Dear Hospital Administrator: You Talking to Me? I Am Not Listening.

Dan Dunlop writing on The Healthcare Marketer makes an important observation “Hospitals Failing to Connect with their Audiences” which is based on his review of a post by Dr. Bryan Vartabedian’s 33 Charts.You can talk about yourself which in reality no one gives a flying rat’s butt about or you can speak to issues that are important to your audience. I think the word is patient centric. Here is the link to 33charts

So what is that sound I hear? It’s reality speaking. Hospitals need to behave like responsible marketers who are selling a product in a competitive market. Everything is pointing to where we are going. I am not recommending behaving like Crazy Eddie but more like Apple or Google or any number of smart marketers. Sell solutions to problems. 

And another point that’s clear is that this issue speaks to adult learning. Adults will only learn when they are seeking a solution to a problem. This is particularly obvious in healthcare where we know adults with a chronic illness will invest time and effort on line to find information and seek support. In my view and the view of the team I am assembling our goal is to help providers differentiate their services via problem solving patient centric communication as opposed to me me me.