Lori Moore

Hospital Advertising: Longer ER Wait Better?

Hospitals should be careful advertising wait times for their ER.  It could be misleading.

Some hospitals are now advertising wait times for their ER.  Such tactics are receiving much publicity and attention. Hospitals are using digital billboards or referencing websites where patients can see current wait times. On the one hand, these hospitals should be applauded for communicating relevant patient information and for being aggressive with their marketing.  But there are some points that should be considered before advertising wait times.  

Wait times at a hospital’s ER are always fluid.  Circumstances can drastically change wait times. Serious injuries that are presented at the ER will take precedence over less serious ones. Should that happen, the patient could feel seriously misled by the information advertised. A person with chest pains could think they would have to wait a certain length of time based on advertised times and not realize they would receive treatment priority regardless of wait times.

“Frankly, my opinion is that it’s a very bad idea to put waiting times up on a billboard,” stated Dr. David Seaberg, an American College of Emergency Physicians board member and dean of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Chattanooga for an article in the Los Angeles Times.  “When you get seen is a very complex process….To put out a number can be misleading.” 

A few hospitals are also buying a service that allows a patient to go online and for a fee, reserve a time to be seen.  This is a bit risky because a patient doesn’t always know how serious their condition is.  While they had rather wait at home instead of in an ER, they would be much safer in an ER in case complications develop or conditions worsen. Additionally, in essence, to “sell” appointment times seems a bit inappropriate for healthcare organizations. 

Again, marketing aggressiveness and a hospital’s efforts to be transparent and communicate helpful consumer information is to be commended.  But a hospital has the obligation to act responsibly and to do what’s best in patient care.  It can be questioned if advertising ER wait times is fulfilling that obligation.

When it comes to advertising ER wait times, perhaps the best thing to do is wait?

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Hospital Marketers Should Learn From Retailers: Holidays are Social (Media)

Over half of national retail advertisers embraced social media as part of their media mix for the 2009 holidays.

Just two years ago, only 4% of national retail advertisers utilized social media in their marketing strategies.  But in 2009 more than half  embraced social media.   According to a survey by BDO Seidman, of those retailers using social media, 76% are focusing on Facebook, 50% on Twitter, 14% on MySpace and 14% on YouTube.

Natalie Zmuda and Kunur Patel wrote in the December 7th issue of Advertising Age that Facebook was the second most visited site in the US on Black Friday.  And on that day “4.3% of Facebook users and 2.3% Twitter users visited the website of a top 500 retailer immediately after perusing the social-network site.”

Some of the retailers Zmuda and Patel cited as successfully using social network sites were Best Buy, ebay, JC Penney, Toy ‘R ‘Us and Wal-Mart.  These retailers used a combination of giveaways, support for traditional advertising, customer service, charitable donations and promotion of online specials.  Amazon, Abercrombie and Fitch, Kohl’s, Old Navy and Target were listed as retailers who did not do such a great job utilizing social media.  Their various sins were lack of coordination with traditional media, lack of holiday specials, unanswered consumer complaints and unchecked pages.

This gives a microcosm of how extensive social media is used both successfully and poorly by retailers.  Lessons are abundant for healthcare marketers:

 

  • Social media is a viable option and should be included in a hospital’s marketing strategy.   As can be seen by the dramatic growth in the use of social media, retailers are way ahead in recognizing the value and importance of social networking.
  • When done right, social media can be very effective.  It can create and enhance relationships with consumers.  It can create an ongoing conversation with consumers. 
  • When done poorly, social media can damage a brand.  When a brand isn’t active and engaged and doesn’t respond to consumer comments it sends a message that it’s not consumer-focused.

Social media is growing.  Brands are recognizing the value and benefits of engaging in social media.  Hospital marketers can learn valuable lessons.  Retailers have taught us that indeed the holidays are very social.   

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Healthcare Marketing: Niche Marketing Your Niche?

Relying on niche marketing may cost you the opportunity to reach a new audience and grow your brand.

