Hospital Marketing

Hospital Marketing Connects Patients, Physicians and Providers

Hospital marketing is a specialized field that deals with connecting patients, physicians, and hospitals in mutual relationships.

Many people ask, "How can you 'market' a hospital?" But marketing a hospital or health system is no different than "marketing" any other non-profit organization like the American Red Cross or your local charity. There are audiences. There are needs. There is a mission statement.

Plus, historically, medicine in America has always been a business. In today's insurance and reimbursement environment, health care and hospital marketing is more needed than ever to ensure continuing viability of American medicine on the local level and to provide the high quality of individual health care that Americans have come to demand.

With these ingredients, there is clearly a need for analysis, strategy and communication to make the most of limited resources while providing compassionate health care. This is what hospital marketing does.

Professional Societies

Start here for success in hospital marketing or public relations.

Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development: The Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) of the American Hospital Association is the professional society for marketers, public relations professionals and planners. The Society sponsors the SHSMD Knowledge Community, a social network and resource repository for members.
PRSA Health Academy: The Health Academy is the professional section of the Public Relations Society of America focused on health care, hospital and pharma.
Healthcare Strategy Institute: An independent group providing professional development and other services established as the Forum for Healthcare Strategists in 1996

Professional Networking for Hospital Marketing

Connecting with colleagues improves intelligence and reduces stress

The Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD)
SHSMD has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.com, as well as a proprietary bulletin board and repository of literature, policies and job descriptons called the Knowledge Community. SHSMD also operates four active member-only listservs for hospital markeing, public relations, physician strategies and strategic planning.

Ning Communities
Hospital marketing as a topic is somewhat fragmented on the Ning community (about Ning) but you may want to consider these networking options: Healthcare Marketing (coordinator: Don Dunlop), Hospital Marketing Education (coordinator: Chris Boyer) and Provident Partner's Healthcare Social Media Group (coordinator: Al Maruggi).

Health Care and Hospital Communicators on myragan.com
MyRagan is a professional social networking site operated by by Ragan Communications, publisher of many communication-related publications and seminars. The Health Care and Hospital Communicators section is one of numerous special interest groups that allow members interact through bulletin boards and other features.

Hospital Campaigns that Work

An annual resource book that will jump start your creative juices

Hospital Campaigns That Work: Featuring the Winners of the 2008 Healthleaders Media Marketing Awards

by: Healthleaders Media

Amazon Price: $99.00 (as of 11/08/2009)

Admittedly, this resource book is expensive. Yet it can be a valuable investment that should be seriously consdered by the hospital marketing department or advertising agency. Each year the best and most creative hospital advertising ideas are compiled in this book. Price-wise, it is comparable (or perhaps less expensive) than investing in subscriptions to the two or three top hospital advertising and marketing journals. For the small department, this will help you develop creative strategies that you may not be able to afford if you had to pay a big city ad agency. And for larger departments or agencies, this resource will help you do the background research needed to develop either a solid integrated marketing campaign or a targeted solution to a single marketing concern. Either way, you'll want to keep this annual easily accessible to staff as a regular reference and brainstorming tool.

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Hospital Marketing Blogs and Podcasts

Fresh from the Internet

We've reviewed the blogoshere for the best blogs and postcasts related to hospital or healthcare marketing and found these worthy of your consideration. Some of the initial selections are more general to hospital administration, while some of the latter options are more specific to hopital marketing or public relations. We think you'll enjoy them all.

Blog: Hospital Impact

http://www.hospitalimpact.org

Hospital Impact is a blog devoted to improving the quality of hospital care in America. It frequently covers hospital and health care news and issues of all types. This is a good blog for hospital administrators. Most recent posts: