Tim Strickland, senior executive advisor with Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock, says this “get with the times, or else” message also applies to public relations professionals and marketers for the hospitals. In a recent blog post, he said healthcare communications is keeping itself up-to-date, but there are still four areas where progress is lagging. Mr. Strickland recommends hospitals analyze their strategies in four main areas to remain relevant.
1. Connection with your audience. A hospital’s marketing and public relations content should be directly relevant to its audience. “Your public’s willingness to be force-fed your self-promoting content is at an all-time low,” said Mr. Strickland.
2. Hesitation to interact. Mr. Strickland said he is surprised by the continuing debate over whether hospitals should engage in social media. These include questions and concerns over whether hospitals should allow people to post on their Facebook pages or respond to negative comments on an online newspaper article. Mr. Strickland says the answer is simple. He encourages hospitals to interact through digital media and “keep it real.”
3. The extinction of traditional advertising. Self-promoting content won’t send the message it did in the past, and effective advertising today requires some digital components. “If your marketing strategy doesn’t integrate traditional media with audience-oriented digital content, you’re behind the times.”
4. Boom of channels. Just as television channels have blossomed from double- to quadruple-digits, hospitals have to address marketing strategies on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ and many other platforms. Although it may be difficult to keep up with all of these channels at once, Mr. Strickland said hospitals should ignore new communications at their own peril.
More Articles on Hospitals and Communication:
No More Excuses: Why You Must Include Social Media in Your Hospital’s Marketing Strategy
What’s Irking Your Physicians? 6 Steps to Get in the Know
8 Best Practices for Managing a Hospital’s Reputation
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