Mass marketing is becoming more difficult due to fragmented media.  Mass marketing often means paying for wasted exposure…exposure that is not effective for your brand.  And mass marketing can be more costly.  So the current trend is to niche market.  To narrowly target audiences.  To allocate time and resources to reach a narrowly defined audience of current or highly potential audience.   And there are valid arguments for such a marketing approach.

However, there is a significant downside. You may be missing the opportunity to develop new customers and new markets.   Advertising has the ability to expose consumers to new ideas, new options and choices.  Consumers may never know they would want to try a product or service without advertising that exposes the consumer to that product or service.  Consumers may not know they have choices without exposure to advertising.

One of the great attributes of advertising in a free enterprise system is its ability to create a mass market by creating awareness for the product or service. In an interview in Forbes of  Susan Credle, U.S. chief office of Publicis Leo Burnett, Chicago, Credle states it very well, “Unlike a lot of people who claim advertising pushes products on people, I’ve always believed advertising exposes people to choices. Advertising might show me something that I’d never thought about before, something that might make a difference in my life. And on the business side, brands might find people they never knew would love them. When I was in high school I saw a Chanel spot shot by Ridley Scott: Share the Fantasy. Was I the target? Absolutely not. Did I go out and buy Chanel No. 5? Yes. And do I still buy Chanel products today? Yes. All because of an ad I never would have seen if they were narrowly targeting”. 

Niche marketing has it advantages.  But so does mass marketing.  To solely rely on niche or narrow marketing, you could be missing the opportunity to attract new customers and create new markets.  It could limit your customer base to a niche and never reach a potentially strong and profitable market.  

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Marketing Your Hospital: How to Engage Consumers

Social media  is about “engaging” and “interacting” with your market.  It’s not like days gone by where a brand image was crafted and dictated to the consumer, but rather a relationship is built. A two way conversation of sorts that is built with engaging information.  And a great way to engage them is with useful info.

The BBC recently reported on a study in the UK linking depression to a diet high in processed foods.  They split participants into two groups – those who ate a diet largely based on whole foods, which included lots of fruits, vegetables and fish, and those who ate a mainly processed food diet, such as sweetened desserts, fried food, processed meat, refined grains and high fat dairy products.  No one would be surprised that the latter diet led to obesity, diabetes and risks of heart disease but I doubt most people would connect it to depression.  

Another example came in an article from the Washington Post.  They reported on a study that concluded chewing gum may help reduce cravings, particularly for sweet snacks and spur people to cut their daily intake by about 50 calories. 

This simple, but interesting info would make great choices for “useful info” that most consumers would find beneficial.  Using recent study results is a way to give your market something worth “engaging” with your hospital, creating a relationship and keeping them coming back to your site.

Hospital Marketing: Facebook Ads Offer New Targetability

Target

Specifically targeted groups – even if they are smaller in number – are very valuable when using Social Media for your hospital.

Unlike traditional media, Social Media is a conversation, a dialogue. You are more likely to build that relationship with conversation and dialogue when the group is more narrowly focused.

 Facebook Ads offer many opportunities to define your audience for your hospital with several new ones just released mid July.

