“Healthcare Innovation: Trends from the Trenches” Webinar Series Offers Marketers Tips They Need Now To Prove ROI & Measure Other Success Factors
NEW YORK, Nov. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ — Given the very competitive nature of the current healthcare marketplace and already-stretched marketing budgets, marketers need to strive to perfect their methods and metrics to come out ahead. That’s why Andrea Simon, Ph.D., founder/CEO of Simon Associates Management Consultants (SAMC), and creator of the popular webinar series, Healthcare Innovation: Trends from the Trenches, is offering “The Ultimate Guide To Healthcare Marketing Metrics” as her next webinar on Nov. 14 at noon, ET.
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Simon has invited David Marlowe, one of the top national experts on healthcare marketing metrics, to co-host this session with her. Tapping 34 years of experience measuring healthcare marketing initiatives, Marlowe heads his own Maryland-based firm, Strategic Marketing Concepts, and also has penned multiple books, including: Healthcare Marketing Plans That Work and A Marketer’s Guide to Measuring ROI.
Simon and Marlowe will cover several topics during the free, one-hour webinar:
- the challenges of developing and using metrics
- three major categories of healthcare marketing metrics
- how to create the ultimate marketing dashboard for your organization
- today’s hot, cutting-edge measurement methods
- what you need to know about ROI.
“There are no standards”
“Many health care marketers struggle with metrics,” explained Marlowe. “One reason why is that — unlike some sectors such as finance — there are no industry-wide, third-party designated standards to measure healthcare marketing. While there are often some common themes, a review of a number of marketing dashboards shows a wide array of metrics. Each marketer basically measures whatever he or she thinks is most appropriate or candidly has the easiest access to in terms of the needed data. Another reason is that many healthcare marketers gravitate towards marketing operational metrics such as web site activity or the number of phone inquiries rather than more strategic metrics that impact organizational goals – again often a reflection of the types of information they have the best access to.”
Marlowe adds that sometimes the marketing dashboards satisfy the CEOs, and sometimes they are designed to please the Board of Directors. To make matters even more complicated, the Board of Directors often cares most about a hospital’s public image and how that has improved over the past year. But the CEO often is more concerned about how marketing has elevated overall revenue from one year to the next.
All that said, when marketing programs don’t receive the funding that the marketing department has requested, it’s usually because the metrics for past programs do not speak to the needs of senior management and don’t reflect the changing circumstances affecting healthcare organizations.
Marketing & Metrics – More Important Than Ever
“Marketing is more important now than it has ever been to the survival of many healthcare institutions,” said Simon. “Patients are comparing and contrasting the many different options for their care more than they have previously. Loyalty to certain doctors or institutions is at an all-time low, as well. So hospitals and other institutions need the right marketing mix – with new, appropriate metrics – to stay top of mind among consumers and enhance their brands and reputations.”
Marlowe says that several organizations have made, and continue to make, many metrics mistakes. While not all metrics will be tied directly to the financial benefits of a program, Marlowe says some should reflect ROI. And in eight out of ten cases he has encountered, ROI isn’t a leading consideration.
In some cases, he has found marketers who decide to avoid metrics all together, because they are maxed out performing all of the actual marketing work. In direct contrast, a small department sometimes will employ dozens of metrics – too many to support with enough marketing muscle to yield helpful measurements. So doing too little with metrics or going overboard are two other mistakes healthcare marketers need to avoid.
To learn more about this webinar and pre-register, click here. Additional webinars slated for the next few months, include: Building a Culture of Innovation in Healthcare on Dec. 12, with Simon as the featured speaker; Inbound Marketing: Engage Them And They Will Come on Jan. 16, 2015; with featured speaker, Cory Smith, senior director, Healthgrades; and Today’s Patient: Are You Ready For Her? on Feb. 13, 2015, with Stephen Moegling, a partner at Franklin Street.
For more information on the popular webinar series, go to: www.simonassociates.net, where SlideShare presentations of past webinars can be downloaded. To read more about other pertinent healthcare topics, go to the SAMC Trends from the Trenches blog.
Media Contact: Chuck Casto, Casto Consulting, 508-314-3284, chuckcasto@gmail.com
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