I ask this huge group of experienced sales pros....Why would a hospital cut their budget from local radio to pur up billboards...And on top of that instead of using the "local" station to reach the community the hospital serves resort to branding commercials rather that promoting the specialties and services available to the community.
Beats me! LOL! The billboard part of all of that makes no sense at all. Our local hospital here does branding commercials on the radio, and specialty services in their print advertising. Works well for them. But billboards do not make any sense to me.
Thank you for confirming what my 20 years radio experience says to me. I wish I could find something in writing about hospitals and their current preferences in marketing and communications.
I welcome all comments
Not sure I have a good answer to your question, Leslie. Our hospital has been using local radio, print, and billboards in a coordinated effort with measurable success. I'd be happy to post some of their recent radio commercials along with the companion billboard and print ads here, if it would be useful to you.
If you have the time (or a sales assistant), you might do a little online research on community hospitals with a view toward identifying facilities in markets similar to yours, then contact their public relations or marketing managers to ask them about what's working for them and how they measure it. After talking with (to pick a number at random) a dozen or so hospitals, you'd have a wealth of information to bring to your local decision-maker(s). At the very least, your due diligence would likely impress them greatly.
Thank you Rod for the suggestion....and now is a perfect time (no sales assistant) to do that research
Althought the Bible states that Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, our society worships "visual." Often the hospital board dictates what media is to be used, and when that's the case, it's a good idea to find out who the influential people are on the board and take them out for coffee or something.
Thank you both for the insight and suggestions
You sound as furious as I am about our local hospital......they do essentially the same thing.....it comes down to the fact that.....THEY DON'T GET IT.........Their goal is to impress rather than educate. I'm sure your hospital has a main marketing person who answers to CEOs above him/her and pumping money into local radio was not part of their marketing degree. Keep at it.....be agressive.....keep reinforcing what other hospitals are doing with their local stations in other markets and get to know the CEOs and share with them as well. You have nothing to lose. K
You are right....But....they have put in place a Chief Communications Officer...and I don't think she answers to anyone. And you're right I have nothing to lose....The billboards they are doing are all fluff...and she is going to ba a tough nut to crack. I have had this account for 7 years very successfully. She has been in place for 3 years and is like the iron maiden....
Leslie,
If you spend time trying to figure out the buying criteria you can drive yourself crazy. One of the most important elements of a hospital are their primary care physicians. The ensemble of these doctors are vitally important to the hospital. The hospital can't directly promote these PC physicians or their practices. About 4 years ago, I created a one-minute segment called "HealthBeat" (pretty original huh?) that would consist of these doctors discussing health issues that pertained to their specialty. Four years later, these one-minute programs are the most important element of their marketing. Good ideas sell and today our local hospital spends $150,000+ annualy with us. If you'd like more details, give me a yell. Hope this helps.
This is a very good question as we are all exploring ways to serve the healthcare category. The first question on the billboard use is probably based on a lack of belief in radio as a vehicle to deliver their message. I would think it would call for a dialogue that goes back to the basics of how and why radio is such a powerful tool to influence opinion. In most markets, billboards have many more weaknesses than strengths such as limited reach (unless you buy a bunch of them), limited message, production change limitations, and blending into the landscape after the first few weeks. Not to mention the driver distraction required to make a billboard work and the highly reduced impact of a "cross reader" (a billboard facing the opposite side of the road).
As far as branding vs advertising specialities and services, that's a matter of overall direction of a campaign as opposed to a single commercial. A good strategy may be to use the specialities and services to support the overall branding of the hospital so you can address both issues. Unlike retail advertising, tracking results for healthcare is different as consumers won't respond to specifics unless they have a perceived need.
Hope that helps! Good luck.
Here in the Hudson Valley we have a number of hospitals that started as local community hospitals 25 to 40 years ago. However as the population grew they saw the need to expand not only their service base but their image.
Example Hudson Valley Hospital started in the city of Peekskill over 120 years ago. Around the mid 60's it moved just over the city limits into the Town of Cortlandt for the purpose of future growth http://hvhc.org/abHist.asp.
The name was changed from Peekskill Hosp. to Hudson Valley Hospital in order to attract new patients from a larger geography. Now a regional medical provider HVHC still uses the "local" radio stations to brand itself but also uses occassional billboards and other media to maintain its lead over four other hospitals in the area. And the marketing has gone from in-house to agency to better focus the vision of the administration and medical staff.
Don
Rick,
Fortunately in our case, the hospital's use of one or two targeted billboards (one being across from the Chamber of Commerce) doesn't reflect a lack of belief in radio, but only their desire to reach patrons across multiple media platforms. As much as I might wish that 100% of their advertising were invested in radio, they're unlikely to go along with my wishes. To their credit, they were open to ideas that resulted in a particularly well-coordinated effort that has been running over the past 4-5 months, and which, it turns out, was so well received that it will continue to be the basis for future campaigns.
You're right, of course, about the difficulty of tracking results for health care, since it's a needs-based activity. This, in my opinion, reinforces the importance of a consistent schedule of radio advertising - to keep driving the hospital's message deeper and deeper into the minds of the listeners, so that when the need arises, the desired response is automatic.
Just wondering....are they the only hospital in town?
Yes...
Leslie,
This is not an uncommon problem. It is happening everywhere! The reason I have found that this is happening is a lot of "Community Hospitals" are "in bed" with these huge marketing companies that force, direct mailers and billboards down their throats. I know of a Hospital with an advertising budget of over $650,000.00 and over half of that goes to a company in S.C. who is advising them "on how to spend their dollars more efficiently. " They want to cut their local station almost $1200.00 a month so they can put it in direct mailers and information packets. I think our problem has been self created to a point as we (local stations) have not educated our clients on how well radio works. We have taken for granted that because a client has always spent the big bucks with us, they will continue to do so even when others are telling them that radio is outdated. I think we have to get back to basics and once again educate our clients even though they may have been with us for years.
Hospitals have always liked a multi-media campaign. If they are using an agency of relying on a consultant to guide their marketing efforts, you will see a lot more money go towards billboards, print, TV and direct mail. Agencies like these things because they get a lot of creative billing from it.
I have always had good luck taking hospitals big promotions and community service ideas. I've found they want to be at the top of the pyramid when it comes to spending in these categories.
As smaller hospitals have bitten the dust or merged with larger hospitals over the past 10-15 years, those left standing feel a need to expand their reach. We recently signed a hospital 120 miles away to the premier position in a major sponsorship package...and we have one major hospital here in town and 2 others 35 miles away.
