Healthcare Accountability, Integration and KISS at Greystone in Orlando

I'm back from sunny Florida to a somewhat dreary Minneapolis in November. However cool and dreary it may feel in Minnesota, I'm feeling extraordinarily inspired ... a little sunny you could even say! Why? Because I spent two days last week with some of the greatest minds in healthcare marketing at the 15th Annual Greystone Healthcare Internet Conference.

Along with a few colleagues from the Priority Integrated Marketing and Dowden Custom Media teams, I heard from many healthcare marketers telling stories of integration, collaboration and even KISS.

Accountability & Integration

 

Peter Taylor from Sarasota Memorial Health Care System kicked things off with a great overview of a sustainable, system-wide approach to social media. My colleague Brian Bierbaum and I were fascinated by how they build their teams. Each team member is assigned to be “CEO” of a digital channel (i.e. Sarah is CEO of Twitter). What a great way to assign accountability to a technology?!

We enjoyed hearing about the various tools and techniques being integrated into healthcare marketing plans. Since returning, Brian has enjoyed sharing with our interactive teams. The next couple of points are creating a lot of buzz around our offices.

• Marketers are integrating non-traditional tactics to reach members of the community
  • Mobile optimized sites and QR codes tied with highly targeted retail data
    • Example: a free heart assessment coupon on your steak-laden grocery receipt ... creepy, but effective
• Marketers are integrating CRM technology with marketing life cycles
  • This is enabling them to truly measure ROI and move toward automation

No, not this KISS!

 

 

My colleague, Kelly Tkac sat in on a presentation by Mark Shelley, Director of Marketing at Lexington Medical Center, who reinforced the K.I.S.S. principle for website redesign. He provided a few great tips to help others keep it simple based on his experience.

• Define the Mission Statement and ensure consensus from the executive team
• Focus on delivering that message throughout the site
• Make a realistic assessment of your staff’s capabilities and resources
• Create a short list of objectives to accomplish ... prioritization is key
  • The initial phase of development should concentrate only on the things that can be done well
• Don't get caught up in what your competition is doing, the latest trends and new buzzwords
  • Remain focused on your core objectives and the features that can be well executed well in the initial phase
  • Tackle additional initiatives in future phases of development

KISS ... Ahem ... Content Remains King

According to another colleague, Christian Twiste, like KISS (who remain popular despite major changes in the music industry), content remains king when it comes to launching and supporting successful online and new media campaigns. Even the best-laid plans will under perform without proper attention to the compelling content streams that engage patients and visitors. According to Christian ...

• The good news for the healthcare industry is that marketers seem to recognize the importance of robust SEO, social media and e-newsletter campaigns to overall marketing initiatives.
  • Tactics considered ancillary just a few years ago have become fundamental parts of a hospital’s communication strategy.
• The bad news is that many organizations still struggle with the intensive task of generating enough quality content to properly support their campaigns.
  • Several attendees remarked to him that they feel confident about their strategy, but feel they are still lacking content.
• Fortunately, today’s healthcare marketers have a wide range of options to choose from to meet their content needs.
  • From complete consumer health libraries to fully custom content, help is available from trusted partners like Priority Integrated Marketing and Dowden Custom Media.

I hope you enjoyed hearing from me and a few of my colleagues who were lucky enough to enjoy some great conversations, presentations and a little Florida sun earlier this week. Have any other takeaways to share? Please comment below.

 

This blog post was originally published on the Priority Blog at priorityresults.com/blog. Priority Integrated Marketing is now BlueSpire Strategic Marketing.