Swanson Russell - Orange Dot

Tips For Using A Microsite For Your Advertising Campaign

editor — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 17:31:41 +0000

You are in the process of developing a new brand campaign, but your health system website is in the midst of a major overhaul that will take at least twelve months to complete. Where do you drive people to for an online experience? In instances like these, a campaign microsite is always a good option.

Campaign microsites are built around a focused message and allow for your advertising message to be front and center in a rich environment and not get lost. They also afford you the opportunity to target specific audiences without worrying that it works for everyone.

Below are five tips to consider when developing your campaign microsite.

1. Use responsive design

Even though your corporate site may not be responsive yet, it’s imperative that your campaign microsite is. This ensures a seamless experience on any type of device.

2. Create focused content

The campaign site should feature only relevant information focused on campaign messaging. This is one of the advantages to utilizing a campaign microsite, it eliminates all of the irrelevant information health care websites inundate consumers with so that they only have to focus on your marketing message and your call to action.

3. Integrate brand elements

More than likely, your campaign will utilize brand elements that are already on your corporate site like colors, fonts or photography treatment. Make sure there is a fluid look and feel between your corporate site and your campaign landing page so that the brand experience spans all mediums.

4. Link to a corporate site

There will always be relative information from your corporate site that you want users to experience on the microsite, but it’s just too complicated to include. This is your opportunity to reduce user steps in accomplishing specific tasks to get to that information. For example, including your “Find-a-Doctor” widget on the campaign site allows users to start the find a doctor process, knowing the search results will ultimately link to your corporate site.

5. Identify conversions and additional metrics

Before you even think about starting those wireframes, a measurable conversion should be established. Is the goal of your campaign to call to make an appointment or register for an event through an online form? How will you measure it? In addition to conversion, identify other metrics that will help you measure success. Is there a video to watch? Do you have several pages to click through? Will it help to measure how far down users scroll on the page, or how long they watch the video?

See how Swanson Russell implemented a microsite strategy to help Children’s National Health System reintroduce themselves as the only comprehensive system in the regions that focuses solely on children.

Making a “Non-Move” Something to Celebrate

editor — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 15:38:14 +0000

There’s been no shortage of business news in Lincoln over the past few years. Longstanding companies have relocated to new offices near and far. Startups have launched. Doors have been closed. Mergers and buyouts have shaken up the scene.

Within this shifting landscape, Swanson Russell has stayed the course, continuing to grow through a stable and sustainable approach to business. It’s a formula that’s worked for us for over 50 years. It may not have the same headline power as the aforementioned “moves,” but we think it should.

When we decided to build a 12,000-square-foot addition onto our longtime home at 12th and P St. to accommodate our ongoing growth, we had the perfect time and platform to send that message. The Swanson Russell Super Big Non-Move was born.

Community Campaign: Telling Our Story

When you spend 53 years in one location, community really matters. On this block and throughout this city, we’re surrounded by old friends, established clients, new acquaintances and future employees. We wanted to make sure they all understand the value we place on staying power.

On Tuesday, June 16, a large banner was installed on the west side of our building (right beside the soon-to-be construction zone) to announce our campaign’s core message. Like most campaign materials, the banner drove community members to TheSuperBigNonMove.com for more in-depth, up-to-date information about what we’re building at Swanson Russell.

The Journal Star also helped us spread the news about our new construction and introduce our campaign in a way that reached beyond local boundaries.

Next, we invited nearby businesses, local media and Mayor Chris Beutler for a special event on Friday, June 19, to celebrate the groundbreaking and unveil our slightly new address. Clappers and confetti cannons were used to bring big energy to this Non-Move celebration.

Employee Campaign: Taking Care of Our Own

While spreading our message about staying power to the community was one key goal for the campaign, the most important audience for The Super Big Non-Move campaign was our own employees—those that would be enduring almost a year of pounding jackhammers, shaking walls and lingering curiosity.

To build an extra level of excitement internally, boxes were distributed to each employee two days before our groundbreaking event. Each box contained a campaign shirt, branded clapper and helium-filled balloon—everything employees would need for the groundbreaking event later in the week.

