Billboards boast short ER wait times. Newspaper articles discuss the latest diagnostic or surgical technology. TV newscasts showcase the only local physician or team performing the latest medical procedure.
Medical marketing is an extremely competitive landscape today.
How can a hospital executive or marketing department head ensure their facility gets exposure for its initiatives, advancements and enhancements?
Trusted tools like public relations and community outreach, when combined with social media like Facebook or Twitter, ensure medical marketing reaches consumers where they live and work.
Tips for boosting the effectiveness of your medical marketing …
– Know your audience. From the media beat reporters who cover healthcare, to the residents who live in your facility’s service area, know your market. Create relationships with journalists to introduce them to your facility, technology and team. If your CEO, Chief of Staff or Chief Nursing Officer, for example, have not met key reporters, invite them down individually for a quick site visit. Make it eventful. Showcase the latest technology in use. Give them a list of your latest advancements.
– Compare the competition and tout your tech. The latest technology – from robotic assisted surgical equipment to a “CyberKnife” to MRIs and scanners designed to improve patient comfort, care and outcomes – often impress the media and consumers. See what other facilities are offering and play up those devices or procedures they don’t offer.
– Market your M.D.s. If you just hired your area’s only board-certified pediatric sleep disorder specialist – promote him. Make him available to the media to discuss how his skills are unique, different and leading-edge.
– Follow big trends. “Think global, act local,” so the saying goes. Scan the national media for mega-trends or national stories you can adapt to the local market. Is a major influenza brewing, which your infectious disease expert can speak on? Was a highly popular professional athlete injured in such a way that your orthopedist can add clarity to the story? Localizing big stories adds local relevance, and lures the media.
– Keep it simple. Big stories are interesting. Cutting-edge technology is great news. Highly skilled physicians make compelling copy. But make sure to keep technology-speak to a minimum. Talk about benefits more than features. If you’re sending an executive, doctor or nurse to meet with the media, implore them to talk to their audience, not at them.
– Media train your spokespeople. Listen to your team speak. Are they conversational and friendly, or fact-rich but personality-poor? Engaging speakers draw in viewers and listeners with tones and speaking patterns that enrapture the audience – and stories that capture the imagination. If necessary, media train your experts to speak in ways that viewers will appreciate.
– Use social media to make your outreach fan-friendly. Healthcare consumers today live online. They research procedures, and they network with friends about illnesses or healthcare issues. Make your hospital one of their destinations on the information superhighway. Include ample consumer-friendly pages and resources on your Website. Create a Facebook fan page so people who are interested in your hospital can follow your updates. Then, syndicate your information from your social media, like Facebook or Twitter, to – and from – your Website.
Finally, it’s important to build your marketing team. Hire internal marketing people who know how to work with the press or create effective and engaging social media programs. Supplement your internal team with a skilled marketing communications firm even more versed with media outreach and more connected in the marketplace.
From trend-tracking to press outreach to media training, the right marketing team can strengthen your efforts and improve your chances of successfully marketing your hospital in the modern age.
