ImperatIvesfor Hospital Marketersfrom 13 top experts

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Th is is Th e Ti m e o f y e a r w h e n many health systems start developing their marketing plans for 2016. If you’re one of them, we thought you’d find it useful to know what some of the best marketing minds think are key trends for next year.

We asked more than a dozen healthcare and content marketing experts to tell us what they thought would be the most important imperative for hospital marketers to focus on in the next 12 months. We’ve compiled their responses in the pages that follow. These are the topics they chose:

Include family caregivers in your marketing effortsAhava Leibtag

stop shouting and start listeningDan Hinmon

embrace the news rules of serviceDavid Meerman Scott

stop worrying about the next big thing and focus on the basicsEd Bennett

prioritize location marketingElizabeth Scott

enable peer-to-peer connectionsErica Ayotta

evolve your mobile content strategyJoe Lazauskas

track beyond the lead to appointments and proceduresJonathan Catley

How to do hospital courtship marketingLaura Peterson

align staff to your brand promiseMark Shipley

make mobile a key component of your digital presenceNicole Denton

more internal, less externalReed Smith

The content-driven experience mandateRobert Rose

We’ve included a link to each contributor’s blog as well as a resources page listing some of the books, ebooks, and slides they’ve published.

If you’d like to connect with any of these experts or talk about how these imperatives fit into your hospital’s marketing plan, feel free to contact us.

Nigel edelshain, Director of marketing & Digital media201.573.5557, nigel.edelshain@wainscotmedia.com

richard Iurilli, marketing associate201.746.7811, richard.iurilli@wainscotmedia.com

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“Family caregivers can have just as much influence as the family members they care for, especially when it comes to choosing hospitals, doctors, and treatments.”

joined in growing numbers by men, daughter-in-laws, siblings, friends, and neighbors. Beware of the “80% of all healthcare searches are performed by women” trap; men are increasingly becoming more involved in the health of their loved ones.

How to eNgagefamIly caregIversSuccessfully reaching and engaging family caregivers is not only good for the healthcare business; it’s becoming an integral part of delivering patient-centered care.

Here’s how to engage family caregivers:• Socialmedia:Feeling isolated

and overwhelmed, many familycaregivers turn to social mediafor support. Connect with themby offering tips to solve commonchallenges or creating a contenthub focused specifically on theirneeds.

• Familycaregiverblog:Familycaregivers lack basic training in theirnew role. Help them gain importantknowledge and skills throughexpert blog posts on topics suchas home safety, avoiding infectionand medication management.Consider varied content types,

w iTh a n esTi m aTe d 66 million family caregivers in the US, now more than ever, you should identify specific strategies to reach them. Family caregivers can have just as much influence as the family members they care for, especially when it comes to choosing hospitals, doctors, and treatments.

Four in ten adults care for an adult or child with significant health issues. These numbers will only grow as our population ages. In fact, there was a recent petition to track caregiver stress on change.org, demonstrating that this issue is approaching mainstream concern.

wHat you NeeD to kNow about famIly caregIversFamily caregivers are responsible for many things for their loved ones and have many things in common. They:• Embracetechnology: Caregivers

are more likely than the generalpopulation to search for healthinformation online, includinginformation about medicalproblems, treatments and drugs.

• Feelstretchedthin: More than halfof family caregivers are employedfull-time and more than 75% alsohave children under the age of 18.

• Don’tconsiderthemselvescaregivers:Family caregivers tendnot to identify themselves as such,meaning marketing aimed at “familycaregivers” often misses its mark.

• Arenotjustwivesanddaughters:Wives and daughters are being

such as very short videos (no more than 1 minute) with caregiving tips, Instagram tips, and short bursts of advice from nutritionists, physical and occupational therapists and psychologists.

• Apps:Help family caregivers stayorganized with a free app offeringfeatures such as shareable task lists,a calendar to track appointments,daily treatment schedules andmedication reminders.

• Personalhealthrecords:Offertools to help family caregivers setup, access and maintain their lovedones’ personal health records. Ifyour platform supports securepatient-physician communication,this is an excellent feature topromote.

INcluDe famIly caregIvers IN your marketINg efforts:Reaching this growing segment of the population is critical.

ahava LeibTagPresident, Aha Media

ahava r. LeibTag has more than 15 years of experience in writing, messaging and marketing. she is a well-recognized content expert and writes thought leadership about content strategy and content marketing. ahava is the president and owner of aha Media Group, llC, a content strategy and content marketing consultancy founded in october 2005.

ahamediagroup.com

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“The financial success of your health system will depend on your ability to motivate communities of patients to take better care of themselves.”

people are HuNgry to coNNect wItH otHers wHo are lIke tHemIn the 2015 Edelman Trust barometer, two-thirds of all respondents said they are most likely to trust “a person like yourself.” When you connect people in a community, trust and loyalty to your health system skyrockets.

tHree tIps to start buIlDINg commuNItyIdentify a service line or major health initiative that your health system will devote resources to develop. Perhaps it’s an initiative to encourage patients to lose weight, a focus on pelvic health, or support for cancer patients. Be clear about whom you want to bring together.

Do the research—focus groups, surveys, informal conversations— to find out exactly what your patients care about. When you match specific patient need with the best resources—and do it consistently—a community can emerge.

Provide an online place for people to connect. Provide a platform for peer-to-peer support, health experts, and accurate resources. You

if you’re sTiLL shouTing messages to your healthcare community about awards, high-tech equipment, and board-certified physicians, just stop it. It’s time to start building community by having conversations around what people care about and listening to what they have to say. Here’s why—and how.

reImbursemeNt Is sHIftINg from fee-for-servIce to populatIoN HealtHThe nation’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans are spending more than $65 billion annually—about 20 percent of the medical claim dollars they pay—on ‘value-based’ care that rewards better outcomes and keeps patients healthy.

The financial success of your health system will depend on your ability to motivate communities of patients to take better care of themselves. To be successful, you’ll need to be skilled at creating a sense of community.

patIeNts are oNlINe, more eDucateD aND INformeD tHaN everToday’s patients and their families are searching the internet for health information, rating providers on Yelp and Vitals, and telling everyone about their good and bad experiences on Facebook. Reach out to patients where they are. If you’re not involved in the conversation, it’s going on without you.

may start with a Facebook page. As the interest and community grow, you’ll need a more effective platform.

Health research expert Susannah Fox says, “The most exciting innovation in healthcare today is people talking to one another.”

The future of healthcare, and of healthcare marketing, lies in connecting, engaging, sharing, educating, helping, and encouraging patients through community.

stop sHoutINg aND start lIsteNINg:The future of healthcare marketing is community.

dan hinmonPrincipal, Hive Strategies

dan hinmon is principal of Hive strategies, a firm that helps health systems create Hipaa-compliant online patient communities. He is also community director for Mayo Clinic’s social Media Health Network. Dan has developed advertising, marketing and public relations campaigns for healthcare clients for more than three decades, including time as a hospital marketing director.

hivestrategies.comhinmon.com

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“Smart healthcare practitioners understand that people have choices of whom to do business with, and they are transforming the way they treat patients.”

in my experience as a paTienT and as a family member of patients, I’d have to say that the healthcare industry has the absolute worst customer service imaginable. It’s crazy!

If I need to make an appointment with my primary care physician, I can’t do it online. I must call the doctor’s office “during normal business hours,” which is a three-hour window in the morning and a three-hour window in the afternoon, weekdays only. No, you cannot call the office before 9:00 a.m. No, you can’t call when they are on a lunch break.

And when you do call, there’s no way you can actually speak with the doctor. All they’ll do is grant you an appointment. And don’t even get me started about service after an appointment.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Smart healthcare practioners understand that people have choices of whom to do business with, and they are transforming the way they treat patients.

3 pHysIcIaNs usINgtHe New rulesTake for example Kate Burke, MD. She became interested in the doctor-patient disconnect through personal experience. Following an orthopedic injury, Burke struggled to recall exactly how to do her

physical therapy exercises at home. Then she had an idea: On the next visit to her therapist, she took her video camera, asking him to record her correctly performing her exercises in his office so she could remember exactly how to do each movement at home.

Since that experience, Dr. Burke has introduced video in her own practice, shooting clips for patients at the end of an emergency room visit, explaining the treatment and what to do upon returning home.

Peggy Kriss, PhD, a clinical psychologist in Newton, Massachusetts, is another example. She provides each of her psychotherapy clients with a resource page with videos, helpful websites, articles, blogs, referral links, and even motivational photos.

Natasha Burgert, MD, uses her Twitter feed, Facebook page, and blog to share information with parents, the teenagers she serves, and the community at large. Like the others, she sees tremendous value in delivering follow-up information via social tools.

These are just a few examples of healthcare practitioners embracing the new rules of service, but there are many, many more. What’s the plan at your health system?

