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Author: Stewart Gandolf
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Doctor and nurse holding blank white sign

The traditional textbook for hospital design and décor is a quick read. Historically, the hallmark of doctors’ offices and medical facilities—from reception areas to exam rooms—has been stark, sterile functionality…usually with a non-descript monochrome paint job. Fast forward to today. Who says clean facilities require a sterile look? Significant advances in printing technology have met […]

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red dice reading "lose" on all sides

Two of the most important benefits that we bring to our clients—both hospitals and provider practices—are objectivity and experience. We were reminded of this again recently while working with a large specialty practice in the northeast. We’ve paraphrased the following quote, but it falls into our collection of “fatal last words,” which we know from […]

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We have two winners in the Healthcare Success medical office sign contest. Our thanks goes out to all the subscribers who submitted photo entries. Picking a single winner was tough. In fact, we had to name two practices with marketing-effective outdoor signage as our winners. Here they are, in random order. Our congratulations to:

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woman video chatting on smart pad device

Two days after the State of the Union address, the President was answering questions via social media in a “Fireside Hangout.” (The “fireside” name taps into the legacy of the Franklin Roosevelt presidential Fireside Chats on the radio between 1933 and 1944.) And just last week, the First Lady discussed her Let’s Move initiative about […]

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Simply having a Facebook page is less than half the challenge. To be an effective hospital and healthcare marketing tool, the greater obstacle is to understand reader motivations, and to provide content that will attract and engage. There’s no doubt that Facebook is a social media biggie. “Two-thirds of online American adults [67 percent] are […]

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2013 activity bar graph

It’s no April Fools’ Day joke. Your Medicare revenue cut begins on the first of next month. Healthcare providers, pinched between limited resources and rising overhead, will see Medicare payments reduced by two percent. This adds up to a projected $11 billion less for doctors, hospitals and other providers in 2013. Sequestration will automatically trim […]

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joshua bell playing the violin

There’s a compelling lesson in physician marketing in this story. A while back, on an ordinary morning in Washington, DC, a street musician played his violin for 45 minutes in the L’Enfant Plaza Metro subway station. Few people paid attention to the music or stopped to listen. For his efforts, the street musician collected $32.17 […]

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LinkedIn social icon

Facebook is mainly friends, family and fun. Twitter is playful, fast and furious. They have their role in healthcare social media, but among the many social platforms, LinkedIn is the big guy wearing a Brooks Brothers suit and a power tie. Although anyone can use it, LinkedIn is—more than ever—a relevant social networking tool for […]

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healthcare website design words

Instead of pulling out our hair, we thought it would be more productive and helpful to write about the important lesson in leadership and healthcare marketing hidden in our recent flash of frustration. Our story begins with an innocent but revealing comment… Working with professional practices around the country, time and again we’re told: “Oh, […]

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swot analysis graphic

How to bring maximum benefit to your twice-yearly marketing update.

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Photo of Lori Waltz

Marketing Trainer Lori Waltz is something of a healthcare Road Warrior with a string of success stories and travel anecdotes. Here’s the scoreboard: She has helped over 1,000 practices and hospitals in her career, including 48 states, plus a few nearby countries and territories. Oops…only 48 states? It’s true. Lori has provided marketing training—about telephone/front desk […]

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white figure holding up large cutout of video design

Suddenly, it seems, there’s an explosive interest in video blog posts. This spike in popularity suggests that healthcare marketing professionals may want to add v-posts to their social media and Internet marketing mix. It’s tempting to think that video blog posts didn’t exist two nanoseconds ago. Then—out of the digital darkness—boom! Two-minute or less visual […]

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signs reading "Sales" and "Marketing"

Some of the best salespeople we know are also dedicated and successful healthcare professionals. On the surface, it seems like an unlikely combination of skills. After all, physicians and surgeons think of themselves as helping others and providing a service…certainly not “selling” something. It’s largely a matter of mindset: An essential principle of sales, according […]

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Vine icon

Take a few seconds (actually, six seconds or less) to get acquainted with Twitter’s new video sharing app, VINE. This latest-and-greatest social media (SM) phenom is catching on among Twitter-ites. Vine--along with a new wave of image sharing apps--is new, but it may or may not belong in your healthcare social media toolbox. Clever new […]

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keys reading "fail" and "pass"

We’ve noticed a disturbing sameness among some hospital and medical advertising. Fortunately, it’s not everyone or even most healthcare advertising, but there are all too many instances when the message of one organization is monotonously similar among competitive facilities. Regrettably, being “the same” is not a leadership message. Nor is it compelling, or even interesting. […]

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drawing of waiting room

This is a brief post with a really big lesson… My fourth-grade daughter Natalie was asked to draw pictures of her vocabulary words this week. We asked her about one of the drawings, she said her word was "boring." The picture was of waiting in a doctor's office. (Apparently we've forgotten to teach her the […]

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caution bridge ends sign

One of the most common medical advertising mistakes that doctors and hospitals make every day—one of many that we discover all too frequently—is using the wrong advertising channels. Physicians, hospital executives and other healthcare marketing decision-makers are distracted by a hundred other daily demands on their time, and they fail to fully evaluate their media […]

