Don't forget about direct mail
The other day I was going thru the mail and received a direct mail piece from a hospital system. Then the "news flash - film at 11" type of realization hit. It had been some time since I received any direct mail materials from any of the local healthcare providers. Truth be told, it has probably been a couple of years or more now that I remember receiving any healthcare related direct mail. And that is a mistake in my opinion.
If you have been in healthcare long enough, you can remember a time when besides newspaper ads, Sunday newspaper stuffer, billboard and radio campaigns, TV ads etc., that the majority of healthcare marketing was direct mail- health and wellness magazines, magnets, newsletters, postcards etc. Replaced today no doubt by facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, web sites, banner ads, emails and all other types of social media. Like lemmings rushing over the cliff, healthcare organizations fast abandon messaging distribution channels in favor of the new and more expedient methods of communicating. But is anybody listening, or should I say reading?
Not everyone clicks through on banner ads. Everyone is not on facebook. Not everyone has an Iphone. And guess what, people still read their mail and newspapers.
Are you missing an opportunity via a little used, or should I really say, "out-of-fashion" communication and distribution channel to get your brand messages in the marketplace?
An interesting question.
My opinion is yes, direct mail is still important and can strengthen your brand messaging in the market.
Your brand message needs to be communicated in multiple ways, using multiple communication channels. That would include traditional and online. The healthcare industry tendency is to abandon one communication and distribution channel in favor of another. Many reasons can be sited for not using direct mail, long production times, printing and mailing costs, list acquisition etc.
But if you are the only provider out there in that communication channel, then what is the value to you of having your brand message in an uncluttered healthcare messaging space?
If you think that direct mail is old and passé, then why do Verizon, Kohl's and other retailers continue to spend organizational resources in that medium? It might not hurt for you to take a look at your own mail to see who still uses the technique. Learn from other industries. You may find that your marketing communications plan to carry your brand messaging is not as integrated and comprehensive as it needs to be.
So as we rush to embrace all the new technologies and methods of communicating that our competitors are using, don't abandon the traditional side of marketing brand messaging channels. To do so is a missed opportunity to build your brand and shame on you for missing an important brand building opportunity.
You can reach me at 815-293-1471.
A hospital admission as a defect in the process of care
6:46 AM
Admission, Business Development, Childrens Memorial Hospital, Defect in care, Healthcare Marketing, Strategic Planning
A short while ago, I had a conversation with a colleague who relayed his conversation with a hospital executive around business development, innovation and growth. Hence the comment "We are in survival mode here."
My colleague also brought up the point to this same executive that somewhere, a group of entrepreneurs was looking at the process of care and have come to the conclusion that a hospital admission is a defect in the process of care.
Now that one stopped me dead in my tracks. Think about it.
The hospital admission as a defect in the process of providing care.
An attitude, much often too common in hospital executive leadership that we are just trying to survive. This is sad really, when innovation, growth opportunities and new business development initiatives are being left on the table because hospital executives can't get out of the "we're just trying to survive" mentality. Yep, leave it to the Walgreens, CVS/Caremark and Walmarts of the world to figure it out. Hint, they already have.
If your just trying to survive today without looking for market opportunity and finding ways to be more consumer-focused, innovative and non-traditional in providing care, then you are not going to survive.
The hospital is no longer and really for a very long time now, has not been the center of the healthcare universe.
Hospital executives can't seem to get out of the 70s and 80s mentality of build another patient bed tower. That will fix the problem. Instead, their response if they were providing any leadership at all, would be to the physicians, senior team and Board of Directors, let's find new and innovative, non-traditional ways to deliver care.
Infusion centers, retail clinics, pharmaceutical advances, free-standing surgery centers and diagnostic clinics, remote monitoring, home health care, sub-acute services, discharge management to prevent readmissions, medical device technological advances and many other services when taken together, have the potential to so significantly change the way that healthcare is delivered, it will make the hospital admission of today, a defect in the process of care tomorrow.
Does that mean hospitals will go away? No, there are limits to this concept of the hospital as a defect in the process of care such as surgical procedures that can only be performed in a hospital, and emergencies requiring an ER will always be needed. But the rest of it, maybe not.
Unless hospital executives and their marketing and planning departments start seeing the forest from the trees, just trying to survive is leading them away from innovation, opportunity and growth at a time when others, with non-traditional entrepreneurial backgrounds, will relegate the hospital to a place in the care continuum where an admission is a defect in the process of care.
So, are you still just trying to survive?
You can reach me at 815-293-1471.
My colleague also brought up the point to this same executive that somewhere, a group of entrepreneurs was looking at the process of care and have come to the conclusion that a hospital admission is a defect in the process of care.
Now that one stopped me dead in my tracks. Think about it.
The hospital admission as a defect in the process of providing care.
An attitude, much often too common in hospital executive leadership that we are just trying to survive. This is sad really, when innovation, growth opportunities and new business development initiatives are being left on the table because hospital executives can't get out of the "we're just trying to survive" mentality. Yep, leave it to the Walgreens, CVS/Caremark and Walmarts of the world to figure it out. Hint, they already have.
If your just trying to survive today without looking for market opportunity and finding ways to be more consumer-focused, innovative and non-traditional in providing care, then you are not going to survive.
The hospital is no longer and really for a very long time now, has not been the center of the healthcare universe.