This piece is adapted from David Meerman Scott’s ebook Agile, Real-Time Customer Service: How to Use the New Rules of Engagement to Grow Your Business. Download the ebook to read more about these three examples and how you can apply the same practices at your own health system.

embrace tHe Newrules of servIce:What’s your plan to improve customer service at yourhealth system?

david meerman scoTTMarketing strategist

david meerman scoTT is the author of ten books including The New Rules of Marketing and PR, an international bestseller now in its 4th edition with more than 350,000 copies sold in english and available in over 25 languages from arabic to Vietnamese.

davidmeermanscott.comwebinknow.com

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“It’s not enough for your Content Management System to just update your web pages; it also needs to connect all your marketing tools.”

ed benneTTDirector, Web and Communications Technology, University of Maryland Medical System

ed benneTT is responsible for web operations and social media at the University of Maryland Medical system. He provides consulting services to hospitals and healthcare organizations and is a frequent speaker at healthcare conferences. He also serves as an adviser to the Mayo Clinic Center for social Media.

umm.eduebennett.org

marketing tools. Use it to create personalized, actionable content based on patient profiles and make it the center of calls to action in all your marketing materials.

Your CMS must be open to data feeds from third-party vendors. While it’s possible to build every service in-house, it’s better and less expensive to use specialized services for video hosting, physician directories, calendaring, online mapping, etc. A flexible CMS will seamlessly embed these features into your site.

Your CMS also needs to be able to deliver the right content in the right format to any device, whether smartphone, tablet or desktop.

Bottom line—don’t skimp on your CMS. It’s too expensive in the long run.

true traNspareNcyFollow the Cleveland Clinic’s example and add your Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) feedback to your individual physician profiles. No matter the pushback, the results are huge for two reasons:

Too many markeTers geT ahead of themselves with exotic tactics before they nail the basics. This results in marketing programs that are stretched thin and tools that aren’t nearly as effective as they could be. Here are four marketing basics to master immediately.

tHe full power of socIalMaximize the value of the social networks you know before expanding to the rest. That means investing in Facebook—not the sidebar ads, but promoted placement of well-written posts (with eye-catching graphics).

YouTube is your second most important social media platform. About 50% of its traffic comes from mobile devices, and it’s the default search engine for a large percentage of your audience.

customer satIsfactIoNLook at all your patient touchpoints. Work to have a great patient experience across your website, call center, appointment reminders, and every other place patients see your brand. Remember that patients see only one brand for all your services.

tHe rIgHt INfrastructureYour CMS (Content Management System) is a critical component of your marketing. It’s not enough for it to just update your web pages; it also needs to connect all your

1. Consumers like the transparency.2. Google rewards this data in

organic search results.

Unlike Healthgrades, Vitals and other third-party directories, this feedback comes from verified patients and is posted on your website. The additional search volume generated by including these ratings will promote your site in search results and push those other sites down. Hospitals that have used this tactic have seen a dramatic increase in new patients—mostly because of higher search engine rankings.

stop worryINg about tHe Next bIg tHINg aND focus oN tHe basIcs:Four things to do now for a successful digital program

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“The strategic placement of online and offline marketing messages has never mattered more than it does today, and this is just the beginning.”

and contribute valuable, relevant content. Don’t sell. Be present for big local events and stay within your service line wheelhouse when online.

tHINk smallYou have 5 seconds, one sentence and an image. Screens are getting smaller. Messages are getting shorter. What will it be? Where will a click take your audience?

mobIle... NowThink mobile first. Digital marketing needs to address one of five demands to be valuable on mobile platforms:

1. Provide information that is valuable to me (e.g., “Questions you should always ask when you have a new doctor”)

2. Address my immediate health concern or interest (e.g., “When should you go to the ER?”)

3. Connect me with who or what I want to know (e.g., “Need a new family doctor? Dr. Allen is taking new patients.”)

4. Add value to what I’m doing or what’s happening now (e.g., “Three one-minute yoga moves you can do at your desk”)

5. Make it relevant to where I am at this moment (e.g., “Feeling hot at the ballpark? Free hats to the first 100

if There were onLy one ThingI could focus on as a healthcare marketer in the next 12 months, it would be location (or proximity) marketing. The strategic placement of online and offline marketing messages has never mattered more than it does today, and this is just the beginning. It will only grow as we rely more on our mobile devices and wearables.

Healthcare consumers are in constant motion. No one is sitting still viewing our beautiful—and expensive—advertising spots. What is a healthcare marketer to do?

