It has been a most interesting healthcare year. One filled with great change by the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, large fraud settlements along with the usually ethical and moral failures, mergers, acquisitions and the glimmer of an economic recovery. There is optimistic hope for the future.
Enough said as all the major healthcare publications run their year-end retrospectives, tops tens, best and worst…. well, you get the idea.
So before I going to much further, I would like to extend a most sincere wish for a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my readers around the world. Readership of Healthcare Marketing Matters has increased greatly over this past year to over a 1,000 page views a month and read daily world-wide. I hope that you have found these writings to be informative, maybe even educational and occasionally irreverent. But most of all, thank you for reading and commenting.
So my last Healthcare Marketing Matters blog for 2010 is about New Year Marketing Resolutions. My own Top 10 list that you might consider as well.
10. I will educate my organization about the value of my department and work. I will lead and prove my departments ROI.
9. I will continue to scan other industries for their marketing successes. I will learn about them, adapt them to my industry, and implement successfully.
8. I will continue my marketing education through webinars, seminars and conferences. There is always something new on the horizon to learn.
7. I will integrate my traditional, online and social marketing strategies. All are complementary to one another and drive multiple successes.
6. I will innovate, discover the needs of my customers and drive consistent brand messaging.
5. I will foster a spirit of and demand marketing excellence. Good enough is not good enough. I owe nothing less to my organization and my customers.
4. Brand is my religion. I will be a brand zealot and show what the brand promise, brand reputation and brand equity mean to my organization in revenue terms.
3. I will stop using the words "unique", "state-of-the-art", and anything that is considered "buzz word" terminology in my marketing communications. Unique can be duplicated easily, "state-of-the-art" refers to yesterday's systems as things change so fast and "buzz words" quickly fall out of favor.
2. I will bridge the divide between sales and marketing and in doing so, together we will drive value, customer satisfaction and create customer evangelists all the while reaching new revenue heights.
1. I will serve and be humble, giving credit where credit is due and not repeat the mistakes of the past.
See you in what will be a most interesting 2011 when the writing resumes. Until then, a safe and Happy Holiday Season to you all!
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations, I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Using QR Codes in Healthcare Marketing
Have you ever considered using Quick Response(QR)Codes in your healthcare marketing? Do you even know what a QR Code is?
For those who may be unfamiliar with QR codes, they were developed by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave in 1994 for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing. It is called QR Code for Quick Response Code because it is intended for its content to be decoded at high-speed. The QR Code is a two-dimensional code consisting of black modules arranged in a square on white background. It is readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera and smartphones. QR Code™ is a registered trademark of Denso Wave Incorporated.
QR Codes are used with regularity in marketing in most other parts of the world. The U. S. lags in use.
Its About Convenience
This is really a convenience application aimed at mobile phone users. And I think it has great application for use in the healthcare industry. Mobile-tagging as it is called, provides you the ability to communicate information to a user, be it the URL to your website or micro site, phone number of an account representative, display text or used to compose an email or text message. The QR Code can be placed in newspaper ads, magazines, billboards, buses, direct mail, email messages, web sites, blogs , in just about any medium you can think of.
Immediate Response for Return on Marketing Investment
Now instead of asking someone to dial a number, go to a web site, your QR Code in whatever medium you are using can be scanned immediately with the users phone or a QR scanner and the information accessed. It could be connecting the users phone to a wireless network and placing the call. It could be to a web site or specific page or even find-a-doc. You can measure the effects of your campaign immediately.
QR Codes are free and can be generated by any number of sites on the web. I used Google to find a site and randomly picked delivr. The QR Code for this blog was generated at delivr. It is very easy to create your own QR Code and took less than 30 seconds.
For example, below is the QR Code for my blog:
It contains the URL to get you here. I can now place this on business cards, emails, text messages, ads, any medium really to direct traffic to my site. Scan and go. Literally no waiting. No typing in an address. Nor waiting till I get home to use the computer or find a wifi hot spot for the laptop. Naturally, a users smart phone needs the app but those are readily available and free as well. You may want to include a QR Code reader app on you web site for mobile phone users with smartphones to download if they do not have one. Some smartphones using the Android operating system already have the app. Point the phones camera, take the picture, use the app. That all it takes.
QR Codes are known as a physical world hyperlink or in my world, PWH for short.
Of course there are message size limits and variants called Micro QR Codes which are essentially smaller versions of the standard QR Code applications. I am not going to delve into any more detail of this because so much information is available on the web and easily understood that you can do this yourself.
