In the face of unprecedented change in the healthcare industry, Vanderbilt University Medical Center has found ways to better engage patients and meet the high expectations they have developed as consumers.
Hospital marketing strategies have long been accused of lagging behind other industries in a number of categories, from technological integration to customer experience.
Now, consumers are more sophisticated and empowered than ever before, and hospitals are faced with two options—either meet patients' high expectations or surrender to the competition.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has chosen the former.
Heightened Patient Expectations
"Across the healthcare industry, providers like Vanderbilt University Medical Center are facing unprecedented changes," says Jill Austin, chief marketing officer for the Nashville, TN, medical center. Those changes include:
- Uncertainty surrounding the ACA and the move from volume to value
- The possible unwinding of the ACA's exchanges
- Rapid innovation from new players in the field
- The explosion of available digital channels
- The move toward consumerism in healthcare, with consumers making decisions based on price, experience, service, and quality
"Marketers across every industry are facing a revolution in how they connect with consumers, and that couldn't be more true than for those in the hospital and health system world, which has struggled to keep up," says Brandon Edwards, chief executive officer of ReviveHealth, VUMC's agency of record.
"No longer are patients content with the out-of-touch hospital experience."
Today's patients expect the same level of interaction with their hospital as they do with top retail stores—the want personalized communications, a clear understanding of purchases, and a streamlined experience.
This new, heightened patient expectation is forcing hospital marketers to break down the walls between marketing communication disciplines.
New Marketing Strategies
VUMC has begun adapting its marketing strategies to better engage patients and meet their high expectations. They are doing this by pursuing and applying three new principles to their branding and go-to-marketing efforts:
- Big data
- Digital first
- Personalized communications
"In the end, we're shifting our brand to become one valued not only for delivering the best healthcare, but as a partner in helping those we serve stay healthy throughout their life," Austin says. "That obviously is about more than advertising or messaging—it's a fundamental shift in how we show up and deliver value in the market."
To achieve that goal, the VUMC brand is becoming increasingly mobile and "always on."
An Integral Internal Shift
An integral component that set VUMC's new strategy in motion was a shift in how it approached marketing internally.
"The marketing vision we created—which really triggered all of this—has become a beacon not just for our marketing team, but throughout the organization in terms of how we hope to provide value to patients and consumers in the coming year," Austin says.
"It's a common platform that we can all orient to, and which has helped us in bringing together essential partners internally, such as Information Systems and Population Health Management, who we'll need to make our vision a reality."
Austin and her team are also using the academic medical center's resources to their advantage.
"We have access to thinking and innovation that others don't necessarily, allowing us to push the boundaries even further," she says. "For example, we've begun exploring neuromarketing—which we have available to us here—to test and improve our marketing approaches." Neuromarketing claims to apply the principles of neuroscience to marketing research.
VUMC's marketing innovation shows that leading health systems are, indeed, catching up to top brands in more marketing-savvy industries.
By dialing back on offline advertising and focusing on marketing automation, paid digital and social advertising, content marketing, and influencer marketing, health systems are poised to meet patients' heightened expectations without them grading on a curve.
"The best hospitals now see themselves as great marketers, not just great healthcare marketers," Edwards says.