Start planting seeds of information in the places where your audience roams. I’m not talking about print ads or 30-second videos, but 5-second attention grabs with “Want to know more?” teasers. You have to stay nimble, be willing to change your message quickly and A/B test along the way. Welcome to the new era of healthcare advertising.

lIve IN tHe momeNtInstant advertising. Real-time social media. Think advertorial. Be part of the news story of the day by putting your social media channels to work in real time during local news broadcasts, press conferences or online news feeds with hospital or health and wellness breakthrough messages. Hashtag it.

HaNg out wItHtHe IN crowDYou don’t have to monitor everything online—just join the right conversations

people who stop by our healthcare booth on level 3.”)

Proximity marketing is the ultimate personalized user experience. It’s finally here and it’s not going away. Hyper-local advertising will drive conversions and patient acquisition. Get familiar and comfortable with technologies and acronyms such as iBeacon, Bluetooth, BLE, NFC, GPS, and RFID in your marketing initiatives. They’ll allow you to send messages, offers, discounts and personalized content as your audience walks by.

Be there. Be prepared.

prIorItIze locatIoN marketINg:Being at the right place at the right time matters more than ever.

eLizabeTh scoTTVP, Executive Digital Strategist, MedTouch

eLizabeTh scoTT has more than 20 years of digital, healthcare leadership, project management, marketing, and business communications experience. she has been both a hospital marketer and a top national consultant for hospital and health plans across the country. she is a frequent conference and webinar speaker and an editorial contributor on a wide range of healthcare topics.

medtouch.comravennewmedia.com

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“The next frontier for hospital marketers is to enable peer-to-peer connections that address the emotional aspects of healthcare.”

in recenT years, hospiTaL marketers have made information accessibility a focus of their efforts. Highlighting expertise via video, blog posts and social media or adding health libraries and research to hospital websites is now commonplace.

The next frontier for hospital marketers is to enable peer-to-peer connections that address the emotional aspects of healthcare. Especially for those living with chronic conditions, connection with others going through similar experiences is both powerful and healing. Networking sites like patientslikeMe show patients’ eagerness to find and participate in bespoke communities that speak directly to their needs and experiences.

one in four internet users living with chronic conditions say they have gone online to find others with similar health concerns. Others likely to look online for support include caregivers and those who have experienced a medical crisis or major physical changes. While people are more likely to reach out to health professionals when they have technical questions related to health, they’re much more likely to reach out to fellow patients, friends, or family when the issue is more personal or emotional.

Hospital marketers need to utilize the share of attention they garner online and direct patients and caregivers

to topic-specific social media channels and managed peer-to-peer communities.

Boston Children’s Hospital’s Celiac support Group offers Facebook users gluten-free lifestyle tips and news and promotes hospital events and informational newsletters. Members regularly engage with and share page content, as well as offer positive comments about their experiences with the children’s hospital.

Other hospitals choose to manage private forums for patients, with less emphasis on hospital-driven content and more emphasis on peer-to-peer conversation. Dana Farber’s CancerConnect provides a secure online environment for patients and caregivers to learn from and support each other. CancerConnect has different groups for different types of cancer where members can share their personal experiences in a private environment that allows them to feel more comfortable.

Both public-facing and private peer-to-peer communities can serve the needs of patients and caregivers. Before you decide which type of community is right for your hospital or program, explore these questions

internally:

1. Is there a demonstrated need by a core group of potential members for this community?

2. Do we have the personnel resources and expertise to manage a community?

3. Do we have a content plan for public-facing communities?

4. Do we have the security and privacy measures in place to manage a private community?

5. Do we have community guides and rules of engagement?

These questions can help your hospital consider key issues related to demand, community management, and patient privacy.

eNable peer-to-peer coNNectIoNs:Public and private communities serve the needs of patients and caregivers.

erica ayoTTeCustomer Success Executive, Hootsuite

erica ayoTTe is the strategy lead for Hootsuite’s Fortune 500 clients. prior to Hootsuite, she built the social media marketing program at Constant Contact. she has spent nearly a decade building and managing direct marketing and marketing communications programs for technology and B2B companies.

hootsuite.comabout.me/ericaayotte

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“Most hospitals’ mobile strategies remain woefully behind the curve, in large part because it’s hard to evolve quickly in such a compliance-heavy industry.”

