Intramural vs. Intermural digital strategies
Digital strategy is this year’s social media: Everywhere you turn – conference agendas, blog posts, 2012 marketing budgets – it is a dominant topic of conversation. Overall, this is a good thing. As I point out in Chapter Two of “Joe Public Doesn’t Care About Your Hospital,” marketing transformation for healthcare organizations must involve an “out with the old, in with the new” mentality, and focusing on digital marketing strategies certainly fits the mold. But as with many other hot issues and new trends, the pendulum may be swinging a bit too far, at least in how we define and pursue digital strategies.
In the vast majority of cases, hospitals and health systems are already doing some kind of digital marketing. Many have been using social media for a year or two or have been incorporating direct email communications as a part of a service line program. Perhaps the organization’s website has received a much-needed face-lift, or pay-per-click advertising has been employed.
But what often leads to the call for a “digital strategy” is the recognition by marketing leaders that these tools and tactics don’t live in isolation, and that an overarching approach is needed to maximize the benefit of all digital marketing efforts. In looking at a digital strategy, organizations typically include everything from website functionality to mobile to video production – anything that can be used or shared in a digital channel or format.
But here’s the issue: Just as it would be wrong to build a marketing strategy that includes everything but digital tactics, so too is it misguided to develop a strategy that includes only digital tactics. The impetus driving many digital strategies is integration, but typically what this means is integration among various digital assets, rather than integration of digital assets into the entire marketing mix.
This digital-only focus might be called an “intramural” strategy. Back in high school or college, you may have participated on an intramural sports team, where you faced off against other teams from your school. Intermural athletics were the varsity teams – those that went out and played against other schools. When it comes to digital marketing, you should focus on developing an “intermural” approach. Instead of focusing on digital marketing in and of itself, consider how these tools and channels will integrate with your entire marketing strategy. Sure, it’s important to leverage the interconnectedness of a post on Facebook which leads to an article on your website which drives a visitor to an online health risk assessment — all of which helps boost your search effectiveness. But it’s a mistake to ignore how all of that also can be used to support your community health seminars – and vice versa – or how more people will likely access your website content when prompted by targeted direct mailings or a well-placed article in the local newspaper.
While it’s fantastic to see marketers willing to leave the perceived safety of traditional marketing, let’s not let the pendulum swing too far. When it comes to your digital marketing, strive for an intermural approach that considers digital in the context of your entire marketing strategy. After all, while playing on an intramural team certainly can be fun and a worthwhile endeavor, the highest level of competition takes place at the intermural level.
Good thoughts, Chris. As a team of one focused on digital strategy I am frequently asked, “so, what is your digital strategy?” to which I want to reply, “we’ll, what is the marketing strategy?” (help me help you, a la Jerry Maguire). While I spend a lot of time thinking about the tools, I also spend a lot of time getting into other people’s business so I know what their priorities are, and how I connect the dots and execute and extend the broader marketing plan in the digital space. Surprisingly, it is still very separate (traditional marketing and digital), so we have to burn a few extra calories to do the leg work that not everyone instinctively does (it’s more than just dropping a PDF on the website). We’re all getting better, though.
I am seeing this as well. I think much of this goes back to senior leadership not seeing value in digital as compared to traditional. “Digital is a nice add-on if budget allows” … or… “Make sure we add this to the website.”
I think in short order we will see most of our communications need to take on a mobile element not just digital.
How do we move the leaders thought process in this direction?
Nice way to describe how a hospital should approach its overall marketing strategy. We always tell our clients that digital is another channel that needs to be integrated into an overall marketing strategy. The latest research I have seen is actually indicating healthcare will be spending more of the overall marketing budget on digital and social marketing vs traditional marketing by 2013.
Keep up the good work Chris