The patient is "known internally as 'the Crouse tattoo guy' and staff love to see him." It's "probably the best advertising we could do," says a hospital executive.
How's this for brand loyalty? A Crouse Hospital patient visited the Syracuse, NY hospital's emergency department so often that he got the organization's "Take Me To Crouse" tag line tattooed on his chest.
The patient told local media that he got the idea from his longtime physician, who jokingly suggested that the patient get a Crouse tattoo because of his frequent visits.
"I like the care at Crouse and I would always want to be taken care of there in an emergency," said the patient, Brian Andrianos, who has nine other tattoos.
Andrianos has visited the Crouse ED at least eight times due to heart problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other ailments. He is effusive in his praise of his doctor, Mark Erlebacher, MD, who has cared for Andrianos for 25 years.
"I really feel without his guidance and help, I would be just dirt these days," he said. "He's kept good track of me."
To show his appreciation, Andrianos had the word "me" capitalized in black letters in the tattoo, representing Erlebacher's initials.
"We had heard about this extremely loyal Crouse patient for months from staff who cared for him during his frequent hospital stays, but had been unable to track him down initially to verify that he had indeed 'branded' himself with the hospital logo and tagline 'Take Me to Crouse,'" Bob Allen, Crouse's vice president of communications and government affairs, told HealthLeaders.
"He's now known internally as 'the Crouse tattoo guy' and staff love to see him. I can't imagine there's another patient in the country who's done what Brian has done—probably the best advertising we could do!"
Crouse Hospital shared an article about the tattoo on its Facebook page, with the caption, "'I LIKE THE CARE AT CROUSE and I would always want to be taken care of there in an emergency.' Thank you, Brian!"
The disciplinary action against Sanford Health Plan was the result of not filing and/or having incomplete information in some ads for Medicare supplement insurance.
The North Dakota Insurance Commissioner has ordered Sanford Health Plan to pay a $22,000 fine for not properly filing advertisements for Medicare supplement insurance and for leaving out required information in the ads.
According to the consent order filed June 27, over the course of five years, beginning in 2010, Sanford failed to file ads with Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm in 14 instances.
Had the ads been filed, the commissioner's office would have required changes to some of them before allowing them to be published.
Sanford Health agreed to the fine. According to the Argus Leader, "Sanford spokesman Darren Huber issued a statement acknowledging that the ads were not properly filed for approval. 'We paid a small fine, fixed the issue and haven't had any problems since,' he said.
According to North Dakota law, any institution selling Medicare supplement insurance must provide a copy of advertisements within 10 days of their first use for review and approval by the insurance commissioner.
Sanford failed to do so with several print ads, as well as some online ads, radio spots, and direct mail letters, postcards, and pamphlets. After reviewing the 14 ads, Hamm said he determined that nine had content he would have required Sanford to change.
"Because the ad did not reference all the other plans or suggest there were other plans available, it did not meet statutory requirements," Hamm said in a statement to The Associated Press. "The reason for this law is so that consumers, which are mostly seniors, know there are other plans."
Hamm fined Sanford Health $14,000 for not filing the ads and another $8,000 for not having complete information in them. Sanford Health waived its right to a hearing to dispute the fines.
"I am satisfied Sanford Health Plan has taken corrective action to ensure this situation won't happen again," said Hamm., in a statement released by his office.
Its first float in NYC's gay pride parade also served as outreach for Montefiore Health System's services, including growing programs for transgender patients.
A float created by Montefiore Health System was featured in Manhattan's gay pride parade on Sunday. Staff from the Bronx, NY-hospitals have been marching in the parade for three decades, but this is the first time a float sporting the hospital's logo joined in the festivities.
In addition to supporting the LGBTQ community, the float also served as outreach for the hospital's services, including growing programs for transgender patients.
"We really felt that this platform of Manhattan pride that Montefiore as an institution can really promote these services, and let the LGBTQ know that we're here in the Bronx," Justin Toro, LMSW, a clinical social worker at the hospital's Adolescent AIDS Program, told local media.