While the groundbreaking event was hosted in the morning, a separate employees-only celebration was hosted in the afternoon where employees were invited to enjoy food-truck munchies, cold drinks and conversation about the future of Swanson Russell.

For employees, the campaign will evolve to give construction updates and show the specifics about how our new home will help us better serve clients. After all, that’s the foundation that made this Non-Move possible.

We’re #1! Wait, we’re #5! #10! What do hospital rankings mean, and are they useful to consumers?

editor — Wed, 13 May 2015 17:06:55 +0000

Are rankings meaningful to consumers?

During a consumer focus group a few years ago, we asked the participants what they thought about a local hospital promoting their J.D. Powers #1 ranking. Their responses were varied, “Isn’t that a reward car companies get?” “Did they pay for that?” “Every hospital says they’re #1 in something.” “What does that even mean?”

Good questions and point taken. A recent article in the New York Times referenced an analysis by the academic journal Health Affairs which looked at hospital ratings from two publications, U.S.News & World Report and Consumer Reports, as well as Healthgrades and Leapfrog Group. No hospital rose to the top by all four. And some hospitals were actually designated as a high performer by one group but a low performer by another.

The article goes on to say that the rating groups are serving different purposes and are not measuring the same thing. OK, I buy that. It doesn’t make sense for them to overlap and measure the same things. But consumers don’t understand that. They have access to all kinds of information, but it’s difficult to find reliable information that compares apples to apples and is meaningful when it comes to hospitals or health systems. As communicators, we shouldn’t be adding to the confusion. And by advertising and promoting these ratings, isn’t that what we’re doing?

Consumers are in charge

For the most part, consumers are interested in the patient experience. That experience equals quality. They expect great clinical quality and safety. So it’s good that your hospital has lots of processes and initiatives in place to assure high quality and safety. But consumers are interested in whether the phone was answered quickly and the person on the other end was helpful. Can they schedule an appointment for when they want it? Is it easy to park and get to the office? Did the health care providers listen to them? Can they easily pay their bill online? Can they easily find the location and hours online?

So the next time your physicians or CEO ask you to promote your hospital’s latest ranking, ask yourself these questions:

Does the ranking support your brand?
What happens if you don’t get the same ranking next year?
Will it help consumers make an informed choice about their health care?
Are you promoting to satisfy internal audiences?

There IS a better way to spend those marketing dollars!

We promote and champion for wellness, but are you taking care of yourself?

editor — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 18:20:49 +0000

We all go to the Summit to learn something new, network with other healthcare strategists, and hopefully have a little fun. This year the Forum added yoga each morning and two new sessions entitled “Focus on You: Meditation and Mindfulness” and “Meditation for Stress Reduction”. Most of us in the session had similar stories — we carry our smart phone with us 24/7, we multitask at work, and we multitask when we’re with our families. Because of all of this we feel stressed, run down, and burned out. So, I applaud the Forum for offering these meditation sessions.

Ridiculously in charge of your attention

The meditation instructor, Sarah McLean, who is the director of the McLean Meditation Institute in Sedona, AZ, told us a CEO of a company had asked her to teach his senior leaders how to be “ridiculously in charge of their attention.” I think we all could relate to that request. Every day I find myself, my colleagues, and my clients dividing our attentions. We’re on a conference call, and I can hear people on the other end furiously typing away. Emails and texts are answered during meetings. Or I’m thinking about a meeting I have in the afternoon instead of paying attention to the one I’m in now.

“Ah ha”

Sarah also talked to us about being fully present in each moment. Put the phone down. Answer emails after the phone call. When we’re home with our family, be present. Meditation can help. It can lead to better productivity so you make smarter choices. Even though I knew all of those bad habits were not good for me, my work, or my family, hearing it from Sarah was an “ah ha” moment. I’m going to bring meditation into my life and be purposeful about being present. I hope this is an “ah ha” moment for you, too.

5 essentials when you’re starting meditation:

Thoughts are OK — if a thought creeps into your head, you acknowledge it, then tell yourself you’ll get back to it AFTER you meditate.
Be kind to yourself — don’t expect miracles when you first start.
Don’t try too hard.
Let go of expectations — let go of any preconceived notions of what mediation is supposed to be.
Stick with it!

