instantly health

  Recruitment image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Employee recruitment marketing using current employees in providers and vendors comes and goes as a marketing recruitment tool. Carefully selected happy and long-term employees tout the culture, work environment, co-workers, etc., and why they have been there so long. It’s not uncommon to see comments about the mission-driven company and how everyone is treated with dignity and respect. I know because I have created and executed in partnership with HR these types of campaigns. Not only do they attract qualified candidates, but it provides employees the opportunity to be an active brand ambassador of the provider or vendor.   Then comes the job candidate’s experience, which may or may not reflect the marketing and brand claims. Best place to work awards, top company to work for, and other awards have people scratching their heads wondering what happened. How you treat the job candidate is as important as what you say in the co...

  Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay It seems like the year just started. Now you're at the mid-point of executing the hospital marketing plan, so it's time to look at how it has gone. I know you do the monthly reporting, but this isn't about individual months' performance but a more analytic and subjective holistic evaluation of how well the plan performed to expectations, what unexpected changes you had to make, where the next six months are headed. It's a tall order but a necessary evil. We all like to think about our prowess as marketing planners and the ability to execute. However, we can all be lulled into the "it's the plan, so we have to do it mentality" or are on autopilot with social media tweets and other posts driven by prescheduling with marketing automation. Besides, we are coming out of the pandemic with vaccination challenges and the Delta variant of COVID-19. The last 19 months saw a transformation of how care was delivered, from pat...

  Image by PixxlTeufel from Pixabay As the provider market for the patient and physician continues to consolidate through merger, acquisition, liquidation, or disintermediation, there is one clear outcome due to the lasting effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Fewer providers mean heightened competition within hospitals or health systems in a bid to stay atop the food chain. But with the patient's realization that they need a hospital for only three things, emergency care, intensive care, and care for complex acute medical conditions, patients are more in control with their physician of the selection process. To become the patient's choice for healthcare, successful providers will recognize that understanding the patient’s selection decision matrix is the new way of marketing and how it impacts growth. Patient Decision Matrix In this environment, providers are already losing meaningful differentiation. Marketing campaigns with fluff messaging about caring, facilities, or q...

  Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Think for a moment using the lens of marketing and ask what a hospital or health system does control? Do they control the insurers? No. They negotiate but do not control them. Do they control Medicare or Medicaid? Do they control the independent physician they need to utilize the hospital inpatient, outpatient, and emergency room facilities and services? No. Can they control the patient at any other time when they are not in the system of care receiving some medical care?   I think that is a no as well. For the sake of the discussion, let's agree that control is too harsh a word in its truest sense. So maybe the better choice would be the ability to influence the patient and others. However, the answer would still be a resounding no from a brand marketing viewpoint, especially in a buyer's market beginning to exist today. Four areas of influence to manage. The four areas that ultimately impact the hospital or health systems' ability t...

  Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Email I can see your eyes glaze over.   Done correctly, the hospital has an underutilized, efficient, and effective tool at its disposal to engage and manage patient expectations. Email also offers a cost-effective way to implement an ongoing engagement strategy when combined with social media. Email can provide relevant medical information, health and wellness tips, and practices to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain continuous engagement. Email is one of the few mechanisms that hospitals can control. It's a marketing tool to build brand loyalty, enhance the experience, and engage. Better than outbound interruptive marketing, where your general messaging reaches the broadest possible audience hoping that someone will respond, email is direct messaging to the patient, and should be a part of your inbound marketing program. But it just not a mail merge program to put a name at the top . And it's not buying an email list.  ...