9 Takeaways from HCIC 2019

Last week, healthcare marketers and IT professionals gathered in Orlando, Florida for the 23rd Annual Greystone.net Healthcare Internet Conference (#HCIC19). I was honored to present with our agency of record, Primacy, on South Shore Health's brand and digital experience reinvention.

As a bonus, I got to learn from other healthcare organizations and thinkers on what's working for their organizations, and came back with new ideas to implement here on the South Shore. Here are nine nuggets that have stuck with me after my return to the cold and snowy northeast; hopefully there's something that works for my fellow marketers in any industry.

“Think like a retailer.”

This nugget from Memorial Healthcare System struck me as critical advice. So many industries, from taxis to retail, have been disrupted in the last decade, and there’s no reason healthcare will be any different. Patients expect care to be delivered on demand, and large health systems like Intermountain are already building facilities to deliver virtual health options.

We saw this same trend in Primacy’s Future of Health survey, which was fielded for South Shore Health. We featured some of this research in the “Growing a Next Gen Community Health System via Brand and Digital Experience Reinvention” session on Wednesday afternoon. Mike Stutman, SVP of Strategy and Research at Primacy, noted the gap in the digital tools patients want (such as online video consultations) and whether or not their healthcare provider offers it. (South Shore Health does!)

MarComm is now MarTech.

“Within a decade or so, marketing went from being one of the least tech-dependent business functions to being one of most,” according to Scott Brinker, a self-described “Chief Marketing Technologist.” Organizations need to align with IT, and other patient-facing departments like the contact center and patient advocacy, to really deliver for patients—which should always be the center of everything we do.

“Consumers have no time for crappy content.”

Keynote speaker Brian Fanzo shared a great example of a dentist in Arizona that created a podcast where he interviewed local business owners that were of interest to his affluent target demographic (fitness studio owners, restauranteurs, etc.) The only mention of his business was at the end of the podcast, but it worked—he’s booked for the next two years. Content doesn’t have to be a direct sales pitch to be effective!

“Be there.”

When Cleveland Clinic looks at its web traffic data, it sees that its department pages drive only 2 percent of web traffic. A whopping 83 percent of its web traffic comes in from the organization’s robust health library and Health Essentials blog. While the team that presented isn’t responsible for filling panels, they quoted research from Google that 75 percent of patients think hospitals put profit before patients. Looking at the data from web and social, you can see what patients WANT to know about—and deliver on that as a key focus of content strategy.

Stick to the strategy.

Cleveland Clinic uses its content strategy to put off internal stakeholders that push for content. Does it fit the strategy? Does the data show the audience wants the content? If not, it’s not a priority, and the strategy can serve as cover for pushback on requests for support.

Video doesn’t have to be beautiful to be successful.

University of Utah has two videographers on their team. They also allow doctors and caregivers to film their own content for use, and share less than perfect visual content if the information is good for patients (or timely).

Spend money on content, not tools, whenever possible.

Amanda Todorovich of Cleveland Clinic says that if she has money to spend, she’s going to spend it on content rather than a jazzy new tool. Their team relies on free tools like Google Analytics to measure success. (Just like South Shore Health!)

Optimizing our YouTube channel for search is a priority.

Many presenters discussed the fact that YouTube is right behind Google as a primary search engine—and is gaining fast, especially for younger patients. Cleveland Clinic suggests using tagging taxonomy that’s similar to your organization’s website to ensure you show up in both Google and YouTube search.

South Shore Health is punching above its weight.

From having content request forms to prioritize and organize incoming requests for marketing support, to developing and repurposing content strategically, to having a modern website with a “Care Now” button that makes finding urgent care, primary care, or a telehealth consult available in just one click, our lean team is doing a lot of what the big players are doing—which is encouraging to see!

Thanks to my fellow HCIC presenters for an informative and inspiring few days in Orlando!