Hospital Branding

If you’re like millions of Americans, you’ve seen the award-winning television show “Shark Tank,” in which entrepreneurs have 10 minutes to sell investors on their business idea. Now transfer that image to the last time you walked into the C-suite to sell your annual strategic marketing plan and budget. “It can be a similar experience,” said marketing consultant Rob Rosenberg, president of Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy, Ltd., in Chicago. “You have a limited time to give your presentation to a skeptical audience who has typically been sitting in a conference room for hours listening to numerous other pitches involving new investments or the request for more resources.” Read more on SHSMD’s newsletter  Spectrum  that features an interview with Rob Rosenberg and Paul Szablowski. Link Here

As 2020 approaches, there are important changes to make in order to help improve your personal and professional success in healthcare marketing. 1. Focus on growth and business building, not marketing Marketing in many healthcare organizations still lands on the promotional side of the equation.  Successful marketers are those who understand the growth goals of their organization and develop strategies, beyond campaigns and clicks, to generate revenue and support new customer acquisition.  Marketers need to shift their “frame of reference” from “doing marketing” to “leading organizational growth through marketing.”  This will earn you a more favorable spot in the C-Suite and among your team.   2. Develop the right dashboards You’re too focused on the promotional side of things when your marketing “dashboard” consists of primarily digital terms that leave the C-Suite in the dust.  When you include business metrics, your dashboard will light up and prov...

Coming up with fresh content for your healthcare website can be challenging, but is vital since content is the most important ranking factor in Google’s search algorithm. Stale content can lead to bored readers and duplicate content can lead to penalties from Google.  Don’t let content on your website become dull and repetitive by following these tips below to keeping your healthcare marketing content fresh. 1. Research Hot Topics and Keywords Use  Google Keyword Planner  and  Answer the Public  to see what people are searching for on the web that’s related to your business and services.  These are the most searched keywords, phrases and questions – if you don’t have content on these topics, you are missing a huge opportunity to reach these people. As you can see from the chart below, about 50% of blog traffic is found through search results.  It is crucial to write blogs on relevant topics that people are most interested in. Source: Nei...

Twenty years ago, when some companies were “printing money,” corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies were often developed as a way to deflect consumer attention away from big profits, write-off more expenses, and – in fairness to those who did – do good for the sake of society. Studies prove that CSR has a positive impact on a brand; increasing preference, loyalty, and engagement. The companies benefit, too, with less employee turnover and more revenue. That was then. This is now, and CSR seems to have taken a back seat. Not saying it doesn’t exist, but it  appears  less visible and instrumental in brand strategies. There are probably good reasons for this; certainly digital media is highly targeted and therefore these types of initiatives are not as mainstream as they once were, markets are much more competitive and some brands can’t afford to spread budgets too thin, and senior marketing people are less willing to take risks and implement programs that don’t ge...

Fall is a season of great transformation.  From colorful leaves to kick-offs and playoffs, the season brings change, reflection and hope. In the healthcare industry, fall also unearths many metamorphoses among companies, hospitals, and health systems.   After months of planning, studying, researching, and “cocooning” new ideas, brands emerge and dot the landscapes across U.S. markets.  Many of these names surface from the multitude of mergers and acquisitions that have also been in the planning stages during the summer months. I always enjoy reading about these new brands and learning their story as told by a new name, logo, and tagline.  Some, you can tell, are thoughtful, customer-based, and research-influenced.  Others seem to come out of the blue (healthcare’s favorite color, of course) with little explanation and depth. This always begs the question in brand evolution; what comes first – the name or the position? By “position,” I’m referring t...

During an annual exam, your physician can get a good sense of your heart health with an EKG.   As healthcare marketers, a Brand EKG can also give you a quick read of your brand’s health.  Several years ago, this model was introduced to help hospitals, namely C-Suite representatives, understand consumer research findings and implications. As indicated above and based on the classic consumer marketing behavior model, a brand has to have established a strong sense of awareness and preference before leading to trial.  This model has been expanded to include brand attributes such as likability, intent to recommend, and other layers of behavior.  Based on an analysis of nearly 100 consumer studies, and validated by leading healthcare researchers, we concluded that a “healthy” brand EKG would have a variance of 12-15 percentage points between key indicators.  A larger number would indicate an “unhealthy” brand that is not converting on the preceding att...

We've all been in those strategic meetings with notes posted all around, flip charts turning, and colored markers crowding white boards. Working on those few, but fabulous words, that will crystalize an organizational brand and set it apart from all others in the space in which you're competing. The words will also engage internal audiences, motivate customers, and serve as the foundation for (at least) a year's worth of content and creative messaging. Someone blurts out an idea, and it sounds great. It's exactly what your organization does! Wait, that's it...it's the  definition  of your company. It  is  what you do. Having been in many hospital brand sessions, I'll use that as an example: "We care for the sick, yet help people stay well, too." Or, a home care company might suggest "we provide quality care for people (wait for it...) in their home." By definition, merely stating the obvious and reinforcing what business  you...

As the new year kicks in, there are all sorts of tips and habits to break in order to help improve your personal and professional success.  For those in healthcare marketing, here are eight bad habits that need to be broken to help fix your strategies and outcomes. Focusing on marketing and not business building Marketing in many healthcare organizations still lands on the promotional side of the equation.  Successful marketers are those who understand the growth goals of their organization and develop strategies, beyond campaigns and clicks, to generate revenue and support new customer acquisition        2. Developing the wrong dashboards You know you’re too focused on the promotional side of things when your marketing “dashboard” consists of primarily digital terms that leave the C-Suite in the dust.  When you include business metrics, too, your dashboard will truly provide a snapshot of your organization’s marketing success in te...

When it comes to reaching and motivating consumers, healthcare marketers face a double “whammy.” First, studies show that the average person is exposed to 7,500 brand messages and marketing content every day.  The School of Human Sciences and Technology estimates that people switch between screens up to 21 times an hour. As a result of this overload, the average person’s attention span is eight seconds! What makes this even more complicated for healthcare marketers is the second whammy; making healthcare messaging engaging, simple, digestible, and differentiating in less time than it takes to say “multi-disciplinary, comprehensive, continuum of care.” As healthcare systems continue to grow adding new capabilities, physician practices, and other services, messaging becomes more complex – all the while consumers are giving them less time. Here are 8 ideas on how you can manage the “8 Second Rule” for healthcare brands A long-time colleague, copywriter and tagli...