Past Issues of Custom Connection

July 2008

Promoting a Center of Excellence
5 Tips to Market Service Line Quality
One of your clinical service lines has achieved “Center of Excellence” designation from a regional or national organization. You’ve met the standards, advanced the quality and have the services. Now what?
Use these five tips to promote your center of excellence.

Auditing Your Web site
Ask the Right Questions When Evaluating Your Site
Internal communication audits are a common way to gauge the effectiveness of your programs. Why not do the same thing with your Web site? It’s as simple as answering questions about how your site looks, feels and performs from the visitor’s perspective.
Use this list of questions as a starting point to review and improve your site.

Job-Stress Slowdown
Get a Grip on Chronic Tension
Cell phones, instant messaging, FAX machines and the Internet all make our lives easier. Or, do they? In theory, devices that help get our work done faster give us more time for leisure activities. The irony, of course, is that modern conveniences and technology have helped make workplace stress one of the biggest health concerns today.
Learn how to get a grip on chronic tension.

Ask Dowden!
How do we incorporate some of the new technologies like blogs and social media into our hospital Web site when we have to be so careful about private health information (PHI)?
Each month, check here for Dowden’s sounding board on marketing-related issues. The answer?

June 2008

Avoid Web Site Stagnation
7 Tips to Improve Your Site
“Build it and they will come” might have worked for Kevin Costner in the movies but it doesn’t work for healthcare Web sites. A stagnant Web site is a sure road to dismal traffic and stalled marketing returns.
Use these seven tips to assess and improve your site so that it supports your marketing efforts while providing value to visitors. 

Tapping the Power of Print
A Dozen Benefits of Home-Delivered Publications
A custom newsletter or magazine delivered by mail is the most value-packed communications medium available to healthcare organizations today. Here’s why: Healthcare consumers prefer direct mail. In a survey by Hospitals and Health Networks magazine, respondents strongly preferred to receive health information by direct mail than by other means.
Consider these 12 benefits of custom publications. 

Agency Shuffle Ahead?
Get Aligned With Your Partner
This year, some 45 percent of marketers expect to change agency resources, with Web design and online development resources at the top of the list, followed by direct marketing, advertising and public relations. The CMO Council’s Marketing Outlook 2008 report shows that performance issues are the most frequent cause for change.
Use these findings and tips to better align with your agency partner. 

Ask Dowden!
How can I get the physicians who may refer patients to actually read my publication?
Each month, check here for Dowden’s sounding board on marketing-related issues. The answer?

May 2008

Don't Alienate Seniors
Easy Ways to Adapt Your Marketing
If you’re using a one-size-fits-all strategy with some of your basic marketing vehicles and tools, you may be alienating older consumers in your market.
Use these simple age-appropriate tactics to be sure your marketing is senior-friendly. 

Increasing Your Online Traffic
Tips to Drive Print Readers Online
When your newsletter readers visit your Web site, you get an additional opportunity to showcase your facility, medical staff and services. And by featuring compelling and accessible consumer-oriented content on your site, you create an environment that nurtures and grows your relationship with readers.
Use these tips to convince readers to visit your site. 

Throw Away Your To-Do List
Move to More Effective Time Management
Are you feeling overwhelmed? Do you have too many choices? Do you procrastinate your “to do’s”? Without an effective time management tool, you can quickly find yourself drowning as your most important to do’s—the ones that create the most value and balance in your life—are locked in the “as soon as” trap.
Use these four time management tools from Jim Bird, founder of WorkLifeBalance.com, to end procrastination, put you in control and make the most important things in your life happen NOW. 

Ask Dowden!
What are the best practices for getting people to pay attention to our messages? Whether it’s a newsletter article, billboard or television ad, it seems they tune us out.
Each month, check here for Dowden’s sounding board on marketing-related issues. The answer?

April 2008

Act Now!
8 Ideas for More Effective Calls to Action
The average American is hit with more than 3,000 messages each day. How do you make yours stand out? How do you compel your audience to act?
Try these eight ideas for generating more effective calls to action.

Freshen Up the Same Old Story
Tips to Breathe New Life into Articles
It happens every year. May is National Stroke Awareness Month. September is your annual health fair. You need an article for your newsletter, but nothing has changed since last year’s story.
Use these tips to breathe new life into recurring articles about your services and programs.

Unclutter Your Life
Three Ways to Simplify and Stay Sane
Chances are you have too much stuff... in your head, in your closet and in your life. “Stuff” requires work, and work requires time and energy—two things you probably have too little of. How can you make sense of career opportunities, community commitments, self-improvements, household tasks and child development while keeping sane?
By using these three ways to unclutter your life.

Ask Dowden!
How can you convince your audience that they don’t need to drive 60 miles to receive healthcare in the metro area?
Each month, check here for Dowden’s sounding board on marketing-related issues. The answer?

March 2008

Get in the Driver’s Seat
Improve Traffic to Your Web Site
The key to a successful Web site—one that enjoys a high volume of visitors—is not pretty pictures, chiming bells or screaming whistles. The key to attracting new and repeat visitors is a site that is user friendly, targeted to your audience and constantly updated.
Use this traffic-building advice to help your journey on the road to Web site success.

The Medical Arms Race
Tips for Marketing New Technology
Your hospital has the newest technology for diagnosing cancer. The competition has the latest equipment for cardiac screenings. Each has acquired a high-profile service or piece of equipment as part of its strategy to compete in profitable service lines that were once dominated by health systems and large academic medical centers.
Consider these tips when marketing new technology in your hospital.

