It has been a most interesting healthcare year. One filled with great change by the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, large fraud settlements along with the usually ethical and moral failures, mergers, acquisitions and the glimmer of an economic recovery. There is optimistic hope for the future.
Enough said as all the major healthcare publications run their year-end retrospectives, tops tens, best and worst…. well, you get the idea.
So before I going to much further, I would like to extend a most sincere wish for a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my readers around the world. Readership of Healthcare Marketing Matters has increased greatly over this past year to over a 1,000 page views a month and read daily world-wide. I hope that you have found these writings to be informative, maybe even educational and occasionally irreverent. But most of all, thank you for reading and commenting.
So my last Healthcare Marketing Matters blog for 2010 is about New Year Marketing Resolutions. My own Top 10 list that you might consider as well.
10. I will educate my organization about the value of my department and work. I will lead and prove my departments ROI.
9. I will continue to scan other industries for their marketing successes. I will learn about them, adapt them to my industry, and implement successfully.
8. I will continue my marketing education through webinars, seminars and conferences. There is always something new on the horizon to learn.
7. I will integrate my traditional, online and social marketing strategies. All are complementary to one another and drive multiple successes.
6. I will innovate, discover the needs of my customers and drive consistent brand messaging.
5. I will foster a spirit of and demand marketing excellence. Good enough is not good enough. I owe nothing less to my organization and my customers.
4. Brand is my religion. I will be a brand zealot and show what the brand promise, brand reputation and brand equity mean to my organization in revenue terms.
3. I will stop using the words "unique", "state-of-the-art", and anything that is considered "buzz word" terminology in my marketing communications. Unique can be duplicated easily, "state-of-the-art" refers to yesterday's systems as things change so fast and "buzz words" quickly fall out of favor.
2. I will bridge the divide between sales and marketing and in doing so, together we will drive value, customer satisfaction and create customer evangelists all the while reaching new revenue heights.
1. I will serve and be humble, giving credit where credit is due and not repeat the mistakes of the past.
See you in what will be a most interesting 2011 when the writing resumes. Until then, a safe and Happy Holiday Season to you all!
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations, I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Showing posts with label healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthcare. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Using Healthcare Focused Webinars to Drive Revenue
Recently, I have been seeing a large amount of advertising directing individuals to come to a hospital or physicians office, clinic etc., at a specific date and time, usually at the physicians or clinicians convenience, for a health and wellness program.
That is so 1990s.
In this day and age, with internet savvy audiences and patients who are networked to the web, social media, information and such, it seems silly that most healthcare providers would continue to offer only one way for individuals to access health and wellness programs. If you're not using webinars, then you're not meeting your customers needs.
And it's pretty easy to do.
Using WebEx, Talk Ready, Go To Meeting for example, a 30-45 minute health and wellness seminar can be given on a day and tme more convenient for your audience. They can be recorded and archived on your web site for consumer play back at anytime of their choosing. You now begin to build up a library of self-generated health information that is branded to your organization, contains your key messages and promotes a specific service line or targeted capability.
Think about the possibilities for reaching out to employers this way as well. A webinar directed at Human Resource professionals in local companies.
For Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), a way to keep in constant contact with your members providing targeted health information.
For hospital physician relationships a way to hold a department meetings or offer CEU program that can be more convenient.
For the media and local press, a way to hold a press conference or announce a new service or technological application when they say their not coming on site.
The possibilities really are endless. Your imagination is your only limit here.
Okay, you can't do wellness screens this way, but it could be used to drive volume to the screens as a follow-up to the webinar.
Return on Marketing Investment
This strategy and tactic is designed to capture downstream volume and revenue. Let's face it, initially there is little return on a webinar. It's the post webinar relationship management and communication activities that bring the return. By capturing a webinars attendees information, you now have actionable data on which to design more effective marketing and communication programs. Mass marketing that is individualized. You can create a relationship that is more meaningful because it is based on their needs. You're building a customer database for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and loyalty programs.
So, its 2010 and change in healthcare is accelerating and will only continue to do so. Time to expand your arsenal of strategy, tactics, tools and techniques to build relationships, loyalty, volume and revenue.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
That is so 1990s.
In this day and age, with internet savvy audiences and patients who are networked to the web, social media, information and such, it seems silly that most healthcare providers would continue to offer only one way for individuals to access health and wellness programs. If you're not using webinars, then you're not meeting your customers needs.
And it's pretty easy to do.
Using WebEx, Talk Ready, Go To Meeting for example, a 30-45 minute health and wellness seminar can be given on a day and tme more convenient for your audience. They can be recorded and archived on your web site for consumer play back at anytime of their choosing. You now begin to build up a library of self-generated health information that is branded to your organization, contains your key messages and promotes a specific service line or targeted capability.
Think about the possibilities for reaching out to employers this way as well. A webinar directed at Human Resource professionals in local companies.
For Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), a way to keep in constant contact with your members providing targeted health information.
For hospital physician relationships a way to hold a department meetings or offer CEU program that can be more convenient.
For the media and local press, a way to hold a press conference or announce a new service or technological application when they say their not coming on site.
The possibilities really are endless. Your imagination is your only limit here.
Okay, you can't do wellness screens this way, but it could be used to drive volume to the screens as a follow-up to the webinar.
Return on Marketing Investment
This strategy and tactic is designed to capture downstream volume and revenue. Let's face it, initially there is little return on a webinar. It's the post webinar relationship management and communication activities that bring the return. By capturing a webinars attendees information, you now have actionable data on which to design more effective marketing and communication programs. Mass marketing that is individualized. You can create a relationship that is more meaningful because it is based on their needs. You're building a customer database for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and loyalty programs.
So, its 2010 and change in healthcare is accelerating and will only continue to do so. Time to expand your arsenal of strategy, tactics, tools and techniques to build relationships, loyalty, volume and revenue.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Changing Role of Healthcare Marketing
Much has changed in 2010. One could say a titanic shift that has created a tsunami that is in its early stages of being felt. With that in mind, it begs the question of what is, or will be the role of healthcare marketing going forward?
Healthcare reform simply will not be repealed. Adjustments will be made and the legal challenges will continue to be filed for several years, but overall repeal is a distant dream of the far conservative right. Despite the public pronouncements, a significant amount of money in the billions of dollars in future revenue and earnings is at stake for all the players to allow for regression.
In a time where the majority of individuals and families have some form of health insurance, I believe that marketing will have a role to play that is much different and more important than today. In an age of healthcare consumerism with patients controlling their health information, (and yes individual health information is the property of the patient, not of the doctor, not of the hospital, not of any healthcare provider), marketing needs to take on a significant role in the life of the healthcare organization beyond the traditional communication activities.
Marketing healthcare organizations contrary to a popular myth, is not any different from what occurs in other industries. It is similar to the conceptual myth of not-for-profits. There is no such thing as a not-for-profit. There are legally defined tax-exempt organizations, but no not-for-profits. I digress, for that is a topic for another day.
Many of the traditional marketing activities will continue as well as the new social media and online marketing. Those won't go away, but will become more highly integrated, brand strengthening and value driven across service lines.
Understand that I am not talking about pharma, medical device manufacturers, insurance companies, suppliers and retailers moving into the healthcare space. They get it. They understand the power and importance of marketing. This is for all the other healthcare providers that are still trying to operate like its 1990.
