Start with strategy

Smaller healthcare organizations have a big hill to climb. For many, you compete with large healthcare organizations for the same consumers. You need to convince patients not to be swayed by the big names in surrounding metro areas, and that they can still get great care close to home. But when those big brands have both deep benches and deep pocketbooks, how can your small team keep up?

The key is to start with strategy. To find the focus of your web efforts, consider:

• What are the business goals you need to achieve?
• Who is the audience you are communicating with?
• What content do you need to create?

This intersection is where you want to focus your team and your web efforts. Keeping these points in mind also helps to control scope creep from projects — if the tasks aren’t aimed at the right audience, meeting a business goal or the type of content to create, you can more easily say no to projects on the web team’s plate that don’t add value.

Pro-tip: One way to help your team focus on the right work is to create a core strategy statement. This helps you to focus your team’s efforts on the right web content, not just more web content. It also helps your small web team better manage competing requests and priorities.

The skills and roles you need to compete

After you have a strategy in place, it’s time to look at the team and see what roles you need to have in place to be successful at digital. Small hospitals don’t have the luxury to just add FTEs, so it’s essential to have the right roles.

On average, organizations have about 1.3 marketing FTEs per one hundred beds. That aligns with the fact that most 200- to 300-bed organizations find themselves running lean with one to four marketing or digital team members.

Considering that most digital teams oversee more than 20 functional areas — including digital strategy, content development, general website management, search engine optimization (SEO), analytics, email marketing and CRM — it’s no surprise small teams find it hard to keep up.

Large teams tend to hire specialists who focus on one skill area such as SEO or digital advertising. Smaller teams tend to rely on generalists who wear a lot of hats. That is both a pro and a con for small teams, as each team member is usually nimble and knows a little about a lot of important digital tactics, but they can miss many opportunities by not having the depth of expertise a specialist tends to have.

Pro-tip: When staffing a small team, consider utilizing the concept of T-shaped employees. A T-shaped employee is one who has deep knowledge in a particular area of specialization along with the ability to deliver value across other related, disciplines. High-performing teams tend to be filled with T-shaped employees who have deep expertise in one principal skill but also have complementary skills that allow them to connect with and understand other team members. If you have gaps in complementary areas, that’s where you focus on cross-training for skill development.

Outsourcing to supplement in-house capabilities

For many small teams, outsourcing is key to getting it all done and finding the depth of expertise they need in key areas. Top areas small healthcare marketing teams outsource include:

• Web design
• Web hosting
• Digital advertising (including display, paid social and search ads)
• Web development
• Analytics
• SEO
• Web accessibility

Pro-tip: Consider how your outside partners and agencies fit within your team’s capabilities using the same T-shaped employee model to ensure partners are filling your gaps and have a shared understanding of your in-house team’s skillset.

The right tools for your small web team

When thinking about your website and digital experience space, marketing technology solutions can get overwhelming. It’s important to find the right balance for your hospital. Some organizations have one solution that takes care of everything from content management to CRM while others have more a duct-tape approach with many solutions.

For smaller hospitals, the large, all-encompassing solution is often out of budget. And the duct-tape solutions, even if they are best of breed, can cause more maintenance headaches than small teams have the capacity to deal with.

Understanding your overall strategy and team capabilities will allow you to find your unique technology balance point.

As you evaluate the right platform for your organization, ensure you’re correctly addressing these:

• User-submitted information – make sure you know which platforms are collecting user-submitted information and how that information needs to be protected to comply with state and national privacy laws
• Online payments – pay particular attention to payment card industry (PCI) regulations for your eCommerce functionality
• Third-party components and data sharing – this comes into play with plug-ins, make sure you understand which pieces of functionality are built into the platform and which things are coming from third parties that may have their own support processes and upgrade paths
• Accessibility of the complete solution – ensure that all the platforms contribute to the user experience and follow accessibility guidelines (especially if part of the experience sends a user to another site)

When looking at what features your website needs to have, be sure to check back to that core strategy statement to confirm your functionality aligns. For more small healthcare organizations, the most important features include:

• Provider directory
• Online forms
• Online bill payment
• Appointment scheduling
• Physician ratings and reviews
• Online class registration

This is where you are ensuring your website functionality is in sync with your business goals — and aligned with the next step your patients want to take in their journey to find care.

