May

Thinking about the fate of your healthcare organization brand

What legacy did your company leave in its industry? How did your brand move the needle in a market category? To clarify your company’s future, it helps to step back and imagine a world in which it does not exist.

These are some of the important and inspiring ideas from Bill Taylor’s HBR article: Your Company’s Obituary Can Shape It’s Future.

It’s a pretty timely read for me, as I opened up a meeting with a prospective healthcare services client yesterday by asking them to write down “their one thing.” The one thing that mobilizes employees, that their clients can’t live without and that distinguishes them from competitors. It’s a tough question, which is why we gave them until the end of the meeting to commit.

Bill’s real message is that if your customers can live without you, eventually they will. This is one of those keeper articles. The kind that you print out and pin on your wall. That remind you to keep your eye on the real prize — creating a company whose offerings your customers just can’t live without.

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May

A trifecta for our healthcare and medical marketing

The 2012 Aster Awards for healthcare and medical marketing were announced this week. The Program is an elite competition recognizing the nation’s most talented healthcare marketing professionals for outstanding excellence in advertising.

Congratulations to our clients and Trajectory teams who posted a great showing. Our three submissions each received top awards.

For The Reading Hospital Women’s Health Services, we received a Judges Choice award (one of only seven in country) for our Total Advertising Campaign. It included broadcast, print, out-of-home and online – all incorporating a strong call-to-action. Importantly, it resulted in a 41% increase in prenatal class registrations, 36% increase in website visits and 24% increase in unique visitors to the website.

For The McGlinn Family Cancer Center at The Reading Hospital, Trajectory won a Gold Award, the top in the category, for our Oncology Total Advertising Campaign. It was brought to life through a series of TV spots, along with other traditional, interactive and social media. While external results are still pending, success measures include inbound inquires and volume, website traffic and physician referrals.

Speaking about both of these campaigns, Ann Valuch, Director of Marketing for The Reading Hospital, said “they represent a great collaboration between Trajectory, The Reading Hospital, our wonderful physicians and patients. Everyone is very proud.”

For PaloVia Skin Renewing Laser (the first ever FDA-cleared, in-home laser clinically proven to reduce fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes) Trajectory won a Gold Award for its Brochure Advertising Series. It included technical brochures, physician’s office consumer brochure, consumer take-home retail brochure and sales training/POS flipbook. Given that this device is the first-of-its-kind, support required more in-depth collateral pieces with more technical specifications along with distribution across both professional and consumer channels.

Apr

Healthcare marketing insights: Trajectory study results

Trajectory Uncovers How Women Feel About Their Primary Physician Relationships

The qualitative survey among Trajectory’s proprietary database of HerView™ participants sheds light on how women feel about their primary care physician relationships. How do they characterize the care they’re receiving today; and what other factors play into their opinions?

Five key findings reveal the changing nature of this relationship, and are important for physician practices, healthcare marketers and healthcare leadership. For many patients, primary care physicians are the front line of the healthcare system or hospital experience and are therefore a key driver of brand perception, loyalty and growth.

So, how do women feel about their primary care physicians? Highlights include:

1. Survey participants know that their physicians have many patients to see each day. But from the patient’s point-of-view, the system has created a “get us in, get us out” mentality. And with this, “personal touch” can sometimes take a back seat.

2. They feel doctors do a good job of taking care of their physical ailments. But given the situation described above, patients’ emotional needs are lagging. And this impacts the perception of your practice, group, hospital or health system.

3. These women feel that there’s a lack of true collaboration between their primary care physicians and extended care teams (e.g. specialists, nutritionists, etc.). For many, the concept of a Medical Home, with their primary physician as the hub, doesn’t yet exist.

4. Perceptions relate to the entire office visit experience, i.e. “we either have to wait months for an appointment”, or “wait longer than we should in a crowded waiting room with few amenities.” The cited other businesses that enrich the waiting experience (for less real important needs) and wonder why physician’s offices can’t adapt similar practices.

5. Concierge medicine, while more expensive, offers many advantages. This is particularly true for women who are pressed for time juggling career and family. Care is more personalized, on their schedule, and affords opportunity for real dialogue.

So what are the implications of these findings:

1. Blueprint each step of the end-to-end patient experience (from the patient perspective). Eliminate those that don’t add value. Find ways to “streamline” other steps to add more value. And find innovate ways to create new value for patients.

2. Hire specialists to oversee marketing and patient experience – those who can work together to operationalize a customer-centric approach to the business so that the physicians can focus solely on the clinical (and personal) aspects of care.

3. Offer a patient portal to allow patients to interact with staff prior to their visit and to streamline the process, e.g. filling out paperwork and scheduling. Patients gain peace of mind and staff can be more personal and welcoming.