The Expanded Healthcare Marketing Role:
Marketing Leadership
Moving from the manager or director level to the VP senior manger level. Marketing is strategy first, tactics second. The voice of marketing should reflect the voice of your customers and not be a second thought. Your future programs and services will be determined by the needs of the market, not your gut feeling. You cannot become a customer-driven or market-driven organization if the skills and experiences of marketing is not at the leadership table.
Managing the Patient Experience
Managing the patient experience. If anyone is prepared to understand and mange the patient experience across the organization it's marketing. Hospitals in particular are making the mistake of putting operations in charge of patient experience. This is an oxymoron really. For the most part Ops can't get a discharge process together in less than 3 or 4 hours. How can you expect them to manage the patient experience? Patient experience means just that- understanding what that patient experiences is at all touch points. And then changing or managing that experience to its fullest potential for the benefit of the patient and the organization. Patient experience is an integrating process across the entire organization internally and externally. One organization to the patient, one patient to the organization. It is not simply another quality program or flavor of the day.
Understanding and Executing Demand Management
The hospital is no longer the center of the healthcare universe. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is designed to keep people out of the hospital. You can actually see a hospital admission as a defect in the process of care. Marketing needs to understand what the demand for healthcare services will be, when they will be needed and manage that demand making sure that the hospital or health system has the right resources, in the right place, at the right time to meet demand. Gone are the days where marketing departments will be driving demand to fill hospital beds. They will drive demand to the appropriate place and location of service.
Becoming a Revenue Marketer and Having Revenue Accountability
Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) is necessary for anything marketing accomplishes, traditionally, socially or online. Marketers in healthcare organizations need to become revenue producers, not resource consumers that show little value beyond, it looks nice. In fact, marketing should have P&L as well as an SG&A accountability for many of the products and services being offered by a healthcare organization.
Marketing the Manager of Change
Who better in an organization than for marketing to manage the healthcare organizations transformation from an inward-focused it's all about me, to an outward-focused market and consumer driven organization? Open to much debate, this is probably the most controversial look at the expanding role of marketing. Individual who have looked internally at their organizations all of their careers, do not necessarily have the skills, training or abilities to change an organization 180 degrees. And that is the type of change we are talking about here.
The future of healthcare holds great challenges and opportunities. Time for proactive change instead of reactive change. Clocks ticking and you're being left behind.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Healthcare reform simply will not be repealed. Adjustments will be made and the legal challenges will continue to be filed for several years, but overall repeal is a distant dream of the far conservative right. Despite the public pronouncements, a significant amount of money in the billions of dollars in future revenue and earnings is at stake for all the players to allow for regression.
In a time where the majority of individuals and families have some form of health insurance, I believe that marketing will have a role to play that is much different and more important than today. In an age of healthcare consumerism with patients controlling their health information, (and yes individual health information is the property of the patient, not of the doctor, not of the hospital, not of any healthcare provider), marketing needs to take on a significant role in the life of the healthcare organization beyond the traditional communication activities.
Marketing healthcare organizations contrary to a popular myth, is not any different from what occurs in other industries. It is similar to the conceptual myth of not-for-profits. There is no such thing as a not-for-profit. There are legally defined tax-exempt organizations, but no not-for-profits. I digress, for that is a topic for another day.
Many of the traditional marketing activities will continue as well as the new social media and online marketing. Those won't go away, but will become more highly integrated, brand strengthening and value driven across service lines.
Understand that I am not talking about pharma, medical device manufacturers, insurance companies, suppliers and retailers moving into the healthcare space. They get it. They understand the power and importance of marketing. This is for all the other healthcare providers that are still trying to operate like its 1990.
The Expanded Healthcare Marketing Role:
Marketing Leadership
Moving from the manager or director level to the VP senior manger level. Marketing is strategy first, tactics second. The voice of marketing should reflect the voice of your customers and not be a second thought. Your future programs and services will be determined by the needs of the market, not your gut feeling. You cannot become a customer-driven or market-driven organization if the skills and experiences of marketing is not at the leadership table.
Managing the Patient Experience
Managing the patient experience. If anyone is prepared to understand and mange the patient experience across the organization it's marketing. Hospitals in particular are making the mistake of putting operations in charge of patient experience. This is an oxymoron really. For the most part Ops can't get a discharge process together in less than 3 or 4 hours. How can you expect them to manage the patient experience? Patient experience means just that- understanding what that patient experiences is at all touch points. And then changing or managing that experience to its fullest potential for the benefit of the patient and the organization. Patient experience is an integrating process across the entire organization internally and externally. One organization to the patient, one patient to the organization. It is not simply another quality program or flavor of the day.
Understanding and Executing Demand Management
The hospital is no longer the center of the healthcare universe. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is designed to keep people out of the hospital. You can actually see a hospital admission as a defect in the process of care. Marketing needs to understand what the demand for healthcare services will be, when they will be needed and manage that demand making sure that the hospital or health system has the right resources, in the right place, at the right time to meet demand. Gone are the days where marketing departments will be driving demand to fill hospital beds. They will drive demand to the appropriate place and location of service.
Becoming a Revenue Marketer and Having Revenue Accountability
Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) is necessary for anything marketing accomplishes, traditionally, socially or online. Marketers in healthcare organizations need to become revenue producers, not resource consumers that show little value beyond, it looks nice. In fact, marketing should have P&L as well as an SG&A accountability for many of the products and services being offered by a healthcare organization.
Marketing the Manager of Change
Who better in an organization than for marketing to manage the healthcare organizations transformation from an inward-focused it's all about me, to an outward-focused market and consumer driven organization? Open to much debate, this is probably the most controversial look at the expanding role of marketing. Individual who have looked internally at their organizations all of their careers, do not necessarily have the skills, training or abilities to change an organization 180 degrees. And that is the type of change we are talking about here.
The future of healthcare holds great challenges and opportunities. Time for proactive change instead of reactive change. Clocks ticking and you're being left behind.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Tis the Season to Leverage Healthcare Quality Awards
Healthgrades, Malcolm Baldrige, Thompson Top 100, U S World & News Report and others are making their healthcare quality rankings for various diseases known. And if the hospital or health system is willing to pony up some cash, they too can use those rankings in their marketing and PR efforts.
But beyond the obvious campaigning, what I fail to see is how health systems or hospital awardees are communicating in any meaningful way what those quality awards means to the healthcare consumer. As I have written in the past, what is the value of that information to the healthcare consumer? A nice representation of the actual award and saying are in the top 5 percent nationally in (insert disease here) leaves it kind of lacking. Especially when other hospitals you compete against are making the same claim.
Wasted Opportunity
A shame really. The campaigning I am seeing in its current form treats the healthcare consumer like they are some kind of idiot. It also reinforces what the healthcare industry has been crying about that healthcare is more complicated than a 5 star rating. An inadvertent consequence nonetheless, you are creating the simplistic 5 star rating system yourself by how you are all campaigning the quality award. Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it. It's about the value not to you, but to the healthcare consumer. Instead of talking at the consumer, grab the opportunity to make the award meaningful in the eyes of the healthcare consumer, instead of taking the easy way out and puffing out our chest to say look at me.
Leveraging the Opportunity
The networked patient is one who is hungry for information. And patients are networked today more so than at any other time in the history of healthcare. The future will only make it more so. So why not get ahead of the curve and start making your ads and marketing communications pieces more value driven and providing healthcare solutions to the consumer?
