DATA ANALYTICS
How One Hospital Is Harnessing the Patient’s Voice to Drive its Marketing Strategy
Data is often the lifeblood of health care marketers’ work, but it can be even more powerful and persuasive when paired with real-life stories from actual patients.
That’s the strategy Memorial Medical Center in Ashland, Wisconsin, has been using successfully for the past decade. Kevin Stranberg, director of strategy and patient experience at the critical access hospital, found that facts and figures can be helpful in developing compelling promotional campaigns, but when overlaid with patient testimonials they can become even more powerful. This approach has translated into effective marketing that resonates with consumers and improves patient experience scores
He cited the example of interviewing an elderly woman as part of consulting work with The Baird Group. She visited an emergency department (ED) with her husband of 62 years. She knew he was dying; he knew he was dying, and yet providers would not let her spend those last moments at his bedside.
“That moment in time is what we call ‘First Voice,’” said Stranberg. “I encourage marketers to incorporate First Voice into their work because data is just data – until you consider the voice of a woman saying, ’The hospital wouldn’t let me be with him.’”
Getting started
The best place to get started is by digging into data from patient satisfaction surveys to pinpoint any shortcomings in the experience. Stranberg noted that this work will become even more urgent with the arrival of publicly reported surveys to gauge patient satisfaction in the ED and outpatient and ambulatory surgery settings.
Next, he recommended capturing First Voice information tied to those shortcomings, whether in person or over the phone. Memorial Medical Center has worked to unearth impactful stories through a variety of channels, including patient and family advisory councils, rounding, discharge phone calls and shift reports at the patient’s bedside.
After gathering and recording firsthand patient stories, Stranberg said marketers can share them with key decision makers, and then gather their reactions to what’s been presented. He said it’s important to ask: “How does this story make you feel?” and “How does it fit into your daily work?”
“For me, putting patients in front of staff is all about the lightbulb moment,” he said. “It’s about the moment when you hear a staff member say, ‘Now I get it. My work will be different from here on out because of it.’”
Stranberg stressed that change will occur slowly over a long period, and often in just one staff member at a time. Memorial Medical Center has been on this journey for more than a dozen years, but believes it’s seeing progress. “Voice of the patient” scores have climbed steadily, with HCAHPS ratings improving from the 70th percentile to the 90th percentile consistently.
Applicable in marketing, too
In addition to staff education, First Voice interviews have proven to be a powerful tool in strengthening Memorial’s marketing efforts. Incorporating firsthand feedback into messaging allows marketers to home in on specific audiences, said Marsha Hystead, partner and chief creative officer for Hailey Sault, a Minnesota-based marketing firm that helped Memorial with its strategy.
Using the patient’s voice in campaigns helps them resonate with both providers and consumers, she said. “It’s just so important to take that voice that we’ve heard, see who said it and then create messaging for that particular persona and be as narrow as possible. “The results that we see are unbelievable,” emphasized Hystead.
Hystead points to the example of a television campaign for Memorial’s telestroke program. It incorporated the experience of a military veteran who wanted to thank the hospital and its providers for saving his life with a clot-busting drug and a virtually connected doctor. The institution made the decision to film his “thank you” live to show others the impact of the program at the individual level.
“This is all about connecting voices to your data for your staff, but it also works for your marketing campaigns, too,” Stranberg said. He offered three key takeaways for other marketers:
- Find ways to gather and incorporate First Voice directly into your work, both in staff education and marketing.
- Ask staff how those First Voice fit into their day-to-day work.
- Link opportunities in the data with real-life experiences, both positive and negative.
“Health care experiences are traumatic, even if they’re positive,” he said. “As marketers, we’ve been really good at crafting and controlling messages, and we don’t always have to. At Memorial, we’ve found that having First Voice stories serve as the basis for messaging to our community about the great care provided at the hospital has been very effective.”
This article features interviews with:
Kevin Stranberg
Director of Strategy and Patient Experience
Memorial Medical Center
Ashland, Wisconsin
Marsha Hystead
Partner and Chief Creative Officer
Hailey Sault
Duluth, Minnesota
