The One Thing About Healthcare Marketing Is …
Today I started my weekly healthcare marketing column with the phrase “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” It’s a bit of a cliche, I know. But it’s also appropriate. The column is a collection of some of the responses I’ve gotten over the years to my typical interview-closing question: “If you could tell the CEO one thing about this story’s topic (be it marketing your hospital’s quality rankings, competing against big brand-name organizations, or investing time and money in social media), what would it be?” So many of the quotes in answer to that question still resonate today.
But it’s also appropriate to mention change because this week’s column is my last as senior editor for marketing. Starting next week, my colleague Marianne Aiello will be covering marketing in the magazine and online and I’m moving to the technology beat. Marianne has already been covering marketing, contributing to the MarketShare blog, writing the weekly Campaign Spotlight feature, creating the multimedia healthcare marketing newsletter, Healthcare Marketing Advisor, writing marketing stories for our magazine and online, and much more. I know that the marketing audience is in good hands. I will continue to contribute occasionally to the MarketShare blog and I’ll continue to tweet about marketing and technology at www.twitter.com/gienna, so I hope to stay in touch with all the wonderful people I’ve met over the past few years.
Check out this week’s column and please share with us your words of wisdom by leaving a comment below: If You Could Tell the CEO One Thing About Marketing, What Would it Be?
About the Author: Gienna Shaw is senior editor for marketing at HealthLeaders Media magazine and online. She also edits books and moderates Webcasts on healthcare marketing and is a member of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD). She would like everyone to stop writing "yeah" when they really mean "yay." You can follow her on 
Kathy Mackey | Feb 3, 2010 | Reply
Healthcare marketing is about relationships. Communicating to stakeholders. Listening, responding, and providing connections. Are you as connected and responsive as you can
be given today’s tools?
Thank you Gienna.
Nick Dawson | Feb 3, 2010 | Reply
The one thing? “Marketing is over”- cynical? Maybe. But we’re in an “actions speak louder” world, so its time to start acting the part first, then you get to be your own news outlet and tell your own story. The best part is that the tools today let us do it all in an interactive way – find out what the right action is, do that with the help of a community and share the success as a team. Then you get to say one more thing to the CEO “by the way, volume accross the entire payor mix is up.”
International Medical Center | Mar 9, 2010 | Reply
Healthcare marketing is about relationships. Many employers no longer offer healthcare as a benefit or negotiate a contract collectively for their employees to lower the costs somewhat.