Who should be more offended, branders or SM folk?
In a somewhat disparaging “this can’t really be happening, right?” BusinessWeek article called “Twitter, Twitter, Little Stars,” author Felix Gillette manages to slap two disciplines with one fell swoop. In trying to describe the somewhat chaotic rush by businesses to add social media professionals to their staff, Gillette makes this statement:
“The chief social media officer may be supplanting the chief branding officer as the zaniest human resources innovation in memory.”
Wow. Really? I’m not sure who should be more insulted, brand evangelists or social media zealots. Read More
Will you be the first to own wellness in your market?
We continue to push and cajole hospitals to establish a brand positioning in their market around wellness. That is, if your hospital is known for one thing, let it be known as the resource for health and wellness support, resources, content and offerings. Why wellness? Here are three primary reasons: Read More
Gettin’ paid
Here’s the “How to Deal With a Leadership Challenge Tip of the Week.” We’ve heard this one a number of times over the years, but it’s become more frequent recently, and it goes a little something like this:
“Why should we invest in XYZ? We don’t get paid for that.”
This often comes from a CEO or CFO of a hospital, and what they mean is that whatever it is your asking them to invest in, the organization doesn’t get reimbursed for it. For example, we’ve heard this used in regards to investing in a better patient experience. One CFO we know said the following during planning for a major expansion:
“Why do we need to spend so much on patient rooms? We could just stick them in the hall and we’d get paid the same.”
Read More
More whack-a-mole marketing
Perhaps it’s the economy, or healthcare reform, I’m not sure. But for whatever reason, we’re seeing more and more hospitals in reactionary mode when it comes to marketing. Reacting to competitive advertising. Reacting to new awards. Reacting to physician demands. Reacting to drops in volume. Reacting to whatever has popped up this week, today, this morning, NOW. Read More
Banning hospital advertising – it was only a matter of time.
Over the past year we’ve pondered periodically in our podcast why we haven’t heard a call for a ban on hospital advertising, given the national debate on healthcare reform. Well we finally have our first salvo.
According to an article in the Burlington Free Press on Monday, Vermont state representative Steve Maier is proposing legislation to ban hospitals from spending money on advertising or marketing in the state. Here’s a quote from the article:
“It’s not producing health care,” Maier said of the money spent on advertising (quote from a previous online version of the article).
Given the focus on healthcare costs at a national level, it’s not surprising a politician has latched onto the relatively easy mark of hospital advertising. (It is surprising that it took this long). Let’s put aside the argument surrounding advertising that supports public health issues such as obesity, smoking or wellness for a moment. There are at least three reasons I can think of why such a proposal doesn’t make sense. Read More
What we tell ourselves is hooey
We’ve spent a lot of time in some recent podcasts harping on the idea that many traditional means of research – especially surveys and focus groups – fail to provide true insight into consumer motivations because what people say often doesn’t correlate with what they do. One of our favorite sources for this philosophy is Martin Lindstrom, author of the best-seller “Buyology” and consultant to Fortune 500 companies. Lindstrom’s recent work Read More
Marketing hospitals is stupid
That comment came from a discussion with an operations director at a health system, who was told by the senior vice president for strategy that “anyone spending time or money on marketing a hospital is stupid.” (The names in this story have been changed to protect the innocent and short-sighted.) Read More
Looking back one more time at 09
Am I the only one who had a hard time coming out of the holiday break? For all the forms of stinkiness 2009 brought the healthcare industry (financial stress, healthcare reform froth, etc.), I certainly am looking forward to this, the year 2010. Yet here it is, January 8th, and I’m just now getting around to the obligatory “year-end wrap up.” Maybe the desire to hibernate given the frigid temps and ice-chunked streets here in the Twin Cities has something to do with it. Oh well, better late than never.
Rather than provide an in-depth analysis of the trends and key moments of 2009 (break out the No-Doz, yo!), let’s look at one simple metric – the most popular blog posts of last year. Read More
Social media snake oil
There’s a standing mantra among healthcare marketing consultants and those who follow social media closely: “If someone refers to themselves as a social media expert, run to the hills.” This is driven by the idea that social media is so new, and so little is actually known about its long-term impact, that very few if any social media marketers could have obtained enough experience to claim the title “expert.” Read More
Warning: not all direct-to-consumer advertisers will experience the same results.
Often, those in hospitals and health systems who are looking for a quick fix to a business challenge such as outmigration or dropping market share will call for increased consumer advertising, arguing in part by pointing toward how pharmaceutical companies have gained success over the past decade advertising direct to consumers. The prevailing wisdom has been that given the mass amounts of money spent on this strategy ($4.7 billion in 2008, according to TNS Media Intelligence) and the ongoing complaints of physicians dealing with this phenomenon, drug companies must have been wildly successful with this tactic. But a study cited in this week’s BusinessWeek article titled “Ask Your Doctor If This Ad Is Right for You” throws some cold water on the notion that direct-to-consumer advertising has been successful for drug companies. Read More