How can healthcare marketing become a blue ocean strategy?

Simply put, a healthcare blue ocean marketing strategy is one where you redefine a market and dominate. By finding your blue ocean marketing strategy one can leap ahead of competitor's swimming in a blue ocean free of competition, instead of swimming in the bloody red ocean of undifferentiated services.

With healthcare moving to a semi-retail model where experience, price and quality transparency weigh heavily on the healthcare consumer with a  higher economic stake in care decisions, a healthcare provider at this time anyway, has the opportunity to break the mold and innovate along these dimensions and clearly differentiate in the market.

So how does this apply to healthcare marketing?

Healthcare is undifferentiated and for all practical purposes may be in danger of becoming a commodity where purchase decisions are made based on price, in this case the healthcare consumer’s out-of-pocket expense.  Hospitals, health systems, physicians and other providers have similar programs and services, have the same managed care contracts, share physicians etc., etc., etc, across multiple competitors. 

In an environment of multiple payments methods adding to the confusion from being paid for the production of care with the “heads-in-the-beds” to keep the healthcare consumer out of the hospital in the least expensive care setting, a blue ocean marketing strategy based on experience, price and quality transparency is just what the doctor ordered. Pun intended.

Now that being said, it is a tall order for an industry that has traditionally not been transparent regarding price and outcomes to make that change overnight.  But it is one of the few remaining changes that can provide a good head start on market dominance.  And in all honesty, whether or not survival is at stake, healthcare organizations need marketing innovation to change the competitive dynamics of the market.

The semi-retailization of healthcare is accelerating even more so now with the entrant of non-traditional providers who are competing on price, experience and access, which is a deadly combination for traditional healthcare providers who are slow to change.

Just because an organization packages the mouse trap differently than others, doesn’t mean it’s any different.

Developing what I call a blue ocean marketing strategy in truth stems from becoming a blue ocean strategy organization. Marketing leadership and marketing organizational transformation at its best and you have a formula for success. Be the blue ocean innovator and show healthcare marketing as proactive rather than reactive.

As the Disney character Dory in Finding Nemo says, “Keep swimming, keep swimming, keep swimming.”

I am a healthcare consumer. Do you know what I need?

I am a healthcare consumer and spending more out of pocket than I ever have in the history of healthcare.  I see the data on price and wonder why it’s so different when you won’t tell me why? I have seen the quality data but wonder if I will get sick from a hospital acquired infection, have an accident or get the wrong medications?

I am a healthcare consumer and see the nice advertisements and billboards for the hospital or health system with shinny trophies and award logos, but I don’t know what that means. The hospital or health system claims world class care but how do I know that is really true? I see what people are saying about the hospital or health system in social media circles.

I am the healthcare consumer who is newly insured because my employer sent me to the marketplace to buy my own insurance, or my policy was canceled due to ACA. I am the healthcare consumer who never had insurance before so why should I use you?

I am the healthcare consumer.

I read an interesting article published by Healthcare Finance News, Healthcare 2.0: Patient as consumers the other day and it caused me to pause by catching my attention. Then I started thinking what does that mean for healthcare marketing?

As healthcare evolves to a semi-retail environment difficult choices and decisions by hospitals and health systems are on the horizon.  And hiding behind the “we’re healthcare and we are different” won’t make those choices and decisions go away.

Granted, healthcare will never be a fully consumer driven market in the traditional sense. Some healthcare treatments, screenings etc., are needed by patients because they just don’t know about those services but that doesn't mean decision-making any longer without consumer market research.

Healthcare providers need a deep understanding of who the healthcare consumer is, what their needs are both perceived and unmet.  Now that being said there will always be services that need to be offered, but if you are communicating with a 25 year old, should you really be taking to them about colon cancer screenings or the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse?

This market dynamic is really transformational. Market research to achieve a deep understanding of who the healthcare consumer across all you market segments is needed like never before. That includes a voice of the customer program as well. And marketing needs to be at the table in this discussion and playing an active role. It is no longer I think this is the right way because the Board, doctor’s, senior management or the clinician’s had an idea. It’s now I know this the right decision in program design, communication messages and market approach because it’s based on facts.

