Our Team’s Top Four HMPS Sessions

Last month, our team gathered in Austin, Texas for the Healthcare Marketing and Physician Strategies Summit, better known as HMPS. This annual conference is always a highlight for our team, and this year was no different. With five distinct tracks, HMPS offered a plethora of thought-provoking sessions from industry leaders. The topics and perspectives provided insights into the pain points healthcare marketers experience, as well as relevant industry trends. It was hard to pick just four, but here are our team’s top four HMPS sessions.

Fuel Marketing Impact Using Mapping, Personas & Patient Understanding

In this session, David McDonald, co-founder and CEO of LIFT Healthcare, joined experts Christina Deidesheimer, Beebe Healthcare, and Jordis Rosenquest, Baylor Scott & White Health, to discuss the effective utilization of mapping, personas, and patient understanding to drive marketing impact. The speakers discussed building personas after conducting in-depth customer interviews to truly understand the intricacies of the patient journey, including the psychological aspects. The speakers also highlighted notable figures such as psychiatrist George Engle, who played a pivotal role in pioneering the concept of "patient-centered" care. This session’s focus on the psychological aspect of consumers was a valuable reminder of the complexity of the audiences we speak to as marketers. In order to share the right message to the right audience, you need to truly  understand your consumer and be able to reach them. Building complex personas and employing precision targeting will allow you to do just that.  

Data Drives Enterprise-Wide Patient Engagement Strategies

Larry Meade, System Marketing Director of Engagement Platform at Franciscan Health, and Rachel Beachy, Sr. Director of Growth Strategy at Innovaccer, explored the power of data in driving enterprise-wide patient engagement strategies. Larry emphasized the credibility concerns he faces with vendors who aren’t measuring return on investment (ROI). Rachel aptly declared, “no more hiding behind clicks and impressions.” This session provided insights into the strategies implemented by Franciscan Health to showcase indisputable marketing impact and transform marketing from a shared service cost center into a revenue-generating entity. This theme is ever-present among Doximity’s partners, who value the ability to see in-depth data and proven ROI on their marketing programs. 

The Long and Short of It: Brand-Building vs. Acquisition

In this session, Bill Robertson, CEO of MultiCare Health System, and Jerry Hobbs, President of PrairieDog, explore the challenges marketers face in finding the right balance between brand-building and acquisition marketing, along with how to measure each. Drawing inspiration from the books "How Brands Grow" and "The Long and the Short of It," the speakers identified market penetration as the key metric to track for brand marketing, superseding factors like retention and expansion. Jerry challenged the notions of brand loyalty and love, reiterating the importance of an always-on strategy to reach consumers. Bill also focuses on growth, market share, and margin to measure impact. And he’s seen that brand-building is a significant driver of long-term growth. Ultimately, a strategy that combines brand and acquisition marketing is essential. It’s especially interesting to think of these ideas in combination with Larry and Rachel’s presentation. If you leverage a partner or solution with proven ROI in acquisition campaigns, you can effectively offset the expenses of brand awareness campaigns, which are typically more challenging to measure. This approach allows you to adopt a comprehensive and effective strategy.

Leverage SEO to Drive Patient Acquisition and Satisfaction

In this session, Matt Klawitter, Senior Digital Access Strategist at Beacon Health System, and Carrie Liken, Head of Industry, Healthcare at Yext, discuss the importance of leveraging Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to drive patient acquisition and satisfaction. As patients take control of their care, a significant percentage of people rely on search engines, particularly Google, to find health information and providers. Understanding Google's ever-changing algorithms and how search results are surfaced is crucial. By optimizing their online presence and aligning it with Google's requirements, Beacon Health System was able to increase patient satisfaction and drive patient acquisition. Carrie emphasizes the need for healthcare organizations to establish a presence at all consumer access points, recognizing the importance of being readily available to potential patients across various digital platforms. Patients need to be able to find information and take action, quickly and easily. Reach patients where they are by optimizing your SEO or by relying on partners with strong, organic Domain Authority, like U.S. News and World Report. Through Doximity’s Patient Connect, partners can feature their physicians on U.S. News and World Report’s site and drive to existing scheduling channels.