Explain what that award means to the consumer. Define the value. Show how it separates you from all the others. Communicate how it reinforces your brand and brand promise. Use the award to create trust. Define the award experience in the patients terms. Just don't throw it out there and say we are in the top 5 percent or whatever. That is not meaningful to anyone. In an age of outcomes transparency, quality accountability and consumer choice, those ads sorely fail.
Maybe the opportunity is to create that 5 star web site based on those ads? Hmm......
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 1,000 monthly pages views reviewed in over 20 countries around the world. I am a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. You can reach me at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations, I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
But beyond the obvious campaigning, what I fail to see is how health systems or hospital awardees are communicating in any meaningful way what those quality awards means to the healthcare consumer. As I have written in the past, what is the value of that information to the healthcare consumer? A nice representation of the actual award and saying are in the top 5 percent nationally in (insert disease here) leaves it kind of lacking. Especially when other hospitals you compete against are making the same claim.
Wasted Opportunity
A shame really. The campaigning I am seeing in its current form treats the healthcare consumer like they are some kind of idiot. It also reinforces what the healthcare industry has been crying about that healthcare is more complicated than a 5 star rating. An inadvertent consequence nonetheless, you are creating the simplistic 5 star rating system yourself by how you are all campaigning the quality award. Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it. It's about the value not to you, but to the healthcare consumer. Instead of talking at the consumer, grab the opportunity to make the award meaningful in the eyes of the healthcare consumer, instead of taking the easy way out and puffing out our chest to say look at me.
Leveraging the Opportunity
The networked patient is one who is hungry for information. And patients are networked today more so than at any other time in the history of healthcare. The future will only make it more so. So why not get ahead of the curve and start making your ads and marketing communications pieces more value driven and providing healthcare solutions to the consumer?
Explain what that award means to the consumer. Define the value. Show how it separates you from all the others. Communicate how it reinforces your brand and brand promise. Use the award to create trust. Define the award experience in the patients terms. Just don't throw it out there and say we are in the top 5 percent or whatever. That is not meaningful to anyone. In an age of outcomes transparency, quality accountability and consumer choice, those ads sorely fail.
Maybe the opportunity is to create that 5 star web site based on those ads? Hmm......
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 1,000 monthly pages views reviewed in over 20 countries around the world. I am a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. You can reach me at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations, I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Marketing the Employed Physician
With dynamic changes occurring in the healthcare industry as a result of the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), employment of physicians is making a big comeback to the hospital industry. Born of necessity, hospitals and physicians are being driven by reimbursement concerns and opportunities. The drive to create Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) demands a different type of physician relationship. One that is more centralized and controlled to "reap" the revenue benefits of the new healthcare market environment.
With this new opportunity to reinvent, revitalize and recapture what previously before had been an adventure on the part of hospitals with mixed results, its time to discuss how one goes about marketing the employed physician.
First break from the past......
It's easy to look at this and say we'll just do what we did in the past in promoting employed physicians and be done with it. That is a dangerous mistake in the age of healthcare consumerism. Consumers will have choice, are already networked and will be controlling many of the purchase decisions where previously, you drove many of those decisions. So if you're just going to throw some ads out there with a picture of the nice smiling doc with copy in the third person about how wonderful and compassionate he or she is, you can expect much disappointment. Even today there is still too much of that type of physician marketing occurring.
What is needed is a new look at what you are doing and changing to meet the needs of your healthcare consumer, not you.
A new day....
With great change comes great opportunity. That is if one is willing to embrace that change and find new ways of moving forward and creating value.
Your Brand. Your Value. The Healthcare Consumer's Choice.
You need to communicate very strongly your brand and brand promise you are associating with the employed physician. Doesn't matter if he or she is in a Medical Office Building (MOB) you own, Accountable Care Organization (ACO) or Medical Home (MH). Bring your brand to the forefront and brand the doc to you. He or she is no longer an independent practitioner. They represent your brand at an individual level. Capitalize on that opportunity and leverage it.
Communicate the value that this physician brings to your community and the healthcare consumer. Communicate the value that the doctor brings to your brand. Leverage that opportunity. Stop talking at people, talk to them. Talk to consumers with compelling value driven reasons why they should select that doctor, or even why they should even considering switching physicians.
Stop wasting your money putting ads in papers that expect people to take action simply because the doctor is on your medical staff or in one of your buildings. That treats the healthcare consumer like they are idiots. They're not. They are demanding value and acknowledgement that they have a say in what's going on. If you won't meet their needs they will go somewhere else.
Consumers now have more power than they have every had as a result of PPACA. They are and will be paying more of the medical bill as time goes along. If you're not communicating value and what's in it for them for selecting your physicians, then you can put it in the bank that the healthcare consumer is will pass on by and go where they perceive the value to be greatest for them in line with the price they are paying.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 1,000 monthly pages views reviewed in over 20 countries around the world, and is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. I can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive or for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
With this new opportunity to reinvent, revitalize and recapture what previously before had been an adventure on the part of hospitals with mixed results, its time to discuss how one goes about marketing the employed physician.
First break from the past......
It's easy to look at this and say we'll just do what we did in the past in promoting employed physicians and be done with it. That is a dangerous mistake in the age of healthcare consumerism. Consumers will have choice, are already networked and will be controlling many of the purchase decisions where previously, you drove many of those decisions. So if you're just going to throw some ads out there with a picture of the nice smiling doc with copy in the third person about how wonderful and compassionate he or she is, you can expect much disappointment. Even today there is still too much of that type of physician marketing occurring.
What is needed is a new look at what you are doing and changing to meet the needs of your healthcare consumer, not you.
A new day....
With great change comes great opportunity. That is if one is willing to embrace that change and find new ways of moving forward and creating value.
Your Brand. Your Value. The Healthcare Consumer's Choice.
You need to communicate very strongly your brand and brand promise you are associating with the employed physician. Doesn't matter if he or she is in a Medical Office Building (MOB) you own, Accountable Care Organization (ACO) or Medical Home (MH). Bring your brand to the forefront and brand the doc to you. He or she is no longer an independent practitioner. They represent your brand at an individual level. Capitalize on that opportunity and leverage it.
Communicate the value that this physician brings to your community and the healthcare consumer. Communicate the value that the doctor brings to your brand. Leverage that opportunity. Stop talking at people, talk to them. Talk to consumers with compelling value driven reasons why they should select that doctor, or even why they should even considering switching physicians.
Stop wasting your money putting ads in papers that expect people to take action simply because the doctor is on your medical staff or in one of your buildings. That treats the healthcare consumer like they are idiots. They're not. They are demanding value and acknowledgement that they have a say in what's going on. If you won't meet their needs they will go somewhere else.
Consumers now have more power than they have every had as a result of PPACA. They are and will be paying more of the medical bill as time goes along. If you're not communicating value and what's in it for them for selecting your physicians, then you can put it in the bank that the healthcare consumer is will pass on by and go where they perceive the value to be greatest for them in line with the price they are paying.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 1,000 monthly pages views reviewed in over 20 countries around the world, and is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. I can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive or for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Marketing the Re-emerging Center of Excellence
Previously, I authored a couple of blogs on the Re-emergence of Centers of Excellence (CoE) due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), as well as starting a most interesting discussion on LinkedIn in the American College of Healthcare Executives Group. Those blogs and discussion really focused more on the operational and quality of care characteristics of a CoE than marketing. The point being that with the rise of healthcare consumerism driven by many factors outside the control of healthcare providers, that you could no longer look around and just say that you have a CoE in a particular service-line or disease -state.
