Often people think the bigger city automatically means better healthcare when actually your local hospital provides excellent care.

Featuring high profile community leaders in the hospital’s marketing can help address the outmigration of your market.  We’re all sometimes guilty of thinking “bigger is better” but it’s not always the case.  How to fight this battle?  Consider using community leaders in your advertising.  An Alabama hospital did this very successfully with both their cardiac and cancer programs-even though they were only 45 miles from the highly-touted UAB hospital.

Some considerations when implementing  testimonials:

1.    Show the patient in their work role, be it mayor, judge, civic leader, minister, athletic star or beloved high school teacher. 

2.    Let the ad copy tell their success story and how life is back to normal now.

3.    Have the patients describe in their own words the attention and care they received at your hospital.

4.    Rotate several patients in a campaign and let the impact build with each new patient story.

5.    Use references to the doctors and nurses who provided their care.

Former patients who’ve had good outcomes and attentive care are often eager to share their story.  And their story may just be the best story for your hospital to tell.