Be careful what you say. The words and images that you use might be working against you, or at least producing unexpected (and undesirable) “message meaning.” It’s elementary mar-com 101, but you might be amazed at how often some folks neglect the receiver-side of the communications loop. Sometimes it’s an innocent oversight, or unexpected consequence, […]
We’ve been working on redesigning and refreshing our marketing information newsletter. And since the subject of newsletter content and construction was top of mind for us, we wanted to share a few how-to tips about the process. Not long ago we conducted a Reader Survey that was open to our 15,000+ subscribers. The responses helped […]
Our office sign contest a while ago spawned the following case study from a subscriber about success with attention-getting vehicle graphics—know in the trade as "wraps"—for healthcare marketing. Public Relations Specialist Kandice Dickinson shares the particulars in this guest post.
I had to look up the provenance for: “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” The attribution—so says GoodReads.com—is Allen Saunders, American writer, journalist and cartoonist…from 1957. And, while the reformation of healthcare continues at a lightening pace, it’s a timely planning reminder for medical marketing to consider how things […]
The second in a two-part series about intelligent individuals that allow their personality or attitudes to block their potential for success. Read part one: Staff Secretly Takes Assertiveness Training. We continue with the second of our true tales from the field about doctors who step on their own marketing toes.
How to bring maximum benefit to your twice-yearly marketing update.
Marketing Trainer Lori Waltz is something of a healthcare Road Warrior with a string of success stories and travel anecdotes. Here’s the scoreboard: She has helped over 1,000 practices and hospitals in her career, including 48 states, plus a few nearby countries and territories. Oops…only 48 states? It’s true. Lori has provided marketing training—about telephone/front desk […]
Some of the best salespeople we know are also dedicated and successful healthcare professionals. On the surface, it seems like an unlikely combination of skills. After all, physicians and surgeons think of themselves as helping others and providing a service…certainly not “selling” something. It’s largely a matter of mindset: An essential principle of sales, according […]
Patients are no longer just patients. The Internet, healthcare system reforms and other social influences are shaping a new consumerism in healthcare. Healthcare marketing professionals understand that patients are better informed and increasingly empowered. Today an individual has more influential muscle than ever before. In our experience, the vast majority of private practices and medical […]
I just came away from a discussion with two practice representatives who work with one of our highly successful specialty practices. Real world, “from the street” healthcare marketing information is often perceptive, and the conversation left me with important insights that I wanted to share with our readers. For context... Three years ago, our client […]
We’ve long been a fan of the “Ideas Worth Spreading” TED series. And our Friday Video today is a simple but powerful inspirational presentation by author Simon Sinek. His START WITH WHY concepts—about innovation, leadership and success—are immediately useful for healthcare providers and organizations. Why you do what you do is the vital (and often […]
Our Managing Editor at Healthcare Success is normally an easy-going person who doesn’t get upset easily. After all, he easily handles the daily high-strung environment of publishing deadlines and life in the medical advertising agency fast lane. But now and then some things cross his desk that make him cringe, “This is dumb." Moments like […]
There aren’t many healthcare providers who are unaffected or unaware of challenges all around them. The parade includes reform requirements, the “soft economy” with rising costs and shrinking margins, shifting medical marketing goals and demographics…and the overarching stretch of resources to maintain and improve quality of patient care. “Innovation is the ability to see change […]
Right up front we want to say that we’re more than understanding about the financial struggle that goes with operating a medical practice. The nation’s economy remains soft, reimbursements are down, overhead costs are up; private practice is a tough business. (Most businesses—large or small, product or service, retail or otherwise—feel a financial pinch, including […]
Generally, we’re a bit modest about the work we do as a healthcare advertising agency, but once in a while we like to tell a good success story. And this tale is worth retelling for several reasons. First, it was a complex marketing issue…and we like that kind of challenge. Second, the client is pleased […]
A while ago a doctor came to us with the complaint: "I haven't been in practice 15 years...I've been in practice one year 15 times." That conversation lead us to help him discover medical practice marketing opportunities that not only enriched his business, they enlivened his professional satisfaction. There's more to discovering new healthcare marketing […]
Everyone in healthcare and hospital marketing likes business performance metrics. (Well, nearly everyone.) The benchmark or progress numbers that quantify exactly how we’re doing. It’s how marketing people (and the boss) keep score. Metrics tell us if a project is meeting its goals, or if an advertising campaign is producing results, and sometimes how we […]
There’s nothing like a real-life success story to illustrate the bottom-line, dollars-and-cents value of a medical practice marketing principle. In this case, a physician group specialty practice more than doubled its new patient revenue by training the staff to properly answer the phone and book appointments.
Our recent post, How to Destroy Your Medical Practice Marketing New Business in One Easy Step, was a hot-button topic for many readers. So think of this article as the next installment for medical practices and physician advertisers who are losing business for the lack of good front desk phone skills. For a doctor or […]
It's a tragic and extremely costly story - and unfortunately one that we see all the time. Perhaps it has even happened to you. Every day, hospitals and healthcare organizations across the USA invest hard-earned money into marketing, yet see zero new patients from their efforts.
