Consider an investment
in video advertising
as a secondary investment
of your new techology.
in video advertising
as a secondary investment
of your new techology.
Hospital Marketing 101:
Advertise technology to promote your hospital
February 10, 2011
by Dan Conley, Principal, Beacon Communications
Think about direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising in health care. What's the first thing that comes to mind?
Chances are, you immediately thought about the pharmaceutical industry's drug-specific campaigns that flood network television. That's understandable considering the pharma companies keep many network stations, magazines and websites solvent with multi-billion dollar campaigns. Between 1997 and 2005 the sector spend increased 296% and it continues to increase.
Hospitals and health networks, while considerably more constrained financially, have over the last couple of decades been pouring it on as well. Anyone traveling along a major urban thoroughfare or down an interstate is likely to encounter alongside typical hotel, restaurant and gas station billboards, hospital and health network signs promoting a hospital's ranking, a new bariatric surgery or cardiac program, or perhaps a message about a particular institution's unique commitment to the human side of medicine.
Hospital-sponsored newsletters have flourished and their local print and broadcast media spending competes with automotive advertising as key sources of local media income. With pitched competition between institutions not only within defined markets but between regions, there are many advertising vectors that hospitals use to advertise directly to consumers. Online presence and spending is also growing on sites with a local focus as well as on more global consumer health sites that offer hospitals geo-targeted advertising opportunities, but what about DTC promotion of medical device technologies to attract patients? Certainly patients, more than ever, want to know their providers have the latest equipment, so what is the opportunity?
Medical Device Promotion: Opponents, Advocates and Opportunity
Many hospitals have a desire to promote their latest technology acquisitions through DTC advertising and other promotions but have been somewhat circumspect about it for a couple of reasons including vocal opposition to the practice by critics, as well as the challenging nature of communicating complex messages about intricate technology by "billboard."
Opponents of DTC advertising of medical devices believe that consumers lack the knowledge to comprehend and evaluate the message accurately. Detractors also believe the cost of advertising (if a manufacturer is absorbing any of the cost) could result in an increase in the price of medical product if the OEM passes the cost on to customers. Moreover, they argue this kind of promotion could harm the physician-patient relationship if physicians feel pressure to recommend unneeded treatments. Those in favor of DTC advertising contend that it has the potential to improve the physician-patient relationship, increase patient compliance with therapy and recommended visits, have significant educational value and satisfy a patient's desire to know what's available and what a particular device's capabilities/indications are.
The FDA's position, according to Dr. Daniel Schultz in his testimony during a Senate hearing, is that "medical device advertising can provide consumers with important information about medical devices and new indications for existing medical devices, as well as information about symptoms of treatable illnesses and other conditions. Done properly, medical device advertising can assist consumers in taking a proactive role in improving their health. However, to be of value, these advertisements must not be false or misleading."
Hospital Promotion of Medical Devices: Strategic Education/DTC PR
Though Schultz's statement should give OEMs comfort, to date, manufacturers have not mounted en mass consumer-directed campaigns outside of relatively anemic PR efforts like those regularly found in women's magazines. However, there have been notable exceptions, with major companies investing large sums to promote specific devices such as implants, stents and other products. J&J/DePuy mounted knee replacement and treatment campaigns over several years and Medtronic invested $100 million in print, television and online ad campaigns for its cardioverter defibrillators.
There have been other approaches that are more PR- and education-based and tend to be local in nature. It is increasingly common for medical device companies and to carry out co-op public relations campaigns with their customer-hospitals. Hospitals are now wisely seeking support from OEMs and their sophisticated PR firms in stimulating local media to cover technology application stories, couching the pr in human interest segments. These are usually initiated and most successfully pitched when the story revolves around new and/or lesser-known technology with groundbreaking or particularly efficacious applications. In some instances, such promotional cooperation is part and parcel of a contract device and service bundles, and sometimes incorporates cooperative funding.
This approach has a distinct advantage over direct paid advertising in that it has an implicit stamp-of-approval from the third party media and is therefore more credible in the eye of the consumer. Feature articles, radio interviews, television news coverage and other non-paid exposure also have the advantage of providing detail, context and storyline. Coverage typically involves direct participation by hospital physicians and other clinicians who provide diagnostic and/or treatment services with the technology, which confers credibility and serves to humanize and personify the hospital.
Yet, media feature coverage of this sort is episodic and will not provide enough coverage for an effective, sustainable DTC outreach. Especially when this involved medical devices with new applications, hospitals need to develop a multidisciplinary approach with an emphasis on consumer and patient education. Making arrangements with local media including community and health websites for physician authored Q&A's, advice and regular health columns to share expertise and capabilities with consumers is an effective outreach and education method. Such exposure can also serve to drive consumers to hospital websites for additional information which can be made increasingly rich through multimedia and more in-depth discussions. Video can be particularly effective showcase for medical technologies. Consumers respond well to video content that informs and offers and element of entertainment. Commentary from clinicians and patients who have benefited from a diagnostic or therapeutic device add to the appeal. Concurrently, hospital programs, medical groups and individual clinicians enjoy the opportunity to get exposure before the larger market. The general public has grown accustomed to information delivered via multimedia and has high expectation about production value.
Hospitals would do consider an investment in quality productions as a secondary investment in the marketing of that technology.
These and other strategic communication activities not only provide a platform to discuss the institution's medical device technology,
hospitals also benefits by:
Dan Conley is a Principal at Beacon Communications.