Taking a break from the fast pace of our lives with meditation is like a reset button for your mind and body, and it only takes a few minutes a day.

Why Your Website Should be Priority #1

editor — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 20:54:43 +0000

Do you know how consumers first “experience” your hospital or health system or clinic? As with most things today, it’s most likely online. I’m sure you’ve seen the stats. More and more consumers are going online for health information, to schedule appointments, find a doctor, find a location, etc. And more and more often, they’re using their smartphone to go online.

I saw this article on Becker’s Hospital Review and it again struck me how important a hospital’s or health system’s website is. It used to be that consumers had a very low expectation of the health care industry. “Yes, Hospital A’s website is outdated and isn’t easy to navigate, but that’s just how hospitals are.” That’s not the case any more.

Amazon, Zappos, and countless other retailers and service organizations have changed all of that.

At Swanson Russell, our research and experience has shown that, in order to meet the expectations of today’s health care consumers, hospitals need to:

Simplify navigation. Make it easy for users to find what they’re looking for. Utilize search as a primary method to find information.
Be 100% responsive. Users are on smartphones, tablets and desktops.
Provide related content in various formats. Like video and news articles to complement the content on the page.
Focus on creating unique, local content. The kind that highlights your services, treatments and expertise. Unless you have the same level of resources, don’t try to compete with Mayo and WebMD for information about conditions.
Utilize user-specific language. Such as, “I want to…” and “I’m looking for…”
Perform more like an application. Be very task-oriented, leading the user to where they need to go.
Incorporate imagery. Keep it focused on patients and positive outcomes.
Prevent confusion and frustration. Be modern, clean, inviting, and simple.

Most importantly, hospital websites should make it for patients easy to do the following:

Find a doctor or location.
Pay a bill.
Find contact information and access to help and resources.
Access medical records.

Consumers are in the driver’s seat. They do have choices. Is your website a priority for 2015?

3 Trends in Healthcare Marketing

editor — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 16:48:29 +0000

Embrace change. Take risks. Be brave. Be fearless.

I heard a lot of this at the SHSMD Society for Healthcare Strategy & Marketing Development 2014 conference in San Diego this month. Sounds like we’re going into battle, doesn’t it? At times that’s exactly what it feels like as a health care marketer! The battles are different at each organization – some health care marketers are battling to move beyond being the “party planners”, while others are trying to convince their physicians it’s all about delivering health care in a way consumers want it and still others are battling to have their leaders focus on building the best patient experience, and therefore building the brand. So perhaps it is appropriate that we identify with battle terminology.

But it really doesn’t have to be a battle, and it helps to know there are others out there who are going through the same thing. If there’s one thing we all learned at this conference, it’s that we’re not alone and we have a lot of resources at our fingertips.

There were three major themes I heard at the SHSMD conference that I also experience with my clients:

1. Retail + technology + innovation.

If you’re not already taking cues from the retail industry, now’s the time. You don’t need to look far (Amazon, Zappos, CVS, Walmart) to realize consumers are demanding how and when goods and services are delivered. Consumers want to go online to make an appointment and find a location. Virtual doctor visits are here, so if we want them to see a doctor in person, we have to make it easy for them. Their busy lives call for extended hours, convenient locations, and same-day appointments—and they demand the best customer service. Your biggest competitor is no longer just the hospital or clinic down the street; it’s a mobile application, an online service, CVS Pharmacy and even the local grocery store.

2. Marketing influences trial, but a wonderful patient experience grows loyalty.

Marketing folks need to work side by side with operations folks to ensure the patient experience is continually being improved, and to ensure you’re not overpromising the experience with your advertising. The patient experience will differentiate you from your competitors.

3. Measure.

Measurement is imperative to determining success. Hospital and health system leaders are demanding greater financial accountability for their marketing communications investments. Be sure you are measuring what’s important not only to you, but to your organization’s leaders as well. Establish goals and objectives before finalizing strategies and provide metrics in easy-to-read and easy-to-understand formats.

Learn more about Swanson Russell’s expertise in health care marketing.

Tips on Developing Physician Support for Marketing

site manager — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 16:04:03 +0000

As we continue to see a rise in physician-lead healthcare organizations as well as mergers and acquisitions of physician practices into large health systems, it’s even more important for marketers to establish trusting relationships with physicians and build credibility as you lead them through marketing strategy. We’ve compiled several ideas to get you started.

Make friends with your recruiting team.

The recruiting process is an ideal time to establish expectations with new physicians regarding marketing support as they build their practice. Develop a short yet informative presentation that educates the new physician recruit on the brand, the marketing and communications team, how the marketing and communications team works with clinic leadership, and what to expect for marketing support as the physician on-boards and begins building his/her practice. Once the new physician is hired, review this information with them again, as well as the detailed marketing plan specific to his/her practice goals, and the actual marketing materials. A great time to do this is at their new physician photo shoot, or set up a meeting with them and their practice manager during their first week. Doing this ensures that clear expectations have been set.

Maintain your relationships with physicians.

Identify opportunities to present strategy and results to physicians. This could be at the quarterly physician meeting, or at the monthly physician advisory council, or if applicable, even at the weekly clinic location physician meeting. The more you are able to get in front of this crowd and educate them on brand, strategy and how you measure results, the more your relationship improves and you build with trust. In turn, they will look to you for direction and a professional opinion rather than just an order taker.

Involve physicians in your decision-making process.

By allowing physicians to be heard and feel that they were part of the decision-making process, you are building trust and credibility. Work with your clinic leadership to form a specific marketing committee where physician leadership is present (or perhaps there are already advisory committees made of physicians at which you can present). Bring them along with presentations on strategy, be sure to include data to support your strategy and recommendations, and ask for their feedback. Physicians want to be heard, so even if their recommendation is off-strategy, thank them for their input and validate their concerns. If a strategy has well-defined objectives and goals and supports current brand standards, then it’s hard for a physician to argue with great creative solutions.

Develop brand standards.

Make sure to have well-established brand standards and guidelines with leadership buy-in. As organizations negotiate acquisitions of practices, making sure your brand is not something that is used as a bargaining tool is absolutely key. It’s important that you share your consumer brand survey with physicians so they can see the strength of your brand. So, work with your senior leadership and recruitment team to confirm that they support this as well.

Even starting with one of these actions will help you create good relationships with your physicians—and you will become their marketing expert.

Are You Annoying Your Web Users?

editor — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:58:40 +0000

I’ve been using the Internet -- and in particular the World Wide Web, which has since become synonymous with the former -- since I was just barely out of diapers. Okay, that’s a lie, but it was definitely a long time ago. Over the last two decades, the information superhighway has evolved and matured into arguably the most critical element of global communications, but like the rest of us, it didn’t get that far without picking up a few bad habits along the way.

Unlike many other mediums, the Internet is permanent but also continually evolving and changing. Because things are always shifting and improving, but at the same time surrounded by content and interfaces designed a decade ago, it can be difficult to create strict, unbreakable rules. Instead, I like to follow two simple rules: first, do users already have an expectation or assumption about a thing and second, will this thing annoy users unnecessarily?

Let’s take these rules and look at a few bad habits the Internet has picked up over the last twenty years, then use our rules to decide if they should continue or be abandoned.

1. Using “click here” as the call-to-action link text. Most likely left over from earlier years, when the concept of a hyperlink was so novel that most users needed a bit of guidance, this is a habit that modern netizens no longer rely on. From a marketing standpoint, linked text is one of the most valuable and important pieces of copy on any web site, and relying on a generic “click here” each time is an unfortunate waste of real estate and opportunity.

2. Any form of auto-playing audio or video content. The last thing you want to do is annoy the end user, and by far the easiest way to do this is immediately begin playing audio when people don’t expect it. Besides, aren’t most of us listening to music, podcasts or something on television while surfing the web, anyway?

3. Hijacking the user’s default controls. One of the more reliable ways to annoy and confuse your users is to get clever and change the way people use their device. That means you shouldn’t hijack the browser's back button, scrolling behavior, or anything else related to how users expect to control their device.

4. Splash and pop-up dialogs on page load. Just like error messages, most users are going to instinctively close the dialog as soon as possible, so any legitimate marketing goal would likely be unmet even if this habit wasn’t already dreadfully annoying.