So, if as a leader in your healthcare organization you have come to realize that the healthcare consumer deserves more than just the old ways of doing things, you have really looked at your self-described CoEs and beefed them up to true reflections of organizational and quality of care excellence, then just maybe you are ready to begin marketing a CoE. If not, it will come back to haunt you in the end, influenced by PPACA and demands of the healthcare consumer.
Marketing the CoE
This is really a reintroduction for most healthcare organizations. That being said, the opportunity immediately before you is to corrects some past mistakes. Mistakes I would like think were made with the best of intentions, but reflected a lack of understanding about the organizational brand, brand messages, and brand equity that was lost.
Probably the most important correction or for starting out with a new CoE is- scrap the new logo, color palette and messaging for the CoE. Too many organizations went down the path of we need a new logo, tagline, color palette, etc., from what is the already established brand of the organization. Shame on the marketing departments for not exercising the leadership to stop the madness.
I don't care that a CNO or director likes to "dabble in marketing". Except in some circumstances where the CNO or director has marketing training and education, CNOs, directors of Nursing etc., are clueless about brand, brand equity and marketing for that matter. How about I dabble in nursing?
In the Age of Healthcare Consumerism, your brand is everything.
The only logo that matters is your brand logo, color palette and messaging. Period. Change it at your own risk. Leverage what you have because it makes life a lot easier and more cost effective.
Do create a value proposition that shows the benefit to the healthcare consumer that your CoE brings to the market.
Do talk to the healthcare consumer not at them.
Do integrate the CoE campaign into the broader organizational marketing efforts.
Do use patient and physician testimonials if available.
If you have Joint Commission CoE certification or the Blue Cross Blue Shield CoE certifications or others, use them, but explain the value of what that means. Just don't throw it out there.
Talk about your outcomes and why they are important. Be transparent in your use of data.
Use all communication channels, print, direct mail, billboard, radio, email, social media, web site, call center, etc. Integrate those efforts.
Make your marketing efforts sustainable. Fund them accordingly to last a long period of time to be in front of the healthcare consumer for months at a time.
Be creative. Be interactive. Start and maintain a conversation with the healthcare consumer.
Evaluate constantly. Change on the fly. Show ROI.
Take a market position of superiority along either the product, price or service offering and dominate. Pick one, set meaningful benchmarks in the others.
Don't overpromise and under deliver.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 1,000 monthly pages views reviewed in over 20 countries around the world, and is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. I can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive or for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
So, if as a leader in your healthcare organization you have come to realize that the healthcare consumer deserves more than just the old ways of doing things, you have really looked at your self-described CoEs and beefed them up to true reflections of organizational and quality of care excellence, then just maybe you are ready to begin marketing a CoE. If not, it will come back to haunt you in the end, influenced by PPACA and demands of the healthcare consumer.
Marketing the CoE
This is really a reintroduction for most healthcare organizations. That being said, the opportunity immediately before you is to corrects some past mistakes. Mistakes I would like think were made with the best of intentions, but reflected a lack of understanding about the organizational brand, brand messages, and brand equity that was lost.
Probably the most important correction or for starting out with a new CoE is- scrap the new logo, color palette and messaging for the CoE. Too many organizations went down the path of we need a new logo, tagline, color palette, etc., from what is the already established brand of the organization. Shame on the marketing departments for not exercising the leadership to stop the madness.
I don't care that a CNO or director likes to "dabble in marketing". Except in some circumstances where the CNO or director has marketing training and education, CNOs, directors of Nursing etc., are clueless about brand, brand equity and marketing for that matter. How about I dabble in nursing?
In the Age of Healthcare Consumerism, your brand is everything.
The only logo that matters is your brand logo, color palette and messaging. Period. Change it at your own risk. Leverage what you have because it makes life a lot easier and more cost effective.
Do create a value proposition that shows the benefit to the healthcare consumer that your CoE brings to the market.
Do talk to the healthcare consumer not at them.
Do integrate the CoE campaign into the broader organizational marketing efforts.
Do use patient and physician testimonials if available.
If you have Joint Commission CoE certification or the Blue Cross Blue Shield CoE certifications or others, use them, but explain the value of what that means. Just don't throw it out there.
Talk about your outcomes and why they are important. Be transparent in your use of data.
Use all communication channels, print, direct mail, billboard, radio, email, social media, web site, call center, etc. Integrate those efforts.
Make your marketing efforts sustainable. Fund them accordingly to last a long period of time to be in front of the healthcare consumer for months at a time.
Be creative. Be interactive. Start and maintain a conversation with the healthcare consumer.
Evaluate constantly. Change on the fly. Show ROI.
Take a market position of superiority along either the product, price or service offering and dominate. Pick one, set meaningful benchmarks in the others.
Don't overpromise and under deliver.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 1,000 monthly pages views reviewed in over 20 countries around the world, and is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. I can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive or for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Value Marketing in Healthcare
What really was the impetuous for today's blog was a two-page, full-page spread from a major healthcare system. It caught my attention for the fact that there was a lot of copy and it was all about us. I looked for the value proposition and the compelling reason why this is important to me, but could not find any. A very expensive way to talk at someone.
With healthcare changing so rapidly, is it time to move healthcare advertising beyond "all about us" to the value and benefit we bring to you, the healthcare consumer. I mean, unless you are a brand new provider in the market, you have been telling your audiences all about your features and benefits for years now. They get it.
In today's world, it's about value and benefit to the healthcare consumer.
In today's world, it's about the answering the healthcare consumers question of what is my ROI for using you?
In today's world, you need to have a compelling value proposition with messaging that provides clear and understandable benefits to the healthcare consumer.
Value Marketing
Value marketing really, is making the case to your healthcare consumer how you are solving a problem, offering a solution, giving results and even making them happy.
Value marketing is a creative exchange between people and organizations in the marketplace. It is a dynamic transaction that constantly changes based on the needs of the individual vies a vie what the healthcare organization has to offer.
So instead of talking about what you do every day, talk about what the value and benefit is of what you do.
Instead of talking about programs and services that everybody else has, talk about the value and benefits those same programs and services and what they bring to the healthcare consumer.
Instead of saying we have the latest high-tech gizmo, talk about the value and benefit of what that latest, greatest high-tech gizmo brings to the healthcare consumer.
Instead of just talking about Healthgrades or Thompson Reuters Top 100 awards for care, talk to your healthcare consumer about the value and benefit of that award.
Instead of talking at your audiences, talk to them. Talk to them about your value and how you can solve their health problem by offering a value based solution to their healthcare concerns.
It's time for healthcare CEOs, Boards and healthcare marketers to stop doing over and over again those things that are out-of-touch with the new reality that is healthcare. The healthcare consumer is awakening and demanding more. More proof. More value. More benefit for them, not for you.
