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People Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Do you know who your patient hospital brand evangelists are, and are they posting User Generated Content (UGC)? I ask this question for a fundamental reason.  In an age where it’s challenging to define differentiation clearly and me too messaging amongst hospitals, in a pandemic that shows no signs of ending soon, how is a healthcare patient to make a choice? I realize that many healthcare leaders will dispute the above statement.  However, hospital marketing -traditional, digital and social, fall into one of four general buckets, ‘it’s all about you”, “look at at our technology,”  “our facilities and locations,” and “look at our awards.” In an age of pandemic uncertainty, the marketing and communication efforts focus on features, not patient benefits. Consider for a moment.  1.        Patients are now engaged in shopping behavior .  2.        Patients are pay...

Planning meeting image by Startup Stock Photos from Pixabay The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has played havoc with hospital budgets overall. Rapidly declining revenues saw marketing budgets and operations, the first department to be cut. That is understandable as every dollar saved in marketing flows directly to the bottom line. The unfortunate reality is that when we thought we might be coming out of the pandemic in 2021, here comes Wave 4- the pandemic of the unvaccinated driven by the COVID-19 delta variant. Looking into the crystal ball, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that hospital marketing budgets, for the most part, will continue to decline as a percent of revenues and operating costs for 2022. With planning just beginning in some organizations or nearly ready to start, the time is now for change. The market has shifted dramatically. Business graph image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixaby. Consider the seismic shifts due to the pandemic for the plan and budget development ...

UGC image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. User Generated Content (UGC) is the holy grail for healthcare vendors when all is said and done.  It doesn’t matter what vendor segment you’re in; the content and potential thought leadership from clients and prospects turned into customers are worth its weight in gold. Why? Having worked both sides of healthcare in providers and vendors, UGC has far more value and meaning. Providers expect vendors to produce the usual case studies, white papers, research briefs, blog posts, webinars, speaking opportunities,  press releases, media position statements, or any other brand tactical content forms used in a well-designed and executed thought leadership program. That does not mean you throw away case studies et al.,  but what it does mean is that if the vendor is unsuccessful at obtaining UGC, those other activities do not carry the same weight in supporting the vendor’s position. Platform image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay Providers ...