April 2010

By Jeanne Sarnosky, VNA of Cape Cod, NESHCo Secretary

Creating a service theme helps define an organization’s purpose – not only for the external audience but more importantly, to give consistent direction to your internal audience and all the potential “marketers” of your brand.

Really? Employees don’t know what we do? A simple test of a non-scientific survey, e.g., stop your employees in the hallway and ask them “what do we do” and you’ll see the differences.

By Kevin McDonald, NESHCo President 

Hospital marketing and communications professionals in health care organizations are often overworked and underappreciated. We have to continually prove our value. And that’s not always easy. So much or what we do is intangible and difficult to measure. 

Did that press release about attaining Magnet status convince anyone to choose us for their knee surgery? How many people saw our latest TV spot touting our minimally invasive surgery? Did it keep them from going to Boston for the surgery they needed?

By Lee Reynolds Crouch, Dowden Custom Media, NESHCo Vice President

The 78 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 are aging.  According to the American Hospital Association, by the year 2020, boomers will account for 40 percent of physician visits, and six out of 10 of them will be managing more than one chronic condition by the year 2030. To target this audience, who will make up the bulk of hospital visits, you need to create boomer-specific content that focuses on prevention and wellness.

These five suggestions can help attract baby boomers with targeted marketing content.

By Tom Link, Dartmouth-Hitchcock/Cheshire Medical Center, NESHCo New Hampshire State Director

As those who respond to media inquiries know, an interview with a reporter can be a trying time. When acting as the spokesperson for your healthcare organization it is important to remember a few basic rules when dealing with media calls. Here are a few refresher notes for anyone who regularly finds themselves on the front line for media interviews.

• Media interactions should be prompt, factual and controlled. Communicate quickly, accurately and thoroughly. Provide known facts only.