10 Steps for Effective Hospice Marketing
Through more than a decade of experience, Transcend has developed, practiced and refined a 10-step process that has proven highly effective for promoting hospice programs with dignity.
1. Research. The heart of hospice marketing centers on educating key audiences. To educate effectively, it’s vital to identify what your audiences already know or don’t know – about hospice care in general and your hospice program in particular. It also is critical to assess how knowledge or opinions are affecting behavior in making hospice decisions. Researching potential patients and referrers in your specific service area is essential.
2. Analyze. A statistically significant research study will give you data for areas in which you should focus. But it takes analysis and experience to “connect the dots” and understand what the data imply. Transcend offers the expertise to do just that.
3. Strategize. Proper analysis of the research data will provide the cornerstones of a strong marketing communications plan. A powerful strategy will encompass specifically who you need to address, what messages to deliver to each audience, where to connect with them, when they may be most receptive to your message, how to reach each audience cost-effectively and why your approach is likely to evoke the positive responses you seek.
4. Prioritize. Typically, hospices discover that their communities need to be educated on a wide variety of topics. But you can’t educate all key audiences on every topic at the same time. Research data can help tremendously in qualifying which topics need to be addressed first.
5. Verbalize. After you’ve identified your audiences and determined what key messages they need to hear, it’s time to craft exactly how you want to say those messages. A crucial factor in this process – one that many hospices overlook – is in stating those messages from the audience’s perspective. The majority of your messages should be “you” statements rather than “we” statements.
FLEXIBILITY
“Our internal commitment to drive ALOS, census and bottom line results for our clients remains steadfast. Everything Transcend does is designed to drive reality-based results.”
– Martha Vetter, president, Transcend Hospice Marketing Group