2023 Healthcare Marketing Trends: Unlocking the Potential of Industry Awards in your Healthcare Marketing Strategy
Industry awards are a great way to recognize the exceptional teams in your healthcare system, build your brand and make a splash on social media and across channels. Choosing the right competition to enter can be a daunting task with a range of respected and recognized healthcare organizations and associations recognizing healthcare systems across the US.
Modern Healthcare’s Healthcare Impact Award is one of the best awards in terms of reputation, reach and accessibility for teams to integrate into their 2022 marketing plans. 2022 nominations open on June 27th and close on September 6th so there’s still plenty of time to get started (Modern Healthcare, 2022). Here’s what you need to know:
What is the Healthcare Marketing Impact Award?
The Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards are designed to recognize healthcare’s best advertising, marketing, promotion, and communication campaigns on and across all media platforms. The awards honor campaigns that advance provider, insurer, supplier and advocacy group efforts to deliver high quality, affordable and accessible healthcare; promote the health of individual patients, groups and communities; and help organizations thrive and grow in today’s rapidly changing healthcare environment.
Eligibility & Nomination Categories
Healthcare organizations themselves, or the agencies representing them, can enter. Submissions are accepted for seven campaign categories across five organization types. Take a look through the lists below. If your organization and campaign fit any of these categories, a Healthcare Impact Award could be a valuable tool for you this year.
The five organizational categories are:
- Providers
- Insurers
- Suppliers/Vendors
- Pharmaceutical
- Advocacy
The seven campaign award categories are:
- Print Campaign of the Year*
- Digital Campaign of the Year**
- Video Campaign of the Year
- Podcast Campaign of the Year
- Social Media Campaign of the Year
- Website Campaign of the Year
- Integrated Campaign of the Year
*billboard will be included within Print
**app, online and SEO campaigns will be included within Digital
A Gold, Silver and Bronze award is made in each campaign category across every organization type. There are also Healthcare Marketing Impact Publishers’ Awards for special recognition (more on this below). Overall, there are lots of opportunities to be recognized and learn about some of the innovative strategies being used by other healthcare systems across the US.
Fees
The entry fee is $450 per campaign nomination. You can submit for multiple campaigns but you have to pay the entry fee separately for each campaign you enter for the competition.
Timeline (2022)
Modern Healthcare gives a generous timeline for nominees to prepare their materials and submit their campaigns. Here are the key milestones for this year:
- June 27 – Nominations open
- September 6 – Nomination close at 11:59 PM PT (there will not be an extension)
- September 7 – Judging begins
- November 7 – Winners published in print and online
Entrants can only use material that was produced and appeared between January 1, 2021 and June 27, 2022.
Choosing the right organizational category
As with any competitive process it’s important to make sure you’re in the right race and giving the judges exactly what they’re looking for. The most essential first step is making sure the category you choose is the right one for the organization that is represented in the campaign. To be clear, the type of healthcare organization submitting the application isn’t what matters. You have to pick the right organizational category for the campaign you’re nominating. Here are your options:
Provider
Organizations classified within the following business categories: hospital, medical clinic; multi-hospital system; academic medical center; ambulatory surgery center; specialty hospital; physician groups; minute-clinics; ambulance and emergency services; post-acute care including rehab facilities, skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes.
Insurer
Organizations classified within the following business categories: insurance carriers; third-party payers; health plan sponsors; government plans and integrated delivery networks.
Pharmaceutical
Organizations that develop, produce and market drugs, pharmaceuticals or medical devices licensed for use as medications.
Supplier/Vendor
Organizations serving healthcare providers and payers classified in the following business categories: group purchasing organization (GPO); information technology; real estate; financial; legal; schools and universities; insurance; investment; legal; architecture; construction and design; consulting; recruitment/staffing; etc.
Advocacy
Organizations that are classified within the following business categories: government agency; voluntary health; professional association; patient advocacy groups; charitable & special interest groups
Choosing the right campaign category
Take a look through the list of seven campaign categories again and see where your recent work might show the biggest impact. Being objective about your own work can be tough. Workshop your ideas. Your best work might not be the campaign that took up the most time or energy over the last 12 months or so. There can be beauty – and impact – in simplicity. One easy way to get started with choosing your best work is looking through some of the past winners.
Here are some examples of organizations that won 2021 awards and how they leveraged their honors with smart PR strategy:
One simple way to choose the right project is to consider which of your campaigns best align with your current marketing strategy and priorities. Is there one campaign in particular that aligns with your brand? Is there one success-story you wish could be shared more easily? Try to consider what the headline might be for your award announcement. How will you describe your campaign activity in just a sentence or two? Considering the full impact of your nomination will help you choose from what is likely to be a long list of accomplishments to be proud of in 2022.
Of course, don’t forget to confirm that your campaign timelines fit the eligible window for 2022 nominations.
Making the most of an award
A successful nomination that leads to an award deserves celebration! But added success comes with added responsibility. To make the most of the award, you’ll likely need to use many of the skills and tactics you deployed in the award-winning campaign to market your win. Be prepared in advance with an outline of a press release, of communications to your customers, and be mindful of the internal communications opportunity.
While an award would be focused on the marketing team remember that healthcare is a team sport. Help others in your healthcare system celebrate you, just as you help celebrate their accomplishments in your daily work. As you think about getting the word out, the people already in your organization are the perfect place to start amplifying your message.
Even if 2022 isn’t your year, advance planning for your communications strategy at the application stage will never be a waste. As you think about how to tell the story of your most interesting work in 2022, you might find valuable insights on your campaign outcomes, new data, or simply an anecdote to help explain the value your team brings to the organization. At best, thinking ahead about telling your story, might help you figure out how to convince the judges!
Thinking of applying? The bottom line:
Going through the process of being recognized by peers and industry leaders can be daunting but more often than not, it’s time well spent. Regardless of the outcome, the time you take to pull together your application materials and articulate the work you’ve done will help you to reflect on the areas you’ve succeeded and grown, as well as areas you might want to prioritize in the future. You will likely draw out lessons and insights that are valuable to your team and senior leadership.
No matter what role you play on your team, whether you’re a senior leader or the most junior intern, being a cheerleader and celebrator in your organization goes a long way to building morale. In a year like 2022, there are few things that could be more valuable.
Note some of the competition details might be subject to change. Contact Modern Healthcare for the most up-to-date information and details on how to apply.
Sources:
Modern Healthcare. (2022, March 15). Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards. https://www.modernhealthcare.com/nominate/healthcare-marketing-impact-awards
North Memorial Health. (2022, January 3). Recognized by Modern Healthcare as a Winner of the 2021 Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards For Commitment to Ongoing Safety. https://northmemorial.com/news/north-memorial-health-recognized-by-modern-healthcare-as-a-winner-of-the-2021-healthcare-marketing-impact-awards-for-commitment-to-ongoing-safety/
OltNews. (2021, November 16). American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology recognized by Modern Healthcare as winner of 2021 Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards. https://oltnews.com/american-association-of-nurse-anesthesiology-recognized-by-modern-healthcare-as-winner-of-2021-healthcare-marketing-impact-awards
Seto, B. (2021, November 12). The Permanente Federation wins Modern Healthcare 2021 Healthcare Marketing Impact Award. Permanente Medicine.