Hospital Branding

Maybe it's the Olympics, or maybe it's that time of year when new campaigns are being launched and will be judged as precisely as ice dancing.  In either event, the topic of measuring brand success is near and dear to every marketer and the discussion of metrics should be at the starting gate rather than the finish line .  After all, that's why we go through the discipline of establishing quantifiable goals, developing targeted strategies, and generating tactics to achieve desired actions. Remember DAGMAR?  For those who don't, it was an old advertising agency acronym for "Defining Advertising Goals Measuring Advertising Results."   As a student, I remember thinking DAGMAR was some scowling scholar who was always peering over my shoulder reminding me that this was a business of results, not only big creative ideas. Results...oh how times have changed.  Decades ago, marketers would celebrate in the hallways when bi-annual market research showed percentage...

While there were some great takeaways from the crowded exhibit hall, including Chicago’s hometown popcorn and popular business books, the SHSMD Connections conference also provided tasty takeaways to apply to the hospital branding field.  Here’s ten that made our list: Accelerate and the need for speed – Hospital branding has traditionally been pegged as a six to nine month planning process, resulting in a two to three year strategy.  Several of the education sessions and case studies discussed the need to be more nimble, aggressive and faster to the marketplace.  Competitive activity and changing political landscapes were cited as key drivers of the need for speed, but most agreed it is important to remain strategic and have a well thought out plan.   Just do it faster and get there quicker . Create more energy – Maybe a direct result of the need for speed was the reference that today’s hospital marketers need to create more energy in their bran...