Let’s face it, healthcare marketing is tough. Just a few of the daily struggles include:
- Pressure from internal stakeholders to respond to competitive forces but also stay in budget
- An ever-growing selection of digital marketing channels, all with their constantly changing algorithms can make it hard to stay afloat
- Many conflicting and competing priorities are added to the plate as everyone is asked to ‘do more with less’
The list of course goes on. At some point, it can seem insurmountable. But it’s not. Sometimes, you just need a little guidance.
Below are Some Common Healthcare Marketing Challenges:
- Developing a strategic Marketing planning process, and the plan to go with it
- Engaging internal stakeholders in the marketing planning process in a way that is meaningful
- Moving beyond the brand/ awareness stage of service line marketing
- Integrating online and offline marketing
- Managing an Agency of Record and other vendors
- Transition or Crisis Communications
- Social Media/ Digital Marketing
Most healthcare marketers are by necessity generalists. As a generalist, you don’t have the time to really specialize. In some cases, you can be the ‘web person’ and also do a fantastic job at copy writing, because there are others on your team who do the other things that need to get done, like graphic design, print coordination, advertising, media relations, etc. In other cases, you are the “one-woman show”, doing it all yourself, and that usually requires the help of outside agencies. Those agencies can range from freelance writers, graphic designers, photographers, web developers, and even an advertising agency.
What’s sometimes missing from all of these scenarios is strategy. Strategy takes time, and most healthcare marketers don’t have the luxury of time. The problem with moving along without a strategy though, is that at some point, you will be asked to justify your time and your budget. You will be asked to prove your worth. When that time comes, you want to be sure that you can point to the ‘why’ of your activities. The most successful strategic marketing plans are those that take into account the variety of ways you can involve key stakeholders in your process. I’ll talk about how you can effectively involve stakeholders in an upcoming post.
A good strategic marketing plan can help you tackle the above named challenges, and more. A beautifully written plan needs to be implemented, too. There are many ways to build skills in both planning and implementation. Some of those include attending conferences, free webinars, reading books, finding someone you admire to mentor you, and more. I’ve found that all of the above have helped me propel my career. The best teacher though, has been experience. Sometimes you just have to dive right in and try. Good luck, I know you can do it!
Christina Deidesheimer 