Competition

Sep 10, 2010

Sunshine and wait times

There’s been a lot of coverage recently on the trend of promoting ED wait times in hospital advertising. Marianne Aiello from HealthLeaders Media covered the idea nicely in a recent blog post. Along with this trend comes the emergence of web-based and smart-phone applications that give real-time updates on ED wait times. I think the value of advertising ED wait times depends on the situation: how good are the wait times? have other hospitals in the market jumped on the bandwagon? how does the message fits with the organization’s brand? And I’m not sold on the actual value of an i-Phone app for ED wait times: is that something people really would use on their i-Phone? would a user need to have one for every area hospital? (For more on our thoughts on promoting ED wait times, listen to our recent podcast.) With all that said, I love the idea of opening the shades and letting the sun shine on wait times. Continue reading…

Jun 22, 2010

Will you be the first to own wellness in your market?

We continue to push and cajole hospitals to establish a brand positioning in their market around wellness. That is, if your hospital is known for one thing, let it be known as the resource for health and wellness support, resources, content and offerings. Why wellness? Here are three primary reasons: Continue reading…

May 27, 2010

Gettin’ paid

Here’s the “How to Deal With a Leadership Challenge Tip of the Week.” We’ve heard this one a number of times over the years, but it’s become more frequent recently, and it goes a little something like this:

“Why should we invest in XYZ? We don’t get paid for that.”

This often comes from a CEO or CFO of a hospital, and what they mean is that whatever it is your asking them to invest in, the organization doesn’t get reimbursed for it. For example, we’ve heard this used in regards to investing in a better patient experience. One CFO we know said the following during planning for a major expansion:

“Why do we need to spend so much on patient rooms? We could just stick them in the hall and we’d get paid the same.”
Continue reading…

Sep 22, 2009

Hospital awards – the madness continues

For those of you who follow this blog or have heard me speak, this will be a beating of a dead horse. But I can’t help myself, given a conversation I just had with a healthcare marketer who told me of two new hospital awards her organization had received, two of which I had never heard. The question is, will this madness ever end? Continue reading…

May 13, 2009

Truth #3:Great healthcare marketing requires great healthcare leaders

The Truths We Hold Self-Evident: Third in a Series

Many elements contribute to successful marketing and branding for hospitals and health systems: talented and dedicated marketing staff, smart strategies, clear communications, strong positioning, consistency, creativity and more. Continue reading…

Apr 3, 2009

Step right up to get your free colonoscopy…

Across the U.S., companies are finding ways to try to help customers purchase products and services in these tough economic times. Much has been made of some of the offers by car companies, started by Hyundai’s Assurance plan: anyone who buys or leases a vehicle in 2009 can return their car to the dealer and stop making monthly payments without affecting their credit score. According to Consumer Reports, the program isn’t just for consumers who’ve lost their jobs in tough times; it also extends to those who become physically disabled, lose their driver’s license due to medical impairment, are self employed and file for bankruptcy, or get a job transfer overseas. At Interval, we’ve even introduced a new offering to help our clients – hospital and health system marketers – who are having budgets and staffs slashed as the healthcare industry struggles.

This week, Walgreen announced Continue reading…

Mar 29, 2009

Newspaper strikes back – oh, and it’s a great healthcare story

Perhaps the traditional media powers read Adam’s last blog post “Bye bye traditional media” and decided to launch a counter-strike. In this Sunday’s Star Tribune, the front page features a story by healthcare reporter Chen May Yee on new tactics by hospitals to collect payment for some procedures ahead of time. Here’s the counter-strike: the article, “Hospitals forced to become bill collectors,” is only available in the print edition of the paper. There is a teaser online, and I imagine at some point down the road (a few days? a week?) the story will end up on their web site. But for now, unless you pick up the paper itself, you’ll have to wait.

So there are two blog posts in one here: Continue reading…

Mar 16, 2009

The economic crisis: Tipping point for healthcare consumer behavior?

With their own money on the line, consumers are beginning to use the same value criteria for healthcare decisions – service, price, experience, brand equity and more – as they do with other purchasing decisions. To date, however, the new healthcare “consumerism” has not led to a widespread change in consumer behavior. But this nation’s current economic crisis may well be the tipping point; the driver of fundamental change in how and when consumers engage hospitals and health systems. Continue reading…