And these are topics I have been writing about for the past several years now.

I am the healthcare consumer. Now what are you trying to sell me?

Is healthcare ready for native advertising?

The other day while trolling around the internet in the world of healthcare, I came across an interesting social media infographic: 41 percent of patients say social media affects hospital choice courtesy of healthcarecommunicatons.com.  I thought that factoid was pretty interesting.  Then I started thinking about the connection of this factoid to native advertising.

If you not familiar with the term “native advertising”, the simplest way to explain the concept is that it’s online advertising that seeks to gain attention by providing content in the context of the social media or online user’s experience. Native advertisement fits the form and function of the user’s experience in which it is placed.

Now given that 41 percent of people are using social media to choose a hospital and that number will grow over time, native advertising offers healthcare providers a large target audience rich environment to reach with relevant brand content woven into the context of the user experience. I am assuming of course in this statement that social media utilization by healthcare marketers is becoming more diversified, creative, and contextually appropriate to their brand.

That assumption may be debatable, but if a healthcare provider is ignoring social media and using the medium solely as a billboard for the warm fuzzy quality and we’re the best messaging when the market is evolving to a semi-retail model based on price and quality, well, they are missing an opportunity to build brand and revenue.

But I digress. So what does native adverting look like? Let’s start with what it is not.

Native advertising is not advertorial advertising. It is not an ad box. It is not automated.

Now let’s look at what native advertising is. Native advertising integrates high quality content in the user experience. It is delivered in stream and does not interrupt the user experience but adds to that experience. It is selective, remaining true to the brand in the context of the user experience.

If you are looking for examples of native adverting take a look at Facebook, The Washington Post, and the NY Times.  Oh and I would suggest that you hire an agency. Native advertising is not easy and is the next big wave in 2014 to come crashing down on under-resourced healthcare provider marketing departments.

You will need to do the market research to understand the social media habits of the particular healthcare audience segment in your marketing plan. One will need to segment the social media native advertising efforts because one size does not fit all. The content that is developed may fit in and work well on Facebook, but not on Google+ or LinkedIn as an example.

It should be remembered that native advertising should be used in an integrated fashion within the marketing mix of the organizational efforts with direct mail, trade shows, programs, thought leadership, advertisements, public relations etc.

Native advertising offers the healthcare provider the opportunity to standout within the context of the use experience.  And when so much time and attention is given to the healthcare consumers experience, shouldn’t that be extended to the advertising experience as well?

I leave it up to you to decide if healthcare provider's are ready for native advertising.

Why not engage the healthcare consumer with email?

Email marketing on the consumer side is a staple of any B2C marketing operation. Email marketing can be an effective way to engage the healthcare consumer, enhance the experience and build brand preference.  It also provides a mechanism for continuous content presence to build/enhance relationships, as well as being one of the more cost effective marketing channels available for communication. In the semi-retail environment of healthcare with information flowing to the healthcare consumer along price, choice and outcomes, market presence is everything.

Gone are the days when someone uses your healthcare organization, walks out the door and they never hear from you again until they initiate the next medical encounter.  In between medical encounters, email marketing can keep you engaged with the healthcare consumer. And isn’t that what engagement is all about, a continuous method of communication that focuses on the needs of the healthcare consumer aka the patient and not just a response to an episode of care?

The topics are virtually limitless and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of an individual or group of individuals.  From diet and exercise tips, to medication adherence, wellness programs, clinical service offerings, appointment reminders, test follow ups, etc, email marketing can help to engage and enhance the experience with the healthcare provider or practitioner.  What you choose to communicate is really only limited by the market research you need to accomplish to understand the needs of your audience to respond accordingly with the right engagement information at the right time.

There is some resource investment capital and human, but it will pay dividends in the long run. Email marketing is driven by data and analysis of that data. Sending an email is an activity.  It’s the outcome of those activities- open rates, unique visitors, unsubscribed, click though rates, calls in response etc., that is important to measure and track for a variety of reasons.

