Marketing Your Mission
By Anthony Cirillo, FACHE, ABC

It is a wise decision for nonprofit hospitals to market their mission. Letting people know about your contribution to your community's healthcare can help build a better relationship with your community and attract positive attention

To market your mission, start with three steps:

1. Initiate a community health needs assessment

At its core, a hospital's mission is to help create healthier communities. You first need to know the health status of the community before you can embark on plans to improve it. Public health agencies typically have the expertise to conduct these assessments, but not every agency takes the lead. You can sponsor a study and serve as a catalyst to draw other community organizations, and even other hospitals, together.

If you have the expertise within your organization to conduct a study, then take the lead. Let those with expertise in public health initiatives drive the data collection and reporting. Then bring together the partners in the study to discuss collaborative solutions and identify tangible first steps that can be communicated before releasing the completed study.

Simultaneously, put together a marketing plan to release the study results including PR strategies such as an initial press conference. Also, plan to keep the study alive through other initiatives such as updates and human-interest stories featuring people impacted by community health improvements.

2. Tangibly demonstrate your community benefit through formal reporting

Each year, organizations exempt from Federal income taxes must file IRS Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax . It is an information return and not an income tax return. Treat this form as an opportunity and also understand its transparency. This is especially important as Form 990 has been expanded to include several specific forms that could be related to hospital operations. An organization's forms for the past three years must be provided to anyone who requests them. Two nonprofit groups, The National Center for Charitable Statistics and Guidestar, post many of them on the Internet.

Be thorough in your descriptions. Treat this form as if it were a marketing piece you were writing to sell the organization.

In addition, certain states require that community benefit reports be issued. Write a report addressing: foundation outreach, collaboration with community organizations, care for the uninsured and underinsured, ED use, community education and outreach, clinics, off-site initiatives, and community advocates employed. Demonstrate the number of people who have been served, dollars spent, and satisfaction levels. Prepare information about your billing, collection and discounting policies. Package this information professionally and concisely and include it in a marketing plan. The American Hospital Association has Web resources that can help you in communicating your benefit.

3. Conduct an economic impact study

Less employed, and yet still powerful, is the economic impact study measuring the financial impact a hospital has on the community. When conducting a study, consider partnering with the economics department of a known university. Having a Ph.D. conduct the study will lend credence to it, and the study researchers are usually open to participating in marketing-related activities such as press conferences.

As with the initiatives above, put together a marketing plan. These studies lend themselves to broadening the typical audience that you would target. Tell your employees and physicians first. Then involve the local chamber of commerce, civic and business organizations, political leadership and local businesses that can all benefit from the information. Invite key constituents to a press conference announcing results. Prepare letters to the editor for key leaders to send. Write a letter to businesses with the study results condensed in an easy-to-read quick reference collateral piece. Add key information as part of your boilerplate information on releases and other documents. Keep the story alive by featuring people and businesses in the community that are directly impacted because there is a hospital in the community. It could be a profile of a local business owner about why she decided to relocate her business to your town, citing the availability of quality medical care close by for employees.

The impact study is not just an insurance document. It sends a clear message to the community.