mommyjenlin

Given the extraordinary competing needs in healthcare organizations to meet the new reality of the healthcare market place from EMRs to employed physician, too new treatment and diagnostic modalities and declining reimbursements, marketing gets the short straw most of the time in those resource allocation decisions.   And that is a dangerous position to be in when a market is evolving to a semi-retail, consumer-centric model. But when you have constrained marketing resources, and you have to have a continuous presence in the market place to shift healthcare consumer’s attitudes, preferences and choices, the triple combination of earned media, public relations and social media working in a strategic, integrated fashion can achieve that end for you. Make no mistake about it, combining social media, public relations and earned media is hard. It is much more than a press release or an event. You have to develop relationships with reporters. You have to plant and cultivate story idea...

With the rapid progression of healthcare evolving into a consumer-centric market, how much more effective would your marketing, experience and outcomes campaigns be if your messaging in your Public Relations (PR) campaigns carried your brand messaging with the value, experience and outcomes it brings to the healthcare consumer? Simple really. More effective. More meaningful. More engagement. And if you aren't, than guess what? 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. But what is the value of these same messages being crafted in such a way through PR 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...

With the acceleration of mergers and acquisitions across all healthcare verticals, the question is posed for your consideration, how do you communicate with your consumers, patients or plan members about a merger or acquisition? Do you communicate on a personal level what's going on at all, or do you rely on the news media to carry the story? This is an important question. After all, most organizations, if they are paying any attention to communications detail, are decent at communicating with physicians and employees about what's going on. Timing can sometimes be an issue internally, especially if a news reports hit the street before employees know. But commonly, where most healthcare organizations fall down in the communications chain, is how they communicate the merger or acquisition with patients, consumers, and vendors. They are important audiences and you need to control your message with them as you do internally and with the media. In the age of social media where every...

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 ...

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...

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 in...

The Chicago Bears held a press conference on January 5, 2010, after a dismal at best season long performance by management, the coaching staff and players. No need to go into the gory details; the lesson here is how not to handle public relations. For weeks now, the media and public has been in an uproar over team performance. This was exacerbated by a perceived lack of indifference and arrogance by the team leadership. Clearly a crisis communications situation if anyone in the PR department at Halas Hall was paying attention. The Press Conference A press conference is held, they trot out the team President, General Manger and Head Coach all in that order. The President speaks, apologizes and was contradictory in his remarks about the situation being unacceptable, change is needed, mistakes were made, but things are going to stay essentially the same. He spoke for 20 minutes which was 15 minutes too long. The GM gets up apologizes, says mistakes were made, change is needed, but things...

With the Senate yesterday introducing a HC reform bill, its clear that the battle lines are being drawn between a government insurance option vs big insurers. Expect the Obama PR team to hammer big insurers and enhance the public already aving a strong dislike of healthcare payors. What does that mean healthcare providers ? Watch the battle closely, you will have to choose. What to do. LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE... Marketing departments should be working with senior leadership and in their communities to get a pulse from all constituent groups, not just favorites on the topic of healthcare reform. As issues develop create media statements for local press on why you do or do not support. Consider offering your facility as a town hall meeting place. Find out where your docs are at. Help them understand the issues and develop PR/Media kits for them to use. Consider web site updates and links to various organizations. Become the local expert source for commentary and opinion. Get leaders...