Joe LazauskasEditor-in-Chief, Contently

Joe Lazauskas is the editor-in-Chief of Contently and a technology and marketing journalist. He has written for Mashable, Digiday, Huffpo and Forbes, amongst other publications, and is the former editor-in-chief of The New York egotist and The Faster times.

contently.com/strategistjoelazauskas.contently.com

evolve your mobIle coNteNt strategy:You can provide people with the expert knowledge and advice they need—anywhere.

evaNgelIze coNteNt wItHbest-IN-class examplesThe solution starts with evangelizing content and its importance to business leadership and determining a realistic content strategy that delivers value to people without getting anyone at your hospital into hot water.

Use best-in-class examples to tell the story of what content could do for you. The Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic have awesome content hubs. Johns Hopkins’ podcasts are great. Phoenix Children’s Hospital makes great apps. Those guys have figured out what value they can deliver better than anyone else. What would that valuable content look like for you? Figure that out, and you’ll be on your way to success.

cleaN up your coNteNt revIew processEven if everyone’s on board, the typical approval process is still a huge problem. If 40—or even 4—people need to approve every piece of content, you’re going to struggle to get into any sort of rhythm. And when you don’t hit a cadence, you have little chance of

peopLe are increasingLy seeking health information and advice through the mobile web; in fact, Google, the primary portal for finding such information, is now seeing more mobile searches than desktop searches for the first time. Unfortunately, most hospitals’ mobile strategies remain woefully behind the curve, in large part because it ’s hard to evolve quickly in such a compliance-heavy industry. It ’s a big challenge, but one that hospital marketers need to tackle.

Think about the questions people are asking—what are their biggest needs, their biggest concerns? They want expert advice, and that’s what hospitals can provide. It’s the big advantage that hospital marketers have over sites like WebMD. Create expert content that’s compliant, and then put some media budget behind that content to distribute it via paid social media and paid search.

The imperative for hospital marketers, then, is twofold: creating authoritative and valuable mobile-friendly content that educates and guides people through their healthcare decisions, and figuring out how to streamline their approval process so that content can be created in a timely, efficient manner.

being successful because you need to try out a lot of content to see what works.

Although it’s great to have your team collaborate, it’s important to reduce the number of people reviewing content if you want to publish at-scale. Ask yourself who really needs to be involved in the review process and explore ways to limit how many edits certain employees can make. Can you build a content approval flow that reduces the number of employees that are involved in your review process? You don’t really know what you’re doing until you’ve published at least 100 pieces of content, so it’s important to keep the process streamlined.

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“It’s imperative for hospital marketers to have actionable insight into where their marketing budget is being spent and what’s actually producing results.”

track beyoND tHe leaD to appoINtmeNts aND proceDures:Modern tracking methods are key to proving ROI.

campaigns. This hospital would compare the current call volume with call volumes from previous years to judge whether their marketing spend was producing results, even though other factors certainly affected call volume.

Another common method used by hospitals is the classic “How-Hear” method, where call center or reception staff simply ask patients “How did you hear about us?” Studies have shown such metrics are only about 50% accurate: The question is often not asked and is subject to bias (receptionists tend to choose from only the first few list choices), and patients often don’t reliably respond.

tHe NeeD for buDget meets tHe NeeD for resultsMore and more, hospital marketing groups are being held accountable for sales performance and ROI on their programs. Presenting brand awareness metrics when advocating for more budget (or simply to hold on to what you have) will generally not suffice. Hospital board members and executives need more proof and need to understand how your programs will impact the top-line.

hospiTaLs of aLL sizes aLL have one common problem: They don’t know (with any accuracy) where their leads are coming from and what’s converting into actual revenue. Visibility gets lost amongst the endless amounts of data streaming through their systems. It’s imperative for hospital marketers to have actionable insight into where their marketing budget is being spent and what’s actually producing results, especially when struggling to receive the appropriate budget to meet overall hospital objectives.

trackINg metHoDs beINg useD just DoN’t workThe healthcare industry as a whole has been slow to adopt newer tracking methods. Most hospitals we speak with are still relying on antiquated methods to prove ROI on their campaigns.

Example1: A US News Top 10 hospital was relying on their call center to adequately track what campaigns were generating calls. Upon introducing phone tracking and dynamic tracking on certain service line campaigns, results showed that the call center was losing visibility into more than 50% of the appointments coming through their center.

Example2: A small regional health system with no call center relied on overall volume of calls generated (not specific to any campaign) to determine the success rates of

INsIgHt beyoND tHe leaDOrganizations can’t (and won’t) change overnight, but hospital marketers can certainly start planting their seeds early. As new service line campaigns are launched, utilize the opportunity to change the mindset internally on how you want these programs set up and tracked. Create landing pages, vanity URL’s, and unique tracking phone numbers to identify what service lines, marketing channels or locations are seeing success with your marketing initiatives. Leverage lead scoring to identify which calls turned into appointments and map the data to your internal systems to determine what appointments turned into procedures and, ultimately, revenue.

