A lot of marketers have a tendency to to overcomplicate things. They look at tools like standard size postcards and try to find ways to tell people absolutely everything about our business within those tiny size constraints. The best thing to do though is focus on ONE message and ONE call to action only and make sure that both are clear, according to this post from the Zero-g blog.
Mark Gambill, chief marketing officer of CDW, warned big marketers to resist the knee-jerk inclination to slash marketing budgets. In Manhattan to accept a top marketer award, Gambill offered his observations and advice for the coming year. CDW is the 34th-largest private corporation in the U.S. with $8.1 billion in annual sales.
The selfless service performed by employees of the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower in Mumbai during the recent terrorist attacks proves that true character emerges in the toughest times. What's more, the actions of the staff shows the essence of the Taj brand.
The existence of the return on investment of social media marketing has long been discussed. Businesses are curtailing their spending in this economy and want to be certain that their resources are allocated wisely. But instead of questioning social media's return on investment, why don't companies consider the return on ignoring?
Several times I've heard experts talk about how hospitals can use new media for promotion and public relations. The advice: Get on Facebook, start a blog, post to YouTube. And I'm always left wondering—OK, then what? So let's get specific. Since I started posting on Twitter, I've been watching several different hospitals and health systems to see what they're up to.
And, wow, are they doing some cool stuff.
Look who's tweeting Backus Hospital, a community hospital in Norwich, CT, recently got me to click through to its site merely by mentioning it had posted pictures of its first baby of the New Year. Who doesn't love babies? The photos are really sweet and also show the hospital in a warm, intimate, friendly, and caring light.
Some other ways the community hospital is using Twitter:
Asking general questions to engage its audience. (If Sanjay Gupta becomes the U.S. Sugeon General, what would you ask him?)
Posting safety tips (change those smoke alarm batteries).
Posting health reminders (get those flu shots).
Providing links to cross-promote other products (read our monthly health magazine).
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, always catches my attention with teases to stories about patients, volunteers, donors, and events. The marketing team at this organization really knows how to tell a good story.
Generating excitement about successful fundraising events and thanking fundraisers (marathoners raise $2 million for hospital).
Posting new research findings and overviews of topics such as cancer diagnosis and care.
The Office of Communications is a non-profit creative resource that serves organizations including the University of Texas Health Science Center and Texas Medical Center in Houston. I like their approach to Twitter. It's creative and diverse and full of personality. For example, they link to an article about why kids are terrified of Santa. (Many hospitals only link to their own sites. I think that's a mistake.)
Other ways the organization is using Twitter:
Internal communications. (What's on the agenda for the next faculty meeting?)
Links back to its other online sites (including its online newsletter, Scoop).
Fostering good customer relations. ("Taking time to thank our clients and all those who work with us for another great year").
ScrippsHealth in San Diego is an early adopter. They've posted more than 185 updates and have 409 people who follow their posts. After my last column on how hospitals can use Twitter for marketing, they commented that they've set up an account to syndicate out news stories and events. "It has been going well so far with lots of industry, media and community people following the account," they wrote. "The real opportunity," they added, "is the ability to speak directly to and hear directly from your consumers."
Other ways the organization is using Twitter:
Posting dates, times, and fees for healthcare-related classes (I could use a mindfulness-based stress reduction class).
Bolstering recruitment efforts (Scripps honored as top San Diego employer).
Some Twitter mistakes
A few things I've noticed since I've been poking around the site:
Too many organizations link repeatedly or even exclusively to their own Web sites. This comes off as very self-serving. If one of your experts in quoted in a news article, link to the news article—not your own press release about the article.
Too few organizations are asking open-ended questions to promote dialogue with their internal or external audiences.
Some organizations go overboard trying to include fun but meaningless posts along with useful, hospital-specific posts. An occasional light note—thanking everyone who's been following your Twitter account or who helped with a certain event—is fine. But don't wish everyone a cheery good morning every single morning.
On the other hand, some organizations aren't showing any personality at all in their posts. Robotic messages with the same kind of content (links to press releases for example) is boring and repetitive. Throw something in there every once in a while that proves your posts are written by a human being.
