instantly health

Do you know who your patient hospital brand evangelists are? I ask this question for a very important reason.  In an age of little provider differentiation in the retail medical marketplace with me-too messaging, how is a healthcare consumer to make a choice? Now that being said, I realize that many healthcare leaders will dispute the above statement.  But the fact is it is little if any messaging differentiation.  I was there in the same place but made a conscious effort to move away from the “me too” messaging. So where am I going with this? Healthcare consumers and patients are demanding price and quality transparency, as is CMS, employers, and other key constituents. Maybe what they want is more price certainty and to know what the value is they are receiving for the dollar paid?  But few in the hospital or health system segment are listening to the needs and demands of the healthcare consumer. Then they howl loudly than a third-party releases data that is p...

Something in the integration of sales and marketing in healthcare vendors could be amiss. One camp is still living in the 90s. Another in the 2000s and yet another in the 2010s around the selling and marketing process. I forgot to mention as well, leadership reading an article, attending a conference, or hearing speaker assuming they know it all and then mandating a change in organizational direction. Size of the company matters little for it happens in all of them. The healthcare vendor world regardless of product or channel is a very competitive place with clear winners and losers. It’s a winner take all proposition with physicians, hospitals, and health systems, hence the need for a sales and marketing strategy that can give an edge. And that can be difficult in a parallel world of messages, product capability, and solutions. Enter the concept of OODA LOOP applied to sales and marketing. But, let’s first start with what is an OODA Loop. Developed by USAF military strategist Colonel ...

Last time I looked, hospitals were 24/7 operations. And the other thing I noticed, individual use of health care in many ways is 24/7 too. Since healthcare continues evolving into an innovative, accountable, cost-effective, quality outcome and consumer need-driven model, it begs the question, is engagement now an all the time new reality? Secondary to that question is, are healthcare organizations prepared for that new marketing realty? Like anything in life and business, some are, and the majority are not.   But be that as it may, consumer and patient engagement is not a part-time, or as we happen to think about the activity. What patient and consumer engagement is the opportunity to create, engage, foster, and nourish an enduring relationship with those individuals and families. And that engagement is regardless of what day, time of day, social media channel, or location in space and time the individual resides. That is a scary proposition for some healthcare organizations. ...

Social media isn’t hard. What is hard is developing the strategy, content, and then integrating your messages across multiple channels. Since the healthcare consumer and patient are omnichannel, hospitals and health systems must be as well. It’s an online world that moves beyond the brick and mortar features approach still prevalent in today’s hospital marketing. Use of social media for engagement and experience management can be a hit or miss proposition without the proper strategy and resourcing. When one considers that the healthcare consumer and patient have over 145 touch-points that impact experience, engagement, and their decision-making choices, social media is a strategic business imperative. Effective hospital marketing is about meaningful engagement, managing the experience and meeting the healthcare consumer’s needs and expectations. A tall order indeed that takes a strategic business outlook, an unrelenting focus on the meeting the needs of the healthcare consumer is meani...

The other day, I heard a hospital advertisement on the radio. A 60-second spot chock full of everything under the sun, including the kitchen sink. Since then, I have had the opportunity to hear it serval more times. I lost track of all the different features packed in 60-seconds within it, without any mention of benefits. Does your audience care that in the jammed packed copy chorus of “all about me,” that you spent one million dollars updating your cardiac cath lab? The disappointing part is that not anywhere in the ad, was any reason why I should choose the hospital. Why they are different because from the ad this hospital sounded just like all the other hospitals. What is the benefit to me? What is the value proposition that you gave me to answer the question of why I should choose this hospital?   One could tell from the laundry list of features that there were too many voices in creating that ad. It was a clear case of everyone in leadership being involved and stating add thi...

It’s been an eye-opener watching the Loyola University Chicago Ramblers men’s basketball team compete in the NCAA Tournament, otherwise known as March Madness.   And I say eye-opening as this team is no Cinderella. A quaint expression but at this point not true. Loyola has reached this place because of the unwavering vision, plan, process, and leadership of Coach Porter Moser. Cinderella’s are great fairy tales but in life an idea that never really happens. And in thinking about these basketball team building lessons, there are some healthcare marketing learnings that I believe can make you more successful. As a marketing professional and mentor, one must learn how to handle success and failure. Endure leadership changes, people who don’t know what they are talking about but think they do, or the long-tenured leadership that looks at you and your recommendations with the “I have seen women and men like you to come and go, and I am still here,” attitude. In the end,  the i...

How are you, the hospital marketing and communications expert, engaging the consumer and patient by telling your brand value story? Not the features and benefits story of what you do, but the value of what all that technology and bricks and mortar means to consumers and patients of your medical services?    It is an important question.  With healthcare turned upside down, and consumers are making choices based on diagnosis and treatment alternatives that are more price efficient, convenient and accessible that exclude the hospital options, how you answer the question will quickly determine success or failure in engaging or influencing choice. The hospital and health system are in an undifferentiated market. It’s not about the quality of medical technology, or buildings, or caring. In the end, it's all the same in the consumer's mind. We all know it’s not, but hospitals have done remarkable work using marketing communications without any substantial proof points to back up...