shriek of the smoke alarm). Lesson #6: This is Ray. Ray is from Germany. Ray worked on the set of the original Willa Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. Ray invented a theatrical light that melted a street lamp on the set of one of the Batman movies. Ray owns a 400-acre tree farm in Costa Rica. Ray makes his own shampoo. Ray is the Most Interesting Man in the World. Lesson #7: How do you achieve that pretty flicker of light on the faces of talent in a movie theater shot? Like this (Sorry, I was too dang excited to remember to turn the phone horizontally. Also, note the lovely shrieking alarm we referenced earlier from the smoking toast): Lesson #8: Everything looks sexier through a lens. (Well, at least banners do.) Lesson #9: Another handy trick of the trade — if you’re shooting a street scene, ask your friendly local firemen to do a wetdown of the pavement. It makes for a way prettier shot. (Plus we like fire trucks almost as much as we like helicopters). Lesson #10: We learned from our fearless director, Norry, that each member of a film crew has a ‘uniform’. Just like us agency folks are always cloaked in black, this is the typical uniform of a member of the art department. (And there’s no better AD than Amy, trust us.) Lesson #11: It’s intensely gratifying to cross that red marker through a shot in the storyboard. Fin! Lesson #12: A green screen can (and will) appear just about anywhere Lesson #13: If someone asks if they can use your car in a commercial or movie, think it through — because this is probably what they intend to do with it: < Lesson #14: Art directing is way better from the backseat of a truck. Your own chauffer. Police escort. A monitor-on-a-stick. Oh. And walkie-talkies. 10-4, good buddy. Lesson #15: Yes, we require constant supervision. Lesson #16: For some reason, talent gets nervous sitting on a bicycle, rigged to a trailer, being pulled through rush-hour downtown traffic by a dude she’s never met. We don’t get it Lesson #17: Apparently, we’ve been riding bikes the wrong way most of our lives. Lesson #18: It is not a good idea to drive like this. Lesson #19: In case you haven’t learned this yet, cameramen love to rig things whenever possible. Lesson #20: No, this outfit is not available in stores. (So, the shroud is to help her see with special lenses she wears to control the helicopter’s camera. It takes two people to shoot with a helicam — one person to operate the copter, the other to operate the camera. But only one gets to wear the outfit.) Lesson #21: It’s way more fun to shoot before a live studio audience. And it feels good to be inside the yellow tape for a change (as long as it’s not crime scene tape.) Lesson #22: It hardly feels like work when you get to hang out with people who are as nice as they are talented. (But that’s a lesson us Ten Adams folks learned long ago).

Webinar: The Missing Link Between Strategy and Performance

Does your strategic plan look great on paper but fall short on execution? According to a recent Booz & Company survey of 1,800 organizational leaders, including more than 480 C-suite executives, leaders feel a high level of frustration associated with strategic execution. They indicated that devising strategy is less than half the battle, with effective execution of chosen core strategies posing a more significant challenge.  We all recognize that business leadership today is more difficult and demanding than it’s ever been before.  Effectiveness in today’s healthcare organization demands strong, insightful strategy.  But, more importantly, your organization must have the operational capabilities to effectively execute your strategy.  It is not the development of the strategic plan which stifles most healthcare leaders today.  Rather, it is their ability to foster, nurture, grow and leverage the right set of organizational capabilities--by that we mean the processes, tools, knowledge and skills necessary within the organization to effectively act upon a strong, focused results-orientation. This often unacknowledged shortcoming in strategic execution is suggested to be the “missing link” in the chain of leadership disciplines which connect a bold strategic vision to decisive performance in the marketplace. Join Ten Adams on Thursday, June 28 at 3pm EST to find out why 70% of business failures are not a result of bad strategy but rather bad execution.  In this 30 minute webinar, we will show you: Realities of Strategic Development in Today's Healthcare Environment The Value of Strategic Coherence The Importance of Capabilities-Driven Strategy How to Create a Strategy Map Ten Keys to Successful Strategic Execution Don’t miss this opportunity to take a deeper look at how the changing landscape of today's healthcare environment is affecting strategic development and learn how to identify the keys to success and the warning signs of failure in strategic execution.  Space is limited. Register here - to hold your spot.

Physician Marketing – A Balanced Approach

Part 3 of 3

by Scott Mosley, Vice President of Strategy

In blog posts the past two months, I outlined the first two of five strategic focuses as the foundation for effective physician marketing. Administrative Leadership Engagement Outreach Program/Coordinators      Education/Medical Orientation      Print/Electronic Communications  Data on Utilization/Referral Patterns      I’ll address the final three of these in this follow-up post. Strategic Focus #3 Education/Medical Orientation Providing Valuable Insight It is apparent that physicians and practice administrators are looking to their hospital partners for support in staying current on healthcare issues.  They value well-designed educational pieces and are seeking credible information which can benefit their practice and bring value to their patients. They are looking to hospitals for proactivity in pushing information out to them in a concise, focused manner, respecting the volume of information they face on a daily basis.  Physicians assess the value of information on its usefulness in helping them care for their patients or develop their practice.  Practice administrators value information which informs them of relevant changes within the health system, helps them steer and coordinate referrals and deal with key issues related to the efficient operation of the practice. Physicians and practice administrators see value in hospital-sponsored educational sessions as long as their content is substantive, timely and of direct relevance to their practice’s administration or quality of patient care.  There is diminishing interest in socially-oriented gatherings, particularly on the part of younger professionals facing the pressures of building practices. Strategic Focus #4 Print/Electronic Communications Providing Access to Credible Information Hospital marketers are often surprised by limited familiarity with the print and electronic publications over which they labor so diligently.  Physicians do not invest time in sifting through hospital publications to see if there may be something of value for them.  Most of their communication is done from a smart phone or other hand-held device which usually makes it difficult to view attachments. Practice administrators are more open to receiving periodic publications but also urge their hospital partners to keep it short and simple, providing a contact resource should additional information be needed.  Providing access to medical news (i.e. that provided through MGMA and specialty organizations) is usually viewed as a valuable gesture.  We find that ListServs for local practice administrators are generally welcomed and can establish an electronic “community” of hospital-affiliated practice administrators. An e-newsletter obviously provides the hospital with a link to their physician practices, but making the content relevant and easy to consume, with links to more detailed information, is of paramount importance.  Practice administrators often suggest archiving high-value digital information in an accessible location to access as needed. Healthcare organizations are also finding value in the use of social media platforms for the distribution of information to engaged medical partners.  This type of digital platform has been used to support communication between hospitals and patients, but is now being used as a way of engaging members of the medical community. Healthcare organizations are also investing in the development of web portals specifically designed to place information literally at the fingertips of their provider partners, addressing the challenge of leveraging the considerable investments already made in health information technology solutions to accommodate more fluid communication. Strategic Focus #5 Data on Utilization/Referral Patterns Identifying and Targeting Opportunity Credible data is the foundation on which any solid marketing program is built.  The specific data to be collected should be determined by the need for the following perspective. Current Medical Staff Profile – A careful inventory of physician resources across the scope of the health system helps identify and prioritize opportunities associated with shifting dynamics/alignments within the medical community, the entrance and exit of physicians practicing within the market, gaps in service offerings and clinical competencies and practice growth opportunities. Current Utilization Trends – A routine examination of utilization trends is an important element of the physician marketing information platform.  The goal is to proactively assess, in as current a context as possible (not retrospectively), emerging trends in utilization patterns so as to pose informed questions about prospective issues at a point where they can be proactively addressed. Opportunity Assessment – With this base of information at hand, the challenge becomes identification and prioritization of opportunities to either enhance business relationships and utilization patterns or head-off a negative trend with proactive administrative outreach.  In highly-effective organizations, this process is hardwired into the administrative routine, as a vital element of the organization’s marketing program. Medical Staff Perceptions – Remaining attentive to shifting perspectives of physicians and other members of the medical community provides a valuable leading barometer, useful in defining current priorities and forecasting future engagement opportunities.  The development of engaged relationships requires continuous awareness of prevailing sentiments on key issues and a periodic, more formal assessment of trends in awareness, attitudes and preferences.