5. Inconsistent and/or confusing navigation. This might be the only bad habit on the list that is usually *not* intentional, but that doesn’t mean it’s excusable. Any form of site navigation should be clearly labeled and behave consistently throughout the site, which means each tier of navigation needs to point to a unique interior content page -- no external links and no empty tiers that don’t actually link to a relevant content page.

Like the Internet, these rules have evolved over time as we’ve learned our lessons the hard way. Some of them are slowly fading away, and some (especially #4 and #5 due to the rise of new technology like touch screens) have come roaring back with a vengeance. After all, that’s why they are called bad habits: if they were easy to avoid, we wouldn’t need rules and lists and blog posts like this one!

Of course, now that I’ve gone and created an official list of What Not To Do, somebody will point out that we’ve done at least one of these ourselves. That’s actually just fine, as long as it’s done intentionally and with caution! Remember the two rules -- don’t annoy and don’t reinvent the wheel without a good reason -- and the bad habits described above will solve themselves.

What I Saw at the Forum

site manager — Tue, 20 May 2014 19:17:41 +0000

I recently attended the Healthcare Marketing and Physician Strategies Summit in Orlando, Fla. This has always been a wonderful venue to catch up on the latest trends in healthcare and healthcare marketing, as well as compare notes with colleagues from across the country. Many of the things we heard from speakers and practitioners alike are not new, but they are becoming increasingly important: building and maintaining a strong brand, digital marketing, content marketing and metrics, metrics, metrics.

Having spent many years on the client side myself, I know there are challenges to all of these initiatives. Executives want you to use your marketing dollars to promote each (and every) service line and build volumes; if there’s budget left, then you can build the brand. There’s internal pressure from physicians and executives to see advertising in traditional avenues (you know what I’m talking about, the outdoor board the physician drives by every day, the Sunday newspaper your CEO reads, etc.). And then there are your tireless efforts to measure your advertising — various data sources and a lack of agreement on what the metrics should be.

However, with the Affordable Care Act and the entire industry undergoing significant change, isn’t it time we stand up for doing what’s right for our organizations and not succumbing to what “we’ve always done?”

One of our clients, Children’s National Health System, in Washington, D.C., has taken steady steps to increase their digital presence, and lessen their print advertising. Working with Swanson Russell, Children’s National Health System has done this by defining its digital initiatives, outlining what counts as a success, and measuring both with regular reporting. For the first three months of its digital advertising campaign, Children’s National Health System’s overall CTR was 0.13 percent, which is above average. It has increased its digital spend by 11 percent in the last year and decreased print to less than one-fifth of the media buy.

It may not be the easy thing to do, but it is the right thing to do. Let’s help each other do the right thing for our patients and consumers as they experience healthcare in a new and different way as well. We can engage, empower and lead the next generation of consumers — and healthcare marketers — so at the next Healthcare Marketing Summit we can share examples of how we’re building strong brands, engaging consumers and measuring our efforts.

Make Remarketing Work for Your Clients

editor — Tue, 13 May 2014 14:50:39 +0000

While planning a trip, have you ever visited a hotel website and then noticed for the next several weeks (or even longer) you keep seeing ads for that same hotel every time you go online? Is it just a coincidence? Probably not. You are likely being “remarketed” to.

What is ‘Remarketing’ exactly?

The simplest definition of remarketing is, “the process of reengaging a visitor or customer based on a recent interaction with your brand.” This reengagement might take the form of a postcard mailed to a potential customer after they have visited your store. It might also be a phone call from you to a customer whose purchases have lapsed. Today, however, the most common way of reengaging with customers is doing so online by serving digital ads to people who have previously visited a company’s website.

Why should I remarket? Won’t my potential customers feel stalked?

Not every visitor to your website is ready to take action. In fact, the majority of site visitors are simply doing research. But because they have already been to your site, they have some kind of awareness of your company or product, and likely have an interest. Giving those visitors a reminder that they have already been to your site will increase the likelihood that they will remember you when they ARE ready to take action. These visitors are much more likely to come back to your site and ultimately covert or make a purchase.

