St. Louis Suburban Hospital

A suburban St. Louis hospital contracted with Word Marketing to perform a perceptual study of the hospital’s reputation compared to others in the area. The hospital, which resided in a growing suburb, noticed an increase in emergency room visits, but non-emergency patient counts remained flat.

Word Marketing conducted a study of 400 people in the hospital’s target geographical market and uncovered the following: 

     Areas where the hospital had a positive public perception were identified as well as
     those where the hospital had a negative public perception.

• Respondents had a positive perception of the hospital as being close to home and convenient, and having a friendly, caring staff
• Respondents had a negative perception of the hospital’s quality of care, technology and experienced and knowledgeable staff

     The most important factors among respondents for deciding where to seek medical
     care were identified.

• Respondents wanted a hospital that had a high quality of care and high quality staff
• Respondents wanted a hospital that was close to home

Based on the research, Word Marketing was able to put together strategic marketing recommendations for the hospital that included:

• Testimonials from individuals who liked their experience at the hospital
• Highlighting experience among key physicians and the services the hospital is able to provide
• Continuing to promote the convenience and closeness to home of this hospital to individuals within a defined geographical radius of the hospital

Research was designed in such a way as to allow us to repeat the study in the future, to measure whether external marketing efforts have had an impact on public perception.