Hospital marketers predict that by 2013 traditional and digital marketing channels will flip-flop in terms of importance, according to a crowdsourced survey by Acsys Interactive.

The survey shows this long-awaited but fast-moving shift is the result of a confluence of three major trends:

1. The rapid proliferation of digital channels, such as social, video and mobile, in hospital marketing.
2. Increased demand for marketers to step outside their traditional roles and improve the customer experience on other platforms, including those that have long-languished, such as the intranet and patient portal.
3. A desire for increased marketing productivity, including the use of integrated marketing and more meaningful, business results-focused measurement.

The survey found that 66.3 percent of hospitals currently use traditional channels such as print, direct mail and radio for marketing, with only 9.9 percent using search engine marketing (SEM), display advertising and social media. However, the poll shows that by 2013, 36.6 percent of hospitals will shift to online marketing and 49.5 percent say their marketing budgets will be split equally between online and offline.