One industry sector whose budgets are notoriously scrutinized is healthcare—particularly within hospitals. According to Kathleen Lewton, principal at Lewton, Seekins & Trestor, a marketing and public affairs agency specializing in the healthcare field, communications executives in hospitals are under the gun to cut costs like never before. The following budget-cutting considerations offered by the agency can easily be transferred to other industries:
1. Lock in the essentials that must stay (but may be revamped). Then look at what’s left and:
2. Ruthlessly assess the high-cost items
3. Go through a careful process to evaluate remaining programs and prioritize the keepers
4. Identify new best practice efforts that you want to add
5. Finally, go back over what’s left on the table and ask, “How can we do this more cost effectively.”
“The biggest takeaway from this is that you can turn these steps into an advantage. I’ve heard many communications people say ‘half of what I do is not that critical,’” says Lewton. “If that’s true, then smartly adjusting your budget will give you the opportunity to do more critical things.”