Our Webinar on Tuesday – Create Powerful Allies: Stakeholder Management and the Web was a success and it’s always interesting to talk about the challenges hospital marketing professionals face and how to overcome them.  Even though the Web is your priority, it seems like everything else is too.  Let’s say your goal in December was to implement an online campaign to drive service line volume and you actually spend the majority of your time putting out these December fires…

It makes me think of that old song – the 12 days of Christmas, but I’m Jewish, so I only came up with 8…

On the 8th of December, my organization gave to me:

1. One day to design and print the company Christmas cards – not to mention the time spent running around for signatures…
2. Two days to organize and promote Santa Claus greeting the public in the new Women’s Center
3. Three hours to make the holiday party invitations – and develop a menu that’s not like last years
4. Four days to organize the Secret Santa gift exchange and get participants – but get no gifts myself when it’s all said and done
5. Five days to get print and television media coverage for the toy drive at the Pediatrics Center
6. Six hours to write the CEO’s “Happy Holidays” message in the December company newsletter….  Including time to get it approved by his secretary!
7. Seven hours to assemble and decorate a 20 foot tree because the Board of Directors is making a surprise stop
8. Eight days to recruit volunteers and teach them five Christmas Carols to sing to the  500 patients expected to be here on Christmas Eve

And then your boss wonders why you didn’t get to that online service line campaign this month…

But seriously. We all know managing stakeholders is tough – some of it comes from the fact they have different priorities than you… and sometime it’s because you have trouble communicating the value of your online initiatives.