Note:
Back in August, I wrote about revenue opportunities under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Well, starting on Januarys 1, 2011, preventive services must be covered for all health plan members. So better get that preventive screening solution in place. It's a loss leader but the downstream revenue opportunity is large. Please see that August 2010 blog on what to do.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association and can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for consulting services in strategic marketing, integration of sales and marketing, media relations and interim marketing executive leadership assignments. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
With healthcare changing so rapidly, is it time to move healthcare advertising beyond "all about us" to the value and benefit we bring to you, the healthcare consumer. I mean, unless you are a brand new provider in the market, you have been telling your audiences all about your features and benefits for years now. They get it.
In today's world, it's about value and benefit to the healthcare consumer.
In today's world, it's about the answering the healthcare consumers question of what is my ROI for using you?
In today's world, you need to have a compelling value proposition with messaging that provides clear and understandable benefits to the healthcare consumer.
Value Marketing
Value marketing really, is making the case to your healthcare consumer how you are solving a problem, offering a solution, giving results and even making them happy.
Value marketing is a creative exchange between people and organizations in the marketplace. It is a dynamic transaction that constantly changes based on the needs of the individual vies a vie what the healthcare organization has to offer.
So instead of talking about what you do every day, talk about what the value and benefit is of what you do.
Instead of talking about programs and services that everybody else has, talk about the value and benefits those same programs and services and what they bring to the healthcare consumer.
Instead of saying we have the latest high-tech gizmo, talk about the value and benefit of what that latest, greatest high-tech gizmo brings to the healthcare consumer.
Instead of just talking about Healthgrades or Thompson Reuters Top 100 awards for care, talk to your healthcare consumer about the value and benefit of that award.
Instead of talking at your audiences, talk to them. Talk to them about your value and how you can solve their health problem by offering a value based solution to their healthcare concerns.
It's time for healthcare CEOs, Boards and healthcare marketers to stop doing over and over again those things that are out-of-touch with the new reality that is healthcare. The healthcare consumer is awakening and demanding more. More proof. More value. More benefit for them, not for you.
Note:
Back in August, I wrote about revenue opportunities under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Well, starting on Januarys 1, 2011, preventive services must be covered for all health plan members. So better get that preventive screening solution in place. It's a loss leader but the downstream revenue opportunity is large. Please see that August 2010 blog on what to do.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
Michael Krivich is Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association and can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for consulting services in strategic marketing, integration of sales and marketing, media relations and interim marketing executive leadership assignments. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Online Healthcare Marketing, Making the Customer Experience Exceptional
In the new world of healthcare where price and quality are the key drivers of an informed consumer, sharing a much greater burden of the cost, will begin to demand experiences online that they commonly have with other companies.
Online represents a great opportunity for consumer directed healthcare organizations to break from the pack and create an online healthcare experience that is memorable and exceeds an individuals or families experience, expectations.
Are you ready for the challenge?
Most healthcare sites today are static containing the usual about us, our services location, etc., etc., etc. Little use of video or other creative ways to engage the customer. Notice that I said customer and not patient. Not everyone that comes to your site is a patient or will be a patient. They are consumers looking for information. Could be a competitor too.
In any case, when you look at your site, does it:
Delight your customer?
Create sustainable differentiation?
Is adaptable to new opportunities?
Leverages your investment?
Deliver in every situation?
This is the lens that you need to look through to objectively evaluate your site. If it's not doing these things, then chances are you are not delivering an exceptional online experience. But for that matter, neither are your competitors. In a the world of healthcare which is too much "me too", the online healthcare experience is pretty boring.
Don't take me wrong, healthcare sites are usually pretty good if people internally have been paying attention to them. They can be described as warm, comfortable, informative, friendly. They can be described as "good enough". Not exceptional. Not delivering anywhere near to the capability inherent in an online presence.
I would suggest to hospitals, IDNs, nursing home, home healthcare operations and many others, that you look outside of the your segment of healthcare to pharma, medical device and other companies, viewing the type of online presence they have. Look to healthcare organizations in Europe and Asia. Look at retail organizations.
Make your online presence not just "good enough" but exceptional.
The time is now. The opportunity to change is here.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/michaelkrivich
Michael Krivich is Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association and can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for consulting services in strategic marketing, integration of sales and marketing, media relations and interim marketing executive leadership assignments. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Online represents a great opportunity for consumer directed healthcare organizations to break from the pack and create an online healthcare experience that is memorable and exceeds an individuals or families experience, expectations.
Are you ready for the challenge?
Most healthcare sites today are static containing the usual about us, our services location, etc., etc., etc. Little use of video or other creative ways to engage the customer. Notice that I said customer and not patient. Not everyone that comes to your site is a patient or will be a patient. They are consumers looking for information. Could be a competitor too.
In any case, when you look at your site, does it:
Delight your customer?
Create sustainable differentiation?
Is adaptable to new opportunities?
Leverages your investment?
Deliver in every situation?
This is the lens that you need to look through to objectively evaluate your site. If it's not doing these things, then chances are you are not delivering an exceptional online experience. But for that matter, neither are your competitors. In a the world of healthcare which is too much "me too", the online healthcare experience is pretty boring.
Don't take me wrong, healthcare sites are usually pretty good if people internally have been paying attention to them. They can be described as warm, comfortable, informative, friendly. They can be described as "good enough". Not exceptional. Not delivering anywhere near to the capability inherent in an online presence.
I would suggest to hospitals, IDNs, nursing home, home healthcare operations and many others, that you look outside of the your segment of healthcare to pharma, medical device and other companies, viewing the type of online presence they have. Look to healthcare organizations in Europe and Asia. Look at retail organizations.
Make your online presence not just "good enough" but exceptional.
The time is now. The opportunity to change is here.
You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/michaelkrivich
Michael Krivich is Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association and can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for consulting services in strategic marketing, integration of sales and marketing, media relations and interim marketing executive leadership assignments. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
What is your Blue Ocean Marketing Strategy?
Stumped?
Simply put, a Blue Ocean strategy is one where you redefine a market and dominate. By doing that you are swimming in a Blue Ocean free of your competition instead of swimming in the bloody Red Ocean of competitors beating each other up day-in and day-out.
For your information, a really good book is out on Blue Ocean strategy. I highly recommend you buy and read it. No specific plug or name provided nor payments here in accordance with FTC, FCC and SEC regulations. Search any of the fine book sellers out there for the text.
So how does this apply to healthcare marketing?
Healthcare is undifferentiated and for all practical purposes a commodity. Hospitals, health system, physicians and other providers have similar programs and services, have the same managed care contracts, share physicians etc., etc., etc, across multiple competitors.
The commoditization of healthcare is accelerating even more so now with the entrant of non-traditional providers who are competing on price and service, which is a deadly combination for traditional healthcare providers who are slow to change.
Hence a Blue Ocean strategy by major for-profit competitors actualized and in development in traditional healthcare services that is redefining markets and will eventually allow them to dominate. All the while you swim in the bloody Red Ocean of the “me too” look alike competition for the healthcare consumer.
Just because you package the same mouse trap differently than others, doesn’t mean it’s any different.
Developing what I call a Blue Ocean marketing strategy in truth stems from becoming a Blue Ocean strategy organization. Marketing leadership and organizational transformation at its best and you have can take the opportunity to grow professionally, personally. Be the innovator and show marketing as proactive rather than reactive.
Learn, apply and find your Blue Oceans to swim too from the bloody Red Oceans of unproductive competition.
You can reach me at 815-293-1471 or themichaeljgroup@aol.com for marketing strategy consulting services.
