New Facebook Initiative Aims to Promote Organ Donor Registration

Posted by: Neil James // May 16th, 2012

According to David Fleming, President & CEO of Donate Life America, there are currently 114,000 people on waiting lists for organ transplants. Eighteen people die each day waiting for an organ that never arrives. That translates to approximately 7,000 deaths a year. And despite that 95 percent of Americans support organ donation, only 60 percent are actually registered as donors.

A new initiative led by Facebook and founder Mark Zuckerberg is looking to make a positive impact on these grim statistics. According to USA Today, Facebook will now allow its 900 million members to share their decision to become a donor with their network through Facebook functionality that’s integrated with donor databases throughout the United States. Users not currently registered as donors will still need to register with their respective state.

@NeilAndrewJames

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Social Hubs the New Trend in Healthcare?

Posted by: Matthew Bick // May 14th, 2012

According to Russell Working of Ragan’s Health Care Communication News, social hubs for hospitals are set to become “a major trend in communications in the medical industry.”  Social hubs, including the Cleveland Clinic’s site that Working mentions in his article, bring together content from around the internet that patients might find of interest.

Hubs like this can offer great value to healthcare organizations and hospitals.  Instead of asking users or customers to find content themselves that may already be fragmented across multiple blogs, users now can find their most sought-after content and other similar content in one location.  Healthcare providers can still maintain blogs in the same manner as they do right now, but with their content aggregated together with fellow professionals in one location, there is great potential for improved blog visibility throughout their network.

@MatthewBick

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Online Video Emerging in Healthcare Marketing

Posted by: Matthew Bick // May 9th, 2012

Nebraska Medical Center

2012 has been touted by many as a big year for online video.  The healthcare industry is proving to be no exception to the trend.  Recently, the Nebraska Medical Center harness the power of online video to build positive buzz around its attention to patient care.

According to an article by Jessica Levco for Ragan’s Healthcare Communication News, the Nebraska Medical Center was actually an early adopter where online video content is concerned. “The health center’s video program launched in 2009 and has created close to 250 videos and logged a total of 260,000 views. Videos play at monthly forums attended by hospital employees; then the videos are shared on social media outlets.”

The facility’s recent videos feature the hospital’s employees throwing a baby shower for a pregnant patient, a 16-year-old discussing his experience at the hospital as he suffered a stroke, and the hospital helping a patient’s husband put together a “five-star dinner” for his cancer-stricken wife.

@MatthewBick

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The Power of Objective Ratings in Healthcare Marketing

Posted by: Neil James // May 7th, 2012

One of the problems posed by positioning your hospital as providing higher quality care is that is establishing meaningful competitive differentiation is difficult. In general, most patients assume that virtually all accredited hospital clinics will meet their expectations for quality care, even if they’re unlikely to. Subsequently, it’s often difficult for prospective patients to truly grasp the concept of differences in level of service from one healthcare brand to the next.

But a new article by Getahn Ward for The Tennessean, Hospitals Sharpen Focus on Patient Satisfaction, discusses how objective ratings systems, which have a far greater ability to differentiate levels of clinical service, could ultimately have a much stronger impact on healthcare and hospital marketing. According to Ward, beginning October 1st, patient satisfaction surveys will affect how much money a hospital gets paid by Medicare by up to 30 percent. Ward reports that satisfaction scores varied significantly across several Nashville facilities. As such, Ward states, the higher-scoring hospitals may incorporate their premium rating scores into future marketing initiatives.

@NeilAndrewJames

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The Remedy for Poor Healthcare Advertising? Creativity.

Posted by: Kirsten Taylor // May 2nd, 2012

Hospital marketing can be just as fun an innovative as any other product if you give it the attention it deserves. So how can you make it stand out from the rest in a way that is interesting, unexpected but still professional? According to Taft and Partners, there are a few things you need to remember:

  • Your ads are still ads! They must be attention grabbing and creative
  • They must make you stand apart from your competitors
  • You don’t have to say it all in a single ad
  • It’s a marathon, not a sprint, share your full message over time
  • Place the ads well so they have a good combination of reach and frequency
  • Be integrated and connection so the effect is cumulative
  • Have aligned offline and online strategies

It’s important to remember that you can look outside of the healthcare industry to find examples of how companies are strategically and effectively marketing their brand. Creativity is everywhere!

@KirstenETaylor

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The Power of an Apology – Crisis Management in Healthcare

Posted by: Neil James // April 30th, 2012

Serious harm or deaths resulting from medical errors are every hospital’s worst nightmare. When these horrific events occur, however, secrecy and denial quickly envelop like a thick fog over the parties involved. In many instances, these shrouds aren’t erected as the result of a deliberate attempt to mislead. Legal, privacy, regulatory and even moral obligations are often the driving force instead. Nevertheless, for grieving families, the silence can be deafening.

A new article by Liz Kowalczyk for the Boston Globe, Hospitals Promise Openness, Apologies, discusses how seven Masssachusetts hospitals have pledged a commitment to both financial settlements and, notably, a prompt apology to all patients harmed by medical errors. This plan, titled “Road Map to Reform”, is designed to promote transparent reporting of medical mistakes while curtailing subsequent, lengthy litigation. The plan, which is being tested by such powerhouses as Beth Israel Deaconess and Franklin Medical Center, also hopes to address the practice of excessive defensive medicine and the occurrence of patient-provider mistrust.

@NeilAndrewJames

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Google Developing Strategies to Keep Employees Happier, Healthier

Posted by: Kirsten Taylor // April 25th, 2012

There has been a lot of discussion as of late about the future of healthcare, but some companies are working to change the way their employees will require it altogether. Google has developed a set of strategies to help their employees stay healthier, as they believe this makes them happier and work harder.

To accomplish this, Google formed a special HR department called “People Analytics” to analyze consumption behavior and point employees in the right direction. Additionally, they restructured the literal setup of their cafeteria to make the salad bar the first thing people see, mark healthy foods with green tags and high-calorie foods with red, place water bottles at eye-level, and more.

Google also had a graphic designed to help market these changes, hoping to inspire other companies to do the same, which will maybe change the healthcare discussion.

@KirstenETaylor

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Minneapolis Marketing Firm, Russell Herder, Achieves Certified Partner Status with Google AdWords

Posted by: Neil James // April 24th, 2012

Minneapolis Marketing Firm, Russell Herder, Achieves Adwords Certified Status

MINNEAPOLIS - Russell Herder, a Minneapolis marketing firm, is proud to announce that it has earned recognition as a Google Adwords Certified Partner.  Achieving agency-level certification, Russell Herder joins the ranks of only a handful of companies within the Minneapolis market.

To achieve the status of Google AdWords Certified Partner, Russell Herder digital experts successfully passed a rigorous set of search engine marketing exams which covered such topics as keyword research, the AdWords interface, and making the most of other various online marketing and analytical tools that Google provides.

“We are proud to add the accolade of Google Partner Certified to the agency’s credentials and accomplishments,” said Carol Russell, CEO Russell Herder. “Our clients have enjoyed measurable ROI through the delivery of Google AdWords management service for some time and now this certification will allow us to further enhance the successful strategies we’ve developed to achieve the best possible results for our clients.”

Russell Herder’s digital division provides a variety of digital marketing solutions, including pay per click advertising, social media marketing, web analytics, email marketing, search engine optimization and much more. The professional digital marketing experts at Russell Herder provide custom-tailored solutions that focus on helping clients make improvements to grow the profitability of their online marketing efforts.

About Russell Herder

Founded in 1984, Russell Herder provides integrated strategic solutions to regional and national clients. With offices in Minneapolis and Brainerd, Russell Herder develops strategies that link creative, research, advertising, public relations and digital communications into powerful, results-driven platforms. For more information, visit russellherder.com.

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Happy, Healthy Employees Integral for Healthcare Organizations

Posted by: Matthew Bick // April 23rd, 2012

Appropriately, the healthcare industry puts the majority of its energy into providing excellent care to patients and generally improving the wellness of the people it serves.  However, in the efforts to provide these services to the community, it is equally important to ensure the wellness of healthcare employees.

John J. Seng lists several factors that go into overall workforce health in an article for Ragan’s Health Care Communication News.  He proposes that there are really four overarching tenets for a healthcare organization to provide for its employees.  Client health, personal health, financial health, and community health are all critical, according to Seng.  About personal health, Seng writes, “Care needs to begin with the individual. Employers can offer health benefits to staff, but employees also must bear the responsibility to self-manage their own wellness—embracing good nutrition, fitness and other preventative measures—to reap the real rewards.”

@MatthewBick

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The Five Demographics Every Healthcare Marketer Needs to Consider

Posted by: Neil James // April 18th, 2012

Healthcare Demographics

The last campaign your hospital ran…..how were you targeting? If the answer was “everybody”, you might have missed an opportunity. Not all people receive the same messages equally. Proper targeting can help you decide which appeals will be the most effective.

In a new article for Ragan’s Health Care Communication News, 5 Things to Consider When Creating a Hospital Marketing Campaign, Nicola Ziady discusses the differentiating factors among five key demographics in healthcare marketing: gender, age, ethnicity, income and education level. Of particular help to digital healthcare marketers, Ziady identifies key trends in each demographic’s attitudes towards online health information, such as how individuals between ages 18-29 are the largest percentage of online users of health information. Similarly, 83 percent individuals who earn more than $75,000 go online for health information compared to only 41 percent of those who make less than $31,000.

@NeilAndrewJames

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