Beyond the obvious of needing to collect patients email addresses, you will need a email marketing automation system such as Eloqua, Marketo, Constant Contact  or one of the many other fine systems in the marketplace. These type of systems will assist you in meeting the can spam law requirements as well. This isn’t collecting some email addresses, make a distribution list and send from Outlook type of program. It’s about meaningful content that speaks to and engages the individual in a very personalized way. Part of that is driven by market research and A B testing of your message to learn what works and what doesn't. This is moving the organization forward in a new environment where the consumer is king and cost is everything.

Email marketing pre and post healthcare experience is an acceptable and desirable method to engage the healthcare consumer, build a relationship, strengthen your brand and maintain a continuous market presence. 

Have you made your healthcare marketing resolutions for 2014?

New Year's Resolutions, for the most part, play an important role in most everyone's life.  To lose weight. Live life more fully. Be a better husband, wife, or significant other etc.  Value more what we have in our family and friends.  And many more that I have missed. But have you ever considered New Year' Resolutions as a part of your business and managerial life? 

So my last Healthcare Marketing Matters blog for 2013 is about New Year Marketing Resolutions.  My own Top 10 list to get things started.  What are yours?

10.  Focus on meeting the needs of the healthcare consumer aka the newly insured.

9.  Learn from the healthcare retail giants like Walgreens, CVS Caremark and others. Healthcare continues to evolve into a semi-retail market and what has worked in the past won’t work anymore.

8.  Marry price to outcomes and be transparent to the healthcare consumer. Prove value.

7.  Integrate traditional, online and social marketing strategies. All are complementary to one another and drive multiple successes.

6.  Innovate- again and again and again;

5.  Foster a spirit of and demand marketing excellence in the marketing department.  Good enough is not good enough.

4.  Focus on the data and show ROI. If it doesn’t work then stop doing it.

3. Stop using the words "unique", "state-of-the-art", and anything that is considered “buzz word" terminology in my marketing communications.  Unique can be duplicated easily. State-of-the-art refers to yesterday's systems as things change so fast. Buzz words quickly fall out of favor.

2.  Bridge the divide between sales and marketing.

1.  Serve and be humble, for working in healthcare is a privilege, not a right.

It’s been a most interesting year, HMM went over 5,000 page views a month and is now read in 52 countries around the world.  There was a lot of spirited discussion in LinkedIn groups about several of the posts. I fielded calls on various topics from Bloomberg Weekly, Reuters, Associated Press, Crain’s and Strategic Health Care Marketing (published December 2013).  It was all appreciated and fun.  But most of all thank you for reading, for that is what really makes doing this worthwhile. I am taking a couple of weeks off. See you in 2104.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Have a healthy, safe and prosperous year.

Michael J. Krivich, MHA, FACHE, PCM, is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read in over 52 countries worldwide.. These views are my own. He is founder of the michael J group, a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executivesand a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association.  Like us on facebook at the michael J group, and connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The great healthcare experiment; will consumers buy on value or price?

It’s the great healthcare experiment really when you stop and think about it.  Today, thousands of individuals are going to public and in some cases private exchanges to purchase health insurance for themselves and families. Different levels of plans, varied coverage’s, deductibles and copays with open or limited networks, drug benefits etc.

So the healthcare consumer is now making the grand choice. Will they choose value by what they perceive based on experience, relationship and no real outcomes data to make a rational decision to keep the doctors and hospitals in their network? Or, will the healthcare consumer now shopper for care, decide to choose by price and consider value as a given among all providers.

There probably at this point no definitive answer to the question. The signs are all around that healthcare is evolving to a semi-retail market.  And the decision now facing healthcare consumers of choosing healthcare via insurance by value or price will only accelerate change.

When an individual is facing a decision with multiple price options, they will exhibit consumeristic behaviors and shop on price when all else is perceived as equal.  And healthcare for all intent purposes, is the ultimate (and pardon my use of a sports analogy, just can’t help myself) example of league parity in the minds of consumers.   Seen one doctor, seen one hospital, and seen them all.  For years healthcare providers have offered up platitudes of world class care, best doctors, high tech, Centers of Excellence and so on, that value is totally undifferentiated. In the absence of information, markets like nature abhor a vacuum. Price fills the void.

