Hospital Marketing Journal

HEALTHCARE REFORM WEBINAR: 5/21 AT 1PM EST

If healthcare's "shifting value proposition" has you wondering, "What lies ahead?", then you're like most healthcare marketers today. As healthcare organizations develop new systems of care to improve health at a lower cost, the marketer's role is being reevaluated. Healthcare marketers are being challenged to think + perform at new levels to prove their value + ensure their place at the strategy table. In this 30-minute FREE webinar, Ten Adams considers these challenges — and how healthcare marketers can emerge stronger than before during healthcare reform. FEATURED SPEAKER: Scott Mosley Vice President of Strategy Ten Adams Scott has over 25 years of experience in healthcare marketing, having served as Vice President of Planning, Marketing and Communications with two major health systems before leading client strategy development at Ten Adams. In his current role, he provides strategic marketing counsel to healthcare clients, applying his experience, judgment and intuitive sense of the industry in helping Ten Adams deliver smart solutions tailored to the specific objectives of its clients. Don't miss this opportunity to discover how healthcare's changing landscape presents new challenges + opportunities for marketing leaders. Hold your spot today! Space is limited.

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.

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.

Hospital Marketing Leadership Webinar:

ROI, Measurement & Accountability for Hospital Marketers

Hospital executives are confronted everyday with demands for accountability for all expenses, including their traditional marketing campaigns as well as new media.  Asked to do more with less, hospital marketers are forced to build the hospital brand, develop and implement patient acquisition strategies, promote their integrated physician practices and all of this on tight and dwindling budgets.  It’s tough enough convincing hospital administrators of the importance of marketing without having to also show them that the proposed marketing campaigns are working optimally.  Being able to measure and report ROI for hospital marketing campaigns is an important and vital step in this overall process.  Unfortunately, measuring marketing results and reporting ROI for hospital marketing campaigns can be challenging.  In the healthcare industry, it’s a lot easier to measure an increase in referrals – broken down by each referring physician – than it would be to try and figure out how many patients checked in after viewing or reading a particular advertisement.   This is particularly true because patients are not good at reporting why they’ve chosen one hospital over another. The healthcare industry has gotten a bad rap at reporting marketing effectiveness ROI.  In the 2009 HealthLeaders Media Industry Survey, marketing leaders at hospitals and health systems were asked what emphasis their organization will place on measuring the ROI of marketing efforts in the next three years. The largest number of respondents (85%) said they'll use a mix or anecdotal and financial evidence to measure return, although only 6.74% say they'll employ hard, financial ROI measurement exclusively. Do you feel somewhat behind the times regarding the most recent methods to measure successful hospital marketing? Do you need some assistance figuring out how to demonstrate return on your hospital marketing investments?  Are you interested in learning where to start and what mistakes to avoid? Ten Adams and Hospital Executive Today, and producer, Social Media Training, Inc., are teaming up for a live Webinar, entitled, Hospital Marketing Leadership:  ROI, Meaurement and Accountability for Hospital Marketers.  The webinar will be held on Thursday, November 17, 2011, from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm eastern and includes such well-known speakers as: Chris Boyer, Director of Digital and Communications, Inova Health System Jon Headlee, President, Ten Adams Jake Wengroff, Frost & Sullivan, Global Director of Social Media Strategy and Research  Topics of discussion will include: Discover 5 Steps to measuring the success of your marketing campaigns Learn why accountability is the fastest road to marketing success Learn how to be accountable to and communicate with the New Hospital Consumer Learn how to get better results with a smaller budget Connect the dots from your hospital marketing strategy to ROI Understand how new media & social media can allow you to achieve more with less Case studies of successful hospital marketing strategies Don’t miss this great webinar so you can learn to take the best approach to measuring your hospital’s marketing effectiveness and ROI.    Space is limited.   To register go to https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/422117334

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?