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Written by: Kelly Frazer Johnson, Healthcare Marketing Strategic Advisor, Crystal Lake Marketing & Coaching

If you’re like most healthcare marketing professionals, you’re juggling requests from multiple service lines, each eager for marketing resources. The challenge is prioritizing those service lines that have the capacity and operational readiness to drive revenue.

To help, I’ve developed a questionnaire for service line leaders to complete before meeting with marketing. It encourages them to assess their business from every angle and confirms they’re ready to market. Marketing a service line that isn’t operationally prepared can backfire, causing patient dissatisfaction, missed appointments, and inefficient spend.

Below is a framework of questions that ensures service line leaders think strategically about their value proposition, capacity, and readiness.

1. Strategic Foundation

Clarify how the service line advances the health system’s broader mission and long-term goals.

• Mission & Vision: How does this service line align with the organization’s strategy and brand?
• Differentiators: Which unique capabilities set you apart from the competition?

Ensuring alignment at this level reinforces organizational cohesion.

2. Objectives & Success Metrics

Define “success” up front so everyone works toward the same targets.

• Targeted Outcomes: Are you aiming drive new patient visits, drive high revenue procedures, etc?
• Key Performance Indicators: Which metrics (e.g., new patient appointments, patient inquiries, conversion rate, website traffic) will signal progress?
• Timeline: Are there seasonal fluctuations or a long sales cycle from awareness to appointment?

Clear objectives and timelines keep marketing and operations teams on the same page.

3. Capacity & Operational Readiness

Generating demand only matters if you can accommodate it. Verify the resources, workflows, and scalability necessary to deliver care.

• Clinical Capacity: What is your current capacity to get a new patient in? How does that compare to competitors?
• Key point - If you don’t know, conduct a mystery-shopping exercise.
• Staffing & Equipment: Are there clinical, nursing, or other staffing shortages that could affect quality of care? Any upcoming equipment or facility changes?
• Internal Workflows: Are there administrative or operational bottlenecks that need resolution in the call center experience?
• Key point – consider mystery shopping the scheduling process on your service line to experience what a patient will experience.

An appraisal of capacity avoids long wait times, frustrated front-desk experiences, and unsustainable patient volumes.

4. Quality & Reputation

Data and peer feedback build credibility. Use these metrics to identify strengths and gaps before marketing.

• Review Scores: What are your most recent patient satisfaction or online review ratings? How do they compare to organizational averages or competitors?
• Key point – If they haven’t done this, encourage them to look up reviews on key review sites such as Google, Yelp, HealthGrades, Vitals, etc. If they see negative reviews and are discouraged, this is a great time to educate them on how many consumers make decisions based on reviews.
• Feedback Processes: How do you collect and act on patient comments? Do you have a plan to address negative reviews before marketing increases volume?
• Key point – Follow organization established processes for this if they are set. If not, it is an opportunity to build a reputation strategy.

Addressing quality gaps before marketing prevents reputational risk and ensures new patients have a consistently positive experience.

5. Value Proposition & Messaging

Your messaging must resonate with target audiences and reflect operational reality.

• Primary Value: What one-sentence statement captures why patients or referral partners should choose this service line? How does it differ from competitors?
• Key Benefits: Which outcomes (e.g., reduced recovery time, advanced technology, specialized expertise) matter most to your audience?
• Supporting Evidence: Do you have patient success stories, clinical data, or quality metrics that substantiate your claims?

A strong, evidence-backed value proposition ensures marketing messages align with clinical capabilities.

6. Target Audience

Marketing without clarity on who to reach is like shooting arrows in the dark.

• Primary Audiences: Are you targeting patients directly, or are you also influencing providers and payers?
• Demographics & Psychographics: What are the age, income, lifestyle, and health preferences of your ideal patient? How do they research care options?
• Decision Drivers: What factors influence your audience’s choice of where to seek care?
• Key point – if they don’t know, how can they survey customers to understand better what attracted them to your organization.

When messaging reflects audience realities, campaigns spark genuine interest and drive qualified leads.

7. Competitive Landscape

Understanding competitors helps you refine positioning and uncover unmet needs.

• Top Competitors: Who are the top competitors and how do their services, pricing, or patient experiences differ?
• Market Gaps: Are there patient needs, telehealth needs, extended evening hours, bilingual staff, etc. that competitors overlook where you can shine?
• Differentiation Strategy: How can you highlight strengths that address those gaps and compel patients or physicians to choose your service?

Competitive insight helps marketing stand out and avoid simply echoing what everyone else is doing.

8. Channels & Tactics

With clear objectives, audience insights, and operational readiness, select the optimal mix of outreach methods.

• Past Channels: Have you marketed in the past and if so, which tactics have worked or fallen short?
• High-Performing Tactics: Where have you seen the highest ROI? How did you measure it?

Aligning channel selection with capacity and audience habits maximizes cost efficiency.

9. Resources & Constraints

Marketing success depends on having the right materials and approval workflows in place.

• Internal Assets: Do you have existing marketing collateral (brochures, videos, patient testimonials) that can be repurposed?
• Key point – if they are “homemade” and not branded, this is your opportunity to explain the importance of branding.
• Approval Processes: Which stakeholders must review and sign off on marketing materials? What is the typical turnaround time?

Knowing resource constraints in advance prevents last-minute delays and unrealistic campaign expectations.

10. Budget & Investment

Understanding financial parameters keeps marketing plans realistic.

• Total Marketing Budget: Is there a dedicated budget for this service line, or must you draw from system-wide funds? If a service line budget exists, how much is allocated?
• Key point – clearly outline the budget needed to achieve their marketing goals. For example, if they only have $5,000 to market, what are the clearly defined results they can expect from that budget number.

A defined budget helps align marketing decisions with broader financial goals.

11. Next Steps & Coordination

Establish clear ownership and milestones to keep the project on track.

• Primary Point of Contact: Who will coordinate between marketing, operations, and clinical teams day to day?
• Key Milestones: Are there upcoming service launches, accreditations, or community events that marketing should support?
• Key point - Ensure these milestones match the marketing goals and matter to the consumer.
• Timeline Alignment: When do operations need ramp-up time to meet increased volume? How soon can marketing assets go live?
• Key point – Make sure you provide timeline expectations on when you could also be ready to market after the service line request is approved.

Clear roles and a shared calendar prevent miscommunication and ensure both marketing and operations move in collaboratively forward.

Conclusion

Marketing a service line before it’s ready can create demand that overwhelms capacity, frustrates patients, and damages your brand.

Please customize this survey to meet your organization’s goals and then distribute it to your service line leaders before any marketing kickoff. Encourage them to spend time fully thinking through and evaluating the business before returning their answers.

Their responses will help you:

1. Surface operational gaps
2. Refine the value proposition
3. Confirm resource alignment

Only when these boxes are checked should you launch a targeted marketing plan, ensuring increased patient acquisition translates into sustained growth rather than a short-lived spike.

This strategic approach keeps healthcare marketing strategic, data-driven, and, most importantly, patient-centered.

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