The hospital's marketing department was critical in conceiving the float's design, which is part of an overall awareness campaign on "safe, compassionate, cutting-edge LGBT care," according to Stephen Stafford, director of communications and special projects at the hospital's Adolescent AIDS Program.
In addition to its adolescent AIDS program, Montefiore also operates a center for positive living / infectious diseases clinic, a plastic and reconstructive surgery and urology service line, and offers primary healthcare services to the LGBTQ community in a "safe and sensitive environment."
About 40 associates took part the parade, along with 250 guests or hospital employees. Signage on the float read "Your Home for LGBTQ Care" and directed parade spectators to the hospital's LGBTQ Care microsite.
The hospital marketing team covered the parade across its social media channels.
"We are having a great time at #Pride2016! Keep an eye out for our #DoingMore float!" they wrote on Facebook, along with several photos of staff, associates, and, of course, the float.
The New Hampshire hospital's campaign used digital and traditional media, including social media and TV ads to promote high levels of patient satisfaction and healing rates at its wound treatment facility.
A Lamplighter Award of Excellence has been awarded to Frisbie Memorial Hospital for its integrated campaign promoting the Frisbie's Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine.
The regional award, which was presented on June 1 at the New England Society for Healthcare Communications (NESHCo) in Providence, RI, also recognized the Rochester, NH-hospital's agency, Rumbletree Strategic and Creative Marketing.
"The Wound Care Center campaign elevated Frisbie's ability to communicate to our community the program's success in achieving high levels of patient satisfaction, healing rates, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy technology as a means to the ultimate goal: a better quality of life," Joe Shields, senior vice president of Frisbie Memorial Hospital, said in a media release.
The campaign used digital and traditional media, including social media and TV ads.
The hospital's wound care center "provides specialized treatment for chronic or nonhealing wounds," states the voiceover in a 30-second video.
The ad, which shows physicians consulting with patients and staff caring for a patient during treatment, also highlights the hospital's convenient location and touts its clinical accolades.
"Frisbie Memorial Hospital shares a mutual regard for the role that strategic marketing and communication can help play in moving an organization forward," said Jessica Kellogg, partner, managing director at Rumbletree.
The healthcare organization "focuses on three pillars: People, Technology and Trust—that dedication is what differentiates them and has shaped a genuine connection to the greater Rochester community."
Ultimately, the campaign results showed strong digital metrics:
Banner ads: 1,129,635 impressions and 1,591 clicks
Pre-roll ad: 4,703 minutes of playtime
Facebook ad: 1,225 clicks and a reach of over 40,000
Google Adwords: 40,865 impressions and 179 clicks
"The campaign used digital and traditional media tactics to target the right people at the right time," Shields told HealthLeaders.
"The message focused on what is important to patients as they consider where to go for their healthcare: Our patient satisfaction scores and healing rates, that fact that our center has available state-of-the-art hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and demonstrating our commitment to delivering patient-centric care; all which speak to Frisbie Memorial Hospital's three pillars of service: People. Technology. Trust."
Northwell Ventures—a program that evaluates, develops, and finances spin-off companies based on ideas from Northwell physicians and researchers—asked the health system's community to choose its next project to fund.
Imagine a world where 3D bioprinters are in every hospital emergency department, allowing physicians to create life-saving implants, organs, and bones from patients' own tissues.
Now, imagine a health system that is not only investing in developing that technology, but investing in it because the health system's community voted for it.
It's a powerful message that was expertly executed by Northwell Health with its Innovations Contest.
Back in March, the former North Shore-LIJ Health System launched a contest asking its community to help decide which of three medical innovations developed by some of its 61,000+ employees would receive $100,000 in additional research support.
The three innovations, which were being explored by Northwell Ventures—a program that evaluates, develops and finances spin-off companies based on ideas that originate with Northwell physicians, researchers, and other employees—were:
The Patient Identification Shield, a temporary stamp that represents a modern, non-transferable, easily removable, cost-effective alternative to the ubiquitous but antiquated "hospital wrist band" for patient identification.
