Elementary advice about effective public speaking will remind you to know your audience, practice and know your material, smile, make eye contact, project your voice and other basics. With those tips alone—especially with practice and confidence—you’ll likely give a good presentation. When “good” isn’t good enough… For the president of the local Rotary club (a […]
It’s more than simply good fortune that our company enjoys a positive working relationship with our clients. The fact is that people want to do business with people and companies that they like and respect. And that’s a two-way street. This engenders a healthy environment and partnership attitude that drives new business and opportunity. There’s […]
There’s no battle royale here. Contrary to some heated discussions I’ve heard, direct response and brand or name-recognition marketing are both valuable tools in any healthcare marketing plan. It’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. That said, direct response advertising—where immediate customer action is measurable—is really challenging, and success depends on creating effective advertising that works. Be it […]
A professional colleague shared this slightly aggravating-but-true story with us recently. Not to sound like a second-hand rant, but this experience spotlights a big marketing lesson about those pesky little online directory listings. In the end, fortunately, things worked out for the better. This tale begins with a patient (our colleague) being referred from a […]
Change isn’t coming; it’s an ever-present consideration. Simply keeping pace is the challenge for physicians, medical practice administrators and hospital leadership. Telehealth—and its various facets—continues to emerge as an important and strong change agent. And two recent, in-depth reports provide guidance for doctors, industry executives and forward-looking marketing professionals. As a component of health transformation, […]
Just about everyone in healthcare marketing would love to have a slice of social media effort or content to “go viral.” But, as you probably know, the chances of your post, video link, Facebook or Twitter post hitting the digital super-big-time are slim. The “viral bonanza” seems desirable. But in social media for health care, […]
[Part of a continuing series.] The Internet has dramatically reinvented how prospective patients find their way to the front door of your medical practice. “Traditional” healthcare marketing options—newspaper or magazine ads, radio/broadcast, PR, outdoor advertising—all continue to have an important place and useful purpose in your marketing plan. But in many situations, the mix of […]
[Part of a Series] Many medical practices are unaware of their own potential in evangelism marketing. Virtually every day, doctors and hospitals deliver a form of happiness and satisfaction to their patients. These are people who appreciate the health care solution that has resolved their medical concern. Unfortunately, this sense of patient gratitude is largely […]
As the little quote reminds us, sometimes “Good things come in small packages.” To demonstrate the concept, here are three little, clever and marketing-smart ideas that you can easily adopt as your own, use today, and maybe showcase your talent a little bit. I’ll keep this brief. The marketing quick-test mnemonic: “ID buyer. Find desire. […]
[First in a series.] American business author, entrepreneur and keynote speaker Guy Kawasaki has a fascinating, marketing-centered biography. In 1984 he was an Apple employee responsible for marketing Macintosh computers…becoming the Chief Evangelist of Apple. (History suggests it worked.) A Chief Evangelist (or Brand Evangelist) is, among other things, an ambassador for your product, service […]
You might be surprised to learn how often we get questions about social media. Medical practices—and sometimes larger healthcare providers—want our help to “fix their social media.” The problem isn't the call; that's a lot of what we do for professionals. The core issue is that social media (SM) isn't the bad guy, and not the […]
As the nation’s political season heats up every four years or so, we’re all bombarded with news coverage that’s all about candidates and their campaigns. Right up front, I want you to know that this article isn’t for or against a particular political perspective. But as an independent observer I want to spotlight an important […]
In healthcare, successful “patient reactivation” cannot be a “dialing-for-dollars” quest for additional business from previous patients. As the following (true) story illustrates, expressing a genuine, person-to-person connection is an essential ingredient for success. Our Digital Advertising Director, Raheim Bundle, shared his experience with a local, family-oriented sports club where he has been a dues-paying member. […]
GUEST POST by Joel Cordle Acquiring new patients is a continuing challenge for doctors and healthcare providers, but perhaps the greater challenge—with longer-term rewards—is the ongoing effort to build trust and loyalty with existing patients. Here are several strategies to engage healthcare consumers and increase patient loyalty. Build your brand Branding is not just about […]
It seems like the “popular buzz” attaches to the big names in social media, with Facebook, Twitter and a couple others at the top of the list. But it turns out that email marketing continues to outdistance social media for customer acquisition by a mile. [Custora E-Commerce report] Of course both social media and email […]
Competition in healthcare has never been more intense. Although we speak and write about this topic frequently, we continue to discover—with alarming frequency—that providers, group practices and even some hospitals continue to “duck-and-cover,” underestimate or ignore the competition. All too often we hear head-in-the-sand anti-strategy expressed in various ways: “We don’t have competition…” “Doctors are too […]
