Junto ("june-toe") is sponsored by Franklin Street, a branding and full service advertising agency specializing in health and wellness. We call the blog Junto in homage to Benjamin Franklin, who created the first "Junto" brainstorming group, which established the first American public hospital.
In an earlier post, we showed you 3 ads that we think are spot-on when it comes to marketing to guys. Thinking about making dads the butt of your joke? Think again. Stay-at-home dads are increasingly more responsible for the products and services their household buys (including healthcare). We need to show our “dad moms” respect. Here are a few brands we think got it wrong.
1.Ragu’s “Mom’s the Word on Dinner” campaign was a definite flop. The YouTube videos featured wives complaining about their husband’s culinary skills and kitchen behavior. Ragu alienated men with these ads and sparked an online firestorm that tore apart the company’s message. C.C. Chapman, founder of Digital Dads, led the charge online with a blog post that detailed Ragu’s mistakes. It is definitely worth a read!
2.Huggies received major backlash over their “Dad Test” campaign. In these commercials Huggies claims the “ultimate test” for diapers is to leave children alone with their fathers for five days. There is too much insinuation about the quality of care that dads can provide.
3.This Verizon commercial was removed from the air after the company received backlash from His Side, a men’s rights organization. The petition against the ad claimed that it degraded fathers and men in general.
What do you think of these spots? Do they deserve to be placed in the Advertising Hall of Shame? Or were guys too sensitive?
Conducting an RFP for an advertising agency-of-record can be a bit like reality TV matchmaking: an exhaustive exercise placed on a speed dating timeline and subjected to constant group scrutiny. Then, a big show around the final decision on the new agency. Yet, the process rarely produces a lasting match, leaving one or both parties to repeat the process.
Sound familiar? There are a few opportunities to make a search for a marketing firm partner less complex, more tolerable and productive for everyone involved.
1. Take a closer look
What are you looking for in an ad agency? Consider that agencies and their client share deep relationships that are completely unlike other business relationships. For example, while your supply vendor probably doesn’t care about your company’s mission statement, it’s the agency’s job to internalize and communicate that message to the public at large. Consequently, it’s important to clearly figure out what you want, and how a given agency can help you achieve those goals. The questions you ask beforehand can separate the wheat from the chaff, letting you know right off the bat whether the agencies on your shortlist will be a good match for you.
2. Consider smaller steps
If there seems to be a fit between your needs and a firm’s expertise, get together and find out – just 45 minutes in person or via video chat can determine if things are suitable enough to take a next step. Can you see your team and system benefiting from the outcomes and methodology implied by the ad agency? If so, consider a pilot project or phased engagement. You can tackle pressing challenges more quickly and kick the relationship’s tires without committing your entire budget (not to mention save staff time to write the RFP, determine who gets it, review lengthy proposals, take questions, schedule presentations and make decisions).
3. Streamline the process
Sometimes, conducting a formal RFP is a necessary evil. One way to help streamline the process is in the RFP itself. We once received an outstanding RFP that required agency response to be no more than 10 pages. It was short and to the point, for the client and the agencies. This RFP also asked each firm to submit anonymously, with an accompanying identifying document. Now that’s fair.
4. Remember the long haul
Not too long ago, clients and advertising agencies maintained relationships that could last for decades. However, modern client-agency relationships last between three and four years. In fact, half of those relationships won’t even last two.Part of the churn rate can be attributed to the clunky selection process practiced by many current businesses.
Picking an agency-of-record is a lot like dating – you’re going to meet a lot of duds before you find someone worth spending time with. So streamlining the agency-of-record selection process can save you a lot of time, work and heartbreak. By taking incremental steps like the ones detailed above, you can quickly and efficiently narrow the field to the agencies that work well with you. With a little luck, you’ll find your efforts rewarded with the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
How have you streamlined a selection process? Would your hospital’s leadership support a pilot project or the traditional proposal process? Got an RFP horror story? Please share!
Is your department smaller or bigger than it should be?
Which measurement methods work best?
The collective data offers an excellent benchmark for strategic planning — whether it’s defending against cuts or justifying increases in staff and marketing dollars. What does the data mean?
Staffing
Stand-alone hospitals reported an average of nearly 8 FTEs dedicated to marketing, up 60% from 2007. Hospitals with 200-400 beds averaged 9.3 while hospitals/systems with 400-1,000 beds jumped to 19.3 – double 2007′s survey.
Budgets
Most hospitals reported increases in their marketing budgets, both in total dollars and as a percentage of net patient revenue. Budgets tend to rise with a bump in bed size and overall financial performance, but net patient revenue was down 4% in the same time period. Competition from smaller healthcare organizations is heating up despite lower reimbursements and volume.
Hospitals with 200-400 beds inched budgets up just 1% over the last two years, while 400+ systems jumped 60% — more than doubling 2004 spend levels. Budgets need to be reconfigured to follow outmigration patterns from smaller to larger organizations.
Even with the downturn, only about 1/2 of all hospital surveyed reported cuts in advertising. If you’re doing more with less, chances are your competitors aren’t.
Allocation
Where are marketing budgets going? Advertising and media account for 44% of allocations for hospitals with 200-400 beds, and 31-27% among systems with 400+ beds.
A whopping 80-90% of all hospitals still use Yellow Pages advertising — more than any medium except newspaper (also surprising given the rapid decline of print subscribers).
Measurement
For the first time, SHSMD added questions to capture measurement methods among hospitals. The results are mixed, with usage of call centers, specific calls-to-action, number of appointments measured reported by about half of all hospitals.
Measuring overall service line volumes (not directly linked to any mention of marketing), specific URLs or preference studies scored slightly higher.
Only 1/3 of hospitals use any kind of CRM system to monitor results. Among hospitals over 400 beds, academics are least likely to use a CRM system — only 1/3 do.
Now what?!
SHSMD’s study can help assess operations, set benchmarks and enhance planning, but data is only part of the story.
It’s one thing to better understand how your hospital stacks up among peers and competitors. It’s another to fight for what your department may need to help move the organization forward.
In a poll conducted by thestrategygroup of hospital CEOs, 77% cited market share as the #1 priority for their marketing staff cited changes in utilization volume as the 2nd highest priority.
Surprisingly, By The Numbers notes only 37% analyze utilization and the resulting financial effect of marketing initiatives to any patient who mentions advertising. Even less (25%) track first-time patients.
As the market continues to tighten, marketing professionals need to find solutions to impact the bottom line and stake their claim as revenue producers.
What should your marketing budget be?
Formula
By The Numbers reports data on total marketing and communications budgets as a percentage of the hospital’s net patient revenue (NPR). Here’s how:
Hospitals with 200-400 beds:
NPR x .0069 = total marketing and communications budget
Hospitals with 401+ beds:
NPR x .0074 = total marketing and communications budget
What do the findings mean for you?
For other insights from SHSMD, click here for some of our top takeaways from Connections 2011.
This year, SHSMD‘s annual conference heads west to Phoenix Sept. 14-17.
Whatever your challenge or interest, over 150 sessions, workshops and roundtables delve into healthcare’s biggest topics: quality, patient satisfaction, new media, physician relations, economic challenges and what’s ahead in the era of reform.
Some of our favorites on the agenda:
Wed., Sept. 14
Kick off the conference by sharing Lance Secretan’s dream of Restoring Inspiration in American Healthcare. The author and expert on organizational transformation explains how to deal with crisis, find unity and realign toward a shared goal.
Thurs., Sept. 15
It’s packed with programming from a general session on motivation to roundtable discussions. During concurrent sessions, check out An Aggressive Strategy to Revitalize a Community Hospital. Learn how University Hospitals moved from floundering to flourishing in a highly competitive market.
Let’s go! Grab dinner at one of the best restaurants in Phoenix (find the Eat, See, Shop, Do concierge booth for the ultimate Top 10), then head back to J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Resort for a nightcap of music and fun.
Fri., Sept. 16
Michael Sachs leads us through Growth in the Reform Era. Where will growth come from? How will alignment provide opportunities? What strategies should be pursued?
In concurrent sessions, Emory Healthcare digs into Profiling the Competition – learn to create comprehensive competitor profiles for invaluable insight on market dynamics. Christus Health outlines the Fundamentals of CRM – what you need to know to institute comprehensive CRM strategies at your facility.
Let’s go! Take in some of the top sights and shops in town on Friday night.
Sat., Sept. 17
Wrap up by looking ahead. Respected futurist Jeff Bauer is Forecasting the Future of Healthcare. He maps key trends in medicine, technology, demography, reimbursement and care delivery to determine implications and responses.
Also, look for QR codes throughout SHSMD. They’ll give you instant access to presentation materials, fellow attendees’ contact information and the chance to win prizes.
It’s not too late to learn! You can still register here for SHSMD.
For the full insider’s guide of what to Eat, See, Shop and Do in Phoenix, stop by our SHSMD concierge booth next to the registration desk. Make reservations, get tips and win free tickets to the coolest things in Phoenix.
As healthcare marketers, we stay on top of trends to predict (as much as possible anyway) market shifts that could affect bottom lines. With new data from the 2010 Census, AdAge recently noted Five Surprising Facts Marketers Should Know.
It seems easier to make the leap from these facts to how they will impact brands like smart phones and purses. But healthcare marketing always seems to be a laggard in activating trends. Our question is: what can your hospital do with this knowledge?
Here are a few ideas to help your healthcare brand leverage key trends:
Fact: There are 1.2 million fewer children in the Northeast and Midwest than there were in 2000 – and lots of outmigration of young adults from Northeast and Midwest to the South and West.
What It Means: Fewer births may mean Northeast and Midwest hospitals see more competition among birthing centers for insured deliveries, a system entry point for many families. Increased competition may mean adding more enticements to seek out your OB docs and birthing centers – and stronger marketing for those differentiating features.
Designated parking just for moms-to-be, close to the elevator which takes them directly to the women’s center
A private interior courtyard for walking and waiting
Fact: On the flip side, aging populations with fewer children, (which AdAge notes “happens to be the consumer segment with the most money and the highest level of spending on goods and services”) may call for an emphasis on an entirely different set of healthcare services, such as elective orthopedic procedures.
What It Means: Systems like Martin Health in Florida have found great success in marketing screening events with physicians. Nearly one third of attendees made new patient appointments at the event and the number of spine surgery cases has increased significantly.
Fact: Among the 37.7 million African-Americans counted in the 2010 Census, many are moving to the suburbs and the South. This fact ties in with the first one about overall migration to the West and South.
What It Means: An influx of newcomers can cause dramatic shifts in market share – for the good or not so good. Newcomers don’t know if you’re the market leader or have a lingering PR issue, which gives you a rare, short-term golden moment to capture their attention and establish preference.
Offer new residents gifts for completing surveys or calling to get a new physician
Conduct find-a-physician promotions with a call center or website payoff
Invest in on-line search marketing that connects your physicians and services to prospective patients at the moment they are choosing providers
Growing populations often require more physicians and medical staff, so hospitals may need to ramp up recruitment to keep up with demand. Strong communication can help hospitals find the right match up front — which is a key step in retention, too. Floyd Medical Center in GA asked us to develop a campaign to recruit physician faculty for their dually-accredited residency program. The resulting direct response and web campaign performed so well, the hospital plans to roll out similar efforts for nursing, tech staff and other physicians.
Other interesting data:
Minority populations grew eight times faster than the majority white population.
While every county in the nation saw growth in Hispanic population, the Asian population is the fastest growing racial or ethnic group.
States that saw the most minority growth: California, Texas, New York and Illinois.
Census data helps show us if patterns over the last decade are just that, or flashing lights about what’s ahead.
What healthcare trends are you seeing? How are your addressing them?
In health care, the “Golden Hour” describes that window of time after the onset of a heart attack when getting medical treatment is critical in avoiding significant damage to the heart muscle.
Health care marketers have their own critical window – the “Golden Moment” – when prospective patients are using the web to make decisions about their health care, such as which provider to choose.
Search marketing is the fastest growing and largest media component. This is especially true in health care.
Consider:
Health searches are behind only checking email and general searches as the 3rd most popular online activity.
In fact, 88% of all web users have searched for health information.
A growing number of people are turning to the web first for healthcare resources – 43% of web users.
Is your hospital’s website best positioned to be “top of fold” for health searches? Here are three ways to acquire new patients at the moment they are choosing providers.
1. Develop an “always on” strategy for your search marketing buys.
The challenge with healthcare marketing is that you never know when your audience is in need to your services. Search marketing lets have an “always on” approach to reach prospective patients in their golden moment of choosing providers.
TIP: Identify key services like cardiac, OB or orthopedics and run your search campaign for one week, go quiet for a week, then repeat throughout the year. Doing so will help keep your brand “top of the fold.”
Another emerging online tool is the ability to reach prospective patients on WebMD.com and other health sites who are interested in your services and in your service area.
For example:
Someone searches for weight loss surgery information out at WebMD.com.
The tool verifies the user as being in the health system’s service area and that the user could be a prospective patient. (This happens in less than 50 milliseconds.)
When the person views weight loss surgery information on WebMD.com, your health system’s ad for Bariatric Surgery appears on the page.
The prospective patient then clicks on your system’s ad to learn more.
2. Write your website to be scanned, not read.
People don’t read websites, they scan. (Think about how you are “reading” this post.) Your web copy should not be a direct lift from a corporate brochure.
Tips for writing web copy:
Be brief.
Use bullets and short paragraph blocks.
Use words and phrases that aid Search Engine Optimization for your key services.
3. Leverage simple, clear calls-to-action.
Take a page from Amazon.com and give your audience multiple options for connecting with you, such as:
Click or Call for physician referral
Opting-in to email newsletters
Signing up for events, screenings and seminars
Using an online appointment tool
Online appointment tools are an amazing tool for converting patients in the golden moment. Consider this:
A prospective patient searches for weight loss surgery options.
Your system’s ad appears on her search results.
Your ad offers the prospect the chance to learn more and book an appointment in real time with a physician.
On the landing page of your website, the prospect chooses her insurance type and selects from your hospital’s physicians and appointment openings.
In the era of Accountable Care Organizations and increased competition, health systems and physician practices are turning to search marketing to stay competitive. What is your organization’s approach to search? What works for you? We’d love your feedback.
While the RFP process is a necessary evil, there is an opportunity to make it less complex and more tolerable for everyone involved. Writing the RFP, determining who gets it, and taking questions can be excessively time consuming.
One way to streamline part of this process is in the actual RFP. Recently, we received an outstanding RFP from Aaffect, a marketing research firm. They required the response to be no longer than 10 pages. What a wonderful idea, for the agencies and the client. It was to-the-point and gave the client a quick snapshot of capabilities surrounding their needs.
This RFP also required each agency to summit their proposal anonymously, with an accompanying identifying document. Talk about fair. Your RFP had to do all the work.
With the proposals in, now you need to select agencies to present and set up meetings. Presentations can be flashy, but we suggest looking for the real grit.
It’s important to pay special attention to healthcare knowledge, experience with similar hospitals, service lines or issues, agency biographies, proximity, campaign samples, depth of services, measurable results, easily accessible rate cards and references.
We love to hear about your experiences. What do you think of the status quo proposal process? Have you written a particularly effective RFP? Do you have an RFP horror story?
Many of the objections we hear about social media (or marketing, for that matter) from Doubting Thomases are based on false arguments or tactical thinking. I define tactical thinking as approaching a complex problem with a slingshot. Like when CFOs used to ask me the ROI on running an outdoor board. It would have been a mistake for me to try to answer that question exactly as it had been given to me. Instead, I would say, “Do you believe that the more people know and respect this health system the greater your chances of attracting new patients?” From there, we could have a meaningful discussion about the merits of outdoor advertising because a proper context was established. Marketing isn’t about recommending tactics, it’s about solving a business problem.
Here are two examples of how to properly re-frame a Doubting Thomas question about the meaningfulness of social media:
Doubting Thomas: Seniors are our heavy healthcare users and they want printed materials, not Twitter updates.
My response: Yes, it’s true that seniors would prefer to receive direct mail information than use Facebook to learn more about healthcare options, but does that mean we should not offer meaningful ways for their adult children to engage with our brands in the spaces that THEY are most comfortable with? After all, the Sandwich Generation helps make many of their parents healthcare decisions and they are online without exception.
Or:
Doubting Thomas: Doctors don’t care about social media. They’re too busy to be on Facebook.
My response: Yes, it’s true that doctors are busy. And our job is to help them to stay busy by attracting new, insured patients who actively seek the best providers for their healthcare needs. Social media provides an amazing opportunity for us to know what the “word on the street” is about our providers and to offer meaningful information and news to help guide prospective patients into choosing our providers and services.
A final suggestion is to remember that “All social media is local.” While national statistics on social media usage are meaningful, it’s easy for Doubting Thomases to say, “Well, that may be true in San Francisco, but HERE we don’t use Facebook or Twitter.” As you know, most social media tools offer local statistics, which are great tools in converting doubters in your organization.