  • Location: Target by country, state, city based on the users IP address (not their network or hometown). Pretty straight forward but maybe you are doing a mobile screening event outside of your customary market region or you excel at a certain procedure that is worth driving a distance for. Use this feature to place your ads outside your area.
  • Age and Sex: Offers a little more targetability than some media outlets. Your goal is to increase number of mammograms? Target women 35 plus and avoid teenage boys getting the ad.
  • Birthday: This is a new target feature. The obvious is to create an ad that appears to the user on their birthday wishing them a happy birthday from your hospital. Take it one step further and make the connection to enjoying more birthdays (or their family having them around for more birthdays) by them taking advantage of a certain service line/screening.
  • Keywords: These are based on a user’s profile and offer insight into the consumer. Target sports enthusiasts or those who enjoy gardening with ads for your hospital’s spine care.  Target those who enjoy grilling with recipes for healthy sides from your hospital’s cardiac care center.  This feature auto populates. Spend some time looking for users with activities that are a match for your hospital’s service lines.
  • Education: Allows you to target based on education level. Most beneficial if you are trying to reach graduates of a certain school (perhaps a nursing school for recruitment).
  • Workplaces: If you are looking to promote your hospital/service lines to employees at certain workplaces this can be a valuable filter. Perhaps there is a message you want to get to the workers at XYZ factory?
  • Relationship: Facebook users can choose Married, Single, Engaged, or In a Relationship in their profile allowing Facebook Ads to appear based on a user’s marital status. This feature could be beneficial in promoting your hospital’s Sleep Disorder Lab by targeting married women with ads that ask if their husband’s snoring is keeping them awake.
  • Language: Target specific segments of the population based on their language. If you use this, make sure the ad is in their language.
  • Connections: This is a newer filter allowing you to target or even exclude users based on events, pages, and applications that they have joined.  Maybe your hospital has a Facebook Page and you are using ads to increase the number of fans. Use this feature to keep the ads from appearing to those that are already fans.

A very general ad with little or no targeting may result in more click thrus – but can also result in wasted dollars. After all, a Facebook user out of your hospital’s marketing region, female and 18 is probably NOT the target audience for your hospital’s prostate screening event. In this era of having to be most frugal with budgets, why send her the ad and waste the money? Target instead.

 

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Convincing Your Hospital CEO to Use Social Media

As a hospital marketer you and your team realize the importance of Social Media as a marketing tool. However, chances are your eagerness to take advantage of Social Media is not shared by your hospital CEO, Chairman of the Board or other folks in the “C Suite”. Disapproval thumbs down

Perhaps they just don’t understand. In a recent study of the CEO’s of Top 100 Companies (list according to Forbes.com), the top brass is just not participating in Social Media like their employees, partners, and customers.  Research done from May 29, 2009 thru June 16, 2009 by www.uberceo.com shows:

  • Two ouf of 100 CEO’s had Twitter accounts
  • 13 had LinkdIn profiles
  • 81% didn’t have a personal Facebook Page
  • None had a blog

This level of detachment probably means top management at a lot of institutions, including hospitals, doesn’t realize the marketing opportunities available to their brand.  Thus the Marketing/PR Department has to sell the concept “up the food chain”.

Here are some things to consider when having the discussion with your board:

  • Share the numbers:
    • Facebook just reached the 250 million user mark and is expected to reach 300 million by the end of 2009
    • There are more than 30 million active blogs on the internet
    • According to Compete, Twitter has more than 6 million unique visitors per month and more than 55 million visits per month
    • Growth in newspaper circulation since 1990: -8 million
    • Average age of network evening news viewer: 60
    • Social Media represents more than 15% of time spent online
  • Avoid the “hip factor”. Resist the urge to show your enthusiasm for how “cool” Social Media tools are. Instead cut straight to the value that participating in Social Media will provide your hospital.
  • “Show me – sell me”. Give a demonstration of Twitter or Facebook.  Show results that a search on Twitter yields for your hospital or competitor. Explain how this information can be a benefit. Show how hospitals who are leading the way on Facebook are doing it.
  • Expense: Demonstrate how the expense associated with using Social Media for your hospital is often less than traditional media expense. Not that Social Media should replace traditional media, but demonstrate how by shifting just a few dollars from traditional media, more opportunities arise – possibly at a cost savings.
  • Additional Department Benefits: Show how opportunities are possible beyond advertising, marketing and publicity such as benefits for HR Department with recruitment and retention or how employee teams and committees can use Twitter to keep informed during projects.
  • Viral Marketing: Explain how building a relationship with one person via Social Media can yield “cheerleaders” for your hospital – at no additional cost
  • Permanence: Social Media, while ever evolving, is here to stay in some form. By not participating, opportunities are missed. Hospital across town not involved? Arrive first. Hospital across town is involved? Get going.

Go for “buy in” on small projects. Set goals and timelines for these small projects. Execute them flawlessly. Report back. As more familiarity is achieved – go deeper. Wade in. Don’t try to jump off the diving board into the deep end at the onset.