The basics of the story are sadly similar. A medical office will contact us about their website. It’s new, colorful and brimming with whiz-bang graphics. Custom-built by the designer guy down the hall, it definitely looks pretty—everyone in the office says so. But by any measure, the medical website just isn’t delivering new business. Diagnosis […]
A highly successful internist we know frequently enhances his doctor-patient encounters with low-key, casual (but purposeful) chitchat. It turns out that the friendly anecdotes always have a useful healthcare punch line. He skillfully brings home a vital clinical lesson or advice wrapped in an interesting, disarming and personable story. “Doctor Bill,” our internist friend, polished […]
Even the most carefully constructed 37-page Curriculum Vitae is a sure-cure for insomnia. Other than the doctor who compiled the CV, it’s common for heads to droop after the first few pages. A detailed and current CV is a useful tool in professional circles, but the document is not at all the same as a physician’s […]
The concept of “free publicity” appeals to medical practices and providers because it appears to be...well, free. It turns out that that "free" is something of a misnomer. In healthcare—for that matter, in any industry—communications professionals recognize that the process that results in positive publicity is time intensive and rarely easy. Ultimately, the story that appears […]
[A GUEST POST by Paul Rosen, MD] Millennial medical students are starting their third year clerkships in hospitals around the country and are asking: Where is the cutting age technology I am used to? Where are the seamless communication systems? Where is the user experience? The students are evaluating the care systems they are asked […]
Mastery of the many dynamics of personal interaction in healthcare is, in the kindest of terms, a continuous challenge. But successful individual doctors, hospitals and sprawling health systems have a semi-secret formula for success. The curious thing about this six-point recipe is that it has helpful applications to nearly every type of communications and person-to-person […]
If there is one dominant factor that quickly erodes the patient-physician relationship, it is lack of respect—particularly a feeling of disrespect for the patient’s time. Patients have a limited ability to judge a physician’s clinical competence, but they do have a sense of personal self-worth that says: “My time is just as valuable as your […]
There’s no need to remind motion picture fans—which is nearly everyone—that the 2016 Academy Awards nominations will be announced next week…or that the annual glitz-and-glamour event is next month. (February 28, 2016; Dolby Theatre, Hollywood; ABC) But I did anyway. Hollywood, and the heart of the film industry, is just up the road from our […]
[Podcast: Part of continuing series.] Healthcare Success CEO Stewart Gandolf talks with Rob Klein, founder and CEO of healthcare marketing research firm, Klein & Partners, about why patients are now consumers, and how being a doctor “that people like” is no longer sufficient to remain competitive in business. In contemporary healthcare, passive patients have become […]
Doctors don’t always wear the title of CEO for their practice, but if it’s your business, you’ve got the top job. And along with it, you hold the ultimate hire-fire responsibility for the organization. Command, as the saying goes, is a lonely place. Personnel matters are often tough. Employees can be liked, but perform marginally. And even […]
At this time of year, some healthcare professionals are tempted to feel that their online marketing plans are “all set” for 2016. Hopefully that’s true. But don’t let “quiet comfort” become painful “complacency.” If you’re not vigilant to constant change—even during the holiday season—your Internet presence can quickly and quietly shift off target. Did you know, for […]
One day you’re a skilled and experienced healthcare professional and the next day the doctor asks you to create content; writing for the medical practice website, blog and/or social media. It’s a sudden and challenging new assignment, and not everyone is up to the task. Certainly it’s important to maintain fresh and interesting content for […]
In the beloved 1983 holiday classic, A Christmas Story, you’ll recall that hapless Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) wants two things: A Red Ryder BB gun, and to avoid the hassles of schoolyard bully, Scut Farkus (Zack Ward). The Jean Shepherd tale is retold each holiday season, and will be broadcast again this year on Christmas […]
Your brain “reads” images faster than words alone. And for hospital and healthcare storytelling, it’s a powerful way to communicate compelling and more memorable ideas in branding, marketing and advertising. Show before you tell. As you and I spin through the blaze of thousands of marketing messages that assault our brains each day, the ones […]
The highly competitive, new-patient battleground among healthcare providers—doctors, hospitals and health systems—is online via your Internet presence. Prospective patients (including family and friends) shop for healthcare services and providers online before making their purchase decisions. In the retail world, nearly 90 percent of consumers do their online homework. The numbers are nearly the same for […]
Is Google Plus too big to fail? On more than one occasion, since its launch in 2011, social media observers have predicted the network’s imminent demise. And on more than one occasion, parent company Google Inc. has refined and revamped the social networking service. A couple weeks ago, the company unveiled another re-do. The new, […]
After 20-some years in the business of healthcare marketing, I’m still a bit surprised to find medical practices that have written their own advertising copy. The complaint that they bring to us is that “it didn’t work.” And when I see it, I have to wonder if they realize how much this misguided effort cost […]
