How the CEO can Save Money in Hospital Marketing and Advertising

In April of 2009, with the recession in full swing, we published an article exploring how healthcare organizations could seek new opportunities in the face of crisis and come out ahead. With a focus on smart organizational growth through a pragmatic assessment of the organization's strategic marketing process and initiatives, we looked at how smart healthcare systems could get the most bang for their buck by making every dollar count – even in the face of hiring freezes and layoffs.

The Resource Dilemma

All hospital CEOs share a common dilemma: deciding how to deploy limited resources among competing interests. Clinical directors and service line managers compete vigorously to gain the people, technology and marketing attention they need to be successful. When performance falls short of goals, a common complaint is the lack of marketing and communications support to gain the necessary visibility and mind share among referring physicians and consumers. Here are three basic things a hospital CEO can do to save money and help make marketing program investments more effective.

1. Require that service line leaders build a marketing plan into their own business plans. This exercise alone creates a more educated and accountable leader. It will force collaboration with internal stakeholders and with strategic planning and marketing. It will also require thoughtfulness regarding how the customer is handled from every point of contact. Finally, it will require putting in place the metrics for success so that outcomes such as improved volumes, market share and contribution to margin can be tracked and evaluated.
   
   
2. Leverage the annual marketing communications plan to educate internal leaders. Many hospitals put a lot of effort into developing an annual marketing communications plan but fall short in communicating the rationale and defining the metrics for success. A strong plan, well communicated, can reduce internal competition and establish best practices for improvement in successive years.
   
   
3. Require the measurement, evaluation and sharing of results among department heads. In order to elevate the performance of all departments over time, we recommend holding quarterly or semi-annual marketing performance review meetings. This is where best practice sharing and collaboration will result in a regular, disciplined approach that will improve marketing effectiveness and save money.

Sharp analytics and clear communication both ensure that everyone in your organization is on goal and measuring success at every turn. This goes beyond a commitment to efficiency that creates cost savings. Through continual evaluation, your organization can itself become more nimble – better able to respond to changing conditions, and poised to take advantage of new opportunities well before the competition.

For more information about smarter approaches to marketing planning, please contact Tom Sullivan, CEO of Princeton Partners Health, at 609-452-8500 or tsullivan@princetonpartners.com.