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How Can You Promote Your Hospital Through Social Media?

myspace-logoHere are some general ways in which the power of Social Media can be harnessed to promote your hospital:

  • Promote your hospital’s services lines, new technology, association with new doctors, awards, events, etc.
  • Monitor and protect your brand reputation. What are patients and consumers saying about you? By monitoring certain Social Media channels, you can find out. And then decide how or even if to respond.
  • Follow what consumers are saying about your competition. In addition to following what is being said about your hospital, you can follow what is being said about your competitor as well.
  • Follow what your competition is doing. Know immediately what service lines, events, new technology, etc your competitors are promoting.
  • Communicate with the media. Journalists and reporters use Social Media as a source for breaking stories earning your hospital opportunities for articles and publicity.
  • Manage a crisis. Communicate important information with the public in the event of a crisis. The information is immediate. The information is correct as it is coming straight from you – the source.
  • Recruit new employees. Elevate the level of applicant by moving some of your recruitment efforts out of the classifieds and into Social Media.
  • Retain good employees. Use Social Media to give “props” to high-performing employees. Instills pride in other employees too.
  • Establish focus groups to gain more knowledge and insight. What are the community’s needs or expectations? How effective will a particular message be if used in traditional media? Find out quickly and honestly.
  • Use Social Media to establish subset support groups. Form and keep communication open with expectant moms, diabetics, or heart patients. Send specific groups reminders about meetings, medication, healthy habits, etc.
  • Raise funds. There are tools on several Social Media sites that can be used to raise money for your hospital’s cause.
  • Plan an event. Social Media channels can be used to plan, promote, and even monitor RSVPs for events at your hospital.

Most importantly, use of Social Media to promote your hospital establishes relevance to the community. Hospitals that aren’t participating in Social Media will soon be seen the same as companies without a website – irrelevant, behind the times, and outdated. 

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Use Facebook Ads to Market Your Hospital

There is more to Facebook for your hospital than just Profiles, Pages and updates.

Facebook can be a valuable marketing tool for various businesses including healthcare. One way to market your hospital on Facebook, in addition to a Facebook Page, is with ads on Facebook.

Facebook Ads: These are the ads that appear on the right side of the monitor when a FB user logs in. Ads include an image and 150 characters of text and can link to another site for more information. Desired targets can be precisely pinpointed based on the users location, sex, age, interest, etc.

You can choose to pay for the ads based on number of clicks (recommended if you want them to click thru to another website) or by impressions (recommended if the message is limited and does not require a click thru for more info).

Progress can be tracked in real time to know how many impressions are made and how many users are clicking thru. Adjustments can be made “on the fly” to maximize results.

Some ways your hospital can use a Facebook Ad include:

  • Market events with a link to page on website for more info
  • Promote service lines with a link to page on website for more info. (These must have a compelling headline)
  • Announcements such as association with a new doc, new service, new technology, renovation complete, etc.
  • Recruitment and retention: Feature a high performing employee including photo or lead with a headline such as “Just Graduated from Nursing School? Now What?”
  • Announce a milestone (“We’ve just had our 100,000th baby!”)
  • Grow fan base – encourage other users to be fans of your hospital’s page
  • Seasonal, relevant info from physicians
  • Healthy lifestyle tips with link back to your hospital’s site

In addition, Facebook is constantly developing new tools that can benefit users in both a personal and professional setting. One recent launch will increase the effectiveness of Facebook ads. Advertisers can now target members or even non-members of groups, pages, or events that they own.

So lets say you are using an ad to increase the number of followers of your hospital. This feature will prevent ads appearing to people that are already a fan.

In addition, Facebook is now offering advertisers the opportunity to target those individuals who are having a birthday (i.e. an ad that appears to women turning 40 reminding them to schedule a mammogram).

If you are not on Facebook, get involved first. Watch, read and participate on a personal level. If you are an experienced participant it’s time to consider the possibilities that the social medium can offer in branding, building relationships, and promoting your hospital.