Last week was Geonetric’s eHealth Symposium, our annual client get together where we spend a few days of learning, bonding and way too much food. This year, Symposium relived our childhood summer camp memories as Camp Reboot, complete with camp songs and s’mores!

After 2.5 days of working together, I have a few thoughts bubbling around in my head that simply must get out. So here goes:

• We have amazing clients! As individuals and the organizations they work for, we have the great pleasure to assist some incredible clients in the work they do – making patients healthier, changing the healthcare industry and serving their communities.
• The times, they are a-changing. For all of the discussion about a changing healthcare marketplace over the past several years, the big changes are really just now getting underway. The fact is none of us have a clear picture of what the healthcare industry, our organizations or our jobs are likely going to look like in a few years’ time.
• Anxiety levels are high. Marketing budgets are tightening but the demand to do more with digital is still being felt. Job stress has mixed with uncertainty to put many Symposium attendees on edge. The past year has seen unprecedented turnover within healthcare marketing departments initiated from all sides and that is a trend that may well continue for this year and next. To help ease job anxiety we’re seeing a renewed focus on accountability of marketing initiatives and focus on the good old ROI. We’re happy our clients rely on us to help them prove the value of all this digital stuff.
• Content is top of mind. Content has always been important, but it’s getting more time and attention from our clients than ever before. This comes both from changes at Google that prioritize uniquely valuable content over highly SEO-optimized content but also from a growing adoption of a content marketing philosophy.
• Digital has moved from passive to aggressive. Organic has been the word of the day for a while in healthcare – organic search placement, organic social media reach and organic growth. Today, healthcare organizations are using a much more aggressive mix of organic and paid tools to expand reach and bring new patients into their organization through a digital door.
• There’s power in community. We’re thrilled our clients look to us for advice and guidance, but we’re also excited about the great things happening between and amongst our clients through growing peer-to-peer interactions. We now have great ongoing learning through client discussions on Newton, our client extranet, quarterly Forums discussing topics within peer groups and at our annual eHealth Symposium. I loved listening in on the camp cabin (i.e. peer group) discussions.

It’s been another great year and we’re excited at the opportunities ahead to help our clients do amazing things. The next few years are going to be full of new challenges and opportunities and we’re truly honored to have the opportunity to help so many health systems navigate these waters.