JonaThan caTLeySales and Marketing Manager, MD Connect

JonaThan caTLey manages the sales and marketing efforts for MD Connect, inc, a 100% healthcare focused digital marketing agency. With over 10 years experience in the industry, Jonathan is a senior marketing and demand generation leader, focused on building market awareness and increasing exposure that generates new revenue for the business.

mdconnectinc.comjonathan-catley.brandyourself.com

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“Hospitals must flip the marketing switch and start practicing intentional consumer courtships based on high-quality content.”

strategy for you to follow to court prospective patients:

1. Identify a service, initiative, new educational series, hospital opening, blog launch—anything you know your target audience would want to know about. Keep in mind that it has to meet a direct consumer need and cannot be self-promotional.

2. Create a well-crafted messaging campaign around this identified news. It could include a video, email series, social media campaign, a feature article—there are lots of options. Every asset must be written with the consumer in mind.

3. Map your content to the stages of the patient’s journey. This step is critical but often missed. Think of a content dinner with an appetizer, main course and dessert. Timing is everything and every piece of content has a role to play.

4. Distribute your content across an automated software platform that can track and report the response to every piece of content in real-time.

Today’s consumers expecT authentic, engaging content to appear when and where they want it. They are scouting for compelling storylines they can engage with in real-time.

This presents a prime time opportunity for hospitals. Leaders West recently published data showing that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing, and that it generates approximately three times as many leads per dollar spent.

Hospitals must flip the marketing switch and start practicing intentional consumer courtships based on high-quality content like other rising star organizations. It’s like moving away from the proverbial one-night-stand and committing to an ongoing and committed relationship.

a lIttle art. a lIttle scIeNce. a lot of roI.The best content elixir combines art (messaging) and science (automation). It’s automated content marketing with the singular focus of winning the attention and allegiance of new patients. And it will not consume your budget like traditional marketing.

lauNcH a courtsHIp IN 5 stepsHere’s a five-step content

5. Measure everything, then adapt and evolve. This is the beauty of the science portion of this elixir. You will see hard data around what is working and what is not. You can change your messaging in real-time to adjust.

By launching a highly engaging courtship with your prospective patients, you’re committing yourself—both to them and to your own results.

Welcome to a better way to market—and quite possibly the best marketing spend decision you’ll make this year.

How to Do HospItalcourtsHIp marketINg:Five steps to committing yourself to your prospective patients

Laura e. peTersonCEO, Five Spot Communications

Laura e. peTerson is Ceo of Five spot Communications, a marketing firm specializing in transformative digital marketing. Her 20 years of agency and client-side marketing for Fortune 100 companies to entrepreneurial startups centers around transforming brands to become more engaging, conversational, educational and digitally relevant.

fivespothealth.comfivespotcommunications.com/blog

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“All your marketing and advertising money and effort is wasted if internal audiences can’t deliver on the promises made in marketing messages.”

that the source of this hospital’s poor reputation, while pinned to one individual, was not the obstetrician in question. All roads led to a triage nurse who worked nights and weekends, the busiest time in the ER. Turns out she became quite famous for her rude and disrespectful attitude toward patients at their time of need. In order to avoid this nurse, patients would drive past this hospital and up to an hour away to a competitor’s ER.

This story illustrates that one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. Had this hospital aligned its internal audiences with a brand promise, the misbehaving triage nurse would likely have changed her attitude or gone to work elsewhere. A competitor, perhaps?

How to alIgN staff to tHe braND promIseThe first step is to articulate what makes your organization stand out from competitors. What can your organization deliver that competitors can’t? Why should patients choose your hospital? Why should physicians choose to practice at your hospital?

many hospiTaLs andhealthcare organizations spend hundreds of thousands, and even millions of dollars on marketing and advertising to reach external audiences. Often, however, what they forget is that all this money and effort is wasted if internal audiences can’t deliver on the promises made in their marketing messages.

When a brand positioning is determined, it’s important to first communicate with physicians, nurses and staff to educate them on the organization’s new brand promise. More importantly, by defining underlying core values to support the positioning, internal members can see their place in this new brand and how they can help contribute to its success.

tHe ImportaNce of INterNal alIgNmeNtInternal alignment is not a new idea. About 10 years ago, my agency was hired by a hospital to rebrand the organization. The senior management team believed the hospital’s poor reputation was the result of a high profile malpractice suit with an obstetrician who had a baby die in one of the hospital’s delivery rooms.