If you’re looking for a website solution, or content management system (CMS), think about that software as a fit for your team and whether it’s making the best use of your team’s time by doing some of the heavy lifting. Ask yourself:

• How easy is it for you to create or change site navigation to ensure an optimal user experience?
• Does it offer taxonomy and dynamic content to reduce your team’s time and effort toward maintenance?
• Does it offer file storage and management of your visual assets?
• How does it handle content strategy and the authoring experience so you can share website updating with other teams, such as those updating online classes and events?
• Are search and findability baked in, including title and description content and Schema.org markup?
• Does it have governance tools that help you quickly find outdated content and control workflows for who can add, review and publish content on your site?
• Will it keep your team in compliance with HIPAA, PCI and web accessibility guidelines?

There are lots of pieces your CMS should handle for you, helping your lean team do more with less.

Deliver the most value

As you evaluate your website and look to make sure your team is set up for success, start by ensuring your web presence is aligned with your strategy, you have the right mix of skills between in-house team members and outsourced partners and that you have a CMS that is optimizing your team — not taking up precious time and resources to do routine tasks.

If you’re looking for a new CMS, sign up for a demo of our VitalSite content management system, the most popular website builder for small hospitals and medical groups that delivers the top features you’re looking for and helps small teams do more.

Strategic Benefits

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) aren’t buzzwords. They’re responsibilities, especially in the healthcare industry. DEI can directly impact patient access to care, outcomes and quality of life, as well as staff recruitment and job satisfaction.

Healthcare brands that champion these values at every level are not only doing the right thing from an ethical standpoint. They’re meeting the needs of target consumers and other key audiences. Some statistical context:

• In the U.S., racial health disparities and inequity lead to poorer outcomes and shorter life expectancies, as well as an estimated economic loss of $245 billion due to excess medical care costs, lost productivity and premature deaths.
• The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected the health and financial security of people of color, low-income people and LGBT individuals.
• The country’s population is becoming increasingly diverse. Millennials and Generation Z are the most diverse generations in history.
• A 2020 Glassdoor survey found 76% of job seekers say DEI is an important factor when deciding whether to accept an employment offer and more than 50% of current employees want their employers to increase DEI efforts.

Healthcare marketing may not solve health disparities, but you can promote messages that help people of various backgrounds feel welcome at your hospital or health system. And this messaging likely reflects and helps strengthen overall your organization’s brand, purpose and goals.

If your mission and vision statements or key objectives reference providing compassionate care and improving community health, implementing or refreshing related digital strategy guidelines can help affirm these organizational priorities internally and externally. Potentially supporting population health initiatives, conveying DEI values in your content could increase consumer willingness and comfort to access care.

Implementation & Optimization

As you design and return to your strategy, keep Geonetric’s tips in mind:

