Signature Healthcare used internal and external marketing campaigns to put a focus on patient safety. This multi-year campaign reached a crescendo in 2019 with the formation of the MA Healthcare Safety & Quality Consortium in collaboration with the Betsy Lehman Center.
Learn how our team is using input from frontline nurses and doctors to boost sepsis emergency care in this report from The Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety: https://t.co/OoQRQp9OE5 #patientsafety
— Signature Healthcare (@SignatureHlth) June 25, 2019
Signature Healthcare’s patient safety campaign won the 2020 Medigy HITMC Award for Marketing/PR Campaign of the Year. We caught up with Lorraine McGrath, Director of Marketing at Signature Healthcare to find out their creative process, what are the important ingredients to a good marketing campaign and what they are working on now.
What did winning the 2020 HITMC Award for Marketing/PR Campaign of the Year mean to the marketing team at Signature Healthcare?
It is always wonderful to see the work be recognized and shared. It provides affirmation you could be doing cutting edge work but mostly doing what works best for the organization and and patients. Sharing and learning from HITMC members is a great way to complement each other’s skills, realize better results faster and obtain goals faster than keeping knowledge and results to themselves.
Can you walk us through the creative process at Signature Healthcare? How does something go from idea to an executed campaign?
We start with an objective and do team brainstorming. We may call in advise from our marketing agency or review the initial thoughts with the clinical stakeholders. Most ideas and thoughts come from quiet places when you are not multi-tasking (which isn’t at work). Preplanning, review and measurement are considered before anything is formally written.
Who (or which departments) has input into marketing campaigns?
We always include the stakeholders and other topical expert. If possible, we review with patient services for a patient’s perspective. The idea or campaign should not be a personal one; it should stand on the merits of what will work the best for the audience member and not the marketing staff.
What are 5 elements of a good marketing campaign?
- Educational
- Informative
- Be present where the patient is
- Allows action to be taken
- Benchmarking and measurement
What’s the next exciting project for the Signature Healthcare team?
Amid the current coronavirus climate and focusing on “vaccine” marketing and communications to the wide array of audiences, we are improving upon our provider information accuracy and locations for SEM and working with our clinical affiliations for best practices with BIDMC and Tufts.
What advice would you give to someone who is just sitting down to plan their next campaign?
Take the time to think and include as many stakeholders as possible. Read, read, read from others that have gone before you.
Colin, thanks for showcasing Signature Healthcare’s patient safety initiative! It is really a remarkable program.
Dan