By Stewart Gandolf I recently asked our team to share some of the worst medical marketing mistakes they’ve ever witnessed out “in the field.” As a word of caution, the incident I am about to share is so egregious that my team was divided as to whether we should publish it, or bury it forever. […]
Here are two distinctly different but well-told stories that are worth sharing. The two storytellers—a photographer based in the Netherlands and an orthopedic surgeon in New York—probably don’t know each other. One story is about social media at work in the hospitality industry. The other is about patient-physician communications. On the surface these topics are […]
We’re going to tell this tale mainly by the numbers. To “numbers people,” figures say it all; an Excel spreadsheet tells a story more excitingly and effusive than any Harry Potter novel. If you are not fascinated by columns, rows and formulas, please stick with us for a minute, then pass this along to your administrator, […]
Editor's Note: This is a further installment in our continuing series of articles about social media and healthcare marketing. YouTube, and other video content sharing platforms, represent a low cost, easy to use and highly effective communications tools to engage and inspire your medical and healthcare marketing audience. The enormous popularity of YouTube makes it […]
Just recently Stewart was the guest speaker for a large group of healthcare professionals. (It was a dental society meeting, but the issue he encountered that evening applies to other professions, practices, medical groups and even hospitals. Please read on.) Nearly all of the attendees in the audience were doing some degree of marketing, and […]
by Steve Smith, Healthcare Success Senior Consultant A recent consultation with a client in the Midwest revealed that the physician partners only gave lip service to customer service. Oh, they want each patient to have a good experience, of course, but that's as far as their involvement goes. Unfortunately, that put my office manager contact, […]
Part of the job of every healthcare provider is to be an effective educator—informing, teaching and sometimes persuading patients about getting healthy and staying healthy. We’re talking about what you do, or can do, that's above and beyond the traditional “informed consent” and elementary “patient education.” Take this instructional idea a step further: Hold classes […]
So…there I was chatting with a physician-client who had budgeted a five-figure allowance for a piece of new equipment. He was rather excited about the sophisticated medical gear, much like some people look forward to the next-gen iPad or next year’s flashy sports car. He was equally excited about the new Marketing Plan that I […]
Two different practitioners called us recently. Let’s just describe them as smart and experienced dentists, in different parts of the country, and on different ends of the promotional spectrum. They both were experiencing “aha moments” of personal insight and needed help pronto. They didn't know how to get started with budget planning. Both are real situations, […]
Everyone in healthcare marketing has something to learn from the pages of the Urgent Care Marketing Handbook. Even if your point on the spectrum is as a physician provider, hospital, medical center or other healthcare entity, there’s much to be learned from walk-in clinics and ambulatory care facilities. Consider this: You don’t have to wander […]
by Steve Smith, Healthcare Success Senior Consultant True story: The patient has a terminal illness. She arrived at the metropolitan hospital on time for an appointment with her radiation oncologist and was sitting in the waiting room when the doctor emerged with another patient, walking him to the door to say goodbye.
In hospital and medical marketing, your brand is part of everything you do. It’s not only your brochures and business cards...it's everything. From the individual or group provider to the multi-location health system, your brand is the recognition connecting point for patients and the public. It communicates your professional reputation. And done right, your branding […]
Recent market research suggests that many pharmaceutical marketing executives are still on the sidelines and working on their digital game plan. While marketing planners in other industries have quickly jumped into online channels, pharma has been comparatively slow to embrace the digital revolution. The findings from Digital Marketing in Pharma say that about half of […]
Each week, according to one recent survey, physicians get about 20 visits from pharmaceutical company representatives, but not everyone gets face time with the doc. Compare that with another study that says that nurses are not only “digitally advanced,” but they are likely to recommend online resources to patients. Although physicians are a primary pharmaceutical […]
Mistakenly, we thought the eleventh month was November. But an idea born over a few beers in Melbourne, Australia in 2003 has designated this as MOVEMBER in the interest of men’s health. It’s now an international healthcare PR effort for cancer awareness, and something hospitals and healthcare public relations efforts might want to support. If […]
This qualifies as one of the best short videos for doctors who may be wondering if social media fits their medical practice marketing and advertising plan. It’s a short (3 minute) doctor-to-doctor conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Benabio, a San Diego dermatologist. He talks about why physicians – dermatologists or other medical specialties – would want […]
Please permit this short-but-passionate message of concern about medical practices that SAY they are cutting-edge, yet their websites are crummy. Their claim is simply not credible. It’s a pitfall that medical practice marketing needs to avoid. It’s amazing how often we discover medical practices that have no website at all – or they have a […]
This little saga – based on a true story – is about an ophthalmologist, but we routinely hear the same tale of opportunity lost in nearly every healthcare profession. (Insert if you like: group practice, hospital physician, cardiologist, urologist, rheumatologist, dermatologist, or any–ologist.) The lesson for doctor/physician marketing is that being good – even great […]
The American College of Prosthodontists (ACP) recently launched a marketing campaign about esthetic restoration. Using an effective combination of video and audio material, the ACP placement plan is a good case example for healthcare marketing and advertising decision-makers about how to leverage media exposure for added (and affordable) reach and audience impact. Here’s a quick […]
It's easier than you think to find a co-op friend in the neighborhood. Whether you are a physician, surgeon, dentist, physical therapist, optometrist, veterinarian or other healthcare professional, developing win-win relationships with nearby businesses is always a great marketing idea... and something we have been teaching for years. The trouble is, in the real world […]
