Consumerism is a growing force in healthcare. The industry has been pushing consumers to take a more active role in their health and wellness for many years. With growing involvement comes a set of growing expectations that healthcare providers will operate on consumers’ terms and that they’ll meet health consumers where they are. In a Read More
In a post-COVID healthcare industry, how do you better communicate with patients in a way that both closes patient care gaps and improves your healthcare delivery? For one health system, the answer may lie in leveraging your organization’s CRM capabilities. When you put a stake in the ground in a big and high-profile way, everything Read More
When you’re ready to make the transition to in-house digital health marketing, finding the right partner is key. Small marketing teams often lean on third-party providers to run their marketing campaigns. As these teams develop skills in digital marketing, they gain the confidence to staff up and bring campaign management in-house. By 2020, VCU Health’s Read More
Primary care plays a central role in the healthcare delivery system. But the COVID-19 pandemic upended primary care services. As a result, many primary care physicians closed their offices, offered reduced services, or used virtual care services to connect with patients. But when offices began to reopen, patients remained reticent to return. So is a Read More
“I’ve been a healthcare marketer for what seems like a very long time (20 years), with a big chunk of that at Scripps Health in San Diego,” writes Marc Needham, chief growth officer for Combinaut. “Over that very long period, I’ve seen lots of seemingly impossible problems vanish and other problems that seemed easily remedied Read More
In healthcare, CRM is often referred to as the software itself — as a noun — versus the activity of managing customers — a verb. In some cases, it’s a checkbox for a technology neither mapped to organizational goals nor mapped to driving metrics that matter to the health system. Innovative health systems have started Read More
If you’re running digital healthcare advertising campaigns, you’re probably aware of blockchain technology. To hear some tell it, blockchain is the answer to just about every problem faced by modern society. Others describe it as a solution in search of a problem. One area in which blockchain has seen some success is in helping to Read More
Every successful healthcare content strategy needs two main ingredients: substance and structure. But how do you merge these two together to create a seamless web experience for your customers? In 2017, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center announced its intent to merge with Beth Israel Deaconess, creating what would be the largest hospital merger in Massachusetts Read More
When starting a health system website revamp, numerous decisions have to be made. What are the priorities? Who will have the final word? How will you align your decisions with your health system’s strategic plan? But most importantly, how will you engage your stakeholders and win their approval when doing a health system website revamp? Read More
For decades, hospital leaders have struggled with the question: “How does the industry do better on behalf of its customers?” For one health system CEO, the answer might lie in a bold new approach to bridge healthcare strategy and operations. John Marzano, in a new article, describes the scenario like this: “As a former chief Read More
As a healthcare marketer, how can you justify the investment required for web personalization? While web personalization is perceived by many healthcare systems to enhance their digital marketing and improve the customer experience, a sizeable number of organizations find the tools challenging and have difficulty measuring success. Geonetric’s 2021 Healthcare Digital Marketing Trends survey showed Read More
When your kid is sick, you need a quick and easy way to get information about what to do. Should you go to the ER? Or is a virtual visit appropriate? Is urgent care the best option, or an office visit with your pediatrician? Children’s Wisconsin wanted to give families a tool that would meet Read More
For most people, Super Bowl 2021 was a throwdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Tampa’s home turf. But for the marketing team at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in central Ohio, gameday was an opportunity to highlight the talented medical center staff and tackle vaccine misconceptions head-on. “It Read More
Google’s Universal Analytics is ending. Are you ready? In March, Google announced that it plans to officially retire the current version of Google Analytics and require all users to move to the next generation, Google Analytics 4, or GA4, by July 1, 2023. That’s nearly a year from now, and you may be tempted to Read More
If you’re an email marketer, you’ve likely heard the refrain “Email marketing is dead” countless times. But that’s just not true. A Pew Research survey found that 92 percent of adult internet users use email. That’s compared to 79 percent of internet users who have a social media profile. In addition, email is more efficient Read More
“Hospitals and medical practices are constantly refining their communication plans and budgets to produce the most effective results and greatest ROI,” says Marty Summa of Sage Growth Partners. “Nowhere is this more evident than with social media strategies.” Here’s an excerpt from Summa’s new article: When it comes to developing successful social media marketing campaigns Read More
When New Jersey’s Virtua Health decided to add customer relationship management (CRM), artificial intelligence (AI), and predictive analytics to its technology toolkit in 2018, the marketing team knew the addition would significantly impact the organization’s ability to interact with the community and reach targeted audiences with specific messages. “We started our journey about four years Read More
Nowadays, we can type long, complex phrases into a search box and find pretty much exactly what we’re looking for on Google. Machine learning is running in the background, getting smarter and smarter. What if health system site searches could be that good? With a form of artificial intelligence, natural language processing, it’s becoming a Read More
With more than 3.6 billion users worldwide, social media is a highly effective method of communication for marketers. Although social media and healthcare may seem worlds apart, a study published in the journal BMC Research Notes found that 40 percent of consumers use social media for health information. Additionally, 91 percent say online communities influence Read More
Artificial intelligence (AI) gives healthcare organizations the ability to gain a better understanding of customer behavior, needs, and concerns, analyze data in real time, and strengthen customer engagement. AI enables collection of more patient feedback at a much bigger scale, and this means a more robust, statistically significant data set that supports strategic decisions and Read More
When Dr. Hank Capps joined Wellstar in January 2021 as executive vice president and chief information and digital officer, Candice L. Saunders, president and CEO, said, “As both healthcare delivery and technology continue to evolve at a rapid pace, Wellstar is focused on how to accelerate and leverage the intersection of these two industries to Read More
When you’re feeling unwell, symptom checkers — online triage tools that identify a range of conditions a user may have based on what the user is experiencing — can be helpful. These tools can encourage patients with potentially life-threatening conditions such as stroke or heart attack to seek immediate care and reassure patients with non-emergent Read More
Imagine a child you love is not feeling well. They have seemingly ceaseless appointments at unfamiliar places — hospitals or healthcare facilities with all their starched efficiency, forms, and strangers — to be examined by yet more strangers. Often, it’s rinse and repeat, more tests. One of these tests, the MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, Read More
Each year since 1999, the Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD) produces Futurescan, a look at some of the major emerging trends likely to shape the healthcare industry in the next five years. The current edition spans 2022-2027. The topics cover a broad range of issues as we enter what we hope Read More
The coronavirus, growing consumerism, and increased competition are contributing to decreased patient loyalty and a heightened need for healthcare organizations to improve the patient experience through digital transformation. “The latest market research shows there’s been a sharp drop in loyalty over the past few years, especially during the pandemic,” says Ben Dillon, chief strategy officer Read More