The Blood Loss Manager, a previously unknown bioelectronic medicine approach to manage bleeding that works so rapidly it may one day be used for those suffering traumatic injuries, either patients in a hospital, military personnel on the battlefield, or civilian first responders.
A 3D bioprinter, a modified 3D printer that was engineered to produce three-dimensional, living, functional, biological tissue replacement using a patient's own cells.
An Integrated, Viral Campaign
The contest, which ran March 21 to April 18, was promoted with an integrated marketing campaign, consisting of TV spots that ran during the NCAA Championship games, digital ads, and social media. The uniqueness of the contest was quick to pique the public's interest and received a good amount of media coverage as a result.
"This was a unique opportunity to engage with the public and let them choose an innovation that could affect healthcare in their lifetime," says Ramon Soto, Northwell's chief marketing officer. "We used engaging creative and message delivery to break through and were quite surprised by the response."
The response was impressive—a total of 487,761 votes were cast in one month, with about half going to the winning 3D bioprinting project.
What's more, the campaign received about 7.5 million digital impressions, resulting in more than 400,000 people viewing the innovation videos online.
"At nearly a half-million votes and the $1 million external investment, we were quite pleased with the market awareness generated through the campaign," Soto says.
An Innovative Brand Identity
Ultimately, the initiative generated more than market awareness. It cemented Northwell's brand identity as an innovative organization.
Not only did the contest educate the community on the innovative work going on at the health system, but it created engagement in and excitement about the process.
"There is a cultural fit here; we never stop looking for innovation," Soto says.
"We employ 2,200 principal researchers whose mission it is to advance the state of healthcare. Once employees and the public could get involved in choosing the next breakthrough we could fund, there was a tremendous amount of excitement."
Soto and his team are brainstorming ways to build on the momentum of the contest, which turned out to be a strong employee engagement tool, generating pride among clinicians and staff.
Marketers are planning on expanding the program and holding a series of contest. They are also considering an Xprize-like contest, where the public would submit ideas for consideration and funding.
"It is still a very early stage for us regarding next steps," Soto says.
Boston Children's Hospital is bursting at capacity, but plans to build an 11-story expansion over Prouty Garden have prompted a lawsuit from area residents and patients' advocates.
Gardens have been a mainstay at hospitals, even before research backed up widely held views that being in nature had a calming and healing effect on patients.
Lately, hospitals across the country have poured more resources into their gardens, with some planting vegetable crops that are incorporated into patient meals.
At one hospital in Massachusetts, however, this spring might be the last for its garden,' and the community is outraged.
Uprooting a Beloved Patient Space
Patients, families, and staff have enjoyed Boston Children's Hospital's Prouty Garden since it was established on the Longfellow Campus in 1956. Since then, the 404-bed hospital has grown to the point where expansion is necessary—and leadership decided that planting a building on top of the garden is the most cost-effective solution.
We have reached the limits," Sandra L. Fenwick, Children's CEO, said during a Department of Public Health hearing in February. "Our partners, our patients, and the families and staff lie at the very heart of the plans we brought to you today. To increase our capacity to heal, we must modernize."
The $1 billion proposed expansion includes plans for an 11-story, 575,000-square-foot building that would boost the patient experience by eliminating all of the hospital's current double-bed rooms, enhancing privacy, sleeping spaces, and showers.
The new space would also feature more operating rooms, a NICU, a pediatric heart center, and a rooftop garden.
Growing Opposition
While the need for expansion is evident, many believe the hospital shouldn't raze the garden to do so.
In April, a group advocating to save the Prouty Garden sued the hospital, alleged that the hospital had illegally begun construction ahead of receiving Department of Public Health approval.
A judge denied to grant an injunction to stop the project, but the case remains open, meaning the judge could reconsider the ruling if the group provides further evidence.
"There are people like me who walk through the doors of Children's Hospital every day and are going to hear something they don't want to hear," said Gus Murby, a supporter whose 17-year-old son died in the garden in 2007, after battling leukemia.