Keeping an eye on it all
I promised you a list 100 ways that hospitals and health systems can use Twitter, but you're going to have to do a little homework to round out what I've offered so far. Ed Bennett, director of web strategy for the University of Maryland Medical System, keeps an updated list of hospitals on Twitter—just click the "following" link to see them.
Meanwhile, Bennett has done some more work to help us find 100 ideas, with his extensive online list of hospitals that are on Twitter and Facebook. It's extensive. Start looking at what others are doing—and then figure out what works for your organization.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has unveiled a plan that establishes a set of five-year national prevention targets to reduce and possibly eliminate healthcare-associated infections. The Action Plan to Prevent Health Care-Associated Infections lists a number of areas in which HAIs can be prevented, and also outlines cross-agency efforts to save lives and reduce healthcare costs through expanded HAI prevention efforts.
The AARP has unveiled its legislative priorities for the 111th Congress, a characteristically sweeping agenda that focuses on the recession and on health reform. The AARP wants Congress to set aside up to $50 billion to set up electronic health records and other health information technology, and to encourage employment in the nursing sector to alleviate a shortage of workers.
A new report by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine finds that too many adolescents are falling through the cracks of the nation's healthcare system. The report finds that few doctors specialize in adolescents' complex needs, or provide comprehensive care that earns their trust.
When quality concerns become top of mind for consumers for your facility it may be time to take a step back and reassess. When Owensboro (KY) Medical Health System (OMHS) found it was facing a similar situation, it knew it was time to make some changes. After bringing in a new CEO and COO the health system decided to launch a campaign that had the community and a bigger picture in mind.
"About two years ago we embarked on really the first branding campaign for the organization and really started to rebuild some of the trust that people had lost over time with this particular provider," says Robert Rosenberg, president of OMHS's agency Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy. "With some strategy and strategic partnerships, [OMHS] shaped themselves up pretty dramatically. The first campaign was really about instilling trust to get them back into the community."
The combination of a revamped strategy, new leadership, and a new branding initiative featuring real patient testimonials proved successful. Survey results saw a 16–20% point increase in awareness and preference for OMHS. "Once they saw some really dramatic increases they bought into the concept of branding and what it could do for them," says Rosenberg. "They were more willing to take it to next step, which is really what we needed to do." Additional research was conducted and the team noticed that there were still gaps in the local and, most importantly, regional perceptions. "There was some fall out in areas like technology and specialized care," says Rosenberg.
To fill in those gaps it was decided that the newest phase of the campaign would focus locally and regionally on OMHS' imaging capabilities for individual service lines. The campaign theme, which will run for at least 18 months, is 'We see the bigger picture.' "The idea came about because it's not just seeing the medical imaging," says Rosenberg. "It's seeing the imaging picture and seeing ways to get the individual patient back to their lives."
Several TV spots and print elements were created using actors as well as a national production company for the TV spots. "We used actors instead of real patients that people might know for the first time so that we could focus the creative more on the message. And we used a national production company because we felt it gave the campaign a higher quality look and feel," says Rosenberg. "A lot of people say, 'we want to communicate quality'…we want to be a quality provider but let's skimp on the budget. Which is fine and I'm not advocating that you need a big budget to do good work, but if one of your goals is to communicate quality and more of a national look and feel, then you have to make those kinds of decisions [like OMHS did] in order to give your program what it needs to communicate what it's supposed to."
For OMHS, seeing success at the 18 months will be a part of the bigger picture they are building through careful branding and strategy.
Kandace McLaughlin Doyle is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. Send her Campaign Spotlight ideas at kdoyle@healthleadersmedia.com If you are a marketer submitting a campaign on behalf of your facility or client, please ensure you have permission before doing so.
A new president and Congress promise to make wholesale changes in healthcare, and those changes are causing both excitement and trepidation for the health insurance industry.
I've got some good news or bad news depending on where you stand on the issue of healthcare reform: Major changes will not happen this year. Sure, Congress will cover more children and cut Medicare Advantage payments to private insurers, but 2009 will be a year of minor reforms, and plenty of debate and discussion rather than action.
Now that I have depressed some of you, here are my five predictions for 2009:
Healthcare reforms: Think incremental
Don't believe the talking heads who predict major healthcare reforms this year. The election of Barack Obama has pundits gushing about the possibilities as they believe this wave of positivity will result in major healthcare reform in 2009.
