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Health System Leverages Thought Leadership to Enhance Its Brand

By The SHSMD Team posted 04-24-2019 09:17 AM

  
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Several years ago, Ascension set out to position its health system as transformative and innovative. To accomplish this goal, Johnny Smith, national senior director of marketing and communications, said leadership focused on taking a “One Ascension” approach that required the organization to launch a national branding effort. Smith was recruited to lead the public relations (PR) efforts in the corporate office in St. Louis. His was just one department of four within Ascension's newly created marketing division.

"Because we were just starting this journey, we needed to be very intentional and strategic in our approach," Smith said. One of the top PR priorities he established was increasing awareness of Ascension's executives as thought leaders. The first step for the PR team was to connect with executives on the value of thought leadership, and how it could help position Ascension as the leading nonprofit health system in the nation.

Next, the team selected two main platforms to focus on: advocacy and health care transformation. Key messages were developed within each of these areas to ensure consistency. The primary audiences were consumers and the business community.

Thought Leadership Execution

Smith created a multi-pronged approach to Ascension's thought leadership strategy focusing on speaking engagements, earned media, social media and awards on both a national scale and in local markets. He said their efforts had an immediate impact. "We wanted to aggressively tell our story because what we were doing within the advocacy and transformation space was distinctive and unique.”

Results

Since launching its thought leadership strategy, Ascension has made significant strides in positioning the organization as one of the largest, most transformative and innovative health systems in the nation. The PR team creates dashboards on a regular basis to report on earned and social media accomplishments, awards that Ascension has won, events at which executives have spoken, and more.

Smith stresses that it is critical to keep everyone in the organization informed of the results of thought leadership initiatives. "As public relations professionals, we have a tremendous opportunity to heighten our visibility within our organizations, tell our story and merchandise the success of our strategies so our leaders are aware of the value we deliver from thought leadership efforts."

To learn more...

SHSMD members, read the article “Driving Thought Leadership for Hospitals and Health Systems,” published in a recent issue of SHSMD’s Spectrum newsletter.

Nonmembers, for more content like this, join SHSMD!

This blog features an interview with:
Johnny Smith
National Senior Director of Marketing and Communications
Ascension
St. Louis, Missouri

#BrandandReputation
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