Every 12 months we turn the page on the calendar and observe the start of a New Year with grand ceremony. Admittedly, it’s a milestone celebration…a memory marker to help sort out “what was” from “what’s new.” Generally, ushering in a New Year can be a lot of fun, but the actual dividing lines are […]
Incorporating some sort of video content in your mix of healthcare marketing material seems like a no-brainer for doctors and hospitals. Producing and posting online video is relatively inexpensive and potentially highly effective—if it’s done properly. The enormous audience and the compelling impact of video storytelling is a powerful one-two punch for marketing planners. Recognizing […]
The diverse faces of telehealth—from virtual doctor consultations to remotely monitored patients—are continuing on a solid growth path. One assessment, by IHS Technology, says that doctors’ virtual consults with patients will double in less than five years, reports Forbes. Marketing strategies for hospitals, doctors and health systems will continue to adjust to keep up with […]
[First in a two-part series.] Not long ago, a momentous shift—demographically speaking—occurred in America. If, somehow, you missed the data temblor, some of your marketing and target audience assumptions might be off track. Significantly, the Millennial generation—defined as individuals ages 18 to 34—pushed the long-standing, post-WWII Baby Boomers group (ages 51 to 69) out of […]
Picture this scenario. You have an unhappy patient in your office, and, frankly, nobody on the staff (much less the doctor) is eager to jump into that thunderstorm. Let’s hope that this doesn’t come up too often, but realistically it happens even in the best of practices. You and your staff should be prepared to […]
[First in a series.] Rob Klein, founder and CEO of healthcare marketing research firm, Klein & Partners, inspired our headline and this series of articles. We'll be speaking with Rob again about this topic and present our conversation as an audio podcast in the near future. Our neighborhood RiteAid store—just a couple blocks down the street, and one […]
When you look up from your smartphone for a couple nano-seconds, it’s obvious that social media is ubiquitous in the culture…and pervasive enough to have crossed over to other media. There are at least a dozen major media television programs based primarily on social media. And nearly every major network drama, professional sports broadcast and […]
In a completely unscientific estimate, roughly nine out of 10 doctors would probably say they hate “selling” in healthcare. At a minimum, it’s not what doctors are trained to do. And, more critically, they believe that sales is a sleazy, manipulative and difficult process intended to strong-arm people into paying for something they don’t need or […]
Art and science have a special meeting point in social media. And with the proper blend of each, social media has the power to reach, recruit and retain private pay and elective care patients. For the most part, the “science part” is often the easier side of the equation. The major social media platforms—Facebook, Twitter, […]
Many doctors still have a gaping hole in their social media plan and Internet presence. For many, “too busy” is a quick and convenient excuse. It seems that everyone has a million other priorities, plus the compensation questions, and then there are all those pesky HIPAA sensitivities. For whatever reason, many physicians and medical practices […]
[Article Series: An excerpt from a forthcoming book by Mark Tager, MD, and Stewart Gandolf, MBA, for private practice physicians and healthcare administrators about reaching, recruiting and retaining private pay and elective care patients.] Each of the primary social media tools has a distinct personality. If Facebook is the family SUV, and Twitter is a […]
At the risk of sounding like a minor rant…here’s a quick story with an important marketing lesson. I HATE calling doctors’ offices. I suspect that a lot of people feel the same way. Please let me know if you can relate to my brief-but-irritating experience. The other day I discovered that I needed a new […]
With upwards of 80 million active monthly visitors in the US, Twitter is second only to Facebook, and it’s about the only microblogging site you need in your social media plan. Surprisingly, there are dozens of other similar platforms—better than 100 around the globe—but few people can name more than one or two. As a […]
ICD-10 is here, and the sound business advice for the foreseeable futures is: “Conserve cash. And boost your marketing efforts for fee-for-service options.” For the next few months, medical practices are going to be wrestling with more than a few problems during the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10. Although there’s been a long run up, […]
This is the second of a two-part guest article contributed by Pediatric Rheumatologist and healthcare thought leader Paul Rosen, MD, a regular contributor to our blog. Dr. Rosen looks at some of the key drivers in healthcare transformation, which might be seen as a field of landmines or opportunities. Part one is titled: The Disruption […]
Has there been a dramatic up-tick in the number of marketing mistakes lately? Perhaps there’s some sort of business-blooper epidemic; a bug of sorts, making the rounds. I raise this mostly rhetorical question because there seems to be a bumper crop of published articles that offer much the same advice. Roughly translated they admonish readers: […]
In the retail world, about one in three customers will use social networks to discover or research new products or services, typically this is an early step on their purchase-decision path. In healthcare, the influence of the Internet and social media—where upwards of eight out of ten people look online for health information—is an even […]
