Michael Crawford

Michael Crawford became interested in healthcare listening to the conversations around the patio table as his parents and their colleagues talked about work. For the past 30 years he's used his marketing expertise to help medical groups, hospitals and health systems connect with consumers, physicians, employers, brokers and health plans. He advocates for a strategic approach to marketing, audience-based communications, coordination between marketing and customer service functions, and early inclusion of the marketing discipline when planning services. His work has earned more than a dozen awards over the past few years. He’s no stranger to healthcare reorganizations or healthcare reform, from the failed effort during the 90s to the implementation of the ACA to today’s efforts at repeal. His blog, Healthcare Marketing Survival Guide, offers advice for B2C and B2B healthcare marketers trying to chart their course during uncertain times. Connect with him via LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter @health_crawford.

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The Role of Brand Communicators in an Outbreak

Performance Marketing

A lot of the work we do in healthcare marketing and communications is predictable. Brand-building, patient acquisition, and organizational support. But when a new health threat emerges, brand communicators have [...]

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Healthcare Marketers Live in Multiple Worlds — Leverage That Insight

Performance Marketing

As healthcare marketers, you live in multiple worlds. Of course you are a professional. But every time you go to the doctor, you're a healthcare consumer. And while your employer [...]

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5 Ways Healthcare Marketers Can Prepare for Seat at the Table

Performance Marketing

Healthcare marketers, are you at the kid’s table or the grown-ups table? Whether in a small town or large city, your medical practice or hospital is impacted by external matters, [...]

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How Hospitals Can Compare Prices, Despite Not Having a Consumerism Model

Performance Marketing

The inability to compare prices is an often-cited reason for why healthcare hasn't fully evolved into a consumerism model — patients don't comparison shop among healthcare providers, using price as [...]

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Healthcare Open Enrollment Means Marketers Ask: Whose Patient Are You, Really?

Performance Marketing

It's Open Enrollment season in health care. Marketers at physician groups, hospitals, and health plans compete for attention and selection. These high-profile marketing campaigns tend to overshadow a new wrinkle [...]

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Healthcare Marketing Messaging: Science Is a Cornerstone of Health

Performance Marketing

As lawmakers in California debated tightening vaccination requirements for schoolchildren, a protestor threw a menstrual cup with red liquid across the Senate chamber. Although that person's goal was to disrupt [...]

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Should Marketers Be Taking a Pass on Hard-hitting Sponsorships?

Performance Marketing

As a healthcare marketer, you wear many hats. One is “generate brand awareness.” How and where you choose to elevate your brand — including sponsorships — is a reflection of [...]

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Healthcare Marketers, Start Your Push for Annual Wellness Visits Now

Performance Marketing

As we enter the fall, healthcare marketers should be starting their push for Medicare enrollees to schedule an Annual Wellness Visit. Unlike an appointment for a specific ailment, the Annual [...]

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Why Google’s SEO Strategy May Drive You Back to Digital Display

Performance Marketing

Bit by bit, Google has been changing the terms of its SEO strategy deal with healthcare marketers. Google's strategy is shifting away from matchmaker to one of being a destination [...]

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From ACA to Medicare: 5 Answers to Healthcare Marketers’ Legal Questions About Insurance

Performance Marketing

As healthcare marketers and communications professionals, this swirl of forces hits close to home. Are you able to describe the various paths of reform to internal or external audiences?