Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

"A new neighbor, an old friend."

Build the message on the foundation that you are still the trusted community provider that you have always been. But then issue a series of PR vehicles to generate awareness of the state-of-the-art capabilities that most residents may not realize.

For example ...

We have a high-tech medical fitness center and a team of 15 new rehabilitation engineers, so no one will have you back in action faster!

Our state-of-the-art imaging equipment and world-class team of oncologists gives you the edge in beating cancer.

(Etc.)

ABC Hospital - a new neighbor, an old friend.

My firm specializes in sales and marketing for health & wellness businesses and organizations.

Here are the first few steps we'd suggest:

1) Identify the goals of your marketing plan and make sure they're tied to the overall business goals/plan for the entire hospital system.

Is the goal simply to raise awareness? Or to attract more docs, or more patients, or something else?

Are there particular services you want to promote, and why?

Estimate the available budget (rough guess is fine).

You said you want a marketing campaign for everything, but it would probably be more effective to set priorities for your campaign over the next couple of years.

2) Once you've done the above, develop the key marketing messages to support those goals. These are the key things that you want to communicate to the hospital's stakeholders. Typical stakeholders are potential (and current) patients/clients and physicians, both those currently affiliated with the hospital and those who may be affiliated in some way in the future. For example, it can also include potential investors if getting financing for future acquisitions is a major thrust.

You've identified several potential messages - state of the art equipment & superb docs, for example. There are probably others that should be considered as well. For example, most consumers also want sincere concern for their wellbeing.

3) Then address the question of whether the current hospital name is appropriate or whether you need a new name (AKA brand).

4) Then address a tagline for the overall hospital system.

5) Only now should you start developing the secondary marketing messages that are tied to specific areas, like ob/gyn or the fitness center. Those messages will need to be consistent with everything else. And of course, you'll need business goals for each area as well because those provide the context for developing the marketing messages, taglines, and other elements of the marketing campaign.

One other thought - this is also a good time to think about the best way to get the word out. Direct mail is the frequent choice, but not necessarily the best. I judged the Health Information Awards in '05 and '06 and saw some very innovative community-oriented hospital system communications that were probably more effective (and frankly, cheaper) than direct mail.

We've found that it's really important to have the "big picture" framework in place before you start working on taglines and the like. Otherwise, what often happens is that you come up with a catchy slogan, but it ends up not "meshing" well with everything else.

Feel free to e-mail me if you'd like to brainstorm further. We've got extensive experience in rebranding after mergers and acquisitions and in communicating to customers after an ownership change.

Good luck!

Leslie Nolen
The Radial Group
Business expertise for the wellness industry

Seems to me that getting a tagline wd not be a solution to your problem. You need to change perceptions of the community around you as well as build patients for your OBGYN division.
May i suggest that you run various awareness campaigns... like Did you know, Guess Whats New?, 'We do not have piped music at our waiting rooms but our prices will be music to your ears' ( if u wish t position on prices/ deals etc)
For an OBGYN promotion- run pink ribbon campaigns in local shopping malls, discounted checkups during the lean hours, joint promotions with womyns products-credit cards/ loans etc.
Hope this helps.

You said in your follow-up post that "Most of them just are not aware of the quality of care they can get here because past marketing efforts were minimal."

Forgive my bluntness, but virtually everyone in a community comes into contact with the local hospital. If they don't experience it directly, they're only one or two steps removed from it.

If they don't perceive quality of care, that's not a marketing problem. That means that they're hearing bad stories - not positive ones - from their neighbors, coworkers, friends and family members.

It's virtually impossible to market yourself out of a bad perception. Bad perceptions only change if people begin to accumulate pleasantly surprising positive experiences over time.

Leslie Nolen
The Radial Group
Business expertise for the wellness industry