mommyjenlin

Well, I don't know about you, but it's just a matter of time before the evolving healthcare consumer lets lose the barrage. It can be patients, doctors, employers, payers. Really anyone that has Internet access can participate in Customer Generated Media (CGM). It can be a great unknown. It can be helpful. It can be harmful. It can be your best friend, or your worse nightmare. It has the power to influence thousands, if not millions in this mobile social media aware society we live in. CGM can make your brand the greatest on the earth. It can send you to the ash heap of history. Anybody can blog. Anybody can do a video. Anybody can start an email campaign. Anybody can create a facebook page, web site or tweet. And anything they say or do has the chance to go viral. Sorry to say this, but not everyone thinks you doing the great job that you think you are. If your marketing department is not monitoring CGM and your patient experience from a brand perspective, then you and your h...

Sometimes, another organizations PR missteps, are an opportunity to learn how not to handle a PR crisis. Just ask the Chicago Bears , who historically have mishandled every PR crisis of the last 10 years, including the one the week of December 12. Yes that right, this one went on for a whole week, because they messed up right from the beginning. Is your response to dive for under the desk? Do you send out poorly prepared underlings, to face reporters and the public? Does leadership, make proud pronouncements at the outset, that could come back to haunt you because at this point, you just don't know? Do you react as an arrogant organization with the, "How dare you question us response"? Do you think that it can never happen to you? Do you have a crisis communications plan in place? Every healthcare organizations will face a PR crisis. How you handle the communications, will determine the amount of brand damage, and length of time people remember. In this age of social medi...

Customer Generated Media (CGM). It can be a great unknown. It can be helpful. It can be harmful. It can be your best friend, or your worse nightmare. It has the power to influence thousands, if not millions, in this mobile social media aware society we live in. CGM can make your brand the greatest on the earth. It can send you to the ash heap of history. Anybody can blog. Anybody can do a video. Anybody can start a viral email campaign. Anybody can create a facebook page. Sorry to say this, but not everyone thinks you doing the great job that you think you are. If your marketing department is not monitoring CGM and your customer experience from a brand perspective, then you and your specialty pharmacy, payer, hospital, physician practices, or any healthcare organization is at risk. People are not afraid any longer to say things publically. It means that in the age of the Internet, disgruntled consumers and patients , unhappy employees, media, anybody, can opinionate about their...

How much more effective would your marketing campaigns in traditional, online, social, mobile and Public/Media relations be, if you made a conscious effort to frame your messaging in your communications campaigns around the main brand and key messages you use in your marketing campaigns? More often than not, brand messages in healthcare communications sometimes lack the level of integration and planning needed across vehicles and channels. Little, if any attention, is given to using communications as a strategic and integrative vehicle in the overall marketing effort. With so many different marketing activities and channels required to cut through the clutter, in order to leverage your key messages, you can no longer afford to not have your communications highly integrated with marketing. Is that lack of integration a missed opportunity? We are expected by our audiences to advertise, write white papers, create case studies, write impactful sales materials, partner with leading market r...

With major cuts in funding coming for hospitals, the only way to survive is to get back to the core. Meaning, what are those core services and programs that regardless of what happens in the world of healthcare, will pay the bills and create market strength and position for you. Its hard to exit programs and services. I have been saying for years that hospitals can not be all things to all people anymore. That means hard choices. It also means a de-marketing program for all those classes of trade that you exit from. It will require organizational strategic planning, a willingness to tackle the scared cows, close collaboration with your physicians, intense internal communications and a solid de-marketing and communication plan to sell it to the community. You will be required to collaborate with your competition. Hard to admit you can't do all things well. If you want to survive, you have too. Find the expertise to assist you along. De-marketing is an area where hospitals have littl...