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.
Just as men and women are different, so is the style and delivery of how to calibrate messages that respond best to men. Here are 5 best practices to grow male engagement with your healthcare brand:
Offer the lure of control. Men like to think they’re in control. (It’s a guy thing.) Position your brand or offer as a means for men to feel like they are in control of their healthcare – for example, a simple screening to rule out prostate cancer, or web-based content to help men know the right questions to ask their physician during their next checkup.
Men find the humor in their stereotypes. This is why shows like Family Guy, The Simpsons and King of the Hill have been so successful among men. It’s okay to use humor to sell your healthcare brand, and may even help to alleviate a guy’s worry over getting a screening that he’s put off. But, there are limits. (Read this blog post on brands that failed the humor/stereotype test.)
Cater to the male disposition to hierarchies. Emphasize your physicians’ expertise, training and recommendations. According to Reyn Kinzey of Kinzey & Day Research, men respond more to authority figures than women, which is one of the reasons why men don’t ask as many follow-up questions to their healthcare provider as women. Accordingly, featuring your physicians in advertising efforts can be an effective tool for engaging guys.
Use the Internet as a “safe zone” for men to learn and ask questions. We all know men don’t like to stop and ask for directions, and that mindset applies when learning about healthcare. The Web is a great vehicle for men to intake healthcare in a controlled environment without having to give the appearance that they are confused or need further explanation. Invest in your health system’s website and enrich it with content that will help men make the right decisions regarding their healthcare choices.
Market to the man, appeal to the woman. While it’s important to develop a plan for marketing your health brand directly to men, it’s important to remember that his spouse, partner or family member is a crucial secondary audience. She’s the one that will nudge him to attend that screening or make the doctor appointment. So, when developing a direct mail piece, write it to appeal to both male and female audiences. For the guys, give him the facts and emphasize technology and expertise. For women, reinforce the positive benefits of early detection/treatment and the simple steps to take action.
We’d love to hear from you – what have you found that works well when marketing to men?
We’re not talking gift shops or Starbucks. Lake Health‘s West Medical Center in Ohio recently became the first in the country to feature an entire wellness-focused retail store inside the hospital.
We spoke with Gary Robinson, Vice President for Government and Community Affairs, on the venture that could influence how organizations nationwide work to keep patients healthy and out of the hospital.
But healthcare reform didn’t drive the idea.
Necessity was the mother of invention. Actually, a mother’s necessity.
Gary explains:
Our CEO, Cynthia Moore-Hardy, was frustrated looking for items her sick mother needed. She stumbled across a store in Cleveland called Max-Wellness. She found everything she needed for her mom – plus a few things she hadn’t thought about. She asked an associate if she could talk to the store’s CEO, who responded within hours.
It was Michael Feuer, the founder of office supply superstore OfficeMax. The store was one of four new prototypes focused on the wellness industry. Wide, bright aisles held more than 7,000 health and wellness products including vitamins, blood pressure monitors, skin care products, sleep aids, orthopedic braces, exercise devices and mobility equipment.
The two met and brainstormed about Lake Health and a flagship “mini” store concept that’s designed to be within hospitals and rehabilitation centers.
Ideally, patients and their families can purchase whatever they need before they go home, so everyone’s full attention can be on furthering recovery after discharge.
The hospital consulted with physicians, nurses, employees and patients to help Max-Wellness teams tailor inventory at West Medical Center. The store debuted last July.
We hoped it would increase patient satisfaction, but we didn’t anticipate the other benefits. Employees and physicians love it, too – so much that they’ve been driving sales the first six months. They’re always emailing ideas for more wellness products and healthy snacks to carry. We expect caregivers will transition this year to the bulk of sales. It’s been really well received.
So far, Lake Health has only marketed its Max-Wellness through public relations and internal communications.
Our staff continues to work with patients pre-discharge to discuss what they will need and help them get it.
We’re still in the development phase, so Max-Wellness teams continue to listen and meet with our departments to adjust the product mix for our patients’ recovery needs and general wellness. We looking to add new mom products soon.
Another unique aspect: Lake Health is a minority owner in their pilot store.
We don’t see it as a money-maker. It’s part of our mission to care for patients and their families. Everyone involved in the project knew it was right for us and our community.
Based on the store’s success at Lake Health, Max-Wellness could expand to other hospitals throughout the country.
Other hospital administrators have requested tours of the pilot mini-store to see if it is a good fit for their facilities.
Lake Health also may test other Max-Wellness concepts like health product vending machines at urgent care or physical therapy locations. The system includes a second acute care hospital and 13 other health sites in Lake County.
How would a retail partnership work in your community? How do you engage patients in their recovery and promote overall health? Do you think Lake Health’s store is a game-changer for health reform?
