mommyjenlin

If you think because reform and the Affordable Care Act that marketing is just an unnecessary expense and you don’t need to invest resources, then you are in for a rude awakening. In the coming days, weeks, months and years ahead, marketing will become as important a department in healthcare organizations as another other department. Here are the 10 market factors impacting why you need an “A” level marketing operation. Now. 1. Brand. Your healthcare brand will take more of a front and center stage in the new healthcare environment. It’s not just the logo or how displayed. It’s now about what your brand stands for, your brand promise and how you deliver on that each and every day in every encounter. Do you even know what your brand promise is? 2. Competition. Here it comes on a lot of different levels. On price. On outcomes. On organizational transparency. On patient experience. Long gone are the days of build it and they will come. Also gone are the days when you could get way w...

Though there are many great examples of healthcare marketing across the country, it seems that these are far and few between. This is a shame really because of all the talented marketers that are in the industry. More often than not, we let well meaning individuals who have no formal training or clear understanding of marketing hold sway over the direction. I do understand the leverage that CEOs, docs, product managers and others hold over marketing. At the end of the day, he or she that signs the check or has the backing wins, right or wrong. And there is way too much of that in healthcare marketing. With non-marketing trained people running the show causing chaos and confusing tactics with strategy, companies fall behind in markets and are either sold, became acquisition targets since they underperform, or die a slow and painful death. So how do you exercise marketing leadership in that kind of environment? You need to understand the needs, politics and marketing understanding of the...