So as 2010 begins to come to a close, start looking at how applications in other industries can kick-start your 2010 healthcare marketing to another level and increase your customers convenience for using you, your products, your services, generating revenue and strengthening your brand.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
For those who may be unfamiliar with QR codes, they were developed by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave in 1994 for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing. It is called QR Code for Quick Response Code because it is intended for its content to be decoded at high-speed. The QR Code is a two-dimensional code consisting of black modules arranged in a square on white background. It is readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera and smartphones. QR Code™ is a registered trademark of Denso Wave Incorporated.
QR Codes are used with regularity in marketing in most other parts of the world. The U. S. lags in use.
Its About Convenience
This is really a convenience application aimed at mobile phone users. And I think it has great application for use in the healthcare industry. Mobile-tagging as it is called, provides you the ability to communicate information to a user, be it the URL to your website or micro site, phone number of an account representative, display text or used to compose an email or text message. The QR Code can be placed in newspaper ads, magazines, billboards, buses, direct mail, email messages, web sites, blogs , in just about any medium you can think of.
Immediate Response for Return on Marketing Investment
Now instead of asking someone to dial a number, go to a web site, your QR Code in whatever medium you are using can be scanned immediately with the users phone or a QR scanner and the information accessed. It could be connecting the users phone to a wireless network and placing the call. It could be to a web site or specific page or even find-a-doc. You can measure the effects of your campaign immediately.
QR Codes are free and can be generated by any number of sites on the web. I used Google to find a site and randomly picked delivr. The QR Code for this blog was generated at delivr. It is very easy to create your own QR Code and took less than 30 seconds.
For example, below is the QR Code for my blog:
It contains the URL to get you here. I can now place this on business cards, emails, text messages, ads, any medium really to direct traffic to my site. Scan and go. Literally no waiting. No typing in an address. Nor waiting till I get home to use the computer or find a wifi hot spot for the laptop. Naturally, a users smart phone needs the app but those are readily available and free as well. You may want to include a QR Code reader app on you web site for mobile phone users with smartphones to download if they do not have one. Some smartphones using the Android operating system already have the app. Point the phones camera, take the picture, use the app. That all it takes.
QR Codes are known as a physical world hyperlink or in my world, PWH for short.
Of course there are message size limits and variants called Micro QR Codes which are essentially smaller versions of the standard QR Code applications. I am not going to delve into any more detail of this because so much information is available on the web and easily understood that you can do this yourself.
So as 2010 begins to come to a close, start looking at how applications in other industries can kick-start your 2010 healthcare marketing to another level and increase your customers convenience for using you, your products, your services, generating revenue and strengthening your brand.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Using Healthcare Focused Webinars to Drive Revenue
Recently, I have been seeing a large amount of advertising directing individuals to come to a hospital or physicians office, clinic etc., at a specific date and time, usually at the physicians or clinicians convenience, for a health and wellness program.
That is so 1990s.
In this day and age, with internet savvy audiences and patients who are networked to the web, social media, information and such, it seems silly that most healthcare providers would continue to offer only one way for individuals to access health and wellness programs. If you're not using webinars, then you're not meeting your customers needs.
And it's pretty easy to do.
Using WebEx, Talk Ready, Go To Meeting for example, a 30-45 minute health and wellness seminar can be given on a day and tme more convenient for your audience. They can be recorded and archived on your web site for consumer play back at anytime of their choosing. You now begin to build up a library of self-generated health information that is branded to your organization, contains your key messages and promotes a specific service line or targeted capability.
Think about the possibilities for reaching out to employers this way as well. A webinar directed at Human Resource professionals in local companies.
For Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), a way to keep in constant contact with your members providing targeted health information.
For hospital physician relationships a way to hold a department meetings or offer CEU program that can be more convenient.
For the media and local press, a way to hold a press conference or announce a new service or technological application when they say their not coming on site.
The possibilities really are endless. Your imagination is your only limit here.
Okay, you can't do wellness screens this way, but it could be used to drive volume to the screens as a follow-up to the webinar.
Return on Marketing Investment
This strategy and tactic is designed to capture downstream volume and revenue. Let's face it, initially there is little return on a webinar. It's the post webinar relationship management and communication activities that bring the return. By capturing a webinars attendees information, you now have actionable data on which to design more effective marketing and communication programs. Mass marketing that is individualized. You can create a relationship that is more meaningful because it is based on their needs. You're building a customer database for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and loyalty programs.
So, its 2010 and change in healthcare is accelerating and will only continue to do so. Time to expand your arsenal of strategy, tactics, tools and techniques to build relationships, loyalty, volume and revenue.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
That is so 1990s.
