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  Gay pride image by naemi_a from Pixabay And meet their healthcare needs in the process. In an interesting article wittier by Eric Burger in PRWeek on September 22 nd , “ More than one-third of LGBTQ individuals say healthcare companies don’t understand them. The data comes from a study by CMI Media Group with Wells Fargo and Human Rights Campaign.” If you’re a healthcare marketer, I would suggest that you read the article and consider how you can become the champion in your provider setting to change the narrative internally and in your community. You can’t market what you don’t understand. That is the issue given the scant attention in most healthcare providers who ignore the LGBTQ+ community. Political and religious views aside, failure to understand and create those marketing communications messages, content, and appropriate LGBTQ+ friendly images is a deal-breaker. I don’t think it’s necessarily intentional. Still, as healthcare marketers focus on traditional markets, i...

  Recruitment image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Employee recruitment marketing using current employees in providers and vendors comes and goes as a marketing recruitment tool. Carefully selected happy and long-term employees tout the culture, work environment, co-workers, etc., and why they have been there so long. It’s not uncommon to see comments about the mission-driven company and how everyone is treated with dignity and respect. I know because I have created and executed in partnership with HR these types of campaigns. Not only do they attract qualified candidates, but it provides employees the opportunity to be an active brand ambassador of the provider or vendor.   Then comes the job candidate’s experience, which may or may not reflect the marketing and brand claims. Best place to work awards, top company to work for, and other awards have people scratching their heads wondering what happened. How you treat the job candidate is as important as what you say in the co...

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 ...

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.  Change can be good in the leadership of healthcare providers and vendors. Conversely, change, if not managed correctly organizationally, can be debilitating. And the professional sports world is full of examples of good and bad change, from leadership to players. The point is that major professional sports teams in leagues worldwide live in a continuous cycle of evaluation and change regardless of the sport. In the professional sports world, the common saying from GMs and coaches to owners, players, staff, and fans when explaining change is “if you’re not changing, you’re falling behind.” Thinking image by Pexels from Pixabay. When you think about that statement, there is a pearl of intuitive wisdom for healthcare providers and vendors, working in a sea of change coming from all directions. This was never truer as we continue to experience upheaval driven by seismic shifts in technology, diagnosis, treatment, care delivery, and innovative new e...

Clarity image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Suppose there are some intuitive insights that have occurred during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic for hospitals. In that case, it may very well be that to gain organizational efficiencies, increase cash flow, and provide a higher quality of patient care, experience, and engagement, that outsourcing will be required.    It is understood that one does not outsource every department in the hospital as some functions still need direct organizational control, such as nursing.  However, it has become increasingly apparent as healthcare 3.0 is further defined with digital healthcare, the decentralization of care to community-based sites, innovations in treatment, technology, and pharmaceuticals, the hospital or health system faces formidable challenges. Changes and reductions in reimbursement also have significant impacts are that can negatively impact cash flow and the ability to meet internal or external demands. While leadership understa...

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 ...