Joint conference collaborates and celebrates marketing excellence

Once again, the Wisconsin Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations Society (WHPRMS) put on a good show for this year’s annual conference. This year was unique. They partnered with the Illinois Society of Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations (ISHMPR) to put on a bigger show. We heard from seasoned advertising pros, results-driven virtuosos, public relations powerhouses, event masterminds and customer experience consultants. Attendees had an opportunity to travel to different booths and gain more connections, network and bring home amazing prizes. Then, the guests had a chance to sit back and absorb a job well done with the awards ceremonies on Thursday night. There were even more jam-packed sessions on Friday, including a reactor panel.

For those of you who could not attend, I generated a list of the biggest, most eye-opening nuggets of information from all most of the sessions in two days. I couldn’t make it to all of them, so feel free to comment on this post with your takeaways. To save on space, I hyperlinked to PDF files of the sessions. Feel free to download at your convenience. Enjoy!

Branding on a Budget – You can’t afford to NOT do it!

Marketers today must navigate the brand building waters in a deliberate, organized fashion. You may find that building a brand requires resources that just aren’t there. Candace’s presentation took us through tried and true approaches. She says its starts with brand development (Five Ds). Let me take you through the process:

Rural Healthcare Business Development

Mike and Amy teamed up to bring its attendees different ways to recognize and map all avenues of business development. This session taught how to maintain continuity of brand across all information meant for external use and streamline the coordination of employer services, both in developing and researching new services, as well as providing current services seamlessly across service lines. Mike and Amy also say:

Online Strategy for Healthcare Marketers

In a recent study, nearly 75 percent of consumers researched their medical care on the Internet. In this session, Ryan took us through new ideas on how to maximize your website and marketing dollars.

How to Foster Positive Employee Satisfaction and Improve Employee Morale Effectively Through Your Content 

As communicators, we face the challenge of capturing enough employee interest to break through their hectic schedules long enough for our messages to be read. OSF moved away from dry communication and started engaging employees in marketing and advertising campaigns, tapping into hidden talents. Here, Kristin offers insight for other internal communications with these bullets:

PANEL: Different Audiences, Different Needs: Conversation about Successful Opening Communications

Opening a new clinic, hospital or service line? This panel discussion took us through how leading experts align communication with the organization’s goals for marketing and community outreach, how to involve internal audiences, and how to find the right stories for local media. I did my best to grab the highlights of the discussion:

Consumers Speak on Healthcare Reform: Their aspirations, Their Fears and What Will Attract, Retain and Motivate 

The biggest question most consumers want to hear more about is healthcare reform. Consumer research studies show health reform equals insurance coverage reform, with little consumer understanding of what health reform means for the provider experience. Tamalyn took us through the latest data of 1,500 people in the US, who provided self reported health between January and February of 2013. Here are some of the findings:

The Magic of Engagement

Brain says it’s important to unleash the power of enthusiastic, empowered frontline staff and to successfully recruit and engage the best-of-the-best staff. Here are a few other tidbits from his sessions:

Improving the Health of Your Brand

Susan says we are no longer trying to survive, but thrive as well. In a day of acquisitions, mergers, formation of ACOs, decreasing budgets, populations health, more competition … your brand is strengthened or weakened. Here are a few takeaways from Susan’s presentation:

Step Into the Shoes of Your Referring Physician: Experience Mapping (Notes coming soon)

Integrated Marketing Campaign: Sick Kids Can’t Wait

UW Health needed to raise $8 million to support an aggressive expansion plan and they did it and then some. Guests who attended this session got an inside look at its “Sick Kids Can’t Wait” campaign that leveraged new media tools, partnerships and traditional media.

Delivering on Your Promise: Getting To “Always”

As a health care marketing professional, you are the brand guardian in every encounter. Kristin took us through the process of building credibility for your brand and always ensuring the patient experience is a positive one. She says our role is changing to CXOs (a.k.a. Chief Experience Officer) because our positions should be wrapped around the strategy. Here is a list of nuggets from her presentation:

Friday Reactor Panel Moderator:Kristin Baird, President/CEO, Baird Group

I couldn’t make it to all of them, so feel free to comment on this post with your takeaways. 

This post was written by Trish Skram, blogger and research content specialist for WHPRMS. Trish also manages Mercy Health System’s public relations and social media efforts. To read more about Trish, CLICK HERE.