Many times, a visitor that has been remarketed to will not click on your ad at the time it is served to them. However, the likelihood that they will later visit your site and then covert is high — it’s called a “view-through conversion.” Our experience has shown that remarketing can often drive more view-through conversions than those attributed to the initial ad click.

How do I decide to whom to remarket?

Remarketing ads are served to your site visitors while they are visiting other sites on the web. It might be when they are visiting the WallStreetJournal.com, or their local television news site. Specifically who you should target depends on your objectives, but can fall into the following categories:

All site visitors — Do you have a site whose content changes frequently? Is there benefit to you and your site visitors to return again and again? If so, you might want to remarket to ALL visitors to your site, regardless of the action they have taken previously.

Site visitors who have not converted — Do you have an e-commerce site? If so, remarketing to people who have placed items in their shopping cart but did not complete the purchase would be appropriate. These people are much more likely to ultimately make a purchase from you — they just need a little nudge.
Even if you don’t have an e-commerce site, there is still good reason to remarket. Bringing back a site visitor to watch a video or download a sales sheet can move that visitor further down the purchase funnel, even if they have to visit a dealer at their brick and mortar storefront to make the ultimate purchase.

Site visitors who have already converted — Remarketing to visitors who have already converted can be effective if there is opportunity to cross-sell another product or service. These visitors have already engaged with your site, and they are more likely to do so again.

But my customers are professional tradespeople, not general homeowners.
Remarketing can be extremely effective at reaching a business-to-business audience, not just general consumers. One of our clients who sells lawn care equipment to professional landscape contractors drove nearly 1,200 site visits during the past month through their remarketing efforts, with 31 percent of all of those visitors ultimately converting. Another saw 22 percent of remarketing visitors convert, as compared to just six percent of general site visitors.

So, give remarketing a try. It could lead to better engagement with your brand and higher sales down the road.

Infographic courtesy of Internet Ideas LTD

Branding in the Era of Health Insurance Exchanges

editor — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 19:53:48 +0000

Seven Million? Ten Million?

Depending on which political pundit you believe, that’s how many Americans have just become insured on the country’s new health insurance exchanges. That’s a whole lot of new paying customers. And when the time comes for them to need care, they’ll be making their provider selection partly on the power of its brand. Is your hospital a preferred brand? Here are some things to think about:

Stop Selling and Start Branding

Americans are brand demanders. If your hospital doesn’t stand for something in the marketplace — independent of what service line you’re promoting — you need to stop selling and start branding.

Coffee is coffee and cola is brown, fizzy sugar water, but Starbucks and Coke have built brands that make their coffee and cola seem different. These are brands that build loyal customers and repeat business. Even health insurance exchanges are branding.

Hospitals can do that, too.

Make an Emotional Connection

Brands based in emotion are more memorable, which is especially important in health care since our target audience doesn’t always have the need for services when they see our campaigns.

Be a Resource for Health Insurance Exchange Education

Give your brand additional exposure and relevance by positioning it as a resource for information on health insurance exchanges and the many changes shaping the consumer’s health care experience. Whether it’s through take-ones in your hospital lobby, mailers to key target audiences, or content on your hospital website, this kind of education gives consumers another reason to interact with your brand and, more importantly, to trust it.

How to Capitalize on the New Marketing Realities

admin — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 21:50:33 +0000

As health care marketers, we are all guilty of creating and utilizing marketing communications born from the “echo chamber” of traditional hospital marketing. When I need a fresh insight, I find it pays to step out of the health care industry and look to the broader context of consumer marketing for ideas that we can adapt to the health care marketplace.

The Jack Morton Worldwide research study "New Realities 2012" identified important influences on consumer purchase decisions that also provide valuable insights for hospital marketers. Three of the key findings were:

People Are the Most Powerful Ad Medium. Friends and family are the #1 influence on consumer awareness and purchase.
Giving People Something To Talk About Trumps “Going Viral.” Consumers aren’t likely to advocate brands they haven’t had great personal experiences with.
All Forms of Advocacy Are Not the Same. Consumers are skeptical about the value of a “like.”

Clearly it is time to re-think traditional marketing communication strategies and the allocation of resources. Swanson Russell's health care team has adapted the findings from the "New Realities” study specifically for hospital marketers, and created the "Five Tips for Capitalizing on New Marketing Realities." Tips include:

Create Opportunities to Experience Your Brand
Mobilize Your Brand Enthusiasts
Use Advertising the Most Effective Way
Activate POS Materials
Invest in SEO and Paid Search

For today’s post, let’s take a closer look at tip #1.

#1. Create Opportunities to Experience Your Brand

No amount of advertising substitutes for a meaningful interaction with the brand. You’re already working on the patient experience once consumers come through the door. But in the reform era it will be even more important to create brand touch points outside of the clinical care setting. These touch points include: special events or invitations, free health screenings, procedure videos, apps and, finally, virtual or augmented experiences.

Test Drive a “Robot.”

Retailers that sell consumer goods are able to offer free samples, product demonstrations or test drives. But how does a health care marketer offer a test drive for a new procedure?

When it comes to the Da Vinci robot, it’s not uncommon for hospitals to offer a tour and demonstration of the machine’s capabilities. But what if you could go one step further and offer consumers the opportunity to test-drive the Da Vinci by allowing them to sit down at the console and manipulate the control arms? Doing something common like tying a shoe or threading a needle makes the technology come to life and is something they are sure to tell their friends and family about.

Record the test drives on video and post to your website and social media platforms. Watching a video of a grandmother or teenager using the technology suddenly makes the idea of “robot” surgery less scary and more approachable for consumers, in addition to making your hospital brand more approachable and memorable in the process.

More Tips.

For more ideas on how to deal with new marketing realities, drop an email to tracys@swansonrussell.com and ask for our quick tip mailer, "Five Tips for Capitalizing on New Marketing Realities."

See the original “New Realities 2012” from Jack Morton Worldwide.

Why Consumers Are Bored with Your Hospital Advertising

admin — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 22:05:54 +0000

Because it’s not believable.

Too many hospitals make too many claims about rankings, technology and quality measures – industry jargon that causes consumers’ eyes to glaze over. It’s too much chest-thumping. Consumers in focus groups yawn and point out that all hospitals claim they’re the best, the first, the only. End result? They don’t believe any of it.

The strongest brands are rooted in emotion, and health care is an inherently emotional product to sell. In its purest form, it’s about the dazzling moment your first child is born; the nervous optimism when your father survives a stroke; the way your life comes into sharp focus at the news that the cancer hasn’t come back. Why, then, do we strip hospital advertising of its emotion and talk about health care like we’re selling cars? (Even citing “Rated #1 by JD Powers & Associates.”)

Consumers are also bored by hospital advertising because so many hospitals walk and talk the same. Nationally ranked academic medical centers and community hospitals alike claim “world class medicine.” If Hospital A gets robotic surgery and promotes it, then Hospital B gets robotic surgery and promotes it—despite the fact that consumer focus groups say that the idea of robotic surgery is not something they’re interested in.

Let’s stop the madness and start doing it right. Let’s remember who we’re marketing to. Our audience is the patient, the nervous mother of three who just found a lump in her breast and is looking for information that gives her hope. The daughter whose father has a hip that just doesn’t work very well any more. Real people with real worries.

Because in the end it’s not about rankings, technology or quality measures. It’s about making a real connection between the patient’s life and your care. You can amuse them, entertain them, bring them to tears—just don’t bore them.

Managing Your Hospital’s Image Online

admin — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:15:54 +0000

Dust off your brand book and adapt it for the Web.

You have never had a bigger megaphone to speak your brand's language than on the Internet. Just as your brand book guides your language for print and broadcast media, so should it shape your online conversation. If your medical center is a destination for second opinions, make sure that your Facebook fans and Twitter followers know that your hospital brings hope to those who are discouraged by their initial diagnosis. If your hospital’s brand descriptors are “expert,” “innovative,” and “compassionate,” the copy you use online should reflect that. Establish standard Web fonts and colors that fit your current brand standards. Examine your logo suite to ensure that you have options that are tailored to common Web, mobile and social media formats.

Unify your owned media properties to reflect the brand.