Take a moment to think about the following brands: Nike, Apple, Coca-Cola, Exxon, McDonald’s. What do they all have in common besides giant war chests, near-global ubiquity and a preference for questionable business practices?
Consistency. There’s a very good reason why every Apple retail store looks exactlythesame, or why every McDonald’s bag faithfully adheres to the red and yelow color scheme. True, consistency can be boring and predictable, but it also works. It preys on our collective need for familiarity, creating a simple set of symbols for complex associations.
By keeping your brand identity consistent, you are removing one of the most important barriers between you and your market. Repetitive exposure to the same symbols allows your consumers to quickly and easily recognize your core message. This is why all your communications—whether it’s an ad campaign, a website, or the waiting room—must be visually consistent with each other. Your brand changes from being an unknown entity to a familiar presence. Familiarity builds trust. When people trust you, they are more inclined to listen.
There are other consequences to ignoring brand consistency. Your customers should be able to follow a clear path between your collateral, your advertising and your physical spaces. Without those clear links, your organization risks credibility and appears disorganized. At worst, consumers might think you’re new to the market, causing them to avoid you altogether.
Take a look at a few non-healthcare examples of consistent brand identities:
You can clearly see the narrative thread that connects every aspect of Apple. Consistency has turned their brand identity into a brand experience, which is one of the reasons why they’re one of the most valuable companies in the world. Note how their advertising, website, products and retail spaces align harmoniously to present a unified image—an image that is unmistakably Apple.
Similarly, there’s a very good reason why Pepsi has been unable totopCoca-Cola ever since their ridiculous 2008 logo change—and it’s coincidentally the same reason why New Coke was such an utter disaster. For the most part, straying from your core brand identity will inevitably end in nothing but tears, lost revenue and confused consumers.
Healthcare marketing is no different. Brand consistency leads to trust and acceptance. So when Centra—a leading three-hospital system in Virginia—added a new hospital and expanded to serve 13 counties, we created a visual identity that unified the system but allowed flexibility for growing service lines.
After Centra’s new identity launch, research showed staff morale, name recognition and patient volume for key services increased. In fact, consistent brand extensions actually proved to strengthen the overall brand and helped increase recognition. Finally, consistent branding strategies helped Centra save money on brand development and overall marketing expenses. After all, tweaking a brand identity with every new service line or center of excellence may mean you have to work harder to help consumers make the connection with your hospitals. And why do that, especially in lean times?
Know a brand that’s growing effectively? Or an extension that’s stretched a little too far from the brand? Please share.
Your smart phone can do amazing things: video chat with friends, check the latest scores for your favorite Indian cricket team, or play Scrabble with your co-worker. But your smart phone more than fun and games. The latest additions to the smartphone app market may just end up saving your life.
According Fast Co., mobile health technology is currently a $2 billion of the $273 billion medical-device industry. And that number is skyrocketing. Experts believe the number will continue to grow as smart phones get smarter and patients take their health into their own hands.
Up next? The FDA plans to release a rigorous set of guidelines for mobile health applications later this year. A more formalized process will make entering the market easier and energize the mHealth market.
What does this mean for your healthcare organization? It’s time to pay attention to mHealth.
Keep an eye out for great new apps and products that may help cut costs–a new app and accessory for eye exams is literally .3% the cost of its predecessor.
Think ahead – mobile health portals may soon allow patients who track their health via apps to plug into your EMR. Imagine that data shared seamlessly with your medical staff.
Try them out yourself. After all, you deserve to be happy and healthy, too. Check out our favorite apps for staying fit and healthy.
Get your own app–from ER wait times to tips and calendars for pregnant moms. The possibilities are endless.
If it isn’t already, make your site mobile friendly. While this isn’t an app, it is mHealth. If your website isn’t compatible with prevalent mobile technology, you are missing a golden opportunity. 1 in 7 searches are now mobile and that number is even higher for local searches.
Have more ideas for mHealth? Know an mHealth guru? Need more inspiration? We love sharing our thoughts and talking with other experts in health and wellness. Give us a shout.
The way hospitals deliver healthcare to consumers continues to be a hot topic.. From changes in insurance to new technology, healthcare organizations are re-evaluating the best channel for keeping patients healthy and costs down.
With a laundry list of desired (and required) changes needed for continued success, hospital administrators have big steps to take. (New Year’s resolution, anyone?)
With the fast (and continuing) growth of technology inside and outside of the point-of-care service, patients are more empowered than ever. The question is: how do hospitals take full advantage of the technology to make the care of chronic diseases require less resources?
The first step? Shifting from in-office to satellite visits. Using smaller, more easily maintained facilities reduces costs associated with expensive hospital facilities. The decreased cost of more (but smaller) facilities will help manage the expanding population of Americans with chronic diseases.
Next up? Arming hospitals with the ability to provide care responsibly even during extreme events, like hurricane Katrina. Most hospitals are aging buildings with insufficient infrastructure. Updating water systems, back up generators and underlying structural issues will make be paramount for healthcare organizations. New technology will not only make these behemoth buildings more cost efficient and resilient during crises, but also reduce the environmental impact.
As a guy writing this blog, I realize the headline above could be considered piggish.
But it’s not.
If you haven’t heard of Hot Mama, it’s a chain of clothing stores that has Disney-like brand loyalty.
Their secret? A highly focused customer experience tailored to moms who want to feel sexy and beautiful.
Hot Mama stores are designed so that kids playing with the in-store video games are always in view, no matter where mom is in the store. Their retail consultants are trained in matching customers’ body types with denim and other clothing for fit and feel and embrace what women are feeling at different stages of momhood.
Even their Facebook presence is stylish, fun and a great example of customer engagement.
What can we bring into healthcare marketing from Hot Mama?
1. Story building. Traditionally, branding was the art of story telling. With the rise of social media, our audiences want to participate. In turn, they build the stories with the brand. Story building is the new art of customer engagement, a chance for healthcare brands to enhance their brands by inviting participation. Check out how Hot Mama makes store openings and sales exciting on Facebook and consider how to bring more zest to your health system’s status updates.
2. Design an experience. True, many hospitals were designed around the doctor and not the patient, and you may not have the pull to invest millions in environmental design. But if you’re in marketing communications, you probably have the wherewithal to shape a great experience with your website, social media channels and other digital campaigns. On the web, you’re often limited only by your imagination. What can you do to design a great experience for your healthcare audiences?
3. Thin slice your audience. The death of a great campaign is trying to appeal to a wide audience. Be narrow with your focus, or “thin slice” your audience and micro target them with messages and promotions. Hot Mama chose not to sell to a lot of women in order to give full focus to a certain type of woman at a certain time in her life. The more you can focus your messages and campaigns, the more likely you are to say something that is “sticky” with your audience.
What other ways can we parlay Hot Mama’s success into healthcare? What other brands outside of healthcare should we be students of and learn from?
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.
What drives us? was the question that two of SHSMD’s 2011 keynote speakers, Lance Secretan and Dan Pink, tackled in Phoenix this past week. Both men shared their insights on how to get peak performance from ourselves and others in our organizations.
Beyond topic, though, Secretan and Pink had virtually nothing else in common.
Secretan, a former Fortune 500 CEO and leadership consultant, applied a very “Zen”-like tone to his speech on Wednesday evening, complete with animated rings of fire that illuminated the phrases, “Inspire Self. Inspire Others. Inspire the World.” His dignified demeanor and clean-shaven head reminded the audience of Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek fame.
While Pink would go on the next day to emphasize “motivation” as the term for what drives us, Secretan, on the other hand, told the audience that motivation is rooted in fear. Inspiration, on the other hand, comes from a sense of love for one another – lighting a fire inside us instead of lighting a fire under us. Lance used Humana as a case study, which has undergone a tremendous transformation in recent years. The organization faced severe changes to its business model in the early days of President Obama’s healthcare overhaul. By thinking of itself as a “Movement” instead of a “Corporation,” Humana’s executive team tapped into a higher purpose – to be provider of well-being, instead of simply an insurance product for health care. The organization has gone on to demonstrate outstanding stock performance and is revolutionizing the way wellness is delivered.
Dan Pink, New York Times bestselling business author, began his talk Thursday morning by saying he had a “nerdier” perspectives on what drives us. A contrast of styles, Pink had a great comedic wit and emphasized the science behind his theories. He came across to the audience as grounded and approachable.
Pink mentioned the well-known fact that money isn’t the greatest motivator for employees. Companies, according to Pink, ought to pay people enough to take the “money issue” off the table so the focus can be on the three factors that motivate people to do their best: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.
Autonomy allows people to feel they are in control of their work and performance – Dan reminded us that no great manager was ever described as someone who “breathed down our necks every waking hour of the day.”
Mastery allows people to see the possibility for improving in their work, and that signs of progress and getting better is crucial for any position.
Purpose allows people to know the “why” in their work – why it matters; why they matter.
Pink talked about companies that do “FedEx Days,” allowing people to work on a project of their choosing, a tool for hard-wiring innovation throughout the company. (They’re called “FedEx Days” for a reason: the project has to absolutely get delivered in a certain time frame.) Google is famous for its employees focusing 10% of their time on new projects and inventions. (A great example of this 10% output is Gmail.)
