Feb. 10, 2010 at 2:05pm

Make your copy scannable

Tips for keeping eyeballs on your on-screen message

Posted by Guest Blogger in Community Relations, Internal Communications, Media Relations, Publications
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©iStockphoto.com/skynesher
 

As much as I hate to admit it, I’m part of the majority of on-screen readers who don’t read but scan. Jakob Nielsen found “only 16 percent read word-by-word.”

The barrage of e-newsletters and announcements in my e-mail inbox provides an opportunity to observe what gets my attention. A couple recent examples:

Nov. 20, 2009 at 1:35pm

How do you want them to feel?

Posted by Shari Campbell in Declassified, Internal Communications, Planning and Strategy
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©iStockphoto.com/mevans
 

“Don’t start with what you want to tell people; start with how you want them to feel!”

Sep. 2, 2009 at 10:37am

Be clear with your reviewers or beware

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Internal Communications
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Divining what a writer wants from a reviewer can be as difficult as making sense of dolphin speak. Reviewers of draft copy provide the evidence.

Jun. 29, 2009 at 1:49pm

Smart marketers aren't tweeting

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Internal Communications, Planning and Strategy
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In a room of 30 smart hospital marketers last month, not one could think of good reason to take up Twitter personally. They’re already struggling to keep up with a crushing workload. I think they were hoping our Think Lab speaker, Andrew Fry, would let them off the hook. He didn’t—at least not completely.

Apr. 24, 2009 at 1:09pm

Don't keep me waiting

Posted by Shari Campbell in Internal Communications, Planning and Strategy, Practice Management
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Just returned from my annual mammogram appointment. I sat in the second waiting area for 15 minutes after I’d arrived on time for a 7 a.m. appointment.

Apr. 15, 2009 at 11:58am

Making changes, one fakinagel at a time

Posted by Shari Campbell in Internal Communications, Measurement, Planning and Strategy
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My favoite lunch is a fakinagel.

A few years ago, when my cholesterol crept over 200 despite my mostly healthy diet and mostly regular exercise, I realized I needed to make more changes.

Jan. 21, 2009 at 8:34am

Electronic conversion or confusion?

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Care Line Marketing, Community Relations, Internal Communications, Publications
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Think it’s time to ditch your paper newsletter for an electronic version? We’re hearing that more and more. We’re also hearing that sometimes losing the paper is a mistake. Here are some of the arguments for and against electronic newsletters:

Nov. 11, 2008 at 12:12pm

When you have to announce layoffs

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Internal Communications
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Grim... That’s the mood of some of our hospital clients who are cutting back and making due as the financial crisis persists. Especially the ones tasked with announcing program cuts, workforce reductions and laying off their own staff. Still, they are taking heart in knowing that good communication can help keep a bad situation from getting worse.

Aug. 25, 2008 at 12:54pm

Newsletters that reward as we read

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Internal Communications, Planning and Strategy, Publications
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“People will read if the reward is large enough,” according to Ann Wylie, insightful writer and consultant. Defining the reward has been at the heart of our recent work as a member of a team planning a health care client’s new employee newsletter.

Here are some of our early ideas to make this publication a must-read:

Aug. 21, 2008 at 3:35pm

Three principles for crisis communications

Posted by Shari Campbell in Internal Communications, Media Relations, Planning and Strategy
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Intel. Odwalla. Jack in the Box. Alaska Air Lines.

These are just a few of the companies that came to mind earlier this week when I discussed with a client the impact of a potential crisis.

Of course, no crisis is the best scenario. And as hospital public relations and marketing professionals, there’s much we can do to prepare our organizations to handle a crisis before it ever happens.

Aug. 5, 2008 at 11:23am

Branding begins at home

Posted by Shari Campbell in Branding, Internal Communications, Measurement
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A health care company undergoing profound change asks its employees in an internal newsletter to support yet another reorganization. A nonprofit that helps people find affordable housing is considering expanding its role to include community development.

What do employees think about these changes? Will they embrace them or undermine them?

Jul. 17, 2008 at 9:15am

How to manage the thrill ride that is change

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Internal Communications
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Profound change is part of our territory: layoffs, a new CEO, the opening of a competing ambulatory surgery center. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. In talking with hospital marketers at a conference sponsored by the Missouri Association for Healthcare Marketing & Public Relations, I saw how helpful it can be to take a time out to talk about our experiences and consider our role in making change successful for our organizations.

Jun. 25, 2008 at 2:14pm

Ration, tier or clone? Part two: evaluate

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Internal Communications, Planning and Strategy
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Here’s more on the theme of what to do when you have too much to do, a follow-up to my earlier post Part One: Anticipate. Let’s continue with the anticipate-evaluate-negotiate framework.

It’s no surprise that “follow the money” is the No. 1 criterion health care marketers cite for deciding what new project to take on or what to give up. It’s about ROI – generating margin, driving volume or increasing share. But when we probed a little deeper, we found that in practice the criteria are far more complex – and not always logical.

May. 13, 2008 at 2:20pm

Ration, tier or clone? Part one: anticipate

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Internal Communications, Planning and Strategy
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What do we do when we can’t do everything we’re asked to do? (And no marketing or communications department can!) This question was on the minds of the health care pros we polled earlier this year as we planned our ThinkLab program. So when our friends in marketing and communications came together in Gig Harbor Friday for JayRay’s annual ThinkLab, they were eager to talk about practical solutions.

Apr. 29, 2008 at 2:22pm

Service made easy

Posted by Shari Campbell in Care Line Marketing, Internal Communications, Planning and Strategy
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Just over a week ago, my daughters and I watched my husband cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon. What an amazing event! More amazing still: the easy, simple ways we experienced stellar customer service on our vacation.

Here are a few examples:

Mar. 13, 2008 at 2:29pm

Asking yourself the questions you hope you are never asked

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Internal Communications, Media Relations
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You know what they are after when the crisis hits: What happened? What caused it? What does it mean?

Like you, we often prepare for questions from the media, employees and the anxious and the curious by asking ourselves the tough questions and then drafting answers before they are asked. Vincent T. Covello, Ph.D., long-time counselor to government and industry facing environmental hazards, gets a head start by pulling out a standard list of 80-odd questions he created.

Feb. 8, 2008 at 2:34pm

When in crisis, think compassion-action-context

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Internal Communications, Media Relations, Planning and Strategy
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“Dennis Quaid’s newborn babies were given a huge overdose of a drug two months ago at a hospital with a top-notch reputation.” So continues coverage in the LA Times of the tragic error.

It got me thinking about “deer in the headlights,” that stunned moment when you realize you or your reluctant exec has to step up to the mike. Now.

Jan. 25, 2008 at 2:40pm

The three markers of transparency

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Community Relations, Internal Communications, Media Relations
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What it means to be transparent can be murky.

I remember years ago being uneasy following surgery when I felt my doctor had left out important information about my procedure. Would I have recovered faster if I had a different surgery? Why was my surgery in the facility across the street from the hospital? Why wasn’t I warned that I would receive a separate bill from the anesthesiologist?

Nov. 16, 2007 at 1:40pm

Five tips to get the word out to employees

Posted by Shari Campbell in Internal Communications
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"Our employees never know anything about what we’re doing!”

It’s a frustration I hear expressed frequently by communications professionals in organizations large and small. So how do you get the attention of your employees and keep them informed about your company’s news, events and strategic initiatives? Here are five tips I’ve culled from friends and colleagues: