mommyjenlin

Strategy and effective marketing operations is everything today in healthcare marketing . And if you have a bad strategy or no strategy, combined with marketing operational deficiencies, then no amount of tactical execution will overcome ineptitude. If you don't have a good strategy, any old road will get you to where you want to go, with significant inefficient resources utilization in cost, human capital and loss of return. Some of the verticals in the healthcare industry, are notorious for no strategy and just plain bad marketing operations, following the herd and just keeping the internal audience happy with what they want. Here are the signs that you have a bad or nonexistent healthcare marketing strategy/operation: 1. There is no marketing plan. 2. The marketing plan is not integrated with the organizations business and financial plan. 3. Your brand messages are not clear, and are not integrated across internal and external audiences. 4. The CEO sets the marketing priorities ...

That question of course, assumes that you believe hospital advertising is appropriate. And you may well believe that it is also a waste of resources. Which I think is a most dangerous position, given the ongoing transformation of the healthcare market from a provider-directed to a consumer-directed or as some prefer a patient -directed model. Arguments aside, what should hospitals be advertising to create an unassailable market position, a strong brand, as well as an enlightened and informed consumer? Remember, when you are marketing to consumers, they don't become a patient until they receive a service from you. So three-quarters of the time in their interactions with you, the "consumer" is only a "patient" during diagnosis and treatment. Should it be being the best at all things or a category of service? How about having the most current technology? Maybe it could be who has the most quality awards and highest patient satisfaction? Or, it could focus on the ph...

Market Intelligence on the Move Transformation continues to sweep its way through the marketing function and no "department" within the function is exempt from change. For this month's CMO Advisor newsletter , we are now focused on the market intelligence area. Compared to its peer departments, Market Intelligence (MI) enjoys relative stability, as measured by the steadiness of the job description, job security and tenure, and budgets. But there is a groundswell of change -- or at least an expressed desire for change. In a recent survey of MI professionals, IDC observes that MI executives are seeking to increase the value they deliver to the organizations they support, and to deliver that value with greater efficiency. Indeed, it is the sentiment of executives that IDC interviewed that "The market intelligence organization will change more in the next 3 years than it has changed in the past 10 years". That is a bold statement. To peel it back, here are the top a...

Interesting question isn't it? And from my point of view, the answer is yes. Sometimes, examples of how things should be in healthcare, come from areas and experiences that one would have never thought of, borne out of intense personal experience. And believe me it was shock. Briefly, my Golden Retriever Molly, who was 8 years old, became acutely ill and quickly passed away after 5 days at home. She was our family's loving companion, playful friend, and protector for the past 8 years. Enough said, because this is about a very intense journey filled with compassion, caring, respect and dignity for Molly and me. And in my 25 years in healthcare, on several sides of the equation- as a professional, patient and caregiver, I have never seen anything like it. I am not talking about the medical care, for Molly in a brief period received better care than most people in the world today. I am talking about the respect and dignity, the genuine caring and compassion exhibited during the di...

With everyone a buzz about social media, web sites , apps, channel specific publications, blogs , YouTube, twitter etc., and the supposed decline of print media, is chasing earned media still worth the effort? It does seem, except for pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, that earned media is on the decline for other types of healthcare organizations. And the reasons why puzzles me. Is earned media to hard? In any brand marketing campaign, its easy to focus on the "hot button" techniques to show the CEO and Board, that you are up-to-date and executing your marketing with the latest and greatest. Make no mistake about it, earned media is hard. You have to develop relationships with reporters. You have to plant and cultivate story ideas. You have to respond to reporters request for more information. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes resources, in a period of time where all we ask on a daily basis is, "What did you do for me today?" And in the pr...