This article was written by Jessica Levco, Healthcare Writer & Event Strategist. 

In a recent webinar, industry experts from Greystone.net and MERGE discussed the findings of their Healthcare Provider Marketing Innovation Maturity Survey. The panel featured Michael Schneider from Greystone, along with Keir Bradshaw and Priyama Barua from MERGE. The trio discussed where healthcare organizations currently stand in their marketing evolution and what challenges they face moving forward.

The survey collected responses from 75 healthcare provider organizations across 28 states, with more than half of respondents at the director level or higher. Organizations were categorized by revenue, with 68% above the $1 billion revenue mark.

“Healthcare marketers need to evolve from a tactical role focused on acquisition to a strategic force driving innovation,” Bradshaw says. “With healthcare facing unprecedented demand and limited resources, organizations that embrace marketing maturity now will discover new ways to deliver care and maintain loyalty.”

Barua, who led the research, outlined five areas of focus:

• Experience maturity: Healthcare organizations must focus on delivering superior experiences for patients, employees and referring providers across all touchpoints to improve outcomes and satisfaction.
• Strategic marketing and brand development: Effective healthcare marketing requires creating distinct brand identities with clear value propositions.
• Technological advancements: Digital maturity in healthcare relies on the strategic integration of AI, telehealth, personalization and mobile applications.
• Data-driven decision-making: Organizations need to develop measurement frameworks that use customer data, behavioral analytics and sentiment analysis.
• Health equity and community engagement: Addressing social determinants of health through patient advocacy, flexible payment options and community partnerships is essential for healthcare organizations committed to improving access to care and building trust with diverse populations.
  

Barua also created measurements on a five-point scale, from “non-existent” to “optimizing.” One of the most surprising findings challenged conventional wisdom about organizational size and capability.

“Bigger does not always mean better,” Barua says. “The $3 to $5 billion organizations performed lower than others across all key focus areas, except for technology adoption,” Barua says. “The less than $1 billion organizations performed high on health equity and community engagement. That’s understandable because a lot of their focus is concentrated on community involvement.”

When discussing the finding that KPIs and internal cross-departmental synergy scored the lowest within the strategic marketing focus area, Schneider shared this observation:

“It’s essential for organizations to collect KPIs and be able to have data to demonstrate progress, but not all organizations are doing it well,” Schneider says.

He described the current state of measurement as “emerging,” with organizations recognizing the importance of metrics, but struggling to work together with other departments to tell a compelling story with their data internally.

“That’s the Holy Grail — the ability to take the data and demonstrate what you’re doing from a marketing and digital perspective,” Schneider says. “You want to be able to show how your efforts are helping achieve your organization’s business goals,” Schneider says.

For organizations looking to advance their marketing maturity, the panel offered this advice:

• “You have to measure the gap,” Bradshaw says. “It doesn’t matter where you are on the curve. It matters what you do with that information.”  
• “Understand what your audience wants from their healthcare experience,” Barua says. “Define the vision. Marketers are responsible for the brand. The brand is the experience.”
• “Identify internal leaders and champions who will partner with marketing, support your efforts and see the vision for how marketing can impact the bottom line and add significant business value,” says Schneider.