touch point podcast

Live from Cleveland, this week’s episode features audio captured at the Content Marketing World Cleveland Clinic Health Summit 2017. Hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer kickoff the podcast sharing high-level takeaways from the CMWorld 2017 conference before “rolling the tape” on a panel session that included Brian Gresh (Executive Director, Digital & Content Marketing at Cleveland Clinic), Aaron Watk...

Advocacy is an activity by an individual or group which aims to influence decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions. For healthcare, online advocacy could take many forms including generating interest around a particular disease or condition, fundraising/giving for non-profit health systems or organizations and even health advocacy efforts. This week, hosts Reed Smi...

The fundamental principle of the internet was to allow people across the world to find and connect with one another across topics of interest. For hospitals and health systems, this means providing ways for patients to connect and discuss their care. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the ways patients have started to use the internet and social media to connect, and how org...

People don’t come to hospital websites for fun - they are there for a purpose. More times than not, that purpose is to engage and interact with the health system - finding a doctor, paying a bill, signing up for classes...even applying for a job. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss how organizations can begin improving the online transaction. From understanding and defining u...

Unlike other industries, hospitals and health systems often find that the number of websites they have to manage are too numerous to manage efficiently. This can negatively impact not only the web user experience, but has significant business and process implications. Hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss how best to begin evaluating and planning for a website consolidation effort, including th...

Hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer tackle the topic of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in this week’s episode, focusing their discussion on paid tactics. They briefly cover the various types of SEM, and then discuss effective ways organizations are ensuring their online marketing approaches produce results. They also discuss some of the current trends and challenges with SEM. This episode features and...

Keeping track of accurate physician listings online has become increasingly more complex for hospitals and health systems. Not only do they have to contend with various disparate internal databases, but external commercial websites (like Google, Yelp, HealthGrades, Vitals, etc.) and government/payor websites are also competing to be the sole source of truth when it comes to accurate provider listi...

Over the last decade, social media has had a tremendous impact on the healthcare industry, most specifically in transforming how we communicate and interact with our audiences. In this episode, host Reed Smith and Chris Boyer explore the power social media has on understanding public health and it’s influence on how patients communicate with one another and their health providers. From its use in...

The role of marketing in a hospital or health system has dramatically evolved over the years. Once focused on simple communication and community management activities, the expected role of the hospital marketer now has become more strategic and responsible for many strategies. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer reflect on their personal experience as hospital marketers over the last...

As digital channels evolve, more and more online users are turning to video as a medium in which to research, learn and make decisions. But how do hospitals and health systems develop videos that are both aligned with their strategies and also unique to social media and websites? In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith share various tips on how to develop videos, including choosing the r...

Everything online is absolutely measurable. Because of this, the often mistaken belief is that once you launch a digital campaign or effort, the measurement will be comprehensive and complete from the onset. Hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer spend this episode detailing the common misperceptions hospitals and health systems have with measuring their efforts, and detail a high level framework organi...

Hospitals and health systems create content for a number of audiences - marketing, PR, media relations, donor specific content, quality reports, employee communications, etc. However, many systems struggle with this content being developed in silos across the organization. Hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the challenges with developing a unified content strategy and share insights on how h...

In the 20th milestone episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer share 20 top digital marketing tips for hospitals. health systems and physicians, as submitted by listeners. Listen in to these tips that span across websites, content marketing, social media and personalized marketing efforts. Contributors include: Mike Vujovich - https://www.linkedin.com/in/masterjedivuj/ Ed Bennett - https://www.li...

For hospitals and health systems, it's very important to involve physicians and medical staff in the development of online content. Hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss some of the challenges organizations face when trying to involve clinical staff in the development of online content and online reputation. Featuring an expert interview with Dr. Justin Smith, a pediatrician with Cook Children'...

Organizations that have integrated online and offline experiences have seen dramatic positive impacts to their brand and marketing efforts. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer share tips and real-life examples of how hospitals and health systems can start marrying these experiences, They also interview an expert on patient-centered design, David Fore, president and owner of Catabolic...

Voice-enabled and voice-first technologies have been rapidly adopted by consumers, primarily due to the recent adoption of Amazon Echo and Google Home devices. But how can hospitals and health-systems begin introducing voice-first into their digital efforts? Hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss some ways that hospitals are using voice-first to help with communication, education and clinical ap...

When developing a strategy for a digital, content or campaign strategy, it’s important to understand your audiences, their interests and their needs. Many hospitals and health systems are beginning to develop sophisticated methods in persona development. Hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the history of persona development, some of the major elements used to build them and list some of the “...

Often, hospitals and health systems feel that a critical part of their mobile strategy should be the development of an app to help drive brand, promote patient engagement or even support patient acquisition. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer spend time discussing the important questions hospital marketers should ask before considering the development of an app, and share tips on ho...

Live from the 2017 Healthcare Marketing and Physician Strategies Summit, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith welcome expert guests Ahava Leibtag, Ed Bennett, Matt Gove and Brian Gresh in this live recording. The hosts and guests engage in a spirited conversation about consumerism and how marketers can do a better job of owning experience in their health systems. They also debate the veracity of onlin...

Ten years ago, hospitals and health systems began to slowly adopt social media into their marketing and communication strategies. Despite all that time, it seems that we are still struggling to understand and effective role these tools can play. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer level-set on the current state of social media, discussing the changes they've seen over the last decade...

One of the most frequently used digital touchpoints by patients is the patient portal. Yet often hospitals or health systems spend little time investigating if their EMR/EHR patient portal is actually designed with the patient in mind. Hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss how to bring UX/UI principles into the patient portal, and ask if "Meaningful Use" is either meaningful and useful from the...

Developing an effective content creation and publishing strategy can be challenging for a hospital or health system. When trying to publish the right content to the right people at the right time, some have considered adopting the COPE ("create once, publish everywhere") model. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer explain the origins of COPE, discuss the challenges of the model and it...

Healthcare professionals often struggle with choosing the right conference to attend. Whether having to find budget or deciding which type of conference to attend, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer dive deep into the various types of healthcare conferences to choose from, how to create criteria and even cover the best ways to use social media to optimize your attendance. Feature an expert interview...

In this episode, Reed and Chris discuss the intersection of wearable technologies and medical devices, and how the sudden rise of wearable devices and the "internet of things" have driven the need for useful and usable solutions for patients and consumers alike. The hosts also touch on how hospitals should begin integrating this data into official patient records. This episode also features an exp...

The topic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is discussed by Reed Smith and Chris Boyer in episode 8. First, they cover the essentials that every hospital and health system needs when considering an SEO strategy. They then review an article written by Shel Holtz on the declining relevance of SEO. Facing off, the hosts argue whether SEO will eventually be a moot point. Lastly, they interview Patri...