Market Share for Healthcare

Health Innovation Comes in Many Forms

Fri, 20 May 2011 20:39:00 GMT

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.

Social Media as Pre-Crisis Management

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:29:00 GMT

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.

Q1 is almost Over: Are You Achieving Your Marketing Budget Goals?

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:41:00 GMT

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?

Tags: Hospital Marketing

Hospital Emails with Impact: Combating Opt Outs

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:26:00 GMT

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.

Tags: Hospital Marketing

Content Sophistication for Your Hospital

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:21:00 GMT

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?

Tags: digital strategy

Hospital Emails with Impact: Building a List

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 14:54:00 GMT

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.

UX + CS = The Formula for Hospital Website Profitability

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:30:00 GMT

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.

Tags: digital strategy,hospital website

You Created Your Hospital Website - Now What about Your Content Strategy?

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 21:41:00 GMT

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.

Tags: Hospital Marketing

Leveraging Email to Market Your Hospital

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:52:00 GMT

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 online. Since 2002, the percentage searching a specific disease or medical problem has also grown dramatically, from 36% to almost 50%. On the one hand, this is a case for a fine-tuned content strategy. When prospects who are actively searching for guidance find relevant content from your hospital brand, you’re one step closer to forging a new relationship.

This same statistic reinforces the power of email segmentation. Just as you can segment direct mail by demographic, you can segment hospital emails along a startling number of lines – and demographics are just the beginning.

As you implement your program, the manner in which recipients interact with your email can itself drive further segmentation. For example, if a reader has clicked on a heart health article in your general e-health newsletter, why not send an invitation to an upcoming seminar at your heart center? If many readers are clicking on the same, it may be time to consider a dedicated heart health email strategy.

Data from the offline world can also drive email segmentation strategies. If a subset of referring physicians has sent numerous patients to your oncology center, why not share developments by email in real time? For instance, this may be the perfect group with whom to communicate about upcoming clinical trials.

Put simply: digital is data. Email marketing – with strategic segmentation – is one more way to demonstrate the power of your hospital brand and reach further into your marketplace. The more you look at the behaviors of your prospects both online and off, the more opportunities you will find to connect with patients and referring physicians in new and data-driven ways.
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Tags: Hospital Marketing

Digital Content on the Inside: Unifying Your Hospital Brand

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 18:36:00 GMT

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 employees.

Here’s why: when hospital employees are provided with resources that facilitate smooth execution of their job responsibilities, frustrations are less likely to shade the experiences of patients and families. Moreover, it is critical that every employee in your health care system – from the security desk to the surgeon’s table – understands the brand vision that should stand as the backbone of your hospital brand experience.

When hospital employees have internalized your Unifying Brand Idea™, the patient will experience it in real time. And to accomplish that, it’s all about making connections:

Internal newsletters

Hospital intranets

Social networking tools

Whatever the channel, the key to sharing digital content successfully is sharing it strategically. This means considering not just what you want employees to know – but also, how to be sure that they will find it. Hopefully, they will also find it engaging.

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Tags: digital strategy