4. Change your mindset from caring for (captive) patients to customers – who are receiving higher quality customer service from other kinds of companies with whom they interact in their daily lives. Remember that great experiences (and poor ones) are talked about, shared and actively lead to (or negate) referrals.

5. Poll your patients. Seek to understand their feelings and opinions. Simply having them be satisfied is not a good place for you (or them) to be. Actively listen and act, so you can foster longer-term relationships and enhance your overall brand value.

If you’d like to learn more, or to discuss further, please email me at eb@trajectory4brands.com.

Apr

Could your healthcare system brand really compete?

It’s five years from now. Your healthcare system, hospital or physician group competitive set has grown to resemble that of most other categories. The power has shifted to consumers. They have multiple options and are heavily influencing each others choices through their feedback and communities. Brand actually drives a disproportionate share of the purchase decision.

Ask yourself – HONESTLY – if this was the case, how effectively could you compete? Beyond the table stakes technology, infrastructure, skilled physicians?

Do you stand out? Stand for something? Have you pinpointed what’s more compelling about your brand that will sway selection in your favor?

Here are five ways to know. Five ways to know if you’re on the road to thriving or disappearing:

1. Is your organization collectively driven by a clear view of the future, by shared purpose and goals?

2. Do you have a clear picture of your communities, and how you (can more importantly and uniquely) help them live better lives?

3. If they walked into your front door, or the door of your website, could they distinguish you (based on this experience) from your competitors?

4. Does your brand permeate everything that you are and do – values, culture, people, promises, experiences and communications? Or are you still fractured across departments.

5. If we took your name off of your marketing, is it still yours (because you’ve figured out how to tap into aspirations in ways that have come to be identified as yours)

So…how bullish are you about your future?

Apr

Your organization’s rebranding: how you know it’ll be great

We were in a strategy session last week with a Board sub-committee of a healthcare system client. Our goal was to get their approval to take our branding recommendations down the line for other required approvals.

But we got hung-up. In a great way. We were reviewing one more time our recommended set of values that would guide the organization’s activities, how colleagues (not employees) would work together and choose among competing priorities.

It was accepted that the values were on target. They were borne out of our many internal conversations, a quantitative study across primary and secondary service areas, and a firm grasp of where the organization was heading strategically and operationally.

So, what was the issue? The committee was fighting for greatness, even in this meeting. They started to discuss and debate if every single department was going to be able to make these values their own. Would they align around them, and be able to deliver them each day through their efforts. How would they be integrated into internal performance reviews.

We’re excited for this organization (and for us). Because they truly understand and embrace the power of their brand to create new value, ignite new growth and unite colleagues around common goals, values and promises.

Doesn’t get much better!

Mar

3 key findings from Ad Age Insights/Modern Healthcare study

A joint trend report from Ad Age Insights and Modern Healthcare set out to understand current generational attitudes toward healthcare and health decisions, and how the role of caregivers can influence healthcare purchases. They surveyed more than 25,000 consumers.

Three key findings that impact both healthcare providers and marketers of healthcare products:

• all age groups preferred to receive communications about health care via e-mail, followed by mail, phone and text messaging. The margins between email and other modes were wide in all but the most rural areas.

• a near majority of Americans take health-care costs into account when creating a household budget, and that those expenses increasingly absorb more of their budgets.

• they not only need to communicate with patients, but with their caregivers as well, who are often from a different generation and thus will recieve and act on messages differently. As healthcare decisions can affect entire families, multiple viewpoints and needs are evaluated when a patient is determining a course for care.

I think this last point is the most far-reaching in terms of its implications. With the rise of multigenerational households and an overall aging population, families are increasingly involved in cross-generational caregiving.

It will be incumbent upon providers and marketers to develop a clearer picture of their opportunity (and the challenges of their multi-generational audiences), and how their position and approach to the market must change to capture that opportunity.

Mar

8 tips to create new marketing energy

Feel like you’re stuck? Like you need to inject your healthcare marketing with some new energy?

Here are eight ideas to get your juices flowing:

1. Change your view. Leave your traditional competitors behind and look to outside categories and brands for new inspiration.

2. Ask new questions. Obvious questions yield expected answers. More thought provoking questions uncover higher level goals and aspirations.

3. Look to culture. What ideas are stirring out there and how can you relate them back to your brand and your opportunity.

4. Take a stand. Not for something, but against something. What would this be?

5. Futurecast. Write an aspirational yet reachable headline from the future. Then work backwards to how you’ll achieve it.

6. Creativity everywhere. Don’t limit your efforts to the marketing department, nor to the same traditional channels. Co-op other departments, create new forums for expressing your message.

7. Marketing that matters. Is your marketing involving; does it enable people to do more; does it serve to unify them with others. It should.

8. Surprise and delight. How are you keeping the spark alive beyond the campaign? They might not be camping out for your next big thing (like the iPad), but they should be on the watch for what’s next.