Simply put, a Blue Ocean strategy is one where you redefine a market and dominate. By doing that you are swimming in a Blue Ocean free of your competition instead of swimming in the bloody Red Ocean of competitors beating each other up day-in and day-out.
For your information, a really good book is out on Blue Ocean strategy. I highly recommend you buy and read it. No specific plug or name provided nor payments here in accordance with FTC, FCC and SEC regulations. Search any of the fine book sellers out there for the text.
So how does this apply to healthcare marketing?
Healthcare is undifferentiated and for all practical purposes a commodity. Hospitals, health system, physicians and other providers have similar programs and services, have the same managed care contracts, share physicians etc., etc., etc, across multiple competitors.
The commoditization of healthcare is accelerating even more so now with the entrant of non-traditional providers who are competing on price and service, which is a deadly combination for traditional healthcare providers who are slow to change.
Hence a Blue Ocean strategy by major for-profit competitors actualized and in development in traditional healthcare services that is redefining markets and will eventually allow them to dominate. All the while you swim in the bloody Red Ocean of the “me too” look alike competition for the healthcare consumer.
Just because you package the same mouse trap differently than others, doesn’t mean it’s any different.
Developing what I call a Blue Ocean marketing strategy in truth stems from becoming a Blue Ocean strategy organization. Marketing leadership and organizational transformation at its best and you have can take the opportunity to grow professionally, personally. Be the innovator and show marketing as proactive rather than reactive.
Learn, apply and find your Blue Oceans to swim too from the bloody Red Oceans of unproductive competition.
You can reach me at 815-293-1471 or themichaeljgroup@aol.com for marketing strategy consulting services.
Friday, January 8, 2010
A Lesson in Public Relations Continues
What a case study for healthcare!
The Chicago Bears just can't get it right. This has been a continuing comedy of PR errors that only leaves you scratching your head.
Damage control.....
Day after the press conference, the President of the team goes on the media tour to clarify statements on what the organization meant. (See my previous post) Damage control pure and simple.
It gets even better......
Then it turns out the press release about the firings was wrong and that really two of the assistants weren't fired, but were more like employee-at-will kind of relationships with no contracts. The offensive coordinator and his position coaches had contracts and will be paid. Probably some legal issues now because of that.
PR lesson continued.....
Look. For your own PR efforts, you control the message and the day when you decide to go public. Winning or losing a PR battle is not controlled by the media, it is your responsibility. You, through your actions or inaction's will determine whether you are successful or not. There was no reason in the world for the Chicago Bears to lose the media and message battle. All they did by this comedy of errors is further reinforce to the fan base, local media and national audiences that management is clueless about what to do. The Bears have lost any benefit of the doubt that remained. If this goes south when the 2010 season starts, the fire storm will be unrelenting. Sports fans have long memories.
What you can do to avoid this......
First, admit (and your ego will get bruised) that you may not have a clue about what to do.
Next, listen to your PR staff if you have any, and I am assuming at this point they know what they are doing.
Develop the right messages and practice, practice, practice with whomever you are sending out there to represent the organization. Limit the CEO or president's exposure.
Make sure the press release is right the first time.
If you have never been in a crisis communication situation before, bring in outside expertise. You can not handle it by yourself. This is no time to learn by doing, too much is at stake.
Physicians, patients and the media in your community will remember what you did or did not do for a very long time.
If you don't do it right on a day that you can control the outcome through right planning, thought and action, then you have no one to blame but yourself.
I can be reached at 815-293-1471 or by email to themichaeljgroup@aol.com
The Chicago Bears just can't get it right. This has been a continuing comedy of PR errors that only leaves you scratching your head.
Damage control.....
Day after the press conference, the President of the team goes on the media tour to clarify statements on what the organization meant. (See my previous post) Damage control pure and simple.
It gets even better......
Then it turns out the press release about the firings was wrong and that really two of the assistants weren't fired, but were more like employee-at-will kind of relationships with no contracts. The offensive coordinator and his position coaches had contracts and will be paid. Probably some legal issues now because of that.
PR lesson continued.....
Look. For your own PR efforts, you control the message and the day when you decide to go public. Winning or losing a PR battle is not controlled by the media, it is your responsibility. You, through your actions or inaction's will determine whether you are successful or not. There was no reason in the world for the Chicago Bears to lose the media and message battle. All they did by this comedy of errors is further reinforce to the fan base, local media and national audiences that management is clueless about what to do. The Bears have lost any benefit of the doubt that remained. If this goes south when the 2010 season starts, the fire storm will be unrelenting. Sports fans have long memories.
What you can do to avoid this......
First, admit (and your ego will get bruised) that you may not have a clue about what to do.
Next, listen to your PR staff if you have any, and I am assuming at this point they know what they are doing.
Develop the right messages and practice, practice, practice with whomever you are sending out there to represent the organization. Limit the CEO or president's exposure.
Make sure the press release is right the first time.
If you have never been in a crisis communication situation before, bring in outside expertise. You can not handle it by yourself. This is no time to learn by doing, too much is at stake.
Physicians, patients and the media in your community will remember what you did or did not do for a very long time.
If you don't do it right on a day that you can control the outcome through right planning, thought and action, then you have no one to blame but yourself.
I can be reached at 815-293-1471 or by email to themichaeljgroup@aol.com
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Is there hope for hospital marketing leadership?
Is there hope for hospital marketing leadership?
A broad question which is really more than just a simple yes or no. And I for one, really don't know if an answer is possible due to the complexity of the question. Here's why......
A couple of weeks ago, I had an interesting conversation with the CEO of a hospital regarding a Vice President of Marketing position, or was it Director? They hadn't quit made up their minds and advertised it as Vice President while their web site indicated Vice President/Director, the HR person said Director while the CEO never committed. Just a few red flags.
Another red flag was that the hospital set-up the interview for a specific time and they would call. The day came and yes they called.... 10 minutes late. No apology, no explanation, no initial courtesy to extend any kind of acknowledgement that my time was as equally as valuable as theirs.
The CEO and the Director of HR on one end of the phone and me on the other. The HR person never said a word the entire time. The CEO did all the talking. Another red flag.
We covered the usual questions. He really had not read my resume or application like he stated he did. When referencing some of the resume, he was a surprised oh really.... another red flag.
Then came the clincher. What do you do best Michael? Is it research? Design ads? Write copy? What do you.. do best?
My answer was marketing strategy and leadership. Well, it sure became quite. A buzz kill if there ever was one. That was not what the CEO was looking for. I explained that tactics are easy, strategy is hard. Marketing strategy is a coming together of critical key organizational leadership - senior management; Board of Directors; and physicians. Marketing strategy is built upon the business plan, financial plan and strategic plan of the hospital. Marketing leadership motivates, inspires excellence, rewards individual accomplishment, builds teams, doesn't care who gets the credit and grows the entire organization, not just a department. Marketing sits at the leadership table.
The concepts were foreign. Marketing to this CEO was ads, copy and stuff. Not leadership, not direction, just him telling you what to do and when to do it. Marketing does not sit at his leadership table.
By this time, I had lost any interest in the position.
Unfortunately, this type of story is replayed day-in and day-out around the country. Marketing does not sit at the senior leadership table. Marketing is seen as stuff. Marketing is not integrated into the culture and values of the organization. Hospitals, even after the advent of DRGs in 1983, still don't get marketing.