There’s a lot you can’t control online, but here’s one thing you can: How your hospital brand identity is presented on the Web properties you own. Consistency is the key element of branding. Use that line when your bariatric surgeon says he needs a “different” microsite because it’s part of his Weight Management Institute. Do not be tempted to create microsites that have a different look and feel. A consumer should be able to land on any of your Web properties and know immediately that they’ve found you.

Use Web analytics and social media monitoring tools.

Just because you have a Web team and a social media manager doesn't mean you're managing your brand online. Marketers need to invest in monitoring the information they push out. Examine how users are experiencing your online brand for the best chance to adapt and survive. Are users converting into patients through your Web initiatives? Do you know what consumers are saying about your hospital on Yelp? How do they evaluate your doctors on Angie's List? For help, use a social media monitoring service. These services will monitor your brand and your competition across social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter as well as from blogs and online forums.

Analyze and optimize.

Brand management online is a long-term commitment as long as the Internet is popular with your consumer audience. There are no one-and-done solutions; it's a constant measuring and analyzing of your online brand, how consumers are interacting with it, and what you can do to keep it sharp, relevant and consistent. There is no more important marketing work than managing the value of your brand. As the saying goes, your brand is your lifeboat. Don’t ever, ever leave the lifeboat.

7 Benefits of a Health Care Email Marketing Program

editor — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:51:34 +0000

According to a recent Ad Age Ipsos survey, ALL age groups preferred to receive communications about health care via email, followed by mail, phone and text messaging. The margins between email and other modes of communication were wide in all but the most rural areas.

Email marketing is on the rise, and health care marketers are beginning to take notice. Our clients consistently rate email as one of their most important and effective communications tools. There are several reasons for this rise in popularity:

1. Best ROI

Every two years, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) publishes the results of a study that includes return-on-investment estimates, as reported by businesses that are able to track them, for a variety of marketing communications tools. For several years, email has delivered significantly better ROI than any other tool. According to the 2011 study, email generates an average return of $40.56 for every dollar invested in it. This is a huge margin over second place paid search engine advertising at $22.24 and third place online display ads at $19.72. Social media is at $12.71. These consistent findings make email an obvious choice for marketers looking for the best places to allocate funds.

2. Quick deployment and response

Email can be one of the fastest ways to create and deliver communications. Most responses typically occur from within minutes to a few days. Health care thrives on topical medical news and scientific breakthroughs. The flexibility provided by email communications allows health care providers to react quickly and spark dialogue with their audience regarding hot topics in the health care field.

3. Targeted communications

Email can be targeted to select audiences. Often, the individuals who sign up to receive an organization’s emails are among its best prospects.

4. Personalized/customized communications

No tool allows for easier and less expensive personalization and customization of content to individuals or segments of an audience. In health care, creating targeted content relevant to each audience demonstrates your organization's deep understanding of your patient's needs.

5. Interactive and response-oriented

Email messages should be very interactive and encourage response. Many health care marketers strive to get patients and prospects to visit their website or communicate through social media. Email makes it easy to do so. Likewise, email can be the start or continuation of a two-way conversation between the marketer and each audience member. That conversation can lead to greater understanding of your brand and long-term patient loyalty.

6. Automated marketing campaigns

Good email systems enable marketers to prepare messages that can automatically be deployed at a specific time or in response to a particular action. Thus, it is possible for health care marketers to schedule specific messages related to an event far in advance, like an upcoming appointment or an anniversary for beating cancer. Similarly, a sequence of three or more messages regarding a particular subject could be scheduled to be sent three weeks apart. Perhaps most valuable, when an email subscriber clicks on a particular link in a message, visits a web page or takes some action on a web page, a follow‑up message can be sent immediately or at a specific time in the future. These automated campaigns are sometimes referred to as “lead nurturing.”

7. Measurable results

Email is one of the most easily measured communications tools. Open rates, click throughs, conversions and other metrics are readily available, thus satisfying the needs of the C-Suite who want to answer the question “how well did this perform?”

Our recent report, the "Email Marketing Guide," provides many more tips and tricks for deploying a successful email marketing program. If you would like to download the guide, visit swansonrussell.com/Email-Guide.

Good luck and happy emailing!