Building smart brands through online and artificial intelligence tools: A quantitative analysis about the best hospitals in Spain

Abstract

Building a reputed brand constitutes a priority for hospitals interested in establishing positive relationships with their stakeholders. However, hospitals face different challenges: limited budgets, strict legal frameworks, etc. To overcome these challenges, many hospitals resort to online and artificial intelligence tools. This paper analyzes how hospitals manage both tools to improve their relationships with stakeholders and reinforce their brand reputation. To do that, we conducted a literature review about smart branding in hospitals, and then we defined 34 quantitative indicators to evaluate how the 100 best hospitals in Spain managed their websites, online newsrooms, about us sections and artificial intelligence departments for branding purposes. Our results proved that most hospitals focused their smart branding initiatives on patients (4.98 criteria out of 11) and not on media companies (3.14/11) or public authorities (3.14/6). We concluded that hospitals should implement integrated communication strategies, use artificial intelligence to brand their employees, and establish more professional practices in their communication departments.