go legato

The pressure is on.

Let’s face it.  It’s not easy being a health care administrator or marketer.  You are expected to perform more than ever.  The board doesn’t want to hear zany excuses like increased competition, decreased government reimbursement or an aging population.

1)  Serve as a strategic partner.

Work for ways to lead the strategic planning process of your organization.  In fact, marketing must be part of the culture of your organization, and not simply a function or expense.  That means being proactive about your efforts.  Don’t just wait to react to circumstances.

2)  Produce results.

You’re constantly being asked to demonstrate marketing’s return on investment.  Depending on the effort, this can be done even if it’s not easy. But what’s as important is to produce results.  Virtually every effort, whether it’s a newsletter, an advertising campaign or a community event, should have agreed upon goals before it begins.  Whenever possible, these goals should be business or volume related, such as market share, patient visits, or revenue generated.  But often just as important are communications goals, such as increasing service line preference by a certain percentage, or drawing a specific number of people to a community event, or receiving a measurable number of Web site hits or phone calls.

3)  Communicate goals and results.

Communicate these goals in advance of the effort, and then report on how you did according to those goals.  This is not about bragging, but it is about being accountable.  Yes, it does put pressure on you to produce, but that’s exactly what’s going to earn you respect and credibility. 

Throughout my career, I’ve had the privilege of orchestrating many high-profile advertising campaigns.  But one of my proudest moments to date is managing a team effort that not a lot of people knew about, and one that certainly didn’t win us any awards.  But when the health system’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) cited the communications effort as the main contributor to the initiative’s success, I couldn’t have received a better compliment.  It’s no secret that bean counters and marketers don’t always sing from the same hymnal, so when you get such an endorsement as a marketer it’s definitely a career highlight.

In short, the initiative was a public relations program that leveraged relationships with physicians and the business community to take on a national insurance carrier, an industry giant known for throwing its weight and influencing public perception in its favor during negotiations. Our public relations program literally saved the company millions through a much improved managed care contract.  And from a credibility standpoint, the effort demonstrated that marketing and communications can make a direct positive impact to the bottom line.  We knew and understood what the management team was facing, and we executed a flawless plan. When it came to justifying next year’s marketing budget, it was a much easier process because we had demonstrated value.

4) Develop specific criteria for when to invest marketing resources.

It’s critical to develop specific criteria for determining when and how to invest in marketing, whether that’s dollars or labor.  Is there capacity for the product or service?  Is it truly market ready?  What is the current or potential contribution margin?  Does this service offer a competitive advantage?  Does it focus more on private insured patients?  Does it build goodwill in the community?  Does it improve employee communication?

These are just examples of criteria that might be right for your organization.  Often you’ll have more than one criterion for an effort.  In addition, these criteria will be weighted differently.  What’s important is that your management team forms a consensus on these criteria and their weight.  Once this is accomplished, the marketing and budget process becomes much more logical and results oriented.

5) Be a step ahead of the competition.

This is part of your job.  At the very least, make sure you understand what your competition is promoting and what messages they’re communicating.  But apart from advertising and promotion, what else are you hearing?  Are they expanding their orthopedics department?  Adding new physicians to their women’s health program?  Stay on top of new developments, communicate them quickly and routinely.

6) Increase the visibility of your organization’s leaders.

Some leaders are better than others at public visibility and community relations.  Whether you’re the leader in your organization, or you’re representing others, be an advocate for your leadership team.  Place physicians and administrators on key boards.  Creative opportunities for appearances at staff meetings, department meetings, community functions.  Position your leader as a spokesperson on health related and business topics with the local media.  Start a blog, and ghost write articles, placing them in key local, regional and national publications.

7) Be prepared for a crisis before it happens.

Nothing demonstrates value more than a poised, orchestrated and prepared response to a crisis situation or disaster.  Your response will shape the perceptions that others have on your leadership team’s handling of a situation.  Undoubtedly, your ability to shape your message will define your organization’s image for years. For more specifics on developing a health care crisis communications plan, please read my article, “Preparing for a Crisis Before It Happens,” available for free at www.golegato.com.

8) Focus on service.

Remember, health care administration and marketing is a service role within your organization.  The marketing department doesn’t exist as a mechanism to work on fun projects or to get invitations to golf outings. Your job is to help the organization meet its goals.  If your actions demonstrate this belief, you’ll establish the kind of credibility that will allow you to affect meaningful change in your organization.