In this day and age, with internet savvy audiences and patients who are networked to the web, social media, information and such, it seems silly that most healthcare providers would continue to offer only one way for individuals to access health and wellness programs. If you're not using webinars, then you're not meeting your customers needs.
And it's pretty easy to do.
Using WebEx, Talk Ready, Go To Meeting for example, a 30-45 minute health and wellness seminar can be given on a day and tme more convenient for your audience. They can be recorded and archived on your web site for consumer play back at anytime of their choosing. You now begin to build up a library of self-generated health information that is branded to your organization, contains your key messages and promotes a specific service line or targeted capability.
Think about the possibilities for reaching out to employers this way as well. A webinar directed at Human Resource professionals in local companies.
For Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), a way to keep in constant contact with your members providing targeted health information.
For hospital physician relationships a way to hold a department meetings or offer CEU program that can be more convenient.
For the media and local press, a way to hold a press conference or announce a new service or technological application when they say their not coming on site.
The possibilities really are endless. Your imagination is your only limit here.
Okay, you can't do wellness screens this way, but it could be used to drive volume to the screens as a follow-up to the webinar.
Return on Marketing Investment
This strategy and tactic is designed to capture downstream volume and revenue. Let's face it, initially there is little return on a webinar. It's the post webinar relationship management and communication activities that bring the return. By capturing a webinars attendees information, you now have actionable data on which to design more effective marketing and communication programs. Mass marketing that is individualized. You can create a relationship that is more meaningful because it is based on their needs. You're building a customer database for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and loyalty programs.
So, its 2010 and change in healthcare is accelerating and will only continue to do so. Time to expand your arsenal of strategy, tactics, tools and techniques to build relationships, loyalty, volume and revenue.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
The Changing Role of Healthcare Marketing
Much has changed in 2010. One could say a titanic shift that has created a tsunami that is in its early stages of being felt. With that in mind, it begs the question of what is, or will be the role of healthcare marketing going forward?
Healthcare reform simply will not be repealed. Adjustments will be made and the legal challenges will continue to be filed for several years, but overall repeal is a distant dream of the far conservative right. Despite the public pronouncements, a significant amount of money in the billions of dollars in future revenue and earnings is at stake for all the players to allow for regression.
In a time where the majority of individuals and families have some form of health insurance, I believe that marketing will have a role to play that is much different and more important than today. In an age of healthcare consumerism with patients controlling their health information, (and yes individual health information is the property of the patient, not of the doctor, not of the hospital, not of any healthcare provider), marketing needs to take on a significant role in the life of the healthcare organization beyond the traditional communication activities.
Marketing healthcare organizations contrary to a popular myth, is not any different from what occurs in other industries. It is similar to the conceptual myth of not-for-profits. There is no such thing as a not-for-profit. There are legally defined tax-exempt organizations, but no not-for-profits. I digress, for that is a topic for another day.
Many of the traditional marketing activities will continue as well as the new social media and online marketing. Those won't go away, but will become more highly integrated, brand strengthening and value driven across service lines.
Understand that I am not talking about pharma, medical device manufacturers, insurance companies, suppliers and retailers moving into the healthcare space. They get it. They understand the power and importance of marketing. This is for all the other healthcare providers that are still trying to operate like its 1990.
The Expanded Healthcare Marketing Role:
Marketing Leadership
Moving from the manager or director level to the VP senior manger level. Marketing is strategy first, tactics second. The voice of marketing should reflect the voice of your customers and not be a second thought. Your future programs and services will be determined by the needs of the market, not your gut feeling. You cannot become a customer-driven or market-driven organization if the skills and experiences of marketing is not at the leadership table.
Managing the Patient Experience
Managing the patient experience. If anyone is prepared to understand and mange the patient experience across the organization it's marketing. Hospitals in particular are making the mistake of putting operations in charge of patient experience. This is an oxymoron really. For the most part Ops can't get a discharge process together in less than 3 or 4 hours. How can you expect them to manage the patient experience? Patient experience means just that- understanding what that patient experiences is at all touch points. And then changing or managing that experience to its fullest potential for the benefit of the patient and the organization. Patient experience is an integrating process across the entire organization internally and externally. One organization to the patient, one patient to the organization. It is not simply another quality program or flavor of the day.
Understanding and Executing Demand Management
The hospital is no longer the center of the healthcare universe. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is designed to keep people out of the hospital. You can actually see a hospital admission as a defect in the process of care. Marketing needs to understand what the demand for healthcare services will be, when they will be needed and manage that demand making sure that the hospital or health system has the right resources, in the right place, at the right time to meet demand. Gone are the days where marketing departments will be driving demand to fill hospital beds. They will drive demand to the appropriate place and location of service.