"If Prouty Garden is not here for them," said Murby, "it's going to be a much darker experience."
Murby, who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, and other garden supporters have launched an aggressive public awareness campaign. So far, the "Preserve Prouty Garden" petition on Change.org has acquired more than 16,000 signatures, and more than 500 people have donated a total of $77,000 to the Save the Prouty Garden GoFundMe campaign.
"For many, this garden is the spiritual refreshment that sustains us through another day of hospitalization, the weeks away from home or a long 12-hour shift. Bulldozing the garden also violates our promise to Mrs. Prouty and the intent of her generous gift," the Change.org petition states.
"We do not have to choose between hospital expansion and the garden. Let's pursue other architectural options and save the Prouty Garden's beauty, healing, and heritage. It is priceless."
Additionally, a blog, created by "an extended group of concerned volunteers who are connected to the Boston Children's Hospital family in one way or another," advocates for preservation of the garden.
Looking Forward
The fate of the Prouty Garden remains uncertain. Children's Department of Public Health approval is pending, and the hospital said it will not permanently close the garden until the approval process is complete.
As part of the process, public health officials have asked the hospital to submit an independent cost analysis of the proposed expansion, and demonstrate that its plans are in-line with the state's efforts to contain healthcare costs.
Garden supporters have honed in on that detail, recently publishing a report alleging that Children's—one of the most expensive hospitals in Massachusetts—is retreating from caring for the poor.
According to the report, which the Friends of the Prouty Garden submitted to the Department of Public Health, the expansion "would further restrict access to quality pediatric services for Massachusetts Medicaid patients and indigent children, while expanding services to wealthy, private-paying international patients, according to a new report analyzing BCH's efforts to create a massive new complex in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston."
Children's proposal to improve the patient experience by building over a beloved patient space has put the hospital in a tough spot. Moving to a rooftop garden will do little' to quell the negative publicity.
Consumerism is playing an increasingly important role in healthcare, and maternity service lines are no exception. Here's how a safety net hospital developed a successful campaign to compete with private hospitals.
Most of the time, people don't want to go to the hospital.
This isn't news to hospital marketers, who are constantly working to build patient preference for services that they view as unpleasant (mammograms, colonoscopies).
To appeal to that group, the best route is often to highlight clinical excellence and technological advancements. These patients are more willing to deal with bland hospital food and outdated facilities if they're being cared for by the best clinicians in town.
But one of the few times that type of patient logic doesn't apply is when it comes to maternity services.
Of course, any expecting mom will tell you the quality of care comes first, but the patient experience and state of the hospital's facilities play a much more important role in the decision of where to give birth than almost any other kind of medical procedure.
This patient mentality became abundantly clear to Miami-based Jackson Health System's leadership in the 1990s and 2000s, when Jackson Memorial Hospital—an academic medical center and a safety net hospital—saw its reputation for elective care severely weaken.
"Much of the volume was driven by patients whose clinical or financial needs didn't leave them any alternatives," says Matt Pinzur, associate vice president of communications and outreach.
"That was doubly true in maternity, where Medicaid provides almost universal coverage for labor and delivery. Jackson needed to compete with private hospitals that dedicated much more resources to facilities, customer service, and amenities."
In an effort to become more competitive, Jackson completely renovated its maternity ward into a new space called "Little Miracles Maternity Suites."
The suites, which were unveiled in July 2014, feature a spa-like atmosphere, leading-edge equipment, 20 private suites, and amenities for new mothers and families.
To get the word out to the community about Jackson's new maternity offerings, Jackson marketers teamed with The Weinbach Group, a creative agency in Miami, FL.
"We were beyond impressed with the environment Jackson had created for new parents," says Daniel Weinbach, the agency's president and CEO.
"Of course, it looks nice, but the unit also has unique amenities that we had never seen before, including quiet work spaces for dads, a coffee and tea bar with fresh pastries delivered throughout the day, and housekeeping that treats the patient like a guest on a cruise ship with towel swans."
