I know you can operate, deliver a baby, administer chemo, take a picture of my brain, add pace to my heart and replace my knee but what about the rest of the story (thanks Paul Harvey). Does your community really have the full picture? Most of us go to the hospital when we’re told to or when we need to be repaired. We have basic assumptions of what to expect and for the most part we come out better than when we entered. But if I’m a hospital in a competitive market how do you fill beds, keep expensive machines busy and keep appointment books full? Read more »

A hospital’s view from the inside looking out can be very different than the community’s view in.  A hospital sees itself providing essential health services and so much more. Millions of $ in free care, free programs for seniors, teens, kids, moms etc etc. What about the economic impact on a community? Taxes, local vendor purchasing, employment, the list is long and varied. Hospitals have their view and sometimes that view is not necessarily aligned with their customers. Yes, patients are customers. Talking a walk, roll or shuffle in their shoes can be an eye opener. Undercover medical staffer?!  Read more »

What does a powerful community connection mean? In the world of marketing and communication it’s a measure of how quick and agile you can be in responding to and communicating with your direct and extended community. Can you post information to your website quickly and easily? Are you using social media outlets to build and enhance loyalty for your organization? Do all of your other marketing materials work together with one another? Do you drive people from your traditional marketing platforms to use your more dynamic locations to connect and communicate with each other? Read more »

My job here at FirstTracks Marketing presents me with the opportunity to build WordPress and Joomla CMS websites for many diverse clients in industries such as Education, Assisted Living, Health Care, High Tech, and many more. But want to know the one thing that is the same with almost all of these websites and clients? The lack of resource planning and understanding of what it will take to work with their new, easy to use Content Management System (CMS). Based on my experience developing, designing and training so many different users in Joomla and WordPress, there are a few things that a new user will need to know in order to make the CMS experience successful and fun. Read more »

Check out this really interesting information graphic that was posted just recently that visually describes how social media spending has been distributed in 2010. Some very compelling and interesting figures that we think will open some eyes and raise some eyebrows. Read on to get our take on the break down and what this will mean for your business in 2010. Read more »