What is wrong with this health systems marketing?

And it’s not a quiz either.

I try extremely hard not to call out individual hospitals or health systems for their lack of understanding of the healthcare consumer, their expectations, needs, and for knowing who their patient is.

But sometimes the professional healthcare marketer in me gets the best of me when I receive some marketing material from a health system, through different incarnations, I have used for 22 plus years. That’s right 22 plus years. Oh, and did I mention that my wife, children, and mother-in-law have used them too?

PH has no idea after 22 years of utilization from being a patient, using the ER, to outpatient testing, WHO. I. AM.

And here is what set me off. And I can guarantee you that many a healthcare consumer, aka former patient, feels the same way.

The other day, I received a direct mail piece. It was a very nicely done, four-color, a heavy stock paper mailer that looked expensive with an offer for a chance to win a Fitbit. But the catch was if and only if, I will schedule an appointment with one of their most caring primary care physicians for a health checkup.

The marketing issues beyond PH for any number of hospitals and health systems is that if PH had been paying attention, was being strategic in their marketing and messaging, and fully understood who their customer was, they would have never sent me the direct mail piece.

Why, because for 22 years I have had a continuous relationship with a primary care doctor who I see regularly and who has me utilize the health system hospital. With all due respect to Peter Frampton and Humble Pie, “I don’t need no doctor.” And I don't need any employed physicians.

In one fell swoop, PH just told me they have no idea who I am. I know who they are from direct experience and utilization, but they are clueless about me, the healthcare consumer.

And in today’s marketing world of more data, than you can beat with a stick, the availability of marketing automation, CRMs, experience mapping, the buyer's journey, AI, and social media, that is just unacceptable.

It’s not that hard.

In today’s world of healthcare consumer choice where premiums, deductibles, and copays have the healthcare consumer paying for over one-third of the cost of care, hospitals, and health system marketing needs to be far more strategic, targeted, responsive, data-driven, and healthcare consumer-oriented.

There is no reason, no reason at all, not to understand who your audience is and the relationship that they already have built up with you. Understand what the healthcare consumer needs are, how the experience has been, and how to communicate through the right channels with the right message, at the right time to build a mutually beneficial relationship.

For all hospitals and health systems out there in the medical-care land, just remember, that the healthcare consumer only needs you for three things- emergency care, intensive care, and care for complex acute medical conditions. We can get all the care we need from our doctors and other providers in a far more cost-effective, better experience, more convenient setting with higher quality outcomes than at a hospital or hospital-based outpatient service.

Can you hear the healthcare consumer now?

Michael is a healthcare marketing business, marketing, and communications strategist and thought leader. As an internationally followed healthcare marketing strategy blogger, his blog, Healthcare Marketing Matters receives over 20,000 page views a month and read in 52 countries. He is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives, Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, and HubSpot Academy- Email Marketing, Inbound Marketing & Inbound Sales Certified. Post opinions are my own.

For more topics and thought leading discussions like this, join his group, Healthcare Marketing Leaders For Change, a LinkedIn Professional Group.

Lessons from the Field: What is the Hospital Ambulatory Strategy and Branding?

Image by Pattie O'Loughlin from Pixabay. My primary care physician ordered a couple of tests and left me the option to choose the location. Near me was a free-standing hospital system-based ambulatory care center. When I called the central scheduling department of the health system in question, I asked if the center near me did those tests. I scheduled one of the tests because of some pretest requirements and the other test nearly immediately as diagnostic radiology was available on a walk-in basis. Now, understand that I drive by this ambulatory medical center regularly and never had a clue that all this and more was available. In all honesty, I didn’t pay that much attention to the marketing either, as it focused on providing senior physician services that I did not need or have any interest in. Why did the system place ‘senior” in the name? When you put “senior” in the name, which is biased age-based segmentation and marketing, you automatically define the center’s per...

Are Healthcare Marketers Using the Right Data for the Next Best Action?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Healthcare marketers, all marketers, are awash in data. I postulate that healthcare marketers’ amount of available data are complex data sets similar in the amount and velocity to what clinicians use. And in turn, enterprising marketers have turned to AI and algorithms to sift through the data for their next best action. You have developed your ideal patient personas, targeted the appropriate demographics, age, gender, lifestyle, community, etc. Some have even conducted primary research. All well and good. But are you measuring what matters to take the next best action? Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Would you consider this is an important question? If you do not measure what matters, then how do you know that the proposed next best action will have a chance to succeed? Artificial intelligence and algorithms are necessary and valuable. These tools have come a long way in a brief period. But, as we get enamored with the “gee-whiz” of Martech, it...

2021 in Review – the Most Read Healthcare Business & Marketing Insights Posted in 2021

Image by Kristin Riemer from Pixabay Where did 2021 go? It was a challenging year for providers with changes in reimbursement, a pandemic that continues unabated, innovations in care delivery away from the hospital, innovative new competitors, and significant declines in revenues. I am glad that it’s ending. I will not go into the litany of good and adverse events for 2021. The news organizations and others will all do their year-in-review pieces. It should be interesting to see what they choose to publish or broadcast. It was a good year from a blog writer’s perspective. I had what seemed to be a never-ending flow of topics. I di start a new feature in some of the posts called “Lessons from the Field,” which were well received. Topics ranged from characteristics of success for mid-sized healthcare vendors, leadership, and operations to new ways to look at markets. Image by Alexas Fotos from Pixabay I am thankful and appreciative of you for taking the time to spend it with me fro...

instantly health

Search This Blog