After finding success in using focus groups to evaluate advertising campaigns, Sheepherd Hospital has applied the consumer research tool to its surgical suite. In September, a focus group consisting of four community members, three former patients and a ventriloquist from a traveling circus provided feedback that led to significant changes in the hospital’s open-heart surgery program.
“We have had a long history of success using focus groups to improve our advertising,” said Sheepherd CEO Jerry Feeble. “They have consistently provided invaluable advice, like how our ads should include more doctors in them, or how the logo should be much, much bigger. Read the full story »
In a growing trend, hospitals and health systems across the country are increasingly pushing the emerging “Russian-nesting-doll” brand strategy. The opposite of a unified brand strategy – in which one name is used across the entire organization – the Russian-nesting-doll approach calls for using as many brand names as humanly possible.
Take the new Tyler T. Tylerton Center for Knuckle Replacement Surgery in Chicago, IL. The “TTT Center,” as system marketing lead Jonathan Sampson J. Johnson calls it, is part of the Mary Ginger Bone and Joint Institute, which is housed in the Western Southside Chicago Medical Center, which is part of the Prairie Meadows Health System, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PMS Health LLC. Read the full story »
Here are the top 10 healthcare marketing stories of 2010, as selected by the award-winning staff at the WeeklyProbe.
In an effort to ride the mobile “check-in” wave, Porch Hospital and Clinics has been encouraging patients to use FourSquare, FaceBook and other mobile location applications to “check-in” with every clinical appointment. The hospital hopes to encourage loyalty and repeat visits by rewarding return visitors with discounts, incentives to explore other clinical services, and a ranking feature that recognizes frequent visitors. So for example, Ted Hill, a 65-year-old with chronic heart issues who received an angioplasty last year at Porch Hospital, was recently named the “King of Coronary” following a routine check-up last week. Read the full story »
Many experts have predicted that the new iPad from Apple will radically change the delivery of healthcare. In one of the first examples that the future is here today, technology company Bodily Software has announced iStream, an app for the iPad that takes advantage of the new product’s large touch screen to offer a real-time urinalysis. Read the full story »
In a follow-up to last year’s groundbreaking study that uncovered the stunning truth that hospitals are actually businesses, WiseBucks magazine issued a follow-up report showing that to remain open, hospitals have to attract patients to receive care. The follow-up report is timely, given new legislation announced in Vermont that seeks to ban hospitals from spending money on marketing and advertising.
“Like the legislator in Vermont, we were flabbergasted that hospitals actually have to attract patients with marketing and advertising,” said WiseBucks editor Joe Duhh. “That’s how regular businesses operate, sure. But hospitals? That would be like saying politicians have to spend money to get elected – doesn’t it just happen?”
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