Marketshare for Healthcare

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.

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...

When a patient arrives at your hospital, where do you want them to go? The Emergency Room, perhaps…or upstairs to the maternity ward located on floor three?

The answer, of course, depends on the audience. A hospital is comprised of many simultaneously functioning service lines and functions, and serious resources are often dedicated toward maximizing the site flow for optimal efficiency. This is addressed through wayfinding – the practice of orienting individuals in physical space to get them where they need to go.

Now re-read the first two paragraphs, and rather than imagining your physical hospital location, think about your hospital website.

In the digital world, the best corollary to wayfinding is the discipline known as user-experience design, or UX. Much like wayfinding defines the patient experience as they move through your hospital, this “digital wayfinding” practice starts with research and then paves pathways through your website based on: Your business goals and strategic plan;...

You've built and expanded the hospital. You've invested in the latest medical technology. You've attracted and retained the best doctors, nurses, technicians and supporting staff. You consistently earn high marks from JCAHCO and receive more accolades than your competitors. You even have a nice mix of profitable services lines. However, while you still fund a reasonable marketing budget, you secretly believe that marketing investments are a necessary evil. Don't feel badly if this sounds like you. CEOs in most industries view marketing as a "nice to have" and not a "must have". But you might benefit by adopting the mindset of the market-leading organizations in their categories: your brand is an important asset that must be protected, managed and enhanced through strategic brand marketing. The brand equity of public companies is a measurable asset that can be easily calculated: Brand Equity = Market Value – (Tangible Assets + Working Capital) Investors, in a very real sense, serve as a good proxy for...

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. 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...