How Much is Too Much?
Smarter E-mail Doesn’t Always Mean More
As more and more organizations use e-mail marketing, the question of quality over quantity quickly surfaces. More than 80 percent of marketers responding to Datran Media’s 2008 Annual Marketing and Media Survey indicated that they would increase use of e-mail as a marketing tool in 2008.
These pointers can help as you evaluate your e-mail marketing frequency and effectiveness.

Ask Dowden!
Is there a call to action for outpatient services such as mammography or MRI that is effective and appropriate beyond “call for more info?” Nobody wants to win a free MRI!
Each month, check here for Dowden’s sounding board on marketing-related issues. The answer?

February 2008

To Blog or Not
Evaluating the Wave of the Future
Social media. Viral marketing. New media. Marketers know these tools are the wave of the future, yet they may be hesitant to take the risks associated with using them.
Consider these points as you evaluate adding a patient or corporate blog to your tool box.

Avoid These Publishing Pitfalls
Tips for a Successful Publication
Research shows that direct-mail print publications continue to be among the most effective ways to reach consumers. With careful planning and organization, your newsletter or magazine can build preference and loyalty among your target audiences.
Turn your publication into a marketing tool with happy endings when you avoid these hazards.

Freshen Up Your Web Site
Five Areas That Probably Need Attention
Have you looked at your Web site lately? Chances are no one on your team is doing a “mystery shopper” exercise to be sure your Web site is fresh and focused.
Here are five areas that may need a makeover.

Ask Dowden!
How can I build a stronger e-newsletter subscriber list?
Each month, check here for Dowden’s sounding board on marketing-related issues. The answer?

January 2008

Heat From the C-suite
Tips for Selling Your Marketing Plan to Executives
CEOs often say marketers simply don’t understand the organization’s most pressing and strategic issues. Marketers say CEOs and other executives don’t value marketing’s impact on the business.
Check out these tips for gaining influence at the executive table.

Promoting Physicians Can Pay Off
Look Beyond Traditional Advertising
The easiest ways to market physicians – putting their photos in ads showcasing new equipment or technology, for example – may not be the best.
Consider these practical and cost-efficient ways to increase awareness of your physicians and your services.

Focus on the Focus Group
Make the Best Use of This Research Tool
Focus groups can be a very effective way to gain input into program development, new products and future needs. When and how you use focus groups can help – or hurt – your next marketing project.
Ask these questions when you’re planning your next focus group.

Ask Dowden!
How can I build a stronger e-newsletter subscriber list?
Each month, check here for Dowden’s sounding board on marketing-related issues. The answer?

December 2007

Tune-Up Time
A 3-Point Maintenance Check For Your E-mail Marketing
You urge community members to get their annual checkups, but do you give your e-mail marketing tools a yearly exam?
Here are three points to help you maintain optimal performance.

Where Do Ideas Come From?
The Big Moo Knows 5 Places
Ideas are hard to come by. Good ideas are elusive. Great ideas are a thing of the past.
This doesn’t have to be the case when you consider five sources of great ideas from this unprecedented collaboration of the world’s smartest business thinkers.

Resume Review
Selling the Brand “You”
You’re happy in your job…until you get a call about an open position across town. Is your resume ready?
Use these tips to review your resume and keep it ready as a sales tool for the brand “you.”

Ask Dowden!
What are the marketing benefits of an e-newsletter?
Each month, check here for Dowden’s sounding board on marketing-related issues. The answer?

November 2007

Not Just Old Hippies
Female Boomer Attitudes Break the Mold
Stereotypes of baby boomer women, currently in their mid-40s to early 60s, don’t hold water. These women are very different from the first boomers and from each other.
Learn how their attitudes can impact your marketing...

Testimonials Turn Heads
Success Stories Keep Copy Fresh and Motivating
Your credibility goes up immensely when someone else tells your story. Keep heads turning by using testimonials in marketing copy.
These tips help you get and use these first-hand verifications of your organization’s value...

Women Prefer Snail Mail
Make Sure Your Next Drop Hits the Mark
Women are the primary target for most healthcare marketing messages. Yet, they also are also very busy juggling careers, family and more.
Use these findings to hit the mark with your next mailing...

Ask Dowden!
Each month, check here for Dowden’s sounding board on marketing-related issues.
I'm facing budget reductions. How do I convince my CEO that a community publication is a valuable marketing tool?
The answer?

October 2007

Casting a Wider Net
How to Build a Great e-Newsletter Subscriber List
You’ve developed the e-newsletter. Now, who do you send it to? Hospitals that are most successful in building an opt-in database of consumers rely on a combination of tactics.
Consider these three building blocks...

Keep Them Reading Online
The Truth Behind Common Web Usage Myths
Writing for your Web site is unique. Keeping the visitor engaged is key. Leading through the copy is critical.
Apply these recent findings about online reading to your site...

Breaking the Rules
Think Like a Boomer to Capture This Growing Market
Baby boomers are a force to be reckoned with. They are known for breaking the rules.
Use these boomer facts to enhance your marketing...

Ask Sid!
Each month, check here for Sid's sounding board on Web and e-media issues.
What should I do to make my Web site appealing to boomers?
The answer?

September 2007

Reach + Frequency = ?
The Right Equation to Touch Your Targets
Few hospitals can afford to saturate the entire market area with direct mail. Tighten your targeting for the most impact...

Freelance Follies?
5 Tips for Finding and Working with Great Freelancers
Feeling overwhelmed with the workload? Use these five easy tips to find and keep great freelancers...

Maximize the Message
Are you Using Every Communication Channel?
Chances are your organization has some unused channels of communication that make it easy to increase your reach and frequency. Consider these commonly overlooked vehicles...

Ask Sid!
Each month, check here for Sid's sounding board on Web and E-media issues.
What can I do to make my Web site attractive? The answer?