Today I am heading to Newport, Rhode Island, for the 2013 Spring Conference of the New England Society for Healthcare Communication. I love going to this conference! NESHCo’s leadership and membership are welcoming and a pleasure to be around. Over the years they have embraced me and my firm, to the point where I now serve on the board of directors and the membership committee. The board is truly the best board I have ever served on. The directors are smart, committed and on point.
My firm, Jennings, is one of the sponsors of the conference. We’ll have a booth set up where people can stop by and meet my colleagues. I’m really excited because this year my business partner, Paige Zinn, will be attending. It will be her first NESHCo conference. I’ll also have Dewey Mooring with me. I believe this is Dewey’s third consecutive NESHCo conference. We have a number of clients in New England so this is an opportunity for us to connect with several of them, all in one location. Much of the work we’ve done for our clients is entered in NESHCo’s annual Lamplighter Awards – and is recognized at the awards dinner on Monday evening. We usually have a large contingent of clients who turnout for that event. It is a blast!
Brooke Hynes of Tufts Medical Center and I will be presenting on Monday, May 20th. Our topic is: Improving Audience Engagement through the use of Online Video. Below is the write up about the session:
Today, video content is expected and in demand. When patients and physicians seek information about your programs and specialists, online video is unique in its power to convey your physicians’ expertise while allowing patients and referrers to meet them online. Hospitals are now recognizing that, at this critical moment of choice, there is no better tool than online video to engage audiences and form a human connection between the viewer and your physician. That same power is ideal for community and employee engagement.
Brooke and Dan will review three distinct case studies demonstrating ways in which hospitals are using video to engage key audiences – consumers, community members, physicians and hospital employees.
Tufts Medical Center – Tufts Medical Center was looking for a unique way to engage patients and referring physicians and improve overall awareness following the introduction of its new name and brand. The market was flooded with ads with patient testimonials and medical claims. Tufts Medical Center instead built a campaign around video, developing TuftsMedicalCenter.tv to provide honest, straightforward information about important health issues. At TuftsMedicalCenter.tv patients and family members struggling with a new diagnosis or chronic condition could get the information they needed 24/7 without leaving their homes or offices. Patients and referring physicians could meet Tufts Medical Center physicians before deciding where to get their care or send their patients. Hundreds of new patients later, the site is an outstanding resource for the community as well as a brand builder for the Medical Center. Learn more about this strategy and its impact.
Lexington Medical Center – In this case study you will learn how a mid-sized hospital in suburban West Columbia, SC, won the national Pink Glove Dance Video Competition – twice! Although the first place victories and media exposure were great, the most significant benefits came in the form of enhanced employee and community engagement. Ultimately more than 60,000 people “liked” LMC’s 2011 Pink Glove Video with 114,000 YouTube views. Learn how LMC successfully integrated social media, media relations, community relations and employee communications efforts.
Signature Healthcare – At Signature Healthcare in Brockton, Massachusetts, the marketing team has been actively engaged in a project that involves shooting videos of all its employed physicians. An entire campaign has been built around these engaging physician videos. Signature asked the campaign to do a lot for the organization. There were four specific goals: 1. Physician retention; 2. Physician recruitment; 3. Patient retention; and, 4. Patient recruitment.Signature sought to distinguish themselves from the competition in the minds of the medical staff and prospects by promoting organizational culture and values. They also sought to illuminate, in the minds of the patient, the quality, compassion and integrity of the medical staff. Through the videos, they worked to humanize their physicians so that patients might form an emotional connection.
Brooke and I delivered a version of this presentation (a test drive) at the Healthcare Marketing Strategies Summit last week in Phoenix. It was really well received. There appears to be a lot of interest around video in healthcare marketing – particularly physician video.
I hope to see you at the conference. If you are not attending, I plan to be Tweeting and blogging from the event. The official hashtag is #neshco2013, but my colleagues and I will also be using the #LoveTheLamp hashtag as a tribute to the Lamplighter Awards. I welcome you to follow along! We’ll also be posting crazy photos to NESHCo’s Facebook Wall. You can check them out by clicking here.
The Healthcare Marketer 
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