"All of these elements," he says, "were much more akin to what you would find in a hotel than in a hospital, so it seemed natural to draw the comparison as the basis of our campaign."
The team began working on an integrated campaign that would appeal to Jackson Memorial's diverse patient groups. Since the hospital's clinical expertise was well known, marketers decided the ads should focus on the luxurious new facilities and the patient experience.
"It was built around an evidence-based belief that our target market gave high marks to Jackson's reputation for clinical care, but wouldn't consider us for maternity because they believed the facilities were outdated," Pinzur says.
"We wanted to speak directly to that mind block and liberate expectant moms to act upon their desire for top-flight care."
Eye-catching and Eyebrow-raising
When the campaign launched in June 2015, it was comprised of English- and Spanish-language television, radio, print (daily newspapers, community newspapers, and magazines), outdoor (billboards), and online media.
"We knew the concept would be attractive to everyone, but the challenge was to tailor the message to Miami's highly-diverse population," Weinbach says.
"In this regard, we created ads for specific market segments. We developed three versions of the TV spot, including a Spanish-language version and a version featuring African-American talent. We customized our ads for print and radio as well. And we used a media mix that was likewise targeted to our diverse audiences."
The creative was eye-catching and, to some, eyebrow-raising. The initial billboards, which showed a baby on a silver platter held by a white-gloved hand with the headline "Luxury Delivered," resulted in mixed feedback.
"It was pretty far outside the margins of what you usually see in a hospital ad," Pinzur says.
"I even heard from one or two employees who were uncomfortable with the image, and I told them, 'Hey, at least you noticed it!' As the campaign expanded, we did what we usually do with our marketing, which is make sure to have a few different versions of the ads to reflect the diverse community we serve."
Delivering Results
Aside from the tongue-in-cheek billboard, much of the campaign focused on the new amenities and luxurious experience rather than on babies—an intentional strategy.
"We wanted to create a campaign that really stood out, and in the context of maternity service line advertising, that meant a focus on the patient experience rather than babies," Weinbach says.
"We were also working to address misperceptions that Jackson was old and outdated—not just surrounding maternity. So this campaign had dual purpose in that respect."
And the dual purpose achieved its desired results.
Visits to Jackson Memorial's maternity landing page increased from an average of 125 per week to more than 2,000, downloads of its maternity amenities increased from 40 per week to nearly 200, and requests for tours increased from a handful per week to more than 20.
Jackson's maternity services also saw a significant increase in volume—up from 6,028 births in 2012 to a projected 7,500 for the current fiscal year.
"There's no question that the campaign was a strong statement in this community that something different was happening at Jackson," Pinzur says.
"It was the first time we really challenged the conventional belief about Jackson's facilities, and it showed there was a flood of pent-up desire to access Jackson care. Once we removed that single mind block about the facilities, we saw a huge increase in volume."
"Tellingly," he says, "almost all of the growth came from low-risk moms. They were actively choosing Jackson over the alternatives."
To Weinbach, the campaign results were also indicative of a larger trend in how patients are choosing maternity services.
"The results of this campaign—both the demonstrated interest by patients as measured by inquiries and the actual increase in delivery volumes—shows us that maternity services are among those hospital services where the consumer is voicing her opinion," he says.
"Yes, the physician's hospital affiliation is still the driving force behind where a woman delivers her baby; however, like many areas of healthcare, consumerism is playing an increasingly important role."
Photo gallery: next page
Quality of care comes first, but the patient experience and state of the hospital's facilities play a much more important role in the decision of where to give birth than almost any other kind of medical procedure. Miami-based Jackson Health System launched a campaign in 2014 to emphasive its focus on patient experience in its maternity service line.
The unit also has quiet work spaces for partners, and a coffee and tea bar with fresh pastries delivered throughout the day,
The suites, which were unveiled in July 2014, feature a spa-like atmosphere.
"Housekeeping treats the patient like a guest on a cruise ship."
Savvy healthcare organizations are taking advantage of LinkedIn's Careers tab to help market themselves to physicians, providers, and other job seekers.