Hospital executives can't seem to get out of the 70s and 80s mentality of build another patient bed tower. That will fix the problem. Instead, their response if they were providing any leadership at all, would be to the physicians, senior team and Board of Directors, let's find new and innovative, non-traditional ways to deliver care.
Infusion centers, retail clinics, pharmaceutical advances, free-standing surgery centers and diagnostic clinics, remote monitoring, home health care, sub-acute services, discharge management to prevent readmissions, medical device technological advances and many other services when taken together, have the potential to so significantly change the way that healthcare is delivered, it will make the hospital admission of today, a defect in the process of care tomorrow.
Does that mean hospitals will go away? No, there are limits to this concept of the hospital as a defect in the process of care such as surgical procedures that can only be performed in a hospital, and emergencies requiring an ER will always be needed. But the rest of it, maybe not.
Unless hospital executives and their marketing and planning departments start seeing the forest from the trees, just trying to survive is leading them away from innovation, opportunity and growth at a time when others, with non-traditional entrepreneurial backgrounds, will relegate the hospital to a place in the care continuum where an admission is a defect in the process of care.
So, are you still just trying to survive?
You can reach me at 815-293-1471.
Integrating Brand Messages Into Your Public and Media Relations
9:29 AM
advertising, Healthcare Marketing, Media Relations, Online, PR generated media, Press, public relations
How much more effective would your marketing campaigns be if you made a conscious effort to frame your messaging in your Media Relations (MR) and Public Relations (PR) campaigns around the main brand messages you use in your marketing campaigns?
More often than not, brand messages in healthcare PR-MR rely on the "about us" statement to carry that weight. Little if any attention is given to using public and media relations as a strategic and integrative vehicle in the overall marketing effort.
And that is a missed opportunity.
As healthcare organizations, we are expected by our audiences to advertise, write white papers, create case studies, write impactful sales materials, partner with leading market research organizations to present "groundbreaking" topical surveys and results, as well as other materials. That is a given. People see and read, they (hopefully) advance the brand, maybe generate some sales leads or in some cases bring a sense of accomplishment to internal audiences because in the end, all of these materials are "about us". Activity measurement as opposed to outcomes measurement.
Now think. What is the value of these same messages being crafted in such a way through PR-MR to your organization? The more people say they don't believe what they read and see, the more that they believe what they read and see. A positive news story online, print or electronic carries with it a measure of credibility conferred by the publication, news organization or web content carrier that the story has some measure of truth and validity. Can't buy that in advertising, direct mail or contests.
PR-MR can be summed up by the following:
Presence Builds Preference
and
Perception- Leads to Opinion- Becomes Fact
PR-MR can provide you with a continuous brand presence in the market that you cannot afford through traditional or online paid efforts. It can successfully build positive impressions, solid opinions which after a while other companies and individuals will come to believe about your organization and, this is an important and... build relationships with the media and audiences that can be leveraged to your benefit in times of crisis.
In my experience, it is not uncommon to generate on an annual basis for small healthcare organizations $1 million plus in equivalent advertising through a PR-MR program. For larger companies, an aggressively planned and consistent PR-MR program generates $10s of millions of equivalent advertising dollars. Ask your Executive Suite for that kind of money for paid advertising in this or any economy and see what happens.
If you are not integrating your brand messaging into your PR-MR efforts, your losing the opportunity of a lifetime and potentially your markets.
PS. It's just not writing press releases.
More often than not, brand messages in healthcare PR-MR rely on the "about us" statement to carry that weight. Little if any attention is given to using public and media relations as a strategic and integrative vehicle in the overall marketing effort.
And that is a missed opportunity.
As healthcare organizations, we are expected by our audiences to advertise, write white papers, create case studies, write impactful sales materials, partner with leading market research organizations to present "groundbreaking" topical surveys and results, as well as other materials. That is a given. People see and read, they (hopefully) advance the brand, maybe generate some sales leads or in some cases bring a sense of accomplishment to internal audiences because in the end, all of these materials are "about us". Activity measurement as opposed to outcomes measurement.
Now think. What is the value of these same messages being crafted in such a way through PR-MR to your organization? The more people say they don't believe what they read and see, the more that they believe what they read and see. A positive news story online, print or electronic carries with it a measure of credibility conferred by the publication, news organization or web content carrier that the story has some measure of truth and validity. Can't buy that in advertising, direct mail or contests.
PR-MR can be summed up by the following:
Presence Builds Preference
and
Perception- Leads to Opinion- Becomes Fact
PR-MR can provide you with a continuous brand presence in the market that you cannot afford through traditional or online paid efforts. It can successfully build positive impressions, solid opinions which after a while other companies and individuals will come to believe about your organization and, this is an important and... build relationships with the media and audiences that can be leveraged to your benefit in times of crisis.
In my experience, it is not uncommon to generate on an annual basis for small healthcare organizations $1 million plus in equivalent advertising through a PR-MR program. For larger companies, an aggressively planned and consistent PR-MR program generates $10s of millions of equivalent advertising dollars. Ask your Executive Suite for that kind of money for paid advertising in this or any economy and see what happens.
If you are not integrating your brand messaging into your PR-MR efforts, your losing the opportunity of a lifetime and potentially your markets.
PS. It's just not writing press releases.
If you need assistance or would like more information, you reach me directly at 815-293-1471.