Mar

Maximizing The Value Of Healthcare System M&A’s

Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are expected to remain strong in 2012. According to a HealthLeaders M&A survey, “some 78% of healthcare leaders say they will have deals underway or will be exploring deals in the next 12-18 months.”

In some cases, deals are a matter of survival. In others, they’re to capture a larger share of the
market. But in all cases, beyond the strategies and financials, they ultimately require balancing
the inter-related disciplines of Brand, Buy-In & Marketing.

Without proper planning, healthcare organizations in the midst of a merger or acquisition will always encounter:
• a brand that struggles to support the newly-formed organization’s purpose, values and goals
• a fractured internal audience that must be reiled on to deliver unified messages and experiences
• external marketing promises that might not sync with internal delivery
• sub-optimal return on marketing investment

At Trajectory, we’ve worked with many healthcare organizations through their transitions, and
have a unique glimpse into the challenges they most often face. Here’s a top ten list of issues to consider as your healthcare systems, hospitals and medical groups transition from pre-merger competitors to post-merger partners:

BRAND

1. M&A brand team: created across your organizations to proactively act on and communicate leadership decisions and to navigate the range of tangibles and intangibles on the table, e.g. logistics, preparation, training.
2. Brand compatibility: short-term financial and market share strength will not overcome the need to develop aligned purpose, values and promises.
3. Portfolio strength: how will the merger or acquisition maximize your organizational, facilities and service line capabilities in terms of brand portfolio management?

BUY-IN

4. Cultural fit: what’s the likelihood of integrating medical staff and employees, across all functions, on both sides of the M&A table. And whose culture leads?
5. Open communication: have you established feedback mechanisms (both offline and online) for both internal and external audiences.
6. Engagement: are your organization’s truly united. You don’t know, and you can’t act upon, until you measure.

MARKETING

7. Market growth: how will the M&A guide your new entity towards achieving market reach and growth without hindering each organization’s established brands, strategic brands, key revenue generating brands?
8. Marketing philosophy and approach: is marketing considered an investment or expense. Does it tend to be brand or service line-driven? Is it directed to physicians or patients? How will you align your two organizations?
9. Local community commitment: do your organizations have the same commitment to your local communities; does bigger now mean less touch in order to serve the health needs of the larger region?
10. From follower to leader: how will you adjust your approach from being the #2 or #3 player to becoming a stronger market share leader?

Feb

How purposeful is your healthcare system brand?

All healthcare organizations offer basically the same services. But the REAL difference (the only sustainable one) is how well you define, stake out and deliver on your purpose – which drives the employees who drive your company and deliver (or not) the care and feeding of your customers through their experiences.

Your purpose (the highest aspiration of your brand) powers and guides your organization. Regardless of the size of your healthcare system or hospital, there is nothing as motivating to those who deliver your brand than this purpose. It should be the guidepost against which every consumer-facing move your healthcare organization makes is evaluated.

For IBM, purpose is about building a smarter planet. For Zappos, it’s delivering happiness through “wow” experiences. For Disney, it’s magical family fun entertainment. And for FedEx, it’s peace of mind. And for your organization? If you’re answering along the lines of “making our communities healthier”, you’re missing an opportunity for your organization, your people, your communities, patients and their families to all be more fulfilled than they are today.

Everyone wants to be connected to greatness. To feel deep inside that connection of why their organization brand is great, and that they’re part of making that greatness manifest. If you really do believe that people are your greatest asset, you can’t put too great a price tag on inspiration.

But you need to unearth your purpose, your “greatness” first. And when you do, you’ll reap the reward of more motivation and alignment, more momentum and energy and more emotional connection both inside and outside.

Feb

Healthcare re-branding: think more broadly about communication

Consider every single way your healthcare organization communicates its ideas.

We’re in the midst of rebranding a healthcare system. Fundamental to the success of this effort are a few ideas that first must be conveyed and demonstrated to internal audiences. While many months away from launch, we’re already starting to capture all of the different ways the organization communicates its ideas – both top down and across all departments, e.g. medical, finance, nursing, operations, human resources, quality, IT, marketing, service lines, strategic planning, etc.

We’re way out in front with our launch planning because we have so many more communications avenues available beyond what many organizations typically consider. Of course, there are the usual tried and true mass channels. And the ones we pay for. But think more broadly.

Consider each of your departments within the organization and how they get your story, and theirs, out to the world. Begin by highjacking a room. And then start covering the walls. Capture on stickies all of the different ways you communicate, both formal and informal – in meetings, speeches, committees, task forces, retreats, phone calls, texts, reception areas, break rooms, etc. Invite people across every single department to participate.

Branding is ultimately about delivering on the promise of your vision in everything you do. This organization-wide exercise is a valuable means to creating the alignment you need to get there.