Strategic Priority Realignment
Picture it, you are a large health system marketing leader responsible for 4 hospitals, 6 different geographic regions (communities), 2 cancer centers, 10 urgent care centers, 12 different service lines, and all of the medical staff that goes along with it. Each facility has a different leader and competing priories, even though it is all part of the same health system. How do you not only manage it all, but drive results?
Short answer: you don’t. You change the game.
Okay – easier said than done but stick with me here.
I remember starting with a health system and quickly realized that thanks to all of the different competing priorities, we were competing within our own team for consumer eyeballs and engagement – ultimately diluting the brand. The worst overlapping was with our digital media. We were bidding against ourselves (and our own budget) for the same impressions. Patients would be served 4 different ads for the same health system, and we were just driving up our own digital advertising pricing by competing for those same eyeballs.
To solve this problem and still succeed with competing priorities, I took a step back to look at the big picture. Where were our priorities overlapping and how could we use the brand strength to lift the smaller service areas, without diluting the brand?
I took a two-pronged approach:
1. Build a strong brand campaign to engage patients across the funnel and to impact them at any point of their journey.
2.
Develop a highly targeted approach to drive
service line volume.
This took some networking and building support among leadership and physicians. We had to be aligned. They may not see a billboard with the doctor’s face on it for cardiothoracic surgery, but would instead see a bump in volume because we were directly targeting actual patients. It also took some compromising on my part to ensure leadership was happy, but once they saw the data, it was impossible to ignore the strength of this approach.
I was thrilled to launch the first campaign for the hospital system that was not focused on a specific service line but capitalizing on the strengths of all of the expertise in all services. The campaign established the hospital as a destination and showed the power of the system all working together.
The campaign did not get to run for as long as I had planned…shortly after the launch of the campaign, our system was sold and we pulled all marketing and advertising immediately. However, I did receive one of the biggest compliments of my career: during one of the town halls to announce the acquisition, a nurse stood up and specifically asked about the brand. She didn’t know who I was or that I was standing right there, but she said, “Marketing has done such an amazing job and we are finally getting traction with the brand. I don’t want to lose that momentum!”
Looking back, this experience fundamentally changed how I approach competing priorities in my career. It taught me the importance of thinking beyond individual KPIs and adopting a holistic, collaborative mindset. While external factors may disrupt our plans, the lessons learned from navigating competing priorities within a large health system continue to shape my approach to marketing and leadership.
In conclusion, managing competing priorities isn't just about managing tasks; it's about changing the game and driving meaningful results through collaboration, innovation, and strategic thinking. By embracing change and fostering alignment, marketing leaders can navigate the complexities of the healthcare landscape and make a lasting impact on their organizations.