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How to find the greater value and medical marketing opportunity in negative comments The marketing vernacular is "voice of the customer." Either praise or complaint, it's the most direct feedback for medical professionals, group practices or hospitals about service delivery and satisfaction. Here's how to deal with negative comments, increase patient satisfaction, enhance your reputation […]

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The Lumineers album cover

The thing about social media is that its greatest value is in being social. A balanced, “sociable” mix of healthcare marketing posts—via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, G+, LinkedIn, and others—attracts, engages and connects with your audience. It’s the mix (or variety) in social media where you can show your online “personality” and inspire continuing interest and […]

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text in middle of puzzle reading "Web Design"

Healthcare marketing professionals cringed at the news in our earlier post, Little Blue Book Blues: Doctors Think Their Website is a Failure. It’s a gut-wrenching awareness that only 8 percent of physicians feel their website is the source of new patients. Hopefully, your website has a significantly better track record. But another survey tells us […]

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golf course

The many and various “doctor review” sites seem to be as popular as the flu bug floating around the office. Doctors don’t like them and patients don’t use them, according to two recent surveys. Related: 9 Essential Steps to Improve Doctor Ratings Online But here’s why healthcare marketing professionals and medical providers shouldn't dismiss consumer […]

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Photo of Dr. Martin Hickey

Our podcast today is another in our series for the Physician Strategies Summit. In today’s interview, Healthcare Success Founding Partner Lonnie Hirsch talks with Martin Hickey, MD, CEO, New Mexico Health Connections, Albuquerque, NM. As the Accountable Care Act (ACA) continues to unfold, it introduces new nonprofit health plans aimed at uninsured individuals and small […]

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hands joining in circle

This podcast is another in our series for the Physician Strategies Summit. In today’s interview, Healthcare Success Co-Founder Lonnie Hirsch talks with Suzanne Sawyer, Chief Marketing Officer for Penn Medicine, Philadelphia, PA. Physician Relationship Management (PRM) has been known by various names over the years, but it is playing an increasingly important role in the […]

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Photo of Jennifer Close

Our podcast today is another in our series for the Physician Strategies Summit. In today’s interview, Healthcare Success Founding Partner Lonnie Hirsch talks with Jennifer Close, Vice President of Operations at Dean Clinic in Madison, WI. Consistently delivering value in our healthcare delivery system is a multi-faceted effort. In our interview with Jennifer Close, she […]

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Editor’s Note: Most physicians are completely comfortable with digital technology. Several studies confirm that they often look online for medical or professional information, and they frequently use email to communicate with colleagues. But when it comes to patient communications, as few as 20 percent are emailing patients. Not only do patients want email, text and […]

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football on grass

As long as everyone's preoccupied with the big game this weekend: Remember, you don’t win football games by getting the football as far as the Red Zone. It’s crossing the goal line that makes you a winner. There’s a much-neglected technique in online advertising that you can use to push across the goal line, bring […]

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Share graphic

If you track the evolutionary and revolutionary changes of the Internet you’re probably wondering—or a bit confused—about Facebook’s new “Graph Search”…and what it will mean for healthcare marketing. Facebook, the king of social media, is challenging business rival Google, the king of online search. Although Graph Search is in what Facebook officially terms “a very […]

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Department of Health & Human Services

You’re going to want to block out a few hours for quiet reading and concentration. Healthcare marketing and communications professionals will want to (carefully) read all 563 pages of the Final HIPAA Omnibus Rule. It becomes effective next month, with a compliance date of September 23rd of this year--with increased fines for non-compliance. How will […]

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The new Health Online 2013 survey from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project is bound to raise eyebrows among healthcare providers and marketing executives. It boldly declares that for many people, the Internet is a “de facto second opinion—and even a first opinion” regarding serious health concerns or questions. What’s more, it underscores […]

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laptop with text reading "public relations"

The redesign of the nation’s healthcare delivery system is setting up for another wave of change. And this one’s certain to fuel public relations challenges for healthcare PR professionals with both internal and external audiences. The prospect of connecting doctors’ income directly to quality of care is already sparking lively discussions. What the New York […]

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Signpost for 'Fresh Ideas' against a blue cloudy sky

In our travels, we see a lot of “not-so-good” office signage, and we decided it was time to spotlight (and reward) the really good, hard-working external signs. Send a picture or two of your medical office or healthcare practice sign. We’ll evaluate the top contenders, and the best sign will win a free seat at […]

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old film camera

In a conversation the other day with Simona Ramos, one of our top artists at Healthcare Success, I was reminded how the general public has become far more visually aware and demanding. For healthcare marketing, good pictures are not good enough. The ability to “think visually” is a talent that not everyone has. They don’t […]

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google penguin

There's a definite undercurrent of panic in the phone calls we've been getting recently about Google search results…or more often, the results that have disappeared. If you haven't checked your Google Search results ranking in the past few days, do it now. Take a minute and do a few Google searches just as the regular […]

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hands joining in circle

In the past few years, healthcare providers and marketing executives have been actively sharing ideas and information as an effective means of reaching and engaging patients online. Doctors, hospitals and health systems are creating and maintaining meaningful relationships by presenting timely information today that prospective patients may need tomorrow. And content that they share is […]

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3D letter blocks spelling out "social media marketing"

Having and effectively using an online presence—website, social media, etc.—is a primary channel for connections between patients and providers. It is the principal means for the newly empowered healthcare consumer to find and act upon authoritative information.

