At Dobies Healthcare Group, we believe a brand is only as strong as the connection between the organization’s actions and its messages. After all, your brand is more than what you say – it’s what you do.

So how do you determine what your brand is really saying?  Two words: Brand audit.

A brand audit systematically assesses the company’s brand from three vantage points:

1. Communications: How authentically the company appears in documents, proposals, advertising, Web sites and other venues
2. Internal: What employees think
3. External: What the customer believes

An audit is like peeling an onion one layer at a time to expose the core essence of the brand, and reviewing these three areas can help leadership understand how well the brand aligns with the organization’s strategic priorities and core values. Plus, it creates a road map for both marketers and executives to use in improving the brand’s overall authenticity. 

To learn more, check out my article on brand audits and take the first steps toward truly living your brand.

Transparency in quality reporting goes both ways.  Good ratings – and bad – are posted every day for all kinds of products and services. When it comes to health care, I absolutely believe in transparency and public reporting of quality and patient safety measures. In fact, right now we’re in the process of creating a brand new “Quality Matters” microsite for one of our clients.

Recently, MSNBC reported that some physicians were having patients sign “gag order” waivers to prevent their ranting on review Web sites. Unbelievable.  Would you trust a physician who required you to sign such a document? Allowing patients to review doctors on Web sites is not only is in the best interest of consumers and public health, but it is also a matter of freedom of speech. In fairness, however, I believe doctors should be exempt from federal privacy laws that prevent them from publicly responding to patients. 

As healthcare marketers, we may not be able to change federal law, but we can help manage the reputation of our physician clients on these Web sites.  Here’s how:

1. Use a username that clearly identifies you as a representative from the practice, such as OfficeMgr_SmithMedical, with proper contact information in the user profile.
2. Acknowledge comments with replies that let reviewers know you are listening (without, of course, acknowledging patient name or identification).
3. Direct patients to contact a specific person at the practice to voice concerns and resolve issues.
4. Encourage reviewers to continue the conversation with your practice.

As a healthcare marketing firm, our clients count on us to produce creative ideas that engage patients, spread quality improvement and inspire new behaviors. We pride ourselves in coming up with campaigns that begin by improving patient experience and continue through traditional, social and viral media. We absolutely love what we do.

Most recently we put our marketing muscle into an award-winning maternity campaign that focused on the physician/hospital connection and the patient experience.  Congrats to Janice, Denise, Randee and Kelley for bringing home a Platinum branding award from HealthLeaders, and two Emeralds and two certificates of merit from the Kansas Association of Health Care Communicators.  More importantly, thanks for helping Lawrence Memorial Hospital deliver more babies despite the baby bust!

When you see a really good idea, you absolutely have to share it with everyone you know.  It used to be that we’d simply email a cool link to our friends and colleagues, but this one is worth talking about.

My hat is off to Volkswagen and thefuntheory.com.  From pianos to pinball, they have collected some great ideas to inspire healthy behaviors.

For all of my clients with offices on the second floor or higher, let this be an inspiration to you to use the stairs.  At a minimum, consider equipping your stairways to health to help fight obesity by giving it a fresh coat of paint.  Hang some artwork, include an inspirational message or two.  Maybe install Wii Fit stations on a landing, or wire up a video board so employees can compete with one another on the number of trips up the steps.   Please add to the list of possibilities by posting a comment.

We’ve built our reputation on helping our hospital clients “connect the dots.” What do we mean by that?

Successful marketing leaders connect their efforts to their hospital’s strategic priorities by ensuring that marketing dollars are allocated to support and meet specific objectives of the strategic plan.  They not only illustrate that research findings support their creative execution; they take operational readiness, competitive reactions, contingencies and performance metrics into account, too.

In other words, they make sure that the brand new Emergency Department – or service line of choice  – is operating like a well-greased machine, that measurement systems are in place to track the three R’s, and that patients are raving fans BEFORE the first commercial airs.

That may seem like good ol’ common sense, but we’re amazed how frequently creative campaigns are crafted before the strategic marketing plan…or worse, in lieu of one.  We wish these marketers would come to us first so we could help them align their efforts with the hospital’s strategic goals. That’s the better way to create a healthier company and connect with executive, board and physician leadership.

On a lighter note, connecting the dots is what many of you did when you joined us in Orlando at the 2009 SHSMD Annual Conference. Nearly 150 attendees stopped by our booth to connect magnetic marbles and guess the linear footage of marbles in a jar. Our game of “connect the dots” unleashed a competitive frenzy, with folks stopping back multiple times to refine their guesses.

Congratulations to Gina Kalwa from Montgomery General Hospital and Kim Winker from University Physicians Healthcare for guessing the closest distance and winning a Garmin nüvi GPS Navigator!  The actual measurement was 31 feet 2 inches. Thanks to everyone who participated in connecting the dots with Dobies!

