Hospital Volume Building Marketing Strategy – The 3M's
Here is a great short hand way to make sure you have thought through a great marketing strategy to build service line volume: The 3M’s. Market-Target, Motivating Message, and Movement. (I know we are kinda cheating by making “market-target” one word and Motivating Message count as one M… but this is still helpful information so keep reading anyway.)
Market-Target: First determine the size or the market and the current trends. Then determine the target (person) in the market that is most likely to value what you do.
You need to know if the market is big enough to pay you back for your effort and expense and if there are enough people who will truly value what you are trying to sell. Don’t be general, be specific to the service within the¬†specific service line. For example, an orthopedic shoulder surgery market-target is very different from a joint replacement market-target.
Motivating Message: Craft a message that the target will be surprised and delighted to hear. If you can find that message then the next step is much easier.
Movement: Be very specific about a next step or action you want your target to take. Maybe it is to call a phone number, or visit an event, or website, or go to a retail partner to pick up more information or whatever tactic you are using. Just be very specific. This is how you measure the success of the campaign.
The 3Ms (or maybe more accurately named The 4Ms and a T) are a simple way to make sure you have done thorough thinking about your strategy.
4 Easy Steps to Driving Patient Volume By Connecting on Facebook
Facebook allows people including you to connect with their community online and share in-depth information about their lives.
With the right strategy, Facebook can help you can build your volume, fundraise and create active advocates by targeting content to topics your patients feel passionate about.
Many people only go to a doctor or a hospital when they need to. An effective Facebook program allows you to integrate into everyday life. This integration connects you on a  personal level and drives a measurable results for your health system.
The four easy steps below allow you to create a strategy for reaching and engaging with your Facebook community.
- Know your audience
- Provide quality(relevant) regular content
- Encourage discussion and engagement
- Do take yourself to seriously
For more information on how to start your Facebook page, visit Mashable.com’s¬†”The Facebook Guide Book.”
Mashable.com’s Facebook 101 will help you understand the basics, manage your Facebook wall, see how you can use Facebook for your business. Get in there and start today. It is not going to get any easier starting tomorrow!
Nine Steps To Drive Measurable Patient Volume
With 9 simple steps, hospital marketing can go from an expense to a revenue producer.
My basic philosophy is that is if hospital marketing departments do not drive patient volume in a measurable way, they will always be an overhead expense.
But if hospital marketers deliver measurable Return on Investment (ROI), they will be valued as a key component of long-term sustainability.
Here are my nine proven things you can start doing right away to begin driving measurable patient volume.
- Target a very specific patient (No General Targets like “women 35 – 64″. Every service line has a specific segment of the market they are targeting- many have several. Ortho, for instance, has different segmentation for joint replacement, shoulder surgery and sports medicine)
- Collaborate with Finance to set measurable goals (Maybe admissions data. Maybe filter out previous patients. Whatever it is, set it upfront.)
- Choose your DRG’s wisely the most profitable DRG’s where the organization has excess capacity (Where do you have capacity AND Contribution Margin? Where those intersect is your sweet spot.)
- Target “pre-episode patients” (For immediate results, risk assessments and seminars will bring in patients faster than you can effect a change in referral patterns. We recently saw a CV program drive over 400 new procedures this way.)
- Master the 3M’s: 1) Media Mix, 2) Message, and 3) Movement ( 1) reach your target in surprising places where they can listen; 2) use a message that will stir them to action; 3) and then clearly give a call to action so they know exactly what to do next.)
- Opt-In Marketing is not optional (Don’t talk at them, give them an opportunity to ask you questions. Start a dialog.)
- Become the Patient Distribution Czar (We believe the Marketing Department is best suited to set up a system to sort patients that ask for risk assessments.)
- Capitalize on Co-risks (See #7 above. Did you know 30% of Ortho patients have a CV problem that needs surgery? Or 45% of CV patients have either an ortho or cancer problem? Once you find these profitable patients, sort and distribute them.)
- Follow the downstream revenue (You set up the metrics with finance in step #2, now track these patients through the system. Marketing job security depends on it!)
For more information on the 9 steps, download the Free “9 Things all Healthcare marketers should do to drive the right patient with the right payer to the right service line” eBook.
