While riding down a turnpike near a major U.S. city, I saw a billboard that read "World-class cardiac surgery," with a 1-800 number, and I heard a radio spot in which Dr. James J. Jones (name changed to protect the innocent/guilty), in a deadly monotone, extolled the virtues of his hospital's stereotactic radiosurgery program.
Is this what it has come to? Maybe someone riding in a car will get the idea to call about having a heart bypass - and stop to write down the toll-free number? A consumer who has some sort of health problem will decide that this stereotactic stuff is for him?
And it's all around us. Pick up a newspaper in any major metro city in the U.S. on a Sunday and count the number of "world-class," "state-of-the-art," "nationally renowned" and fill-in-the-blank-accredited healthcare organizations that are being promoted.
Turn on the TV or radio - healthcare messages are inundating us with mostly unintelligible, full of scientific jargon and "asset" statements that only the most sophisticated of listeners can translate into a personal benefit.
Understanding Your Community
We are sending, sending, sending -but are the messages getting through in a meaningful way?
Sitting behind the two-way mirror at focus groups throughout the country during the past several years has been a learning experience. When the moderator asks "So, have you seen any healthcare advertising lately?" the response is usually yes, yes, yes - with a few laughs and comments like "How can you miss it?"
When she asks who's doing the advertising - name that sponsor - there are fewer sure answers. Some names are offered, while others look confused.
Then the payoff question: "What's the advertising about?" If it's something simple, like babies, consumers tend to remember, but comprehension sharply drops as the jargon factor increases. "Stereotactic radiosurgery" elicited a "Was that about a hospital - I thought it was for an electronics store" response in one city. And an NCQA (National Committee on Quality Assurance) reference elicited "What's the basketball association doing in healthcare?"
And even words that can be understood in terms of their meaning - world-class, state-of-the-art, etc. - have little significance or credibility.
"Every hospital says it's 'state-of-the-art,'" said one Medicare recipient. "So you know it doesn't really mean anything - what hospital is going to say it's just average?"
All that energy, time and money is spent on delivering messages that aren't effective. Often, when shown samples of ads currently in use in their market, consumers simply look blank. "Haven't seen that," they'll say, despite the fact that it's in their face daily.
One marketer, in frustration, behind the two-way wall, said "Are these people asleep in front of their TV? Or don't they care about healthcare?"
Actually, consumers today care a lot about healthcare; they're passionate when you ask them an open-ended question like "What are you worried about?" or "What do you want from a doctor, a hospital, a health plan?"
In fact, focus group moderators practically need a whip and a chair to get them to move on to another topic.
They'll talk and talk and talk - but are we listening?
Become All Ears
If we're going to take the time and spend the money to deliver our organizations' messages - whether via advertising, brochure, speeches or banners pulled by airplanes - then it seems to make sense that we'd invest a proportionate amount of time and money to listen to the people we're trying to reach.
First, we need to listen to people who are truly representative of the populations we serve - not just the folks we want to attract, but those who are already familiar with us and who are capable of offering their endorsement (or not) about our organization. That means solid random-sample surveys, patient interviews, on-site comment cards and focus groups should be a priority.
Then we need to listen to the people in the community, asking them first to tell us in focus groups about their fears, concerns and needs, and what they know about healthcare organizations in general, and ours in particular. And we need to ask what they'd like to know and what they already think of us. We might find out that they're less concerned about "choice," and much more worried about security. In most areas of the country when you ask people to talk about healthcare in general, they immediately talk about insurance and have a harder time discussing hospitals.
Then we can validate that feedback with a solid survey to see how the numbers fall out.
Only then can we come up with messages that present our organization in terms of our community's concerns and needs and in language that is compelling.
Turn on the TV or radio - healthcare messages are inundating us with mostly unintelligible, full of scientific
jargon and "asset" statements that only the most sophisticated of listeners can translate into a personal benefit.
Kathy Lewton is director of the National Health Care Practice at Porter Novelli in Chicago. She is author of "Public Relations in Health Care: A Guide For Professionals." She can be reached at 312/856-8888 or email: [email protected].