Another reason that pundits point to major changes in healthcare is that Senator Ted Kennedy has brought together a number of stakeholders in hopes of producing legislation that could cap off a Senate career that has lasted nearly half a century.
Those are definitely two positives for those who want major reforms, but it's naïve to expect major changes this year.
Yes, there is a fresh wind blowing in Washington and overwhelming support for healthcare reforms, but there is still the issue of what is the best system. Is it a single-payer system, a public insurance option coupled with the employer-based system, Medicare for all, or the individual market?
Nearly everyone agrees that healthcare costs are out of control and not enough Americans have health insurance. The issue is how to create a system that can tackle those two issues, as well as the plethora of other healthcare concerns, such as quality care, physician payment reform, and the primary care shortage.
That said, the number of groups presenting their own reform plans is impressive. Stakeholders are playing nice now, but those good feelings will melt away once a concrete plan is presented.
Healthcare makes up about 14% of the nation's economy. It should take longer than a year to create a solution to the problem.
There is some good news for reform-minded people though. Expect states to continue to implement their own reforms this year and major healthcare legislation from Washington in 2010 when the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate run for re-election.
Legislators will pass a bill in 2010 that is politically viable and not one that will go as far as many hoped.
More children will get insurance in 2009
Though major healthcare reforms will not happen this year, Obama and the Democrats will expand health insurance to more children.
Within Obama's first 100 days, Congress will renew the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and lower income thresholds that will allow states to provide coverage to more children.
Sometime in 2009 (either as part of the SCHIP renewal or in separate legislation) the Democrats will provide health insurance for most children whose parents or guardians do not have insurance through their employers.
Supporting an initiative like health insurance for children is politically popular and will happen this year.
Medicare Advantage fight begins
The president-elect made Medicare Advantage costs a campaign issue and the concept of private insurers running Medicare offerings is a Republican idea. With Democrats controlling Washington, expect Medicare Advantage payment cuts in Obama's first 100 days.
Reducing payments to private insurers will start a slow exodus with insurers dropping out of the program because it simply won't be as profitable.
The road won't be easy for Democrats though. The insurance industry and senior groups will push back claiming that Medicare Advantage cuts will lead to seniors not having access to these popular programs.
More employers will turn to CDHPs
Consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) comprise a relatively small percentage of the market, but look for more employers to implement these plans as a way to reduce their healthcare costs.
The issue in 2009 will be the employers that view CDHPs simply as a way to shift costs onto employees. This is exactly what CDHP advocates don't want.
The idea behind CDHPs is to create educated healthcare consumers. Sure, the definition of a CDHP is a high-deductible health plan with a health savings account, but education is the critical third leg to the consumer-driven stool.
In order to create effective consumer-driven plans, health insurers and employers need to provide cost and quality information as well as educate members about how to be wise healthcare consumers.
If health insurers and employers do not create CDHPs with an educational component, members will see the plans as a way to transfer costs onto them rather than an opportunity for both sides to save money. That will cause individuals to rebel against the plans and view employers and insurers as the enemy.
It's up to health insurers and employers to make sure that does not happen in 2009.
Questions about DM
Supporters of disease management (DM) were glad to see the end of 2008.
The previous year was a difficult one for DM. Not only did CMS end the DM-inspired Medicare Health Support project because of disappointing results, but more experts questioned whether DM actually reduces costs and improves outcomes.
The turn of the calendar will not end those questions, but there is an opportunity for the industry. This year should see the DM industry release objective reports about which offerings work best for particular disease states.
In order for DM to have a seat at the healthcare reform table, the industry will need to fund research and look critically at its programs. Otherwise, 2009 could become the year in which DM was lowered into the ground alongside other healthcare acronyms that did not prove their value.
Those are just five predictions in what could become a watershed year for healthcare. I'll check back at the end of 2009 to see if any or all of my predictions come true.
Les Masterson is senior editor of Health Plan Insider. He can be reached at lmasterson@healthleadersmedia.com.Note: You can sign up to receiveHealth Plan Insider, a free weekly e-newsletter designed to bring breaking news and analysis of important developments at health plans and other managed care organizations to your inbox.
