Marketshare for Healthcare

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...