Marketshare for Healthcare

Health innovation comes in many forms, based on your institution’s unique goals and market position. Perhaps you are looking to expand into the community through a practice acquisition model. Or maybe you’re launching a new service line and need innovative ways to make inroads into a new market – while deepening relationships in the market you already have.

In the 24/7 digital age, your pre-crisis strategy must take into account your social media channels, from Twitter to YouTube to Facebook and beyond. In the latest issue of our healthcare newsletter, INSIGHTs, we explore social pre-crisis planning in a two-part series that covers both social strategy development and messaging.

Build your plan. Test it regularly. Tweak as required. It can make all the difference when the time comes to use it and you have a well-planned social media blueprint that sets the course for your crisis-management team.

Several months ago, as a rocky 2010 transitioned into a new year with new possibilities, Princeton Partners looked at the critical factors we felt would have the biggest impact on healthcare marketing budgets for 2011. It’s hard to believe that the first quarter is already almost behind us – but it’s always prudent to assess how you can do more with less, and where the biggest budget commitments can have the greatest impact.

So, how is your hospital or healthcare organization doing so far?

You have invested in email marketing. You built newsletters for patients and, perhaps, referring physicians. Yet your opt-out rate is higher than you’d like, and you’re ready to throw in the towel. Many hospital marketers grapple with “the email issue.” However, four factors, along with testing and measurement, can help you develop a sustainable hospital email strategy.

In several recent posts, we’ve explored the ways in which a well-researched content strategy sets the stage for a successful online hospital communications strategy. Whether it’s your website, an email marketing plan, or a foray into social media for your hospital, content is the foundation of a meaningful online presence – one that communicates your brand promise clearly and consistently to doctors, patients, and their families.

Consider, however, the ways in which you encounter digital content throughout your week. Email messages appear in your personal and hospital email accounts by the minute. With a ding, your Blackberry or iPhone announces new messages awaiting attention. News feeds carry headlines designed to drive clicks – from tweets sent by healthcare thought leaders to content feeds from major national publishers.

But at what point does it all become noise?

Among certain hospital marketers, there is a perception that patients are reticent to provide an email address, rendering hospital email marketing moot. But don’t jump to conclusions. With the right strategy and content, email can be a powerful tool in your hospital’s marketing arsenal.

The key is to build your list at the right times, among the right patients and prospects – and then to segment so that each person is motivated to opt in for content relevant to their needs.

Recently, we wrote about UX (User-Experience Design), a research-based discipline that guides the creation of sites that drive profits. Rooted in strategy and based on defined business goals and desired customer behaviors, UX ensures that users find the information that’s most important (and profitable) on your hospital website.

In exploring the topic, we likened UX to digital wayfinding, the setting of guideposts that connect individuals with what they’re seeking (and what you want them to find). But you can’t have an effective sign without effective content – and that’s why the marriage of CS (Content Strategy) and User-Experience Design is the true formula for hospital websites with impact.

When you think about what makes your hospital brand unique, what comes to mind? If you’re like many healthcare executives, your answer might include: the expertise of your physician network, the power of your technology, your specific service lines, and perhaps your overarching mission. A hospital isn’t a hospital otherwise: these features help to make a healthcare system a healthcare brand, and they’re developed as part of your strategic plan.

One channel. Many opportunities. When marketing your hospital digitally, email is a direct path into the minds of prospective patients and referring physicians alike – and its true power is all in how you slice it.

Email marketing is a powerful results generator, even as social media channels facilitate new (and profitable) connections for savvy hospital brands. In fact, according to a 2010 study from Marketing Sherpa, “75% of daily social media users said email is the best way for companies to communicate with them.” The reason: email is a direct path – and one a recipient has chosen to allow. That means the strategic messaging that your hospital wants to communicate has a prime opportunity to shine among an audience that has raised their digital hand and asked to be contacted.

Add to this the ability to slice your hospital contact lists for maximum impact, and you have the recipe for true impact.

According to a 2008 Pew Research Center Study, 61% of patients search for health information...

The words branding and marketing often travel together, which makes sense. Your hospital has undoubtedly allocated significant resources to developing a marketing plan designed to make space for your message in your marketplace.

But your brand also lives inside your organization. At every turn, your hospital employees are part of the patient/family experience of the brand, shaping how your hospital’s message lives and breathes. The patient/family experience thereof can also shape future physician referrals – positive experiences with your doctors and service lines create positive referrals for the physicians in your network.

So what message is your hospital brand communicating internally?

If your answer is “I don’t know,” your hospital has a great opportunity to leverage digital content in support of your hospital branding initiatives. Business intelligence shared internally via well-organized content that is strategically disseminated can make a big difference in the eyes of your hospital...