Chances are, you immediately thought about the pharmaceutical industry's drug-specific campaigns that flood network television. That's understandable considering the pharma companies keep many network stations, magazines and websites solvent with multi-billion dollar campaigns. Between 1997 and 2005 the sector spend increased 296% and it continues to increase.
Hospitals and health networks, while considerably more constrained financially, have over the last couple of decades been pouring it on as well. Anyone traveling along a major urban thoroughfare or down an interstate is likely to encounter alongside typical hotel, restaurant and gas station billboards, hospital and health network signs promoting a hospital's ranking, a new bariatric surgery or cardiac program, or perhaps a message about a particular institution's unique commitment to the human side of medicine.
Hospital-sponsored newsletters have flourished and their local print and broadcast media spending competes with automotive advertising as key sources of local media income. With pitched competition between institutions not only within defined markets but between regions, there are many advertising vectors that hospitals use to advertise directly to consumers. Online presence and spending is also growing on sites with a local focus as well as on more global consumer health sites that offer hospitals geo-targeted advertising opportunities, but what about DTC promotion of medical device technologies to attract patients? Certainly patients, more than ever, want to know their providers have the latest equipment, so what is the opportunity?
Medical Device Promotion: Opponents, Advocates and Opportunity
Many hospitals have a desire to promote their latest technology acquisitions through DTC advertising and other promotions but have been somewhat circumspect about it for a couple of reasons including vocal opposition to the practice by critics, as well as the challenging nature of communicating complex messages about intricate technology by "billboard."
Opponents of DTC advertising of medical devices believe that consumers lack the knowledge to comprehend and evaluate the message accurately. Detractors also believe the cost of advertising (if a manufacturer is absorbing any of the cost) could result in an increase in the price of medical product if the OEM passes the cost on to customers. Moreover, they argue this kind of promotion could harm the physician-patient relationship if physicians feel pressure to recommend unneeded treatments. Those in favor of DTC advertising contend that it has the potential to improve the physician-patient relationship, increase patient compliance with therapy and recommended visits, have significant educational value and satisfy a patient's desire to know what's available and what a particular device's capabilities/indications are.
The FDA's position, according to Dr. Daniel Schultz in his testimony during a Senate hearing, is that "medical device advertising can provide consumers with important information about medical devices and new indications for existing medical devices, as well as information about symptoms of treatable illnesses and other conditions. Done properly, medical device advertising can assist consumers in taking a proactive role in improving their health. However, to be of value, these advertisements must not be false or misleading."
Hospital Promotion of Medical Devices: Strategic Education/DTC PR
Though Schultz's statement should give OEMs comfort, to date, manufacturers have not mounted en mass consumer-directed campaigns outside of relatively anemic PR efforts like those regularly found in women's magazines. However, there have been notable exceptions, with major companies investing large sums to promote specific devices such as implants, stents and other products. J&J/DePuy mounted knee replacement and treatment campaigns over several years and Medtronic invested $100 million in print, television and online ad campaigns for its cardioverter defibrillators.
There have been other approaches that are more PR- and education-based and tend to be local in nature. It is increasingly common for medical device companies and to carry out co-op public relations campaigns with their customer-hospitals. Hospitals are now wisely seeking support from OEMs and their sophisticated PR firms in stimulating local media to cover technology application stories, couching the pr in human interest segments. These are usually initiated and most successfully pitched when the story revolves around new and/or lesser-known technology with groundbreaking or particularly efficacious applications. In some instances, such promotional cooperation is part and parcel of a contract device and service bundles, and sometimes incorporates cooperative funding.
This approach has a distinct advantage over direct paid advertising in that it has an implicit stamp-of-approval from the third party media and is therefore more credible in the eye of the consumer. Feature articles, radio interviews, television news coverage and other non-paid exposure also have the advantage of providing detail, context and storyline. Coverage typically involves direct participation by hospital physicians and other clinicians who provide diagnostic and/or treatment services with the technology, which confers credibility and serves to humanize and personify the hospital.
Yet, media feature coverage of this sort is episodic and will not provide enough coverage for an effective, sustainable DTC outreach. Especially when this involved medical devices with new applications, hospitals need to develop a multidisciplinary approach with an emphasis on consumer and patient education. Making arrangements with local media including community and health websites for physician authored Q&A's, advice and regular health columns to share expertise and capabilities with consumers is an effective outreach and education method. Such exposure can also serve to drive consumers to hospital websites for additional information which can be made increasingly rich through multimedia and more in-depth discussions. Video can be particularly effective showcase for medical technologies. Consumers respond well to video content that informs and offers and element of entertainment. Commentary from clinicians and patients who have benefited from a diagnostic or therapeutic device add to the appeal. Concurrently, hospital programs, medical groups and individual clinicians enjoy the opportunity to get exposure before the larger market. The general public has grown accustomed to information delivered via multimedia and has high expectation about production value.
Hospitals would do consider an investment in quality productions as a secondary investment in the marketing of that technology.
These and other strategic communication activities not only provide a platform to discuss the institution's medical device technology,
hospitals also benefits by:
- Demonstrating and underscoring their commitment to investing in the latest, most efficacious medical devices which give consumers comfort and confidence
- Demonstrating a commitment to consumer and patient education
- Positioning the institution and clinicians as thought and practice leaders
- Raising the institutions profile, reputation, brand awareness and prestige which has far reaching impact from attracting consumers to assisting in building physician group affiliations
Dan Conley is a Principal at Beacon Communications.