However, when we conducted research with stakeholders and community members, we found

The second step is to educate staff members on how to deliver this differentiator in the patient experience. For example, if your marketing promises compassionate care, and your physicians are lacking bedside manner, patients will be dissatisfied. Correct that in this step.

The last, and most important step, is to hold staff accountable to living up to this brand promise. Reward employees who exemplify the brand promise and correct those who don’t.

alIgN staff to your braND promIse:Internal alignment is key topositive patient experiences.

mark shipLeyCEO/Strategy Director, Smith & Jones

mark shipLey is the Ceo and strategy Director of smith & Jones, a healthcare marketing agency specializing in hospitals and provider networks. He recently authored in search of Good Medicine, a healthcare marketing book written exclusively for the c-suite.

smithandjones.com

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“Hospital marketers need to optimize every step of the patient journey, from initial research to appointment confirmation, for smartphones and tablets.”

page l ayout & coNteNt HIerarcHy It ’s not enough to resize your website for smaller screens, though. You need to design every piece of content on every page of your site with mobile devices in mind.

Visitors using smartphones or tablets will only see a limited portion of the content on each page before they have to start scrolling. While it ’s difficult to put much text “above the fold” on mobile devices, forcing users to scroll excessively to reach the content they ’re looking for will cause many of them to navigate to other pages or abandon your website altogether.

When creating your website’s page layout and content, think about what ’s most important for your visitors to see. Make sure your most valuable content is front and center on any device, and use internal links throughout your content so visitors can easily navigate to other important pages without scrolling back to the top.

52 percenT of smarTphoneowners have used their phone to look up health or medical information . Whether patients are doing research on the go or trying to find a nearby physician, they ’re spending more and more time on mobile devices.

go wHere your patIeNts areMany consumers don’t want to make a phone call or wait until they ’re at a desktop computer to interact with you. As the medical space becomes more and more competitive, hospital marketers need to optimize every step of the patient journey, from initial research to appointment confirmation, for smartphones and tablets.

respoNsIve DesIgNA responsive website, one that seamlessly scales itself based on screen size to create an optimal v iewing experience, wi l l a l low your patients to f ind important information without pinching to zoom or squinting at t iny t ypefaces.

Making your website responsive wi l l a lso help your organic search ranking. Google’s recent algorithm update penal izes websites that are not optimized for mobile, and the other search engines are fol lowing suit .

Your health system probably has more than one facility—give your visitors an easy way to find the one they ’re looking for with a “ locations” button or a link to “get directions” in a prominent location.

Don’t make patients hunt for contact information, either, and be sure they can make an appointment on their smartphone. If your hospital has an emergency room, you should also consider a “current ER wait time” counter on all relevant pages.

nicoLe denTonManaging Director, Pyxl

nicoLe denTon is the managing director of pyxl’s scottsdale office. pyxl is a full-service digital marketing firm and Hubspot platinum partner with locations in Boulder, Co, knoxville & Nashville, tN and scottsdale, aZ.

healthcare.thinkpyxl.com/read

make mobIle a keycompoNeNt of yourDIgItal preseNce:Optimize your website for all devices to reach patients on the go.

14

“We have to get comfortable with the fact that we do not control our own message like we once did.”

reed smiThFounder, Social Health Institute

reed smiTh is a consulting strategist and thought leader focused on the integration of social computing into hospitals. Much of his work focuses on incorporating interactive elements into digital strategies within hospitals and healthcare organizations. reed is also a founding advisory board member of the Mayo Clinic Center for social Media.

socialhealthinstitute.comgraydigitalgroup.com

more INterNal, less exterNal:Three things to do now to prioritize internal communications

as Those of us who have been in a marketing role know, many areas are part of the job. Advertising, community events, branding, reputation, which while all great areas to spend time, might actually fall behind the one we never think to prioritize—internal communications.

As healthcare marketers there is never enough time in the day. We are typically a small department with a tight budget. So how do we make more with less? How do we rethink what we do and how we do it?

How about enlisting the hundreds, if not thousands, of staff we have on our campuses each day to help.

wHy Is tHIs ImportaNt?Take a minute and think about how we get our information. Podcast vs radio, YouTube vs TV, Internet search vs phone book, and even—dare I say—friend vs doctor?

