Advertising and PR: They're back in vogue
Advertising and PR: They're back in vogue
As the concept of managed care emerged into a reality, hospital administrators began questioning whether advertising and public relations would continue to have value. After all, they thought, patients would no longer have a choice where they received care because managed care plans would restrict access to specific providers. What good would it do to attempt influencing their choice? It would be better to focus all marketing efforts into negotiating contracts with payers.
That line of reasoning turned out to be misguided, says Cheryl Stone, MSPH, senior vice president of Rynne Marketing Group in Evanston, IL. Even in heavily penetrated managed care markets, employers often offer employees a choice of plans, she says. Once they make a choice, they still have options to select physicians and sometimes facilities.
"Women look for reasons to decide for or against a health plan," says Stone. "If they know one plan offers access to a women's center they prefer, they're more likely to choose it.
"Markets where managed care is 100% directed to exclusive providers are pretty limited. And, due to consumer demand, managed care is moving in the direction of opening up, rather than limiting choices."
Terri Langhans, president of First Strategic Group, an advertising and marketing group in Whittier, CA, agrees: "You may have a contract with a payer, but you can just about bet all your competitors have a contract, as well."
Consequently, after a brief respite, health care advertising and public relations (PR) are coming back in vogue, PR professionals say.
How to market effectively
Advertising can be an excellent marketing tool, but it also can consume a large chunk of marketing funds. Experts seem to agree that health care advertising is most effective to help establish credibility and awareness and create a "brand" preference.
"Consumers purchase brands such as Coca-Cola or BMW because of an emotional connection they have to the product," says Langhans. "In the past, health care was viewed as a commodity, like eggs. The brand didn't matter," she says. "Now, health care marketers see the value in creating demand for a specific hospital, system, or service. Employers will insist on including hospitals in their plans that employees consider desirable. Otherwise, the plan will not be successful."
If you decide to embark on a major campaign, be sure to develop one that evokes an emotional response that is critical to creating brand allegiance, Langhans suggests.
"The main mistake people make is illustrating an emotion rather than making the viewer or reader feel one," she says.
Creating relationships
Once you've established awareness among women in your market, move into a relationship-building mode, PR professionals say. In health care, credibility is paramount. In addition, providers are often "selling" a product or service that someone doesn't immediately need, so establishing an ongoing relationship is critical. The most successful tools to accomplish these objectives are educational programs and newsletters.
Sally Rynne, MA, helped open the first of the nation's women's centers that offered services beyond obstetrics - Women's Health Resources at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago - in 1980. Rynne says, "One of primary products for a women's center is health education. Women want information to take care of themselves and their families." Rynne has consulted with about 600 women's health facilities since 1980.
The Jane C. Stormont Women's Health Center in Topeka, KS, uses advertising and public relations to promote its educational programs. (See story on hiring a PR or advertising firm, p. 85.) During the 10 years she has worked at the center, Education Coordinator Karen Schuss Rowinsky has established a relationship with reporters at the Topeka Capital Journal through ongoing contact and by providing feedback regarding attendance figures at programs the paper promoted. She offers these other tips for media relations: Invite reporters to your facility for a tour; set up lunch or breakfast meetings between reporters and key personnel at your facility; and ask reporters to speak or sit on panels during organization or association meetings at which media relations could be a topic.
In addition to these public relations initiatives, the center purchases advertising space to publish its educational calendar on the newspaper's family or health page. Rowinsky, who also serves on the board of the Chicago-based National Association of Professionals in Women's Health, saves the center money by producing the ads in-house on a desktop publishing system.
Desktop publishing is also useful for newsletter production, Rynne says. Through her current business, Health Newsletters Direct, Rynne has conducted extensive market research about effective newsletter production. She advises in-house publishers to "focus first on providing information and secondarily on promoting your facility." Those who don't, she cautions, risk having their publication end up in the trash.
Covering your tracks
There is a final component to conducting successful advertising and marketing programs: Track your results, and determine ahead of time how you will measure success, says Rynne.
"Don't confuse an advertising strategy of building brand awareness with a business objective of trying to bring more patients through the door," she says. "Know clearly in advance what you're trying to accomplish."
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