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  Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay I see a trend among various healthcare vendors reviving the outdated and misused Center of Excellence moniker that became popular with hospitals in the 1990s. What is old is new, I guess. Remember those hospitals' "Centers of Excellence"? Some hospitals still use that term today to differentiate themselves from competing hospitals. The idea is good, but like in the 90s, the claim of having a Center of Excellence or program within a "center" is meaningless without benchmarks and proof points that provide validity and substance to the claim. To coin a past popular phrase, "Where's the beef?" Are you trying to find a differentiating answer in a highly competitive market, or just throwing stuff up against the wall to see what sticks to feed your ego? In a day and age when data is readily available and undocumented claims are easily refuted in the market, are your prospects doing an eye roll and chuckling at the m...

  Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay If the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic taught us in 2020, hospital marketers need to be agile and pivot on a dime. How have you allocated the hospital marketing spend for 2021? Can the hospital quickly change tactical direction by moving dollars to where they are needed?   Can one change messaging quickly to leverage a new opportunity brought about by the unknown? Now, I am not making light of a bad situation with the pandemic, as there is an opportunity to be leveraged. The leverage is not driving revenue, but as your community's source leader with credible, reliable information and care in combating the viral community spread. The influence is also being able to engage your patients on a meaningful level so that when the pandemic eventually comes under some measure of control, the patient would return to you because the hospital established trust. Enter 2021 Much of the allocations assigned to the strategies and tactics in the marketing plan ...

Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterian from Pixabay   Words are important, and that is something that I can think we can all agree on. Just as important is the context and tone of the writing. How a hospital uses and presents the written word, printed, on the website, emails, and text messages can significantly influence a positive or negative perception of the brand. Words can drive an individual to take action, become motivational, inspire, and in some cases, in the contextual environment communicated become life-changing. And we all know that words can unintentionally, by use and connotation, reach a high giggle factor, be read as condescending, and raise more questions than answers. In some cases, words conveying a position on a topic become oxymoronic, resulting in a negative brand image. With that in mind, how would you rate the hospital or health system use of words? Image by Fathromi Ramdlon from Pixabay An important question as I see hospitals using words missing understand...

  Image by Buffik from Pixabay The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has made it significantly harder to sell to hospitals, health systems, and academic medical centers. Why? Because the plethora of thought leadership begins at some point to lose the differentiation. The challenge is not just new content but using the thought leadership content combined with social media to sell differently. It's not what you know but how you apply that knowledge in a new and different manner. But when one isn't utilizing social selling tools of LinkedIn, Twitter, and digital stories, paired with a client testimonial for influencer and brand evangelism, the selling is more challenging. Social media selling is an amplification tool utilizing the Internet of Things that key channel segments are watching. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay The use of social media selling isn't a features approach. The use of social media is a solution/thought leadership selling approach. It's an inbound advisory appro...

  The number of page views for Healthcare Marketing Matters is in for January 2021. Thank you all so very much for reading & sharing. It humbles me to know that you thought what I wrote was worth reading. Healthcare Marketing Matters at   http://bit.ly/fG60zh , page views – 14,666 and read in 52 countries .    Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Michael is a healthcare business, marketing, communications strategist, and thought leader. As an internationally followed healthcare strategy blogger, his blog, Healthcare Marketing Matters, is read in 52 countries and is listed on the  100 Top Healthcare Marketing Blogs & Websites  ranked at No. 3 on the list by Feedspot.com. Michael is a Life Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives. An influencer in healthcare marketing strategy, communications, digital marketing, and social media, Michael is in the top 10 percent of social media experts nationwi...

  Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay It is an understatement to say that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has fundamentally changed the way patients search for and receive medical care. With many more care options for convenient and accessible medical care, driven by the digitization of healthcare delivery, patients will never go back to the way it was.  Patients realize their need for hospital services revolves around specific services such as emergency care, intensive care, complex acute medical conditions, PICU, or NICU. With the awareness and experience of alternatives for care, patients are more in control of the medical care buying journey with their physician. While a patient buying journey map pre-pandemic was a useful tool in understanding key decision points in patient choice, now is the time to start anew and create a new journey map. Though we are still in the darkest and deepest winter of the pandemic, it will come to an end.   The updated patient buyer's journey will...

COVID-19 and the innovation that continues to rapidly evolve in patients' access and comfort in using digital healthcare can be transformational for the hospital. For example, the pandemic has placed the patient in charge of when, where, and how hospital services are utilized.  Suppose for a moment that the pandemic has taught patients how to change utilization behavior. In that case, telemedicine and digital healthcare teach that one only needs a hospital for a few medically necessary services that cannot be provided in a freestanding ambulatory center. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay The fourth wave of the digital healthcare transformation is an opportunity for the hospital. The patient is increasingly in control. Patients control their health and health data through wearables, mobile health platforms, telemedicine, and self-tracking devices. Patients have experience expectations based on previous non-healthcare digital experiences by selecting the most appropriate digital ...