Everybody is buying somebody. Or somebody is getting sold. So it goes with the latest flurry of activity with hospital Mergers and Acquisitions. With all the Mergers and Acquisitions out there, odds are — your hospital might go through one in the future or may be going through one right now. With a M&A, you might find yourself saddled with a bunch of urgent care centers. Or immediate care clinics. Or walk-in clinics. Or convenient care clinics. Whatever you want to call them, the list of possible names goes on and on. All these names can be confusing for your brand, especially when you’re dealing with an M&A. Since an urgent care clinic can be called and labeled so many different things, your job is to figure out how to simplify the naming process. Here’s how: Pick a retail name “Retail health” is one of the hottest trends in hospital marketing right now. That’s when a hospital tends to think more like a Nordstrom or Starbucks, in terms of servicing and reaching target demographics. For example, MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, WA named its urgent care clinic Indigo Urgent Care, with its own logo and branding. Henry Ford Health System, MI, did something similar when it named its urgent care clinic, QuickCare Clinic. If your hospital is going through an M&A with a former competitor or outside partner, there might be a more neutral, retail-type name that fits your urgent care centers. Make sure you’ve got a solid PR and marketing strategy Urgent care situations happen infrequently. But you want patients to think of you first, when a medical situation pops up. Whatever you decide to name your facility, you want to make sure there’s a strong brand identity behind it. That means drumming up awareness through paid advertising, Google search and social media channels. The name you pick is essential to your brand’s integrity. You want to make sure you allocate the right dollar amount to back it up. Get the right partner Even if you’re not doing an M&A, you might pick an outside partner to team up with to build your urgent care facility. A partnership for urgent care facilities can help lessen the cost and provide easier access into the market, especially if the partner is already well-established....
Being a mid-sized health system in today’s healthcare marketplace is tough. If you’re busy trying to compete on a grand scale and make claims how your features are just as good as the big hospital the next metro over, it might be time to take a step back and think about what really matters to both you and your community. This is where a solid brand promise can work for branding health systems. While it’s important to know your strengths and your identity – you need to provide value. A unique brand promise becomes an effective shorthand for how you can best meet the needs of your community. Solid, effective branding health systems engages with people at an emotional level. It’s not a logo, a color scheme, or a typeface. Yes, those are visual representations of your brand. But what really matters is your “heartbeat,” what makes you come alive and breathe in the minds of your consumers. It is your distinctive message, your personality. It’s who you are, how you talk to people, and how you present yourself and your organization to the world. And being a mid-size, community health system, you have an advantage over your larger brethren. Your deep roots and long history with your communities give you a personalized connection the big guys don’t have. This becomes even more relevant because reimbursement is transitioning from fee-for-service to value-based. So what’s the best way to hit on your brand promise? First, think about who you are, what you do best, what your customers need from you and how your organization fits in their lives. It may sound simple, but that’s really what your brand represents. To Beebe Healthcare in Lewes DE, this meant taking an active role in creating a healthier Sussex County – a county that was voted as having the least healthy population in the area. Beebe knew they were convenient and accessible to the community through its medical center and outpatient health campuses, but they didn’t have an identity beyond being a single hospital destination. Embracing their vision to lead their community into a healthier future, they promised to help their population achieve the healthiest life possible. Their community needed them to serve. Next, figure out how to build a relationship with people. Remember, your brand is more than who you are—it’s how you engage with your users. It’s the moment of contact and connection. For Beebe, this meant hiring one of the nation’s first Directors of Population Health, a nurse practitioner dedicated solely to improving community health through education and wellness programs. It meant being a founding member of Healthier Sussex County, a community-based coalition working together to help all area residents achieve optimal health. And, it meant launching a marketing campaign that helped the community understand Beebe’s promise to them – Be Well. Once you’ve got it, stay consistent. Whether it’s your web presence, a letter, or a handshake, live your promise. It’s actually easy, because this is who you are. What’s more, the people you serve will appreciate the singular commitment that your brand promise provides. That’s how Beebe did it. When done right, branding health systems is authentic. It’s exactly who you are. It’s everything you’ve made sure that your organization has been since day one. It’s supportive. It’s innovative. And the results? A 7% increase in top of mind awareness and 4% increase in recognition as the most preferred hospital. So who do you think you are? With a consistent brand promise, you—and your users—will know exactly. If you’re interested in finding out how Springboard can help your mid-size community health system grow in today’s healthcare landscape, contact us to learn more about branding health...
