The battle of the gold stars
Hitting the brakes on award-based marketing
It seems you can’t walk 10 feet these days without hearing about another source rating hospitals for consumers. Of course, the latest to grab big headlines (at least within the industry) is HCAHPS, but there are many others hitting the market recently (Angie’s List, Zagat, J.D. Power, etc.). And there are the old standbys, like HealthGrades, U.S. News & World Report, and Thomson 100 Top Hospitals.
While not all of these sources provide rankings and awards, many do, and it seems the dam has burst when it comes to hospitals and health systems wanting to promote these rankings and awards. In some cases, an advertising campaign featuring a new award makes sense, but many times it doesn’t.
It’s not that awards don’t help build brand – they certainly do, and research in healthcare and other industries supports that notion. But from our perspective, while awards and rankings are a reasonable supporting benefit point, providers should think twice about making them the focus of marketing efforts. Here’s why:
Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee
Awards are evidence (at least in most cases) of strong work in the organization, whether it’s clinical, service-driven or other. When used as a supporting point in a marketing effort, awards lend legitimacy to claims of excellence. But when awards are the focus of the marketing effort, the promotion can become an exercise in self-aggrandizement. Marketing should always strive to start from the consumer and work backwards, remembering to answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” Promoting awards usually means starting with the organization and working back to the consumer, which is a harder connection to make.
Here today, gone tomorrow
Most awards and rankings apply to a limited timeframe, such as “Top Hospital of the Year,” or “Best Service in 2008.” But what sounds great today might invite questions tomorrow if your award doesn’t continue. Sometimes you’ll see hospitals promoting something like this: “Best wait times in the metro area in 2002, 2004 and 2007.” Without consistency, the impact of the ranking or award is lessened.
The Pick and Choose principle
Highlighting that you’ve won awards in ’03 and ’07, but not ’04, ’05, ’06 or ’08 is an example of the Pick and Choose Principle. This is where only certain aspects of accolades are promoted, conveniently leaving out other aspects. Sometimes you see this with patient satisfaction surveys, where a hospital is ranked high in a certain area, such as housekeeping or food service. It’s ok to promote accolades for specific areas, but be certain that the focus doesn’t draw attention to what areas didn’t receive recognition.
Everyone’s doing it
This actually shows up later as a justification for promotion awards in some cases. But anytime you’re using a strategy that everyone else is using, the impact of that strategy diminishes. This is especially true in a crowded market, with multiple hospitals promoting the same award, like the Thomson 100 Top Hospital Award. Sometimes, the award is for something slightly different (like cardiac vs. oncology). Sometimes, it’s a 2007 award vs. a 2008 award. In the end, the “everyone’s doing it” flaw contributes to the most important reason to keep awards marketing in check, which is…
Consumers don’t have a clue
OK, that’s a strong statement. Some consumers definitely have a clue. And some consumers have half-a-clue. But many consumers don’t have a clue in understanding or differentiating between rankings and awards. This is why in many larger markets, the release of the HCAHPS patient satisfaction data barely made a ripple. How many of your neighbors have any idea what HCAHPS is? Or Thomson for that matter?
This may change, of course, as consumer-driven healthcare spreads and more patients become responsible for how they spend their healthcare dollars. But at the same time, this trend is leading to the proliferation of these rankings and awards. There are probably more Web sites available now for ranking hospitals than there are for ranking cars! In an article in the Colorado Springs Gazette called “The benefits of making the grade,”, the author starts off by saying, “When Motor Trend magazine releases its top picks for new cars and trucks each year, consumers pay attention. In the same vein, hospitals want consumers to notice when they receive awards from companies that compile health care data.” The problem with that comparison is that Motor Trend has built up a brand throughout the years as a respected resource for auto comparisons. This resource doesn’t exist in healthcare, at least not yet (though we provide a painful exception below). So, for now, it’s very difficult for consumers to give value to one award over another, which means it’s hard for them to value a hospital brand based on that award.
All of these reasons combine to make award-based marketing less effective than most people think. (By “most people,” I’m mainly referring to those without professional marketing expertise.) But that doesn’t mean awards or rankings should never be touted. Here are some examples of situations where award-based marketing can be effective:
Internal communications
All of the above caveats relate to external marketing. But any award or ranking worth its salt should definitely be celebrated internally. Awards and rankings are evidence that an organization is doing things the right way, and it always helps to reinforce that staff is on the right track with outside recognition.
Everyone else is doing it
If every other hospital in a market is promoting awards and recognition, your hospital may be conspicuous in its absence. As long as the expectation for the promotion is that you’re fighting a war of attrition – meaning you’re not expecting to win, just not to lose; then sometimes you have to do what you have to do.
In a smaller community, where overcoming historical baggage is critical
While awards-based advertising often gets lost in the shuffle in larger markets, the announcement of an award – any award – can help a hospital struggling to overcome a historically negative perception in a smaller community. The right award can provide evidence that things have changed since Aunt Millie had a nasty nurse in 1975, and often local media will give big play to such recognition.
If it’s a whopper
If the award is truly significant and differentiating, by all means celebrate it. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is one example. This is an award that has cache outside of healthcare as well, making it more likely to be valued by media and consumers. Another example, though many in the healthcare community aren’t exactly happy about it, is the U.S. News & World Report rankings. While there are many questions as to the quality of these rankings from a reality standpoint, from a perception standpoint, they hold value for consumers simply because of the brand equity of the magazine that issues them.
As supporting evidence
Awards and rankings provide excellent evidence that you’re doing something right, and have great value when used as supporting points for other marketing strategies. An award logo at the bottom of an ad, or quality rankings used in an outcomes report, are great examples of how to leverage outside recognition.
In the end, the use of awards and rankings is often driven by organizational leadership – the C’s, the board, top physicians. These folks are proud of the organization’s accomplishments, as they should be, and want to share them with the world. As marketers, it’s our responsibility to make sure sharing these accomplishments is done in an effective and balanced way. But as is often the case in our world, easier said than done…