1. Linking Marketing Investments to Business Outcomes
Starts with Goal Setting
By Karen Corrigan
More than ever, marketing executives and brand leaders additional volume, and the strategic and financial goals of
are being held to a higher standard of accountability for the health system’s strategic plan.
driving growth, innovation, customer loyalty and better
business performance. Building a results oriented marketing Growth and marketing management goals are usually
operation that delivers on revenue and profit goals is job addressed in three categories:
one for healthcare CMOs.
 Strategic goals – strategic objectives and perfor-
Where to start? By instilling a rigorous discipline to set mance metrics often have a longer horizon point (3 years,
quantifiable marketing goals and demonstrate return on for example) and are aimed at measures of competitiveness.
investment. All too often, marketing goals are either miss- Examples of strategic goals/metrics include:
ing in action or stated in terms too soft to earn the chief
financial officer’s endorsement. Performance measure- • Market position (‘to be the leading provider of car-
ments are often more heavily weighted towards activity diovascular care in the greater metropolitan market’),
or process metrics, which are important for measuring which can be measured by market share growth
efficiency, but don’t always draw a clear line between
• Brand position (‘to be the preferred brand of sports
marketing expenditures and business outcomes.
medicine by female athletes’), measured by consumer
preference and loyalty
The bottom line is that, in the C-suite, only two sets of
metrics count – those related to financial performance and • Service line reputation (‘to be recognized as a Top 100
those related to strategic performance. In other words, hospital for neurology’), measured by third party rec-
revenue, volume growth, market share, profitability, brand ognitions and market share growth
equity, market leverage and competitive sustainability.
 Financial goals – financial objectives address
revenue and profitability targets, as well as expectations
Marketers should assure that strategic marketing plans spe-
for return on investments. Examples of financial goals/
cifically state a health system’s overall growth and profitability
metrics include:
goals for its service area and major lines of business, includ-
ing volume goals, payor mix objectives, desired financial
• Net revenues (‘produce net revenues of $x million over
outcomes and projected return on marketing investments.
x period of time’)
Goals and objectives should be carefully quantified, • Margin (‘achieve a x% margin on operating revenues’);
especially in terms of achievable outcomes such as vol- EBIDA
ume, revenue, market share and customer satisfaction
• Payor mix (‘grow commercial volumes by x%’)
or loyalty. Objectives should be informed by the business
development and market opportunity assessments, and • Cost reduction (‘reduce supply cost of orthopedic im-
analysis of the organization’s capacity and ability to add plants by x%’)
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2. What Kind of Marketing Organization is Your Health System?
 Marketing goals – marketing goals are quantita- • Changes in market share and payor mix
tive translations of the strategic and financial objectives,
expressed in marketing terms. Marketing goals can have • Increases in volume or share by target market segment
both short term (one year) and longer term (three years)
targets. Examples include: • Increases in consumer awareness and preference
• Overall volume growth Gaining agreement on strategic, financial and marketing
goals – and the performance metrics for those goals – is a
• Growth in specific service line DRGs critical up-front objective in marketing planning. Market-
ing strategy and investments must be tailored to achieve
• Rate of growth vis a vis rate of market growth those goals, and measurement systems established to
inform all involved as to the business success of major
• Market share index marketing activities and investments.
About the Author
Karen Corrigan is a leading proponent for market-driving strategies that create value, transform organi-
zations and build economic prosperity. Over the course of her career, she has worked as a health system
executive, chief strategy officer, chief marketing executive and entrepreneur. Today, her clients include a
diverse group of health systems, start-up companies, technology partners and other businesses in private
and public sectors. Karen is the publisher of Chief Marketing Officer, a blog for healthcare marketing
executives and growth strategists.
Contact
Email: karen@corriganpartners.com
LinkedIn/Twitter/Facebook @karencorrigan
Telephone: 757.288.2480
Business, Brand and Marketing Strategies that Drive Growth.
Corrigan Partners™ provides integrated business, brand and marketing solutions to improve competitive
performance. We partner with healthcare executives to position marketing as a strategy-critical discipline
driving growth, innovation and better financial performance; to create high-performing, future-ready
marketing organizations with the capabilities, systems and talent to address changing competitive
dynamics in the health industry; and provide expertise and support to help marketers ramp up and
accelerate the adoption of social, mobile and cross-channel marketing strategies.
©2011 Corrigan Partners