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letter blocks reading "social media"

[First of a two-part post.] Social media (SM) has swiftly engrained itself in nearly every corner of contemporary culture and daily living. And that includes healthcare where, among other things, the various social media platforms have become a significant agent for change. Fundamentally, social media is changing the nature and speed of healthcare interaction between consumers […]

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error stamp

Although some risk is inherent in healthcare marketing and advertising, smart planning and creative execution can minimize problems and maximize return. But while risks are manageable, money-wasting mistakes are a different animal. Over the years, we’ve encountered all kinds of mistakes; more than we have space to list here. But, if there’s a silver lining […]

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1950's television with a newscaster reading a news bulletin

[Hospital Advertising Success Story: Part Two] Texas Health Resources has been successfully using humor in their hospital advertising. The first part of this article [available here] looked at why humor in advertising is both difficult and dangerous. In this concluding part, we find that it can also be rewarding…but only when it’s done right. Many […]

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doctor hands holding black suitcase

[Hospital Advertising Success Story: Part One] Using humor in advertising—especially healthcare ads—is both difficult and dangerous. It’s difficult to find the precise balance between being funny (which makes it memorable), and communicating a product or service message (which makes it effective). What’s more, many health issues are no laughing matter. Potentially, it can backfire.

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cluttered desk

by Neil H. Baum, MD Editor’s Note: In this post, Dr. Neil Baum presents doctor-to-doctor ideas founded in his 30 years of real-world experience as a practicing urologist in New Orleans. He is a sought-after speaker, and the author of Social Media For the Healthcare Professional, Greenbranch Publishing, 2011. What is your first impression of […]

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blue vortex

[First in a series. Introduction to RTB. ] Internet advertising has always been more than a bit complicated and more than a bit technical. The typically rectangular Banner Ad is the most familiar, most prolific and usually appears in context with the web page content. The revenue model for banner ads can vary. Payment may be […]

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photo of Nelson and Jolley at SHSMD convention

[Podcast Interview] It’s a widely held—but decidedly incorrect—attitude that a hospital or provider “marketing person” is a “Jack-of-all-trades,” capable of anything and everything that drops on their desk. But veteran healthcare marketing executives know from experience that the “universal man or woman” perception is often fueled by limited resources and burgeoning tasks. The real world […]

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white figure holding light bulb

In many respects, St. Louis, MO, in the heartland of America, is a typical hospital marketplace and serves as an example of the national trend in hospital advertising of proliferation. Competition is increasing, and in this metro area, hospital marketing and advertising reaches out to the consumer public frequently and constantly. But it isn't without […]

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animated doctor using megaphone

Editor’s Note: In this second of a two-part post, Dr. Neil Baum presents doctor-to-doctor ideas that are founded in 30 years of real-world experience as a practicing urologist in New Orleans. He is a sought-after speaker, and the author of Social Media For the Healthcare Professional, Greenbranch Publishing, 2011. Part 1 is available here. Physicians […]

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white figure sitting next to large red 3D question mark

I just came away from a discussion with two practice representatives who work with one of our highly successful specialty practices. Real world, “from the street” healthcare marketing information is often perceptive, and the conversation left me with important insights that I wanted to share with our readers. For context... Three years ago, our client […]

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3D number 1

The month of December often triggers a bit of personal and professional reflection and self-evaluation for most of us. And generally, that's a good thing. Perhaps we appreciate the achievements and milestones of the year ending. And we look ahead at the New Year with visions of opportunity and progress. From a medical marketing perspective, […]

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gold star on red carpet

Editor’s Note: In this first of a two-part post, Dr. Neil Baum presents doctor-to-doctor ideas that are founded in 30 years of real-world experience as a practicing urologist in New Orleans. He is a sought-after speaker, and the author of Social Media For the Healthcare Professional, Greenbranch Publishing, 2011. Physicians have been shy about reaching […]

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phone message reading "1 message received"

Have you heard the one about the toothbrush and the mobile phone? The nearly-fabled statistic observes that: Among the six billion people on the planet, 4.8 billion have a mobile phone while only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush. (AdAge) The counterpoint is amusing, but it's a serious reminder that a mobile strategy needs to be […]

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handshake

The six key elements in an effective CRM program for specialty practices and others. Healthcare is business that's all about relationships. Every practice or organization appreciates a new patient referral, but specialty practices that depend on referrals don't leave the process to chance or pure goodwill. The basics of a relationship program guide reps, business […]

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We’ve long been a fan of the “Ideas Worth Spreading” TED series. And our Friday Video today is a simple but powerful inspirational presentation by author Simon Sinek. His START WITH WHY concepts—about innovation, leadership and success—are immediately useful for healthcare providers and organizations. Why you do what you do is the vital (and often […]

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