Now that the barn door is open and no getting the horse back in, what can a healthcare provider do? No simple answer this time around. Healthcare consumerism is a new phenomenon in healthcare. To adjust to that seismic shift, the healthcare provider regardless of type will now need to get serious about brand, outcomes, value, experience and price.  Total transparency really.

Oh and one other thing, the conversation with the healthcare consumer and newly insured is going to have to change from just stating that we are the best, to here’s why we are the best and what you are the best at.  Can’t be great at everything and the healthcare consumer already knows.

This is going to be a struggle for most healthcare providers.  It will be as much about changing internally as externally.  Going from being in control of the process, to being subjected to the needs and wants of consumers on a value, quality and price basis is not an easy transition.  Some will make and others will fail.  That’s life. That’s the nature of markets.

Take a look at the marketing strategy and organizational readiness as well as the consultants that you hire. Are they telling you here is your best customer go forth and fill the beds, or are they preparing you to be a responsive healthcare consumer-centric organization in how you approach the market and win the confidence and dollars of the new healthcare consumer?

It’s the great experiment; healthcare choice purchased on value or price. Something tells me that price will win the day. The horses are out of the barn.

Michael J. Krivich, MHA, FACHE, PCM, is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views read in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. These views are my own. He is founder of the michael J group, a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executivesand a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association.  Like us on facebook at the michael J group, and connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

How do you market the employed physician?

With dynamic changes taking place in the healthcare as it evolves to a semi-retail environment, employment of physicians is seen as central to the success of hospitals and health systems surviving in an era of reform.   A side note to physicians, I believe that there will always be independent practitioners, but that is a discussion for another day.   

With this new opportunity to reinvent, revitalize and recapture what previously before had been an adventure on the part of hospitals with mixed results, its time to discuss how one goes about marketing the employed physician.

It's easy to look at this and say we'll just do what we did in the past in promoting employed physicians and be done with it.  That is a dangerous mistake in the age of healthcare consumerism.  The newly insured are expecting to have some level of choice, are social media networked and will be controlling many of the purchase decisions where previously, the healthcare provider drove many of those decisions. 

What is needed is a new look at what you are doing and changing to meet the needs of the newly insured healthcare consumer.

With great change comes great opportunity.  That is if one is willing to embrace that change and find new ways of moving forward and creating value. 

Brand. Value. The Healthcare Consumers Choice.

Communicate very strongly how your brand and brand promise are associated with the employed physician.  Doesn't matter if he or she is in a Medical Office Building (MOB) you own, Accountable Care Organization (ACO) or Medical Home (MH) or a multispecialty group practice.  Bring your brand to the forefront and brand the doc to you. The physician represents the healthcare providers brand at an individual level.  Capitalize on that credibility transfer opportunity and leverage it.

Communicate the value that the employed physician brings to the community and the healthcare consumer.  Communicate the value that the doctor brings to the brand.  Stop talking at people, talk to them. Talk to them with compelling value driven reasons and stories as to why they should select that doctor, or even why they should even considering switching physicians. 

Stop wasting money putting ads in papers that expect people to take action simply because the doctor is on your medical staff. That treats the healthcare consumer like they are idiots.  They're not. They are demanding value and acknowledgement that they have a say in what's going on.  If you won't meet their needs they will go somewhere else.

The newly insured healthcare consumer is gaining market power as they reach into their pockets to pay those high deductibles and co-pays.  As the economic cost rises for the healthcare consumer, so does their attention to outcomes, quality, experience and price.

If you're not communicating brand, value and what's in it for them for selecting the employed physician, then you can put it in the bank that the healthcare consumer is will pass on by  and go where they perceive the value to be greatest for them in line with the price they are paying.

Michael J. Krivich, MHA, FACHE, PCM, is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views read in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. These views are my own. He is founder of the michael J group, a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executivesand a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association.  Like us on facebook at the michael J group, and connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter.