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.

Search Marketing: Leveraging the “Golden Moment”

Posted: June 2nd, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: All Junto Health Posts, Healthcare Advertising, Marketing Mistakes | Tags: , | 1 Comment »

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.

 

CHPRMS: Recap of Carolinas Healthcare Marketing Spring Conference

Posted: May 3rd, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: All Junto Health Posts, Healthcare Advertising, The Whole Enchilada | Tags: , , | No Comments »

CHPRMS logo

The Carolinas Healthcare PR and Marketing Society (CHPRMS) hit “famously hot” Columbia, SC, for a spring day conference on Stretching Your Budget Without Shrinking Your Goals.

Top takeaways:

The first session – Mobile strategies That Work with MedTouch – summed things up with a quick show of hands: How many hospitals here are on Facebook? (Many hands.) How many find it effective? (Few.)

  • Last year in the U.S., four out of five mobile phones purchased were smart phones. 500 million will be using health apps by 2015.
  • Physicians remain the strongest influence on patients, so they will be influential in recommending best mobile health (or m-health) apps. (If your hospital has or is developing apps, be sure to communicate through your physician community.)
  • 32% of hospitals plan to go mobile this year. Top options are ER wait times, GPS directions to the hospital and physician finders.
  • Other ideas: Take advantage of mobile devices to provide discharge information to patients (many of whom forget what you tell them or lose your papers upon leaving).
  • Help physicians refer patients to specialists and your hospital or by directing them to a mobile-friendly physician directory and hospital registration.
  • Engage patients with QR codes or wayfinding. Better yet, combine the two: Using a large banner with QR code at the main entrances, link to step-by-step direction to departments, show 3-D renderings of the facility or virtual tours.

The second session with AVID continued the digital theme.

  • They recommend useit.com and eye tracking research to help pare down content and focus design.
  • A good website isn’t enough. Be smart with SEO and meta data. Notice what Sharp HealthCare does here (the result title doesn’t just say Sharp).
  • Of the 50 hospitals in CHPRMS (SC and NC), 35 use Facebook. But only 11 have active blogs. (We suspect similar results in other regions.) Could that be an opportunity or differentiating point in your market? The University of Maryland Medical Center has a great blog that encompasses employees, patients and friends.

Afternoon sessions encouraged everyone to think differently. When told “I need brochure/event/certificate,” remember that familiar, expected ideas don’t stand out.

  • When a Palmetto Health executive wanted to create a certificate for exceptional employee attitude, the team suggested a huge trophy instead. The exec handed it to the first employee he saw demonstrating the hospital values, a always-singing groundskeeper, and asked him to do the same to another employee within two weeks. The trophy continues to circulate, generating far more impact than a certificate could have.
  • Instead of saying yes to “We need a plaque with all our values,” the hospital marketing team chose to do full-size door clings. Playing up one value per elevator reinforced core beliefs to patients and families as well as employees.

Did you attend CHPRMS Spring? What ideas or insights did you bring back to work?

Next, we’re headed to the Virginia healthcare conference (VSHMPR) and New England’s annual meeting (NESHCo). Our own Stephen Moegling will be speaking on How to Sell-in Social Media.

Look for live Twitter updates on #vshmpr and #neshco.