How Rural Health Systems Can Elevate Marketing Strategy

Marketing and communications executives for rural health systems frequently face greater challenges than their counterparts at urban centers, mainly due to differences in staffing and resources.

Often departments of one, or maybe two, of these professionals must ensure that their work is aligned with their organization’s overall priorities to achieve maximum impact. This was the key message of a preconference workshop titled “Elevating Your Marketing Strategy & Impact in Small & Rural Health Care,” held before the SHSMD Connections Conference 2023 in Chicago, last September.

“For those working at rural health systems, your marketing work is vital across the organization,” says Sally Mildren, the CEO and chief strategist at Clarity PX, a marketing, branding and strategy firm that specializes in working with rural and community hospitals. “However, you can’t assume the other stakeholders know that or get it. That’s why taking a strategic approach as you develop your next plan is so important.”

Mildren was joined by Diane Markham, the marketing and communications manager at Arbor Health in east Lewis County, in Washington.

Questions and Answers

According to Mildren, that strategic approach must start with an assessment of the current state of your health system’s marketing efforts and initiatives.

The evaluation includes answering the following questions:

• What is the purpose or mission of this plan/initiative? In other words, what is the ”why”?
• Does the current plan/initiative match the health system’s business priorities?
• What are the health system’s primary marketing goals?
• What are the targets of these marketing goals? Who are your patients? Is the goal to increase patient flow or enhance patient experience, or both?
• What channels/tactics is the health system currently using to achieve these marketing goals? Are they appropriate for the targets?
• What are the core messages of the marketing efforts? Again, are they appropriate for the targets?

Answering these questions helps marketers establish return on investment (ROI) for their work and identify potential collaborators across the organization. It also helps with establishing budgets, staffing needs and overall strategic planning.

Generally, Mildren advises, a rule of thumb for marketers at rural health systems is that they should know what their organization’s “top two or three business imperatives are” and ensure that the majority of their marketing budget, time and resources are focused on these imperatives.

“Know your strategy,” she explains. “Know your why. Know how this initiative will drive growth for your organization.”

Once you’ve answered these questions, she adds, you’ll know how to set your marketing priorities and be able to identify when you need help—in other words, additional staff and/or resources.

Marketers should also take stock of how frequently they are evaluating their approach and make sure they are conducting these reviews on a timely basis to adapt as needed.

“People have changed; organizations have changed,” Mildren notes. “When was the last time you evaluated your messaging?”

All About Arbor

In performing this analysis, Markham recognized that Arbor Health, a small health system located about 75 miles south of Seattle that includes a 25-bed critical access hospital, four primary care clinics and a rapid care clinic, faced a challenge that is hardly unique in the current health care landscape—and that is the issue of trust.

Recent research suggests that trust in health care among consumers is on the decline. As data from the Humanizing Brand Experience; v.6 Healthcare Edition, 2023 report from brand consultancy Monigle indicate, 42% of consumers aged 25 to 34 years say they “don’t always trust their health care providers to make the right decision” for them. This percentage is up from 39% in 2020.

Across other age groups, between 23% and 37% of consumers report that they lack trust in their providers.

Despite these findings, the same survey identified ways in which health systems can build trust among prospective patients. Not surprisingly, it starts with having a “caring staff,” empowering “self-care, and making each patient feel like their care is a “priority” for system staff, among other factors (Figure).

For many users, the patient experience begins with the health-system website, and Arbor Health’s solution to overcoming challenges related to trust began with content marketing initiatives via the health system’s online presence.

According to Mildren, effective content marketing has “mastered the art of one-to-one conversation.”

She advises health systems, particularly those with limited resources, to assess their online messaging and ask: “Is your messaging working to build trust? Is the information the patient/consumer wants easy to access? Is your voice and tone friendly and empathetic? Are you conveying the message that they matter to you and their care is a priority?”

She adds: “Your brand should come across like a trusted care provider in your marketing materials and is vital to building trust. The website is one important part of that relationship.”

At Arbor Health, the system’s mission—“Exceptional, personalized care”—occupies a prominent position on its homepage. In addition, the website’s “Health News” section is updated regularly and offers practical advice for patients. Finally, visitors to the site can subscribe to the system’s monthly “Keeping Well” e-Newsletter, which offers similar wellness content.

The system is also active on several social media platforms, including YouTube, where it regularly posts videos touting services, locations and providers. Videos also offer wellness tips, according to Markham.

All these initiatives are steps toward addressing some other key findings from the Monigle report. Other measures of consumer engagement found that 73% of respondents attached “emotional value” to health care—indicating they felt “peace of mind” after receiving treatment—and that 71% “proactively” researched symptoms and treatments. Furthermore, 57% of respondents said they were interested in watching videos or reading information about wellness-related topics.

“Patients overall are resonating with messages that evoke trust, empathy and empower them in their health journey and less so with intellectual stats and facts,” Mildren notes.

Measuring the effectiveness of your marketing initiatives remains key to the evaluation process outlined above, Mildren says. When reporting to colleagues and stakeholders, she suggests collecting data on how the campaigns are affecting the organization and sharing that regularly.

“You can measure indicators such as traffic to a specific landing page, clicks from Google Ads, clicks from social media, specific clicks to a blog or article, any increase in appointments, revenue saved/generated, and new subscribers to content, among other metrics,” she says, adding that these recommendations are made within the boundaries and direction of the federal Office for Civil Rights rulings on tracking pixels and data collection. “The bottom line for all health care marketers is to ensure your work aligns to the most important priorities of the organization; that you have specific and trackable ways to measure the impact of your work; and that you are reporting those insights up, down and across the organization. That is when executives take notice and understand the true value of marketing in your organization.”