This week’s article in Modern Healthcare talks about the emerging phenomenon of medical tourism (also known as medical travel and medical outsourcing).  As with most articles, the conversation focused on the huge cost savings for folks who choose to travel abroad for medical treatment.

For example, a recent McKinsey report found that an aortic valve replacement that costs $100,000 at a U.S. hospital would run about $12,000 at an equally qualified and credentialed hospital in Asia. Wow!  But how do you know if you can trust these hospitals from a quality of care perspective?  

I’m a big fan of choosing hospitals that can demonstrate their quality of care. So, in addition to making sure that the hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI) and International Standards Organization (ISO), look for the hospital that openly and transparently reports its clinical outcomes. 

For example, take a look at National University Hospital.  It’s a good start, though not comparative and somewhat complicated for the uninformed reader.  Do your research by comparing those outcomes to your American counterparts.  And if the clinical indicators are not posted on the Web site – ask!

“A new survey suggests that CEOs are rethinking the importance of improving the patient experience and other studies show that consumerism in healthcare—long talked about—might really be coming after all.” To that, I say, it’s about time!

A week ago, knowing full well that I was two years over due for my annual mammogram (shame on me), I made the “smash-o-gram” appointment. To my surprise, my appointment was 2 days later. Not a week.  Not a month.  Not 6 months.  Only 2 days. Wow!  For the past 10 years, I’ve been a fan of Imaging for Women, a privately operated practice independently owned by Mark J. Malley, MD,  DABR, a board-certified radiologist. The imaging center offers phenomenal service. 

Here’s what I mean by that:

From door to door, my appointment took 28 minutes. I received my results at minute 25 (versus waiting a week for a postcard to arrive in the mail). Now consider this: Let’s say Dr. Malley has a concern about the images. You are ushered back into the mammography suite for another look. If anomalies still appear, your next stop is the ultrasound room just down the hall. And yes, you guessed it – results of the ultrasound are immediately reported.  No sleepless nights waiting for results.  In fact, BEFORE you ever leave Imaging for Women, Dr. Malley will personally counsel you about your choice of specialist  and facilitate the referral should you need a consult for breast surgery. 

Now, that’s a great patient experience – isn’t that the way healthcare should be?

Twelve business owners from Vistage Group 3416 (a Kansas City executive leadership group) recently joined for four days in Beaver Creek, CO for ziplining, rafting, fly fishing and some more serious leadership adventures. It was as much a time to escape from the day-to-day struggles of business ownership as it was a time for a deeper dive into it. Our goal is to become better leaders, make better decisions and achieve better results…and to achieve better balance in our lives. The retreat gave us insights not only into ourselves, but into our colleagues and how they work, live and play.

So while there’s no “so what” marketing message for today, I did want to encourage you to think about how you can “strategically withdraw” or retreat to take time for yourself. And make it a point to “be present” in the midst of a busy day no matter who you’re with. Make it a priority and part of your personal brand to engage at a deeper level with yourself, your family, friends, staff and business partners. It’s amazing what you learn and what you get back in return.

We’ve been talking a lot about brands lately, so I thought I’d weigh in.  This weekend I ventured out to the suburbs to find some sport wear for an upcoming trip to Colorado (I’m headed to Beaver Creek to bond with my Vistage group and join in some ziplining across canyons and white water rafting — perhaps I’ll share my adventure on my next blog). Even though it’s not a high adventure retreat, I needed a couple of things to round out my wardrobe. Heels don’t work so well on the trail, you know.  Anyway, I went to a well-known adventure sports store that I’ve gone to since it was located in midtown. Although I had been to their posh new digs once before, this time, I found myself rebelling against the new store. Their modern retail surroundings and retail focus trumped the staff’s passion for adventure that had once drawn me there.  

So, I drove two blocks to Dynamic Earth. A place where the staff put their heart into serving customers. They really get into helping you excel at your next adventure. The staff at Dynamic Earth focus less on the label and more about how your wearing the right thing will help you perform against the roar of the river, the heat of the sun, the torrential rains above tree line. Ok, I know what you’re thinking – this retreat doesn’t sound like those kind of  “adventures.”  It doesn’t matter — it wasn’t just about the clothes. I left with new information on whitewater kayaking clinics on the Mulberry River (something I’d been looking for), inspiration to get my kayak back in the water, and a deeper conviction that brand is about what you DO, not merely what the marketers write and create at the point of purchase. Great customer service and mission-passionate staff go a long way toward establishing strong brands.

Did you see the new Gallup Poll about medical travel?  More Americans see medical travel as a viable option – if the QUALITY OF CARE IS THE SAME as it is here in the states.  The poll of 5,050 adults involved a split-sample experiment. One random half-sample was asked the “direct” question on whether they would consider treatment abroad. The second half was asked whether they would consider treatment abroad assuming “the quality was the same and the costs significantly cheaper.” Given that assurance, the percentage saying they would consider medical treatment outside U.S. borders increased by 12% on average. The poll has a 2% margin of error. Read more