• Be accurate and transparent when describing your organization’s DEI values, policies, and services.
• Publicize relevant resources, programs and services, focusing on how they benefit patients, family members, community members, job seekers, physicians, healthcare professionals and staff.
• Don’t make DEI ad campaigns to promote services. DEI isn’t a trend, and consumers are savvy enough to detect when an organization is exploiting an activist movement for financial benefit.
• Understand your audience. Conduct ongoing research or use your hospital’s community health needs assessments to understand your geographic service area’s demographic groups. Pay special attention to:
  • Disability statistics and health condition prevalence
  • Statistics on age, family status, immigration/citizenship status, racial and ethnic groups, religious preference, sexual orientation and gender identity
  • Medical and wellness interests and concerns
  • Languages spoken and communication skills and preferences
  • General education and health literacy levels
  • Beliefs, preferences, values and customs, particularly those around healthcare
• Consult with internal colleagues and trusted connections, such as your Patient and Family Advisory Council or local community leaders, who can help guide or react to your content to ensure it will resonate with your target audiences.
• Encourage internal and external audiences alike to provide feedback on their experiences related to DEI at your organization and make it easy to do so. An online form is a good start if submissions go to someone who follows up and has the power to influence change.
• Affirm your organization follows legal and ethical standards of non-discrimination and accessibility regarding patient care, hiring practices, etc. Make it clear how to report a concern, typical response time and any follow-up or typical actions that may result from reporting.
• Feature imagery and stories that reflect the diverse makeup of your community without tokenizing or patronizing individuals or groups.
• Monitor how competitors and organizations you admire are talking about DEI. Look for inspiration or strategies you can customize to your brand or gaps in your market that you can fill.
• Follow Geonetric’s web writing for healthcare best practices. These include using plain and conversational language to keep your content at an accessible grade reading level. These tactics make your site’s copy reflect your commitment to inclusion.

Editorial Style Guide

Your writing style guide is the centerpiece of your DEI content strategy because it shapes all your organization’s messaging.

Style guide users (writers, editors, etc.) will appreciate DEI pointers throughout your guide where relevant. Integrate tips and examples into existing sections of your guide, such as:

• Brand identity core messaging and voice and tone
• Definitions of stylistic principles, such as person-first language or plain language
• Accessibility and SEO rules
• Word list entries
• Words and phrases to use, emulate or avoid

Establish writing rules that align with your organizational values. Here are a few examples to get you started:

• Be sensitive and empathetic.
  • Avoid stereotypes, assumptions, labels, and language that “others” or stigmatizes a person or group.
  • Consider the user’s emotional state.
  • Use person-first language (i.e., “person with diabetes” versus “diabetic”).
  • When describing people with disabilities, choose language that emphasizes abilities instead of what someone isn’t able to do (“someone who uses a wheelchair” instead of “wheel-chair bound”). Avoid negative, sentimental or condescending language.
• Use preferred terminologies, asking individuals how they would like to be described when possible.
  • Omit gendered pronouns if doing so does not affect clarity.
• Empower consumers. For example, when relevant, encourage patients to participate in their care by asking questions or bringing a support person.

Governance Considerations

A key aspect of a successful DEI content strategy is to regularly return to your guidelines and make any needed updates. Establish specific roles of responsibility, timelines, and other governance policies that ensure your DEI efforts stay current and effective.
Resources to Bookmark
To help your team stay current, assemble trusted resources that offer ongoing guidance on preferred language and other considerations. At Geonetric, we reference and keep tabs on publications such as:

• Associated Press (AP) Stylebook
• The Diversity Style Guide
• National Center on Disability and Journalism
• Asian American Journalists Association
• National Association of Black Journalists
• National Association of Hispanic Journalists
• Native American Journalists Association
• Religion Newswriters Association
• The Association of LGBTQ Journalists
• GLAAD Media Reference Guide
• Medical and specialty-specific organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institute on Drug Abuse

Raise Your Hand

Energize your DEI strategy with help from Geonetric’s content strategists and writers. Whether you’re interested in governance guidance, editorial style guide creation or optimization, voice and tone workshopping, writing and editing trainings, or other services, contact us today for a customized solution.

Internet Privacy Background

The past five years have been a slow crawl to a more private internet. The European Union has demanded more transparency of what trackers are being used on websites. Apple has worked to limit the amount of personal tracking being mined from iPhone users. And, in April 2019, Google announced that they were going to deprecate third-party cookies on their Chrome browser. They charted their course to finish this process by mid-2022.