Medical associations support their members through educational opportunities, networking forums, mentoring programs, public awareness activities, leadership activities and advocacy efforts, among others. But how do they determine how successful they are? Membership growth? Member retention? Seminar attendance? Member engagement? Member satisfaction? Revenue? Visitors to websites? Facebook likes? Patient interactions? Advocacy wins? The answer is – all of the above and more. So how do you measure your success? For associations, it begins and ends with the members. Membership Growth Membership growth is a hot topic. Most, if not all, associations strive for membership growth. More members = more revenue = successful association, right? So how do you market to and attract new members? Start with your existing membership, and how well they know your brand, what you stand for, and your perceived value to them as medical professionals. Understanding your most dedicated membership can help you learn more about how to deepen their relationship with your association. Determining your brand values and promise is the first step into finding new ways to communicate with your members and potential members. Medical Association Branding Springboard has worked with multiple medical association branding clients to help develop their value propositions and programs to meet member needs. Member marketing toolkits, eNewsletters, landing pages and microsites, testimonial videos, marketing videos, among others, are all within your reach. Again, starting with member needs is that first step. Many member businesses do not have the resources to develop marketing materials on their own, so providing templated marketing materials to your members can help improve their volumes, and will demonstrate a real value in their membership, resulting in greater member satisfaction, retention and recruitment. This is just one example of how Springboard can help your medical association branding – Learn what your members, and potential members value and need. Develop a program to communicate that value and address member needs. Implement that program. Measure the results. Contact us at Springboard to learn more about medical association branding and how we can help your association...
Medical associations used have gone from “behind the scenes” to “front and center” in terms of implementing branding and marketing strategies. This has evolved from the shifting goals of associations as they move from merely providing member education and networking opportunities to creating a unique niche in the marketplace and seeking to drive consumer behavior in the direction of members. It seems members want more from their dues and have high expectations in terms of the value their membership should bring to their association and respective practice of medicine. Dermatologic surgeons, radiologists, plastic surgeons, orthopedists, to name only a few, have all realized significant value-add from their membership as their organization’s have invested in developing unique stories and strategies to help build their patient volume and overall reputation. Even hospital-based central service professionals have used branding and marketing to encourage member certification and tie their story to a quality patient experience. Chances are, your medical association is considering some form of branding rejuvenation. If that’s the case, here are seven success factors for your consideration: Gain input from your members – Most likely, there’s a group of members who have been influencing you to launch a brand campaign. These are the perfect group to include in some sort of “marketing and/or public relations” committee. Learn what’s important to them and, more importantly, what differentiates the strategy from other organizations. Balance with customer research –Regardless of whether your customers are consumers, professionals, or another audience, it is imperative that you discover what’s important to them, and balance this with the internal impression of your organization as gleaned from the aforementioned work group. Create a strong brand message/story unique to your members – Based on your objectives and findings from both internal and external research, now is the time to develop your brand story and strategy. While there are several criteria and approaches to developing a strategy, make sure it’s unique to your organization and is supported by many “reasons to believe.” Include your members as organic messengers – Your primary channel for telling your story is your membership. Each and every member of your association should understand the thinking behind the strategy and have access to materials to help share it with their customers. Toolkits comprised of campaign materials are an excellent way to disseminate the information and achieve consistency in the marketplace. Of course, in today’s digital world, these materials should be available online via a campaign landing page or microsite. Never stop educating members about the campaign – You might get tired of telling members about the campaign and how they can contribute and benefit. You might think you’ve saturated them with reminders. Chances are, when you’ve reached this point – they are only beginning to “hear” you. You can’t do enough to keep your members apprised and engaged in the program and gaining their support to carry it through in their marketplace or practice. Your website and publications are excellent vehicles to keep the message front and center with your members. Quarterly reviews/meetings/analytics – Use the workgroup, not only for their input up-front, but throughout the course of the campaign to review its progress and make any necessary adjustments. You should be evaluating the success of the campaign on a quarterly basis and factoring in analytics from your digital efforts in the overall initiative. Brand reinforcement throughout all marketing activities – Once your brand strategy is determined, and your story is being told to the marketplace, think “consistency.” Let the brand strategy guide your other marketing communications efforts such as social media, publications, and your annual meetings. The beauty of a brand strategy is your organization now has a platform from which it can drive and orchestrate all other marketing messages and channels. Take advantage of your hard work! For more information on branding and marketing your medical association, please contact Rob Rosenberg, President – Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy at rob@springboardbrand.com or give us a call...