And I have been on both sides- for-profit healthcare GPO, international, medical device and pharmaceuticals and not-for-profit hospitals, integrated multi-state, multi-hospital health systems and nursing homes with some very important learning's.
Being in the for-profit world now, marketing strategy, leadership and execution is everything, not just "stuff".
Marketing leadership and strategy in the hospital segment of the healthcare industry is in deep trouble. A lot of that is due to the ego driven persona's of senior management, insular cultures divorced from the real-world and organizational arrogance because they are a "not-for-profit" "doing good things" so that means they can do whatever they want, as well as blame everyone else for the state-of-the-industry. It is also complicated by a lack of marketing knowledge. As the old saying goes, "you don't know what you don't know".
And with healthcare reform on the horizon, marketing leadership, strategy and execution will be needed more than ever.
Look around, for-profit companies are already at the fringes of the hospital world and making headway all of the time. Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and others play for keeps. The recognize a need, build a program and execute. They are not going away like some of my colleagues have expressed. They have plans laid for areas and stand to benefit from them financially while improving care and customer service at you and your physician's expense. Retail clinics, infusion centers, home health care is just the beginning.
Your future is not as bright as you may think it is. Time to get your marketing strategy and leadership act together. Your future depends on it.
A broad question which is really more than just a simple yes or no. And I for one, really don't know if an answer is possible due to the complexity of the question. Here's why......
A couple of weeks ago, I had an interesting conversation with the CEO of a hospital regarding a Vice President of Marketing position, or was it Director? They hadn't quit made up their minds and advertised it as Vice President while their web site indicated Vice President/Director, the HR person said Director while the CEO never committed. Just a few red flags.
Another red flag was that the hospital set-up the interview for a specific time and they would call. The day came and yes they called.... 10 minutes late. No apology, no explanation, no initial courtesy to extend any kind of acknowledgement that my time was as equally as valuable as theirs.
The CEO and the Director of HR on one end of the phone and me on the other. The HR person never said a word the entire time. The CEO did all the talking. Another red flag.
We covered the usual questions. He really had not read my resume or application like he stated he did. When referencing some of the resume, he was a surprised oh really.... another red flag.
Then came the clincher. What do you do best Michael? Is it research? Design ads? Write copy? What do you.. do best?
My answer was marketing strategy and leadership. Well, it sure became quite. A buzz kill if there ever was one. That was not what the CEO was looking for. I explained that tactics are easy, strategy is hard. Marketing strategy is a coming together of critical key organizational leadership - senior management; Board of Directors; and physicians. Marketing strategy is built upon the business plan, financial plan and strategic plan of the hospital. Marketing leadership motivates, inspires excellence, rewards individual accomplishment, builds teams, doesn't care who gets the credit and grows the entire organization, not just a department. Marketing sits at the leadership table.
The concepts were foreign. Marketing to this CEO was ads, copy and stuff. Not leadership, not direction, just him telling you what to do and when to do it. Marketing does not sit at his leadership table.
By this time, I had lost any interest in the position.
Unfortunately, this type of story is replayed day-in and day-out around the country. Marketing does not sit at the senior leadership table. Marketing is seen as stuff. Marketing is not integrated into the culture and values of the organization. Hospitals, even after the advent of DRGs in 1983, still don't get marketing.
And I have been on both sides- for-profit healthcare GPO, international, medical device and pharmaceuticals and not-for-profit hospitals, integrated multi-state, multi-hospital health systems and nursing homes with some very important learning's.
Being in the for-profit world now, marketing strategy, leadership and execution is everything, not just "stuff".
Marketing leadership and strategy in the hospital segment of the healthcare industry is in deep trouble. A lot of that is due to the ego driven persona's of senior management, insular cultures divorced from the real-world and organizational arrogance because they are a "not-for-profit" "doing good things" so that means they can do whatever they want, as well as blame everyone else for the state-of-the-industry. It is also complicated by a lack of marketing knowledge. As the old saying goes, "you don't know what you don't know".
And with healthcare reform on the horizon, marketing leadership, strategy and execution will be needed more than ever.
Look around, for-profit companies are already at the fringes of the hospital world and making headway all of the time. Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and others play for keeps. The recognize a need, build a program and execute. They are not going away like some of my colleagues have expressed. They have plans laid for areas and stand to benefit from them financially while improving care and customer service at you and your physician's expense. Retail clinics, infusion centers, home health care is just the beginning.
Your future is not as bright as you may think it is. Time to get your marketing strategy and leadership act together. Your future depends on it.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Learning from Europe - Universal Healthcare
The debate heats up.......Again......
Much is beginning to be written about healthcare as it continues to consume an ever increasing portion of the GNP; as the medical care component of the CPI continues its rise outpacing the general CPI; as employers find operational costs increasing due to health insurance expenditures; the 2008 campaign...... Well, you get the picture.
Intense focus will be coming over the next year as the presidential campaign for 2008 heats up, with the Democrats and Republicans putting forth their proposals on fixing healthcare. State initiatives will also force the issue, cobbling together a patchwork quilt of suggestions, programs and hidden taxes to pay for the "universal" coverage. There will be some new proposals, but I for one expect much of the same. Looking at past history, nothing will really be solved until both parities engage in a discussion of two very basic questions: Is healthcare a right or a benefit and how/who pays? These are the two unspoken issues and questions which both parities skirt.
One could make the argument, that the Democrats view healthcare as a right by their proposals and the Republicans view healthcare as a benefit by theirs. Still, who pays and how? My bet is that in the end universal healthcare under a one payer system here won't happen. Too many interest groups, too much politics, and with billions of dollars at stake on all sides (forget the quality argument for a while) a universal system just won't fly. I would expect to see some kind of hybrid between universal and private, similar to what is found in Europe. That is...... if we are willing to learn from other parts of the world and not have to reinvent the wheel every time the subject comes up for debate.
European Healthcare
Having worked for a European medical device manufacturer and traveling Europe seeing healthcare in action in some hospitals, there are some true misconceptions in the American healthcare community about what is considered healthcare delivery and payment in Europe.
Not all but most senior executives don't have a clue about what is going on in Europe regarding care or payment. I doubt that the politicos do either. Not bombastic or self serving are those statements. I come from hospital senior management and am guilty of the "if its not invented here, its not worth anything" syndrome. And that attitude considering the seriousness of the topic is just not acceptable any longer. Take away the signage in different languages in a European hospital and you would never know you were not in an American hospital.
So, lets look at a couple of myths.
OK first myth... healthcare is paid solely by the government
It is not a universal one size fits all healthcare payment system in Europe. They leave that to the Canadians. There are government programs, private insurance programs, employer sponsored health insurance programs. Consumers have much higher deductibles than what we pay and a greater emphasis on personal responsibility in maintaining health and wellness. Payment is a combination of various healthcare mechanisms that we too have here in the US. It is a complicated payment maze. But everyone gets care, everyone gets primary care and everyone gets quality care at the right time, in the right amount, in the right setting.
Now in Europe they have some very real misconceptions about us as well. The most important was understanding the difference between 45 million uninsured and 45 million Americans not getting care. They equate uninsured with no care. After many long sessions, people I worked with began to understand that in America, being uninsured doesn't mean that you don't get care. Yes, the care may be inappropriate utilization of healthcare resources by individuals and families over utilizing emergency rooms, which when treated earlier in a primary care setting would have been the preferred option, but people do get care, they do get surgery, they the do get the drugs they need.
