Being the tortoise

Healthcare is slower than other business categories to adopt innovations like social media as communications tools.

Fine by me.

I’d rather healthcare be the tortoise. Let the rabbits – soda companies, car manufacturers, sneakers and sports franchises spend the money, test, try, and fail first.

Our “product” is more complicated anyway.

We have HIPPA and STARK. Accountable Care Organizations. (Is yours one yet? Do you know what an ACO even is?)

We advertise services to people who may not need what we offer for years, and they often have to go to someone else first just to use our services. (Provided the insurance company says they can use our services.)

Most people don’t even know what healthcare costs. (Other than a lot.)

Well-educated people fumble over our quality ratings data. (What’s a mortality rate? Is 6% a good or a bad number? How long did it take to administer aspirin after arriving in the ER for chest pain? How long should it take?)

We have more 3rd party accreditations than any other category. (Top 50! Top 100! Top 10! 5 stars! Magnet!) Yet few members of our audience know or care to know what these Tops/Bests/Gold-Star Rated accreditations mean.

Proving ROI is difficult for communicators in any category, but it’s especially painful in healthcare. We can look at market share — sort of. (It’s a year behind, we only track inpatient — if that.) We can show revenue — sort of. (Gross revenue doesn’t count, net revenue is better, but what’s the distribution margin?) And, what about those patients who “would’ve come to us anyway?”

Our chief spokespeople — physicians — aren’t always employed by the hospital. So we have to handle them gently. And even when they are employed, they show up when they feel like it to photo and TV shoots. (They also like to write the ad copy since they know best what the consumer ought to know.)

So, if you’re feeling like your marketing is moving at the speed of turtle, I understand.

Just make sure you’re crawling in the right direction.