Becoming a Revenue Marketer and Having Revenue Accountability
Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) is necessary for anything marketing accomplishes, traditionally, socially or online. Marketers in healthcare organizations need to become revenue producers, not resource consumers that show little value beyond, it looks nice. In fact, marketing should have P&L as well as an SG&A accountability for many of the products and services being offered by a healthcare organization.
Marketing the Manager of Change
Who better in an organization than for marketing to manage the healthcare organizations transformation from an inward-focused it's all about me, to an outward-focused market and consumer driven organization? Open to much debate, this is probably the most controversial look at the expanding role of marketing. Individual who have looked internally at their organizations all of their careers, do not necessarily have the skills, training or abilities to change an organization 180 degrees. And that is the type of change we are talking about here.
The future of healthcare holds great challenges and opportunities. Time for proactive change instead of reactive change. Clocks ticking and you're being left behind.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Healthcare reform simply will not be repealed. Adjustments will be made and the legal challenges will continue to be filed for several years, but overall repeal is a distant dream of the far conservative right. Despite the public pronouncements, a significant amount of money in the billions of dollars in future revenue and earnings is at stake for all the players to allow for regression.
In a time where the majority of individuals and families have some form of health insurance, I believe that marketing will have a role to play that is much different and more important than today. In an age of healthcare consumerism with patients controlling their health information, (and yes individual health information is the property of the patient, not of the doctor, not of the hospital, not of any healthcare provider), marketing needs to take on a significant role in the life of the healthcare organization beyond the traditional communication activities.
Marketing healthcare organizations contrary to a popular myth, is not any different from what occurs in other industries. It is similar to the conceptual myth of not-for-profits. There is no such thing as a not-for-profit. There are legally defined tax-exempt organizations, but no not-for-profits. I digress, for that is a topic for another day.
Many of the traditional marketing activities will continue as well as the new social media and online marketing. Those won't go away, but will become more highly integrated, brand strengthening and value driven across service lines.
Understand that I am not talking about pharma, medical device manufacturers, insurance companies, suppliers and retailers moving into the healthcare space. They get it. They understand the power and importance of marketing. This is for all the other healthcare providers that are still trying to operate like its 1990.
The Expanded Healthcare Marketing Role:
Marketing Leadership
Moving from the manager or director level to the VP senior manger level. Marketing is strategy first, tactics second. The voice of marketing should reflect the voice of your customers and not be a second thought. Your future programs and services will be determined by the needs of the market, not your gut feeling. You cannot become a customer-driven or market-driven organization if the skills and experiences of marketing is not at the leadership table.
Managing the Patient Experience
Managing the patient experience. If anyone is prepared to understand and mange the patient experience across the organization it's marketing. Hospitals in particular are making the mistake of putting operations in charge of patient experience. This is an oxymoron really. For the most part Ops can't get a discharge process together in less than 3 or 4 hours. How can you expect them to manage the patient experience? Patient experience means just that- understanding what that patient experiences is at all touch points. And then changing or managing that experience to its fullest potential for the benefit of the patient and the organization. Patient experience is an integrating process across the entire organization internally and externally. One organization to the patient, one patient to the organization. It is not simply another quality program or flavor of the day.
Understanding and Executing Demand Management
The hospital is no longer the center of the healthcare universe. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is designed to keep people out of the hospital. You can actually see a hospital admission as a defect in the process of care. Marketing needs to understand what the demand for healthcare services will be, when they will be needed and manage that demand making sure that the hospital or health system has the right resources, in the right place, at the right time to meet demand. Gone are the days where marketing departments will be driving demand to fill hospital beds. They will drive demand to the appropriate place and location of service.
Becoming a Revenue Marketer and Having Revenue Accountability
Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) is necessary for anything marketing accomplishes, traditionally, socially or online. Marketers in healthcare organizations need to become revenue producers, not resource consumers that show little value beyond, it looks nice. In fact, marketing should have P&L as well as an SG&A accountability for many of the products and services being offered by a healthcare organization.
Marketing the Manager of Change
Who better in an organization than for marketing to manage the healthcare organizations transformation from an inward-focused it's all about me, to an outward-focused market and consumer driven organization? Open to much debate, this is probably the most controversial look at the expanding role of marketing. Individual who have looked internally at their organizations all of their careers, do not necessarily have the skills, training or abilities to change an organization 180 degrees. And that is the type of change we are talking about here.
The future of healthcare holds great challenges and opportunities. Time for proactive change instead of reactive change. Clocks ticking and you're being left behind.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
