Effectiveness in Marketing Planning: A CEOs Guide2Basics

An Introduction to Healthcare Marketing: Chapter#2

Your experience having met people and heard them, discussions with them, articulating their thoughts and presenting them to your CEO and Senior Colleagues (refer article - An Introduction to Healthcare Marketing: Chapter#1), now gives you a perspective that is grounded and full of information that is rich with the collective wisdom. To this, you must now add your rationale as a ‘subject-matter-expertise’. Planning hence has to reflect these important views you have gathered and your formulae to attempt to solve the problems or/and capitalize the opportunities presented to you. The plan-of-action you prepare must make effective and efficient use of all resources at your disposal – people, time and money.

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe - Abraham Lincoln

Let us now try to detail the best way to express your plan. Firstly, in a Word or PowerPoint document clearly state the following:

1.      The Marketing Objective – Revenue and Volume for IP Admissions, OP Consults, Health Checks, and ER Admissions

2.      The Clinical Objective and Approach – Specialties and Programs

3.      The Channel Objective and Approach – Referral Doctors, Corporate, Community, Online Partners

4.      The Geographic Objective and Approach – Hyper Local (Neighborhood), City and Distant Towns/Cities

5.      The Media Objective and Approach (Earned and Paid)

6.      The Digital Marketing Objective and Approach (Search, Social, and Content)

7.      The Inside Sales Objective and Approach (Internal Ancillary Departments)

8.      The Training Objective and Approach (Marketing Team and Other Allied Teams)

9.      The Structure and Staffing – Organization Chart

Secondly, get into an Excel Spread Sheet and plot tables that clearly capture the following:

1.      Plot all key tasks that will result in achieving or surpassing the Marketing Objective one below the other and against that the following column heads:

a.      Who will do lead the task?

b.      What will be the frequency? What will be the time taken for this task?

c.      What will be the target geographies?

d.      What will it take in terms of money?

e.      Will this task need media or digital promotion?

f.       Which channels will co-promoting the task?

g.      What will be the desired attendance and final output (tangible benefit)?

2.      The sub-totals and grand-total of all these tasks in a pivot table format will give you the opportunity to fine-tune and reapportion resources and reach to a point of optimum.

3.      Once you reach optimum – plot all these tasks into a calendar spread in months from Jan-Dec or Apr-Mar depending on your firms need. The tasks, the spends, the output also spreads out and it gives a clear indication of the %age contribution from direct actions to the hospital's topline. Tangible results could be qualified leads, direct admissions, activation of dead accounts, an increase of patient flow from channel partners, an increase of ER admissions.

4.      Many of the tasks will not have a direct tangible output. In this case, the tasks if done with right intensity will validate the spends and will result into some key metrics being achieved when compared quarter on quarter – better awareness, a better share of voice, better trust, better support during major events, etc.

5.      The planning sheet in summary format must be able to clearly compartmentalize the B2B and B2C spends versus anticipated revenue.

Important plugins that need attention into the spends will be:

1.      Retainer spends towards PR agency, Digital agency, and possibly Creative agency

2.      Spends on technological innovations – automation and AI SAAS Plugins (if applicable)

3.      Spends towards two major events to create awareness on social health issues in public interest

4.      Spends towards the training of teams by external trainers on varied subjects of necessity

5.      Spends towards internal branding (skin changes all year long) and B2C awareness drives in outdoor, print, social medias basis your hospital location and needs

The clear connect to planning if established at a revenue multiple (direct revenue to spend) of >10 will clearly fly the finance guidelines and make CEO really happy.

Caution and Traps:

1.      Not keeping a check-list to plot plan versus actual. And forgetting this original plan and doing something else in two months into the execution cycle.

2.      Instead of dropping tasks – questioning all involved and getting it right the next time.

3.      To keep spends in traditional media and not disruptively move to search marketing, online partners and social media marketing.

4.      To focus all attention to praise and promote the CEO and not the facility (the classic PR and events trap). Events must truly be routed and centered around the doctors and in community goodwill.

5.      To succumb to HR and Finance Teams plots of not allowing to spend monies on your team. Without investment into them on training – your teams will fail you eventually.

I am sure – if the Unit Marketing Heads sincerely respect this exercise and spends a week or two to get this exercise right and then socialize the plan-of-action to the Unit CEO, Senior Leadership Team and their own Marketing Team members - success is all yours.

In case you are working in a Corporate Hospital Network and they have circulated guidelines – please reason your case with them and get your plan aligned to the guidelines. This will help to achieve uniformity/standardization of efforts and optimize market outing. In case of any disagreements – openly discussing with the vertical marketing heads and sorting convincing them or getting yourself convinced works best in the institution's interest.

Next Week: The third topic that I will take for discussion in this series is how to deal with ‘Effective Channel Marketing’. This task could prove if you have the market share in the true sense and edge over the competition.