Second myth......The hospitals and health systems in Europe don't face the same operational issues we do
Sorry to disappoint everyone, but they do. Declining reimbursement, IT consuming ever greater portions of capital budgets, the need to reduce medical errors, lack of qualified medical professionals, increasing productivity and efficiency, decreasing costs, improving quality, the shift to outpatient from inpatient care, etc, etc, etc. Matter of fact, it may even be more difficult in Europe as each country has its own language, culture, regulations, payment systems, etc. One size does not fit all. On the HIT side, many countries are farther advanced on the implementation of the Electronic Medical Record that we are. Germany and France are good examples.
Third myth.....What happens in Europe or the rest of the world for that matter doesn't effect me
Yes it does. Nothing is new in healthcare. It has been done already somewhere in the world. Its more of a question of discovering the issue, what they have done, how the solution is working and what parts of their solution will work for us. Sorry to say but we are not best in breed. If we were, then why do so many American companies have difficulty in selling their HIT and other solutions oversees. Lots of issues there besides the inability to customize their solutions for different markets, but that's another Blog for another time. We could learn a bit from how Europeans have approached the healthcare coverage issue, the provision of medical care and how it all works together.
Europeans have answered those two basic questions, is healthcare a right or a benefit and who pays and how.
What this all could mean
Clearly we are at a crossroads. We already have a tiered healthcare system that is neither reasonable from a care perspective or socially acceptable. Its easy to medicalize social problems (which is what has been done) and blame the medical community for the indecisiveness of state and national leadership in addressing this issue. Our medical care system today is based on those that can pay, those can can pay some and those that can't pay anything at all.
Individuals, government, employers and healthcare providers must all come together to reach a common understanding. I for one believe that universal coverage is a possibility, but I do not for one minute believe that it is the sole responsibility of the government. It is a partnership. A solution to a societal crisis that can be based on what has happened successfully in other parts of the world.
For the future
This isn't the last writing on this topic. It's complex. Holds many unknowns,. And as the presidential campaigns become more vibrant with proposals coming forth, much more will be written on this topic.
But life would sure be a lot easier if we could learn from others like the Europeans and not make the same mistakes.
Much is beginning to be written about healthcare as it continues to consume an ever increasing portion of the GNP; as the medical care component of the CPI continues its rise outpacing the general CPI; as employers find operational costs increasing due to health insurance expenditures; the 2008 campaign...... Well, you get the picture.
Intense focus will be coming over the next year as the presidential campaign for 2008 heats up, with the Democrats and Republicans putting forth their proposals on fixing healthcare. State initiatives will also force the issue, cobbling together a patchwork quilt of suggestions, programs and hidden taxes to pay for the "universal" coverage. There will be some new proposals, but I for one expect much of the same. Looking at past history, nothing will really be solved until both parities engage in a discussion of two very basic questions: Is healthcare a right or a benefit and how/who pays? These are the two unspoken issues and questions which both parities skirt.
One could make the argument, that the Democrats view healthcare as a right by their proposals and the Republicans view healthcare as a benefit by theirs. Still, who pays and how? My bet is that in the end universal healthcare under a one payer system here won't happen. Too many interest groups, too much politics, and with billions of dollars at stake on all sides (forget the quality argument for a while) a universal system just won't fly. I would expect to see some kind of hybrid between universal and private, similar to what is found in Europe. That is...... if we are willing to learn from other parts of the world and not have to reinvent the wheel every time the subject comes up for debate.
European Healthcare
Having worked for a European medical device manufacturer and traveling Europe seeing healthcare in action in some hospitals, there are some true misconceptions in the American healthcare community about what is considered healthcare delivery and payment in Europe.
Not all but most senior executives don't have a clue about what is going on in Europe regarding care or payment. I doubt that the politicos do either. Not bombastic or self serving are those statements. I come from hospital senior management and am guilty of the "if its not invented here, its not worth anything" syndrome. And that attitude considering the seriousness of the topic is just not acceptable any longer. Take away the signage in different languages in a European hospital and you would never know you were not in an American hospital.
So, lets look at a couple of myths.
OK first myth... healthcare is paid solely by the government
It is not a universal one size fits all healthcare payment system in Europe. They leave that to the Canadians. There are government programs, private insurance programs, employer sponsored health insurance programs. Consumers have much higher deductibles than what we pay and a greater emphasis on personal responsibility in maintaining health and wellness. Payment is a combination of various healthcare mechanisms that we too have here in the US. It is a complicated payment maze. But everyone gets care, everyone gets primary care and everyone gets quality care at the right time, in the right amount, in the right setting.
Now in Europe they have some very real misconceptions about us as well. The most important was understanding the difference between 45 million uninsured and 45 million Americans not getting care. They equate uninsured with no care. After many long sessions, people I worked with began to understand that in America, being uninsured doesn't mean that you don't get care. Yes, the care may be inappropriate utilization of healthcare resources by individuals and families over utilizing emergency rooms, which when treated earlier in a primary care setting would have been the preferred option, but people do get care, they do get surgery, they the do get the drugs they need.
Second myth......The hospitals and health systems in Europe don't face the same operational issues we do
Sorry to disappoint everyone, but they do. Declining reimbursement, IT consuming ever greater portions of capital budgets, the need to reduce medical errors, lack of qualified medical professionals, increasing productivity and efficiency, decreasing costs, improving quality, the shift to outpatient from inpatient care, etc, etc, etc. Matter of fact, it may even be more difficult in Europe as each country has its own language, culture, regulations, payment systems, etc. One size does not fit all. On the HIT side, many countries are farther advanced on the implementation of the Electronic Medical Record that we are. Germany and France are good examples.
Third myth.....What happens in Europe or the rest of the world for that matter doesn't effect me
Yes it does. Nothing is new in healthcare. It has been done already somewhere in the world. Its more of a question of discovering the issue, what they have done, how the solution is working and what parts of their solution will work for us. Sorry to say but we are not best in breed. If we were, then why do so many American companies have difficulty in selling their HIT and other solutions oversees. Lots of issues there besides the inability to customize their solutions for different markets, but that's another Blog for another time. We could learn a bit from how Europeans have approached the healthcare coverage issue, the provision of medical care and how it all works together.
Europeans have answered those two basic questions, is healthcare a right or a benefit and who pays and how.
What this all could mean
Clearly we are at a crossroads. We already have a tiered healthcare system that is neither reasonable from a care perspective or socially acceptable. Its easy to medicalize social problems (which is what has been done) and blame the medical community for the indecisiveness of state and national leadership in addressing this issue. Our medical care system today is based on those that can pay, those can can pay some and those that can't pay anything at all.
Individuals, government, employers and healthcare providers must all come together to reach a common understanding. I for one believe that universal coverage is a possibility, but I do not for one minute believe that it is the sole responsibility of the government. It is a partnership. A solution to a societal crisis that can be based on what has happened successfully in other parts of the world.
For the future
This isn't the last writing on this topic. It's complex. Holds many unknowns,. And as the presidential campaigns become more vibrant with proposals coming forth, much more will be written on this topic.
But life would sure be a lot easier if we could learn from others like the Europeans and not make the same mistakes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)