Secretan began his talk by saying that his insights on what drive us contradict Pink in that Secretan emphasized Inspiration while Pink focused on Motivation. According to Secretan, it’s the difference between love and fear.
From my viewpoint, I don’t believe Secretan and Pink contradicted one another. Both men had a 3-point philosophy on how to achieve optimum performance, which I termed “The Big Three.”
Here’s Lance’s “Big Three”, which he calls “Why, Be Do”:
Why are We Here?
How Will I Be?
What Will I Do?
By answering the “Why, Be, Do,” you become inspired, you inspire others, and your creations inspire the world.
Pink’s “Big Three” factors of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose overlay nicely Secretan’s “Why, Be, Do” concept.
“What will I do?” answers the need for Autonomy
“How will I be?” answers the need for Mastery
“Why are we here?” answers the need for Purpose
I was grateful to have the experience to hear both points of views and styles, which created a richer experience for me, like hearing two different bands interpreting “Strawberry Fields Forever.” The tones and rhythm are different, but the notes are the same. Leadership is never easy, especially in healthcare today. By focusing on the Big Three, we can ditch the 5-Minute Manager handbook and get to the heart of the matter of what drives us.
Were you at SHSMD? What did you think of the presentations? What drives you? Is there a brand (healthcare or other) you would hold up as an example of inspired leadership? Are you a Trekkie?
Recently we developed a physician recruitment campaign for Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia. As with any campaign, we begin with the brand: what is the essential and timeless promise we can share with our audience? Brands are born from the inside out and are reinforced by the actions of people, which is especially true for service organizations like hospitals.
Our approach included a direct mail piece using a size/shape guaranteed to stand out and engage our prospective physician audience, along with a custom website to drive interested prospects.
Response has been tremendous. Now Floyd is carrying out the campaign for other positions, including nursing and tech staff.
But slick direct mail and websites aren’t guarantees to achieving success, especially in recruitment, when organizations don’t define success by getting “warm bodies” in the door — but rather, employees who are engaged, exemplify the organization’s core values and will be around for the long haul.
Making those connections with the right kind of prospect comes down to knowing the brand essence and communicating it effectively.
Sample images from the direct mail piece are below, along with the home page of the custom website, which you can visit by clicking here.
The Stark law is a monster that strikes fear in the hearts of many hospital marketers. Guidance from your Compliance Department can be murky because there’s no case law precedent, and the various statutes that comprise Stark were enacted over time, building on prior regulations. The result is a murky mashup of gray areas that don’t apply to what most hospital marketers do on a daily basis.
Many hospitals avoid putting physicians in their campaigns because of Stark concerns. But physicians can be powerful spokespeople for your hospital. Featuring your physicians (employed and affiliated) is a great opportunity to grow your hospital’s brand.
In our research in markets across the country, physicians are often rated higher in credibility and trustworthiness than hospitals among consumers for delivering quality, technology and expertise messages. According to consumers, if a physician chooses to practice at and represents a hospital, then the hospital must be good. (Otherwise, the physician wouldn’t choose to practice medicine and send patients there.)
To help you build the case and comfort level for using your physicians in campaigns, here are some rules of thumb to keep in mind:
1.The cap on non monetary compensation for each physician is $355, so keep an eye on all those catered lunches you bring in to meetings, which many marketers say is the best way to get the physicians’ attention.
2. You can feature non-employed physicians in your advertising, provided you don’t put the doctor’s office practice phone number or office web address in the advertisement — otherwise, you’ll be advertising for the physician and not your hospital.
3. You should be more concerned about political fallout when featuring physicians in campaigns than being in Stark compliance.
Many hospital marketers feel overwhelmed at the thought of paring down which physicians to feature in their campaigns. One approach to sidestepping political land mines is asking one physician from each practice affiliated with your hospital to be featured in your campaigns. (For example, if you’re doing an ortho campaign, feature one orthopedic surgeon from every practice affiliated with your hospital.) By giving equal representation to all your physicians, you are likely to keep all your physicians happy. (Or, at least content!)
4. Review your hospital’s medical director contracts. Most of these contracts stipulate that the physician must assist the hospital with specific communications outreach, such as speaking to rotary groups or as part of overall communications campaigns. Because there are contractual agreements in place for these physicians, they can be the “go tos” for your campaigns and can also help build consensus.
Following is an example of new TV spots we filmed recently for Memorial that feature their physicians (employed and affiliated) to promote Memorial’s new Novalis cancer-fighting technology. The physicians were champions of this campaign thanks to our wonderful client’s extensive process of achieving buy-in, and also because we gave them the opportunity to share the good news about this new technology in their own words.
Tell us: what are your Stark and physician marketing challenges? What are your work-arounds? Do you find your physicians are advocates or antagonists of your marketing campaigns?