Quickly we realize that consumers want to hear from a person and not a brand. We have to get comfortable with the fact that we do not control our own message like we once did. Our internal staff have to become brand advocates. Our community wants to hear from the experts, not the brand. Our staff want to hear from leaders, not the brand.

If we need to communicate better with our staff, and those same staff members are also our best marketing

advocates, then why shouldn’t we spend more time on them?

so wHat sHoulD you Do?1. First and foremost you have to

trust your team. Show them that because you made a good choice in hiring them, you trust them in other areas, not just what you hired them to do. One key point: Allow them to have a voice online.

2. Once you come to the realization that your staff members are active voices online anyway, you need to train them. Work within your organization to identify staff who have a valuable message to share. Bring them in as part of the marketing effort to create and share valuable content on behalf of the brand.

3. Be transparent and accessible. Give staff tools to reach leadership that are historically used to connect with the public.

Before you take any of these steps, work with your ethics and compliance officer as well as human resources to make sure the appropriate policies are in place that will allow you to operate in a way

where appropriate dialogue of all kinds is allowed.

Your organization is filled with people who want to hear from you. Not your marketing message or benefits update, but from you in a transparent way. In addition, you have many really engaging, smart, caring individuals who work inside your walls everyday. Find them and make them accessible to your community online.

15

“The new objective for hospitals must be to evolve both patients and other constituents from unaware consumers to brand-subscribing advocates.”

experience that integrates everything a brand does (physical or otherwise) to create a total customer experience.

So, how does a hospital start to fundamentally change its approach so that content-driven experiences become something infused into every customer experience? Start by asking, “How can we create a process where content-driven experiences are created as a product that we can invest in?” The answer can come in many forms: a blog, an app, a resource center.

Monroe Carell Jr.’s Children’s Hospital in Nashville, for example. is trying to appeal to more suburban parents, and have the urban hospital be first in consideration when parents think about healthcare for their children. They’re doing this by reaching out to an audience of influencers—in this case, coaches.

The hospital developed an app specifically for coaches, which monitors (in real time) aspects of inclement weather and heat. It also includes content that informs coaches on how to respond accordingly. The app offers coaches the ability to see if there is a high risk of heat stroke or

hospiTaL services are one of a very few truly valuable experiences that no one wants to ever experience, much less purchase. This makes marketing hospitals tricky indeed. Add to that growing competition from other hospitals, a mandate to broaden service areas, increasing competition for talent and the always-prevalent cost pressures and you have a recipe for complexity.

This is why, perhaps more than most industries, marketing processes must evolve for hospitals. They must introduce content-driven experiences as a fundamental core of how marketing operates.

The practice of marketing must evolve beyond the goal of simply creating a customer. In fact, the creation of a customer will simply be table stakes for most marketing organizations. The new objective for hospitals must be to evolve both patients and other constituents from unaware consumers to brand-subscribing advocates.

The digital experience will be infused into every customer interaction and will form the natural selection process that drives this evolution.

And this is the key challenge. Marketing departments are currently working separately to create more “digital experiences” than ever before, but what must change is the structure of the strategy that delivers a cohesive, connected, and consistent digital

thunderstorms so they can take action to keep the kids on the field safe.

It’s this kind of content-driven experience that helps develop the kind of community awareness and trust Monroe Carell Jr.’s Children’s Hospital desires.

To succeed, marketing departments themselves must evolve. They must not only describe the value of the hospital and its services through various campaign-focused digital channels but also create differentiated experiential value that is separate and distinct from their services.

tHe coNteNt-DrIveNexperIeNce maNDate:People want a cohesive, connected, and consistent experience.

roberT roseChief Strategy Officer, Content Marketing Institute

roberT rose is a best-selling author and sought after speaker on the topics of the new strategic role of marketing in the business, content marketing, customer experiences and marketing-related technology. as a strategist, robert is the Chief strategy officer for the Content Marketing institute and senior Contributing Consultant for Digital Clarity Group.

contentmarketinginstitute.comabout.me/robertrose

if you’re ready to take action on any of the ideas in this ebook, drop us a line and we’d be happy to discuss your next steps or connect you to any of the featured experts. We love to talk to smart marketers—especially in the healthcare field.

nigeL edeLshainDirector of Marketing & Digital Media201.573.5557nigel.edelshain@wainscotmedia.com

richard iuriLLiMarketing associate201.746.7811richard.iurilli@wainscotmedia.com

You can also read our own content marketing tips for hospitals and health systems atblog.wainscotmedia.com.

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ImperatIvesfor Hospital Marketersfrom 13 top experts