Positioning is the single most important aspect of hospital communications. Hospital leadership must have a clear view of brand position to accurately portray their organizations to the public and differentiate themselves from competitors.
With a well-defined brand position in place, effective marketing campaigns can be created, and they may eventually develop sub-positions of their own.
A case in point is MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, an academic medical center located in Washington D.C. MGUH has used a well-developed dual positioning strategy to its advantage in a campaign promoting its deep brain stimulation treatment.
Position 1:
The leader in treating movement disorders
MGUH primarily created the campaign because it wanted to continue to position itself as the leader in treating and caring for patients with movement disorders.
"We are a National Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence and we are a high volume Deep Brain Stimulation center. These are important differentiators for us," says Karen Alcorn, vice president of public affairs and marketing for MGUH and vice president of MedStar Health, Washington Region.
"We also found that Parkinson's patients often self refer, so we wanted to create an awareness campaign that talked about the benefits of DBS and its impact on quality of life."
Position 2:
The place to come for a second opinion
In addition to primary consumers, the campaign also targeted those who might be looking for a second opinion on their treatment options.
"In some cases, patients are seen elsewhere and are told that they're not candidates for DBS, but because of our high volumes and advanced level of expertise, we can treat some of the more complex cases," Alcorn says. "This was also an important message for us to communicate."
Communicating both positions
To communicate these positioning messages as the brand image to patients, MGUH worked with Wilmington, DE-based creative agency ab+c to produce a series of banner ads and radio commercials promoting their deep brain stimulation program. To do this, ab+c stuck closely to the MedStar brand message "knowledge and compassion focused on you."
"Our goal was to identify ways to reach Parkinson's Disease patients and caregivers with a message that resonated with them and drove the to act," says Tom McGivney, managing partner and executive creative director for ab+c. "We also used this as an opportunity to focus on the safety and effectiveness of the procedure."
The 60-second radio spot features a patient testimonial that talks about everyday things the patient wasn't able to do because of Parkinson's disease. But, after deep brain stimulation treatment, he was able to get his life back. The banner ads also focus on quality of life by showing people with Parkinson's performing everyday activities.
Analyzing results
Unsurprisingly, MGUH's two-pronged positioning for this campaign is paying off. Upon completion of the three-month campaign, the call center received 225 inquiries, scheduled 60 appointments, and sent out 166 kits information kits to consumers and referring physicians. The campaign generated nearly 8,000 website visits, with more than 6,000 coming from unique visitors.
"I think that the campaign resonated well with consumers because we were able to talk about the debilitating symptoms that they face everyday," Alcorn says. "It's difficult and often embarrassing when you cannot perform everyday tasks like eating, drinking or tying your shoes because of tremors or rigidity. If we can remove these symptoms and give potential patients back a quality of life, I think they were willing to take action."
Looking forward
Due to the campaign's success, Alcorn is planning on running another leg of the effort every 18 months, continuing to communicate the dual positioning strategy.
"With the future continuation of the campaign, our hope is to continue to reinforce the fact that for many Parkinson's disease patients, deep brain stimulation can safely and effectively manage their symptoms," McGivney says.
"We also want to educate consumers and referring physicians about the benefits of seeking treatment at a high volume center. And even though you've been told that you're not a deep brain stimulation candidate, you may want to seek a second opinion at MGUH."
Marianne Aiello is a contributing writer at HealthLeaders Media.