Insights on Healthcare Marketing

We often have practices come to us because they feel like they must engage in social media. However, often there are no goals or plan behind this agenda item. Social media, like any type of marketing, requires strategy, and effective strategies require solid goals. So before you jump into Facebook or Twitter for your practice, ask yourself a few questions:

“It just doesn’t speak to me.”

“It’s too feminine.”

“I don’t get it.”

Sometimes that means back to the drawing board, but sometimes this is perfectly fine. 

Who are you trying to reach? 

If you are in healthcare, more often than not, it is the female head of household who is the healthcare decision-maker for her family. So if you are a male practice administrator or physician and the latest draft of your new marketing piece doesn’t resonate with you, that may be OK as long as your target audience reacts and responds favorably. Gather a focus group — formal or informal — and test it out. You not “getting it” may actually be exactly what your practice needs.

Electronic health records are designed to not only enhance and streamline patient care but also communication across providers. Many of these systems offer a function that allows physicians to drop an electronic message to another provider. So who needs to do handwritten notes anymore? 

You do. 

While these electronic communications are great, they are already on their way to becoming “expected.” The timeless beauty of a brief handwritten note card is that it surprises the receiver. It is “unexpected” and personal. Part of the delight comes not only in the surprise, but also in knowing someone cared enough to take the time to jot a note and sign their name. 

A lot actually. Other than the phone call to make the appointment and perhaps a visit to your Web site, it is a patient’s first experience with your practice and therefore, a first impression. Are you making a good one? Is your parking area well marked? Is there an ample number of spaces (including handicapped spaces)? Is there a designated and easy-to-use drop-off area? Do you have an overflow option for busy days? Is all of this communicated to your patients through signage, on your Web site and by your staff when they schedule patient appointments? 

One of your physicians was honored with an award from the local homeless coalition for 20 years of service to the organization. 

Another physician just completed his first triathlon. 

Your staff was the largest team and raised the most money at the diabetes walk last weekend. 

These are all great ways you are participating in your community, but do your patients know? 

Start a blog on your Web site and update it with brief stories about these events. Post them on your social media, too. Create a congratulations poster for the waiting room. Frame a photo of your team in action out in the community and hang it on the wall. 

Your practice has a heart and a soul. Now be sure to share it with your patient family.

My friend’s grandmother fell and broke her hip on her 94th birthday.  A day that was supposed to be spent with family celebrating ended up quite different -- with an agonizing day in the ER. Although in great pain, she kept her sense of humor and quickly developed an attachment to her ER nurse. The nurse shared how she was headed out of town for a football game as soon as her shift ended. When the nurse asked if there was anything else she could get her, the elderly woman quipped, “a birthday balloon sure would be nice.”

How do your patients perceive you?

In the face of shrinking reimbursements, health care providers are working harder than ever to maximize collections and develop new revenue streams. But at what expense?  Can you take it too far?

Don’t forget in the new world of healthcare, patient experience and satisfaction also influence reimbursement. And if you push too hard with collections, you run the risk of negatively impacting patient experience.

A couple of recent stories to illustrate my point:

ORLANDO, Fla. – Andrea Eliscu, president and founder of Medical Marketing Inc., was recently honored by the Women’s Executive Council with the 2013 Women’s Achievement Award in Health & Wellness. These awards have been presented annually since 1972 and honor outstanding Central Florida women in the categories of Arts, Business, Community Service, Education, Government, Health & Wellness, Technology, Communications/Media and Emerging Achiever. 

The idea of offering online forms on your Web site is a beautiful thing. Done correctly, it improves access and increases your availability to and accommodation of your patients. The reality, however, is too often, we put the forms on the “lot” before taking them for a test drive.

We’ve all experienced it. You click on the link for an online form only to end up confused or frustrated and in too many cases, you simply pick up the phone or worse yet, give up. I suspect this is because the person who created the form never “tested” it on real end users.  And in this new world of pay-for-performance, patient satisfaction (yes, even the ease of filling out forms) is more critical than ever before.

When you greet a patient warmly, personally and immediately, your patient feels welcome and at ease.

When you take the initiative to help a patient secure missing paperwork, lab work, medical records, etc., your patient feels grateful, relieved and more confident in your leadership of their care.

When you are on time, your patient feels valued.

When you take the time to ask the right questions and truly listen, your patient feels heard and understood.

When you thoroughly explain treatment options and involve your patient in the care plan, your patient feels educated and connected (and will probably be more compliant).