
I don’t know about you, but I consider myself a healthcare
consumer.
So, what has this got to do with anything in the headline?
A lot.
To the consumer, it’s all random noise that is not
connected. And it is random in part because there is no sustainable or
continuous market presence.
For example, the other day, I received a direct mail
newsletter from a hospital. Well, saying “I received” is probably misleading. Whomever the person that lives here named Resident is the
one who received the mail. It was the first time I had heard from that
provider in years.
Random.
Out of the blue comes a direct mail piece. Which, by the
way, though nicely produced, did not engage me in any meaningful way? I enjoyed
the fine print from the academic medical center with the tiny check with your
insurer first. Really? Oh, you do surgery and have a new shiny MRI? Big deal, so does all the other hospitals. I am supposed to choose you because
of that? Hmm, try again.
The random advertisement that is
running once or twice. The cable TV spot on a couple of channels. The
occasional update on the Facebook page.
Look, there’s a billboard. Heard that sports radio program sponsorship. But none of it is connected or sustained.
Randomness.
Consumers are omnichannel, and they expect to be communicated
with on their terms in a meaningful way that engages them on a personal level.
The consumer expects that it is all about them and not all about the hospital.
It’s not about the hospital marketing plan and showing the activity of doing random things that appear coherent on paper. It’s about how
you consistently use those activities and
channels with a sustainable market presence to bring measurable value
that engages the consumer.
And you can’t engage or demonstrate a meaningful value
proposition when your marketing is so random in appearance to the consumer.
Healthcare continues to change in unimaginable ways now
price transparency bringing heightened accountability and more sleepless nights
for provider leadership. One can’t live in a bubble anymore and wait for Modern
Healthcare to tell you what to do or for the myriad of lawsuits to stop the price
transparency from failing. I know that this
isn’t easy, but at some point, hospitals must get their go-to-market strategy
figured out and start meeting the consumer on their terms.
Consumers understand that they only need a hospital for
three things, emergency care, intensive care, and care for acute complex medical conditions. If a family, then maybe a PICU or NICU on occasion
needs to be included.
Even though marketing budgets are constrained, it is the
responsibility of marketers for figuring out the strategy for a continuous and
sustainable market presence in an omnichannel world. Senior leadership and
Boards need to come to grips with this reality as well. It’s not about you
anymore, and it hasn’t been for a very
long time.
And your first step is to bring the marketing voice back to
the senior leadership table as a vice president position reporting to the CEO,
without that voice at the table and the respect that comes along with it, not
much changes.
Your hospital marketing is random and unconnected to the consumer.
Stay that way, and it will be like a
crime scene, move along, nothing to see here.
Discuss.
Michael
is a healthcare business, marketing, communications strategist, and thought
leader. As an internationally followed healthcare strategy blogger, his
blog, Healthcare Marketing Matters, is read in 52 countries and listed on
the 100 Top Healthcare Marketing Blogs, and Websites ranked at No. 3 on the list by Feedspot.com. Michael is a
Life Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives. An expert in
healthcare marketing strategy, digital marketing, and social media, Michael is
in the top 10 percent of social media experts nationwide and is considered an
established influencer. For inquiries regarding strategic consulting
engagements, email me at Michael at michael@themichaeljgroup.com. Opinions
expressed are my own.
For
more topics and thought leading discussions like this, join his group, Healthcare Marketing Leaders
For Change, a LinkedIn Professional
Group.