However, in June, Google issued an update: the timeline is to be extended to late 2023. They recognize the process is complex and they are giving themselves the extra time to get it right. That means you have more time to prepare.

How Cookies Work Now

For many years, cookies have made it easy to track and collect data on internet users. As marketers, we have used this boon of information to direct advertising with precision based on behavioral data, interest data, and user data. If we identify an audience, we could create a custom-targetted ad and direct it to that audience, no matter how specific, and feel confident in its success. With this tool leaving our toolbox, it underscores that we need to refocus our efforts in collecting as much data without the crutch of cookies.

First-party data will become more critical. First-party data is the data that you can collect from your own sources—user behavior on your website, survey responses, CRM data.

Third-party data, however, is information collected by a company that does not have a direct relationship with either the first party—in your case, your hospital or health system—or the second party—the user.

It will be even more important to make sure your data collection efforts are set up and running to capture as much information as possible. You may be losing information about users once they are off your website, and that makes it more necessary that we collect information while they are on our website.

How Can I Start Planning Today?

Make sure your analytics are set up. This is a great opportunity to make sure that Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is implemented and set up. GA4, as an updated platform, is more focused on user behavior where Universal Analytics (its predecessor) was more focused on session information.

Sort Your Analytics

The updated event tracking capabilities in Google Tag Manager are necessary so you don’t have any data gaps in the user journey. Ensure you have robust hard conversion tracking (think phone calls for appointments) as well as soft conversion tracking (email list sign ups, news or blog shares). Both conversions can help us to better understand what is and is not working with our ads.

Start Collecting Data

Collect additional first party data. Consider the information that can be collected in a CRM. Of course, stay conscious of HIPAA restrictions when it comes to putting the data that you collect to use, but you can still be precise enough to maximize your data while protecting patient privacy, as well.

Don’t Forget to Leverage Offline Data

Consider offline data sources. Surveys and patient feedback can be valuable sources of information on your geographic audience and can help give you clues for advertising purposes. In marketing, finding out who your audiences are can be half of the battle. You can avoid some of this challenge if you let your audience will tell you who they are through their own feedback.

Consider Alternate Channels

This is also a good time to dust off some of the advertising paths that may have taken a second seat to third-party, cookie-based, behavior-targeted ads in our portfolios. Looking at our content, looking at our users, and looking at their interests will be the key to success moving forward.

Remember, content is king (and drives conversions)

Content, both site content as well as marketing content, is still king when it comes to your online presence. Ultimately, this is why website users come to your website.

By using your expertise as leverage alongside insight from your first party data, you can develop a comprehensive website content and content marketing strategy. For example, using a bariatric weight loss email drip campaign to drive people to sign up for an informational seminar, or creating a Facebook group for new or expecting moms and creating resources and content marketing materials relevant to that audience. This approach lets you tailor your site for our audience and drive conversions.

Keep your audiences in mind

If you set up our first-party data collection correctly, specifically through non-analytics channels, you should be collecting information on who your audience is.

While it may be true that your audience image will not be as defined as what you can currently see with third-party cookies, this approach can also provide insight that you may not have from other sources. Information collected from Analytics will be limited to their behavior and the demographic information they have shared with Google. There are additional touch-points, like family information or specific care needs, that can be better communicated straight from the members of the audience themselves. To that end, you can still use user targeting on these audiences to cater marketing based on demographic information as well as website behavior.

Consider additional targeting strategy moving forward

The deprecation of third-party cookies will have no effect on contextually based targeting. For example, consider Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. Since this advertising is run based on searches that users perform and not on behavior/user information from cookies, it will be unchanged. Reorienting your marketing plan around that type of outreach will prove to be a recipe for success.

Next Steps

Given how central third-party cookies have been for marketing plans, it is important to use the time Google has given you to come up with a transition plan. We are always happy to talk with you about your current initiatives and help craft a strategy to move you away from third-party cookie-based advertising channels and shore up your data collection techniques.

Our stance remains consistent … page speed is a means to an end. Don’t forget about the larger aim — improving user experience (UX). Consider potential trade-offs between page speed performance and features benefiting your users. Always look at your website holistically and make intentional, informed decisions.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Google’s Core Web Vitals aren’t new. We’ve paid attention to and have had access to these metrics for quite some time. Google has decided to simply package them together and give them a title. Core Web Vitals consists of three metrics:

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This metric reports the render time of the largest image or text block visible within the viewport, relative to when the page first started loading.
2. First Input Delay (FID): FID measures the time from when a user first interacts with a page (i.e. when they click a link, tap on a button, or use a custom, JavaScript-powered control) to the time when the browser is actually able to begin processing event handlers in response to that interaction.
3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): CLS is a measure of the largest burst of layout shift scores for every unexpected layout shift that occurs during the entire lifespan of a page. A layout shift occurs any time a visible element changes its position from one rendered frame to the next.

How does Google’s Core Web Vitals impact my rankings?

When looking at Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics it can seem overwhelming, especially when tools out there indicate that you’re struggling in one, or all of these areas. However, as usual, things are a bit more nuanced than simple metrics. Consider this guidance directly from Google:

“The page experience update introduces a new signal that our search algorithms will use alongside hundreds of other signals to determine the best content to show in response to a query. Our systems will continue to prioritize pages with the best information overall, even if some aspects of page experience are subpar. A good page experience doesn’t override having great, relevant content.

This is similar to changes we’ve had in the past, such as our mobile-friendly update or our speed update. As with those signals, page experience will be more important in “tie-breaker” types of situations. If there are multiple pages of similar quality and content, those with better page experience might perform better than those without.”

Does Site Speed Matter, Then?

So, site speed is still not as significant a factor in rankings as many digital marketers anticipated. Google is continuing to emphasize quality content over everything and has directly stated that these signals are more of a “tie-breaker” than an outright deciding factor when it comes to your ranking on their results pages.

The driving force behind Google’s focus on page speed? Promoting and improving UX on its platform. Tying page speed to your SEO is a way for Google to get you to care about this too. Faster page load times is just one tactic Google has prioritized — and it’s the one getting the most attention.

This isn’t to say we should ignore page speed or other core web vital metrics. If your page is unbearably slow to load or has content shifting all over the page, Google may demote your site in search engine rankings. But, if you have a generally well-performing site today, improving your page speed isn’t likely to boost your rankings. What helps your rankings and what hurts your rankings aren’t always the same things, and both are still largely driven by who is providing the best information to users for a given query.

How do Core Web Vitals impact user experience?

Though it’s likely these metrics aren’t impacting your rankings, they may affect your UX and other measures of success. If a page takes more than a few seconds to load, or if content is moving around the screen while the user tries to engage with the page, users may get frustrated and leave your site. If you see lower conversion rates, lower engagement rates, or exceptional bounce rates, Core Web Vitals are a solid place to look for some insight. Remember that even Google recommends that you think about how your users experience your site, instead of simply how the page performs.

Page speed is a measurement of how fast your page content loads — so users can see and interact with your content. Page speed can be affected by many things, from the user’s browser to server configuration and front-end script management. Page load times can vary dramatically from user to user.

Still have questions?

The truth about Google’s Core Web Vitals and their impact on your site’s performance is complex. If you’re interested in looking into your site’s UX, page load speeds, or other metrics, know that Geonetric can help. From identifying the pages you should focus on to meaningfully measuring their performance, Geonetric is able to help develop strategies and tactics to enhance your site.

Focused on your site’s loading speeds and interactivity, the update aims to ensure page performance is a key ranking signal. Tune in to this webinar and learn how recent changes could impact your SEO strategy. You’ll walk away with tips for how to audit your site for Core Web Vitals compliance and prioritize what fixes need attention – protecting your hard-earned rankings today and in the future.