LinkedIn has long solidified its place as the premier professional network in the crowded social media market. Now the digital resume site is becoming the go-to destination for jobseekers.
The social networking site, which boasts more than 433 million registered users has recently focused on enhancing its options for employers and jobseekers alike. Now, instead of just creating an online resume and adding connections, users can apply to jobs directly through LinkedIn.
Employers with a paid subscription can make themselves even more appealing to job seekers by adding an enhanced "Careers" tab to their company pages.
The Careers tab is basically a simplified version of a careers microsite. There, employers can share information geared directly at jobseekers, upload a header graphic, post open positions, link to other relevant pages on their website, and even host videos.
A quick search reveals that most hospitals aren't using this feature, but some early adopters are taking advantage of LinkedIn's Careers tab to help market themselves to physicians, providers, and other job seekers. Here are three ways savvy hospitals and health systems are using LinkedIn for recruitment:
1.Feature Employee Testimonials
The job application process is becoming increasingly transparent, with job sites such as Glassdoor and Indeed sharing in-depth company reviews by current and former employees. Unfortunately, these reviews tend to skew negative, since unhappy employees are more likely to make the effort to air their grievances online.
The LinkedIn Careers tab levels the playing field by allowing businesses to post two employee testimonials in the "Employee Spotlight" section. For this feature, it's best to choose employee advocates with a complete LinkedIn profile, since jobseekers can click on their names and visit their personal pages.
Reading Health System in Pennsylvania uses the Employee Spotlight feature well. When you first navigate to its Careers tab the header graphic sets the stage, featuring an employee in a lab coat overlaid with the text, "Work where innovative and compassionate healthcare is second nature." Below, the page headline reads, "Let your voice be heard at the forefront of medicine."
Right off the bat, these two elements let jobseekers know the health system values the input of their employees. That sentiment is confirmed when you scroll down to the Employee Spotlight section, which showcases testimonials from a management-level employee as well as a nurse specialist.
"The advanced technology Reading Health System offers, along with the dedicated leadership team, creates a framework for success," said Reading's vice president of operations.
"I loved, loved, loved my first weeks at Reading Health System getting to know the staff and building strong partnerships with nurse managers," said a clinical nurse specialist.
2.Highlight Company Benefits and Resources
When you navigate to WellStar Health System's LinkedIn Careers tab, the first thing you notice is the bold header graphic, which simply reads "Think pension plans are a thing of the past?"
The following copy and media on the page support the focus on benefits, including the company description, which states, "Our workplace culture makes us special—offering more than just excellent patient outcomes, family-centric communication and the latest technology—we bring our team members incredible benefits and growth opportunities." Additionally, one of the five featured links prompts visitors to "explore WellStar's total rewards package and benefits."
Another central theme the WellStar page touches on is its staff's access to resources.
"When I need a helping hand, whether it be to ask for advice regarding legal counsel or OSHA or continuing education, there are a number of different resources that I can go to at the drop of a hat," said a physician in the tab's featured video.
The access to resources is echoed again in the employee spotlight section, where an AVP of workforce engineering said, "I am proud to work for a company truly invested in its people, mission and vision. As an Executive at WellStar, I'm focused on creativity and innovation, which are fostered by organizational growth and change. Having the capacity and resources to do my best is what keeps me going!"
3.Target a Specific Employee Group
Rather than try to be all things to all people, some organizations are using the Careers tab to appeal to a specific demographic. For Florida Hospital, that group is nurses.
Its target employee group is evident in the header graphic, which features two nurses and promotes an upcoming nurse hiring event. The hospital continues to appeal to nurses as you scroll down the page; the featured video announces the hospital's U.S. News and World Report ranking includes testimonials from several nurses.
Below that, five links direct visitors to learn more about the hospital's RN sign-on bonuses, the trust that is given to nurses, and how the hospital fosters people to develop their careers.
By employing strategies like these, hospitals and health systems can better position themselves to appeal to today's digital-savvy jobseeker—many of whom may visit your LinkedIn page even before your website.
Not only do virtual tours help prospective patients get to know a provider's staff, facility, and service lines, the tours also help marketers take the pulse of the community.
It doesn't matter how many ads you run promoting your hospital or health system's facilities and patient experience—nothing compares to the real deal. For decades, healthcare organizations have welcomed patients and community to attend open houses and other special events, but as most marketers know, it's increasingly difficult to get people through the door.
It's a shame, because the age-old open house is a valuable promotional tool—not only does it help prospective patients get to know your staff, your facility, and your service lines, but the questions they ask and areas they show interest in helps marketers take the pulse of the community.
The good news is that some astute hospitals and health systems have found a way to recreate the traditional open house environment in a way that's more convenient for today's hectic schedules—virtual tours.
Here are three organizations that are inviting people near and far to experience their facilities right from their smartphone or computer.
The tours are hosted on a website, which users can visit on their computer or mobile device. Visitors can view a floorplan and navigate their way through the lobby and into exam rooms and operating rooms, where they can watch videos about the hospital's services and patient experience.
"We believe this is the first time any health facility in the region has used such a virtual tour," Kendall Herold, a spokeswoman for Christ Hospital, told a local paper. "We were inspired by virtual tours created by companies in other industries, including the hospitality industry."
The hospital also offers a similar tour of its breast center, where prospective patients can learn about the facility's medical technology and watch videos featuring its physicians. Both tours are quick to load and easy to navigate.
"By creating a virtual tour, we are able to engage a broader audience than we may see at a traditional open house," Herald said.
Mayo Clinic Periscope Tours
For hospitals and health systems that don't have room in the budget to create a virtual tour of their facility, the Twitter-owned livestreaming app Periscope is a cost-effective alternative. While Periscope has fewer bells and whistles than a 3D tour, it makes up for it with other attributes, such as the ability for viewers to interact in real time and, of course, the cool factor.
Mayo Clinic created its Periscope account in June 2015 with the goal of using it to stream behind-the-scenes tours, educational discussions with Mayo specialists, and live events. In July, it broadcast a 22-minute guided tour of its Rochester, MN campus that showed off facilities and shared facts about the health system's history.
"Mayo Clinic has patients from every U.S. state and over 140 countries every year, and we saw the opportunity to help those considering Mayo Clinic get a preview of what they can expect when they come here," Lee Aase, director of Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, told HealthLeaders in July. "We also think it will be great to offer behind-the-scenes views of some of the unique features that make Mayo Clinic special. As we've explored it further, we see many more opportunities."
Though Periscope videos disappear from the app after 24 hours, Mayo smartly edited and uploaded the footage to their YouTube account so viewers can continue to access it. To date, the Rochester tour has been viewed more than 3,900 times.
They've also broadcast tours of their TV studio and Heritage Hall. Each tour gives viewers a unique glimpse at different aspects of the health system, all while forwarding their brand identity.
Birmingham Children's Hospital Google Maps Tour
The UK's Birmingham Children's Hospital teamed up with Google and an autism organization to create a Google Maps tour of the hospital so that autistic children can become familiar with the hospital before their visit.
"We know that children with autism really struggle when they come to visit us," the hospital wrote on its Facebook page. "They get anxious and upset about unfamiliar places and this can often be very hard for the parents, too."
Users navigate through the tour by clicking on arrows or dragging their cursor over the screen, like when using the Google Maps street view feature. The website also provides links to 19 areas, like the waiting room, X-ray, and sensory garden, if users would prefer to explore that way.
From a marketing perspective, this tour not only helps to create a more positive patient experience for children, but it likely puts parents at ease as well.
A NICU that's been caring for infants for more than 40 years is the focal point of a hospital fundraising campaign featuring stories of its tiniest and most clinically fragile patients.
Crouse Hospital doesn't typically market its Baker Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit's services. It doesn't need to.
The Syracuse, NY, NICU is a New York State-designated regional referral center for the care of premature and critically ill infants, treating more than 1,000 infants each year from a 14-county area.
"Because of our long-standing leadership in this service line, and because no competing facility exists in the defined geographic region, Crouse does not need to actively market the service—it essentially markets itself," says Bob Allen, vice president of communications and government affairs for the 506-bed hospital.
The NICU's level of market saturation has resulted in it caring for patients for 40 years, an accomplishment Crouse leadership decided to celebrate with an ad campaign.
The goal of the campaign was twofold: marketers wanted to raise awareness for the department and its clinicians, and to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive hospital fundraising campaign, a piece of which will include the NICU.
"The current 57-bassinet unit was opened in 1999 and is not optimally configured for today's care delivery standards," Allen says. "The hospital's goal is to expand the existing unit, while updating and incorporating the latest technological and infant-care advances, including private, individualized treatment rooms."
An Untapped Well of Patient Stories
When conceptualizing the campaign, marketers began with a simple premise of telling patients' stories. Once they began soliciting stories they found the process was easy, thanks to the Baker Regional NICU's high number of successful outcomes.
"Working with our ad agency, [Syracuse-based Eric Mower & Associates] we developed an overall theme for the campaign—Crouse Little Fighters Club—that resonated with us because, regardless of the outcome, NICU infants—the most clinically fragile of patients—are, in fact, all little fighters," Allen says.
The campaign's first "round" of Little Fighters included former Crouse preemies and critically ill patients who are today healthy, thriving individuals. They include a 21-year-old star lacrosse player who spent 16 harrowing weeks in the NICU, a high-school football standout whose mother didn't think she'd ever be able to bring her son home, and a Crouse employee who praises the life-saving care her son received in the NICU.
The effort also featured two Crouse NICU nurses—one of whom was a patient in the NICU 31 years ago and who grew up to become a NICU nurse at Crouse, working side-by-side with the same nurse who cared for her all those years ago, Allen says.
Little Fighters, Big Impact
The Little Fighters campaign launched in September 2015 and included a mix of traditional media—print, radio, and outdoor—along with digital and social media.
"We knew from the beginning that this campaign was tailor-made for storytelling in the digital sphere, particularly through the use of social media," says Cheryl Abrams, director of communications and digital media. "We used traditional media in tandem with the hospital's social media platforms, particularly Facebook, to invite families who had an experience in the Crouse NICU to submit their stories."
Marketers created videos featuring our former NICU patients and their family members sharing their unscripted—and often very emotional—stories. They also created a landing page to both serve as a repository for the videos and provide people with an opportunity to submit their own story, which are displayed on the site.
The landing page also includes a link for people to donate to the campaign online. Since September, it has received more than 5,000 pageviews.
"From a social media standpoint, it's become quite apparent that anything to do with the NICU resonates significantly with those who engage with us on social, which we anticipated, although the level of that engagement has been significant," Allen says. "Little Fighters stories posted on our Facebook page, for example, generate anywhere from 200 to 400 'likes' per post."
Crouse is also using its Twitter and Facebook accounts to push out Little Fighters stories and solicit additional stories, which are then featured on the website landing page. Particularly poignant or compelling stories are selected as Little Fighters "features."
Fundraising Groundwork
While Crouse's formal fundraising campaign won't launch until September, the hospital has already raised more than $40,000 just from the initial awareness and storytelling campaign. Some of the donations have been generated through the sale of Little Fighters Club boxing glove keychains, which are sold in the hospital and at community events for $5 each.
"From a fundraising standpoint, our primary goal in phase one of this effort was to create a level of awareness for the NICU and the services it provides that would help pave the way for potential giving opportunities later in 2016," Allen says. "From a qualitative standpoint, the feedback received to date—not only internally from staff, but also externally from the community—has been extremely positive."
In the year ahead, marketers will continue to emphasize the use of social media to solicit compelling NICU stories from family members and staff. They have their eye on one former patient in particular—a star goalie for a major league hockey team who spent the first weeks of his life as a "preemie" in the Crouse NICU.
