Junto ("june-toe") is sponsored by Franklin Street, a branding and full service advertising agency specializing in health and wellness. We call the blog Junto in homage to Benjamin Franklin, who created the first "Junto" brainstorming group, which established the first American public hospital.
During the recent Wisconsin Healthcare PR and Marketing Society (WHPRMS) webinar, “Inspiration Interception: Brand Lessons from the Super Bowl,” we discussed three “truths” from the country’s splashiest ad season that can be applied to healthcare marketing.
1. Be real time
Strive for advertising that takes into account the moment we’re in (job loss, real estate decline, rising gas prices), and how people’s lives are being impacted – in order to create branding that is relevant and impactful.
2. Know your audience
Even by just using sweat equity, you can learn more about your audience – their lives, values, aspirations, and struggles – and create campaigns that connect with them on a deep level. Try informal groups, hanging out in the waiting room, even going to a competitor’s ER and sitting/observing.
3. Connect a bigger truth
We’re in the business of life and death, and our branding should reflect that. We should strive to connect our hospitals with a larger story, which is ultimately more meaningful to our audience.
One participant asked which would be the most important “truth,” given the reality of limited marketing budgets.
That’s tough. Each one could resonate more strongly than another, given your specific market influences, audiences and conditions.
All things being equal, Real Time might seem to have the edge – as we discussed. There’s a reason Chrysler’s “Halftime in America” spot remains one of the most memorable and discussed as from this year’s big game.
But maybe the real answer isn’t just one answer. The GE “Stories: Healthcare” spot shows the Bigger Truth of connecting to something more important than the feature of an imaging machine – but it also blends in a Real Time idea (that in a tough economy, seeing that your good work matters can be powerful.)
The idea of Maturialism also underpins our second “truth”: know your audience and talk up to them.
We also reviewed three different brainstorming exercises, such as This or That, Picture Comparison, and finding Linear and Non-Linear parallels. Chrysler chose to do a unique length (two minutes), subject and timing (halftime).
Steward Healthcare in Massachusetts launched a brand campaign with a regional buy during the 2011 Super Bowl and they plan a similar buy during this year’s Summer Olympics.
Some say we’re experiencing an “era of disruption” in healthcare. How can we challenge our thinking or challenge the way we’ve been doing things? What might you do next to push your hospital’s brands forward?
If you need a little more inspiration, look for lessons from these leading brands.
Imagine that you have a terrible cough. Your nose is runny, you’re running a mild fever, and your throat feels a little constricted. What do you do? Call your mother? Contact a medical professional? Drop by your local clinic? If you’re anything like the average American adult, the first thing you would do is go online to research symptoms.
Although the Internet has long been the go-to source for health and wellness information, most hospitals are notably absent in the online arena, often treating the web as an afterthought to traditional media. Here are seven key statistics that suggest that a smart web presence is more important than ever for every hospital and health system:
Conducting an RFP for an advertising agency-of-record can be a bit like reality TV matchmaking: an exhaustive exercise placed on a speed dating timeline and subjected to constant group scrutiny. Then, a big show around the final decision on the new agency. Yet, the process rarely produces a lasting match, leaving one or both parties to repeat the process.
Sound familiar? There are a few opportunities to make a search for a marketing firm partner less complex, more tolerable and productive for everyone involved.
1. Take a closer look
What are you looking for in an ad agency? Consider that agencies and their client share deep relationships that are completely unlike other business relationships. For example, while your supply vendor probably doesn’t care about your company’s mission statement, it’s the agency’s job to internalize and communicate that message to the public at large. Consequently, it’s important to clearly figure out what you want, and how a given agency can help you achieve those goals. The questions you ask beforehand can separate the wheat from the chaff, letting you know right off the bat whether the agencies on your shortlist will be a good match for you.
2. Consider smaller steps
If there seems to be a fit between your needs and a firm’s expertise, get together and find out – just 45 minutes in person or via video chat can determine if things are suitable enough to take a next step. Can you see your team and system benefiting from the outcomes and methodology implied by the ad agency? If so, consider a pilot project or phased engagement. You can tackle pressing challenges more quickly and kick the relationship’s tires without committing your entire budget (not to mention save staff time to write the RFP, determine who gets it, review lengthy proposals, take questions, schedule presentations and make decisions).
3. Streamline the process
Sometimes, conducting a formal RFP is a necessary evil. One way to help streamline the process is in the RFP itself. We once received an outstanding RFP that required agency response to be no more than 10 pages. It was short and to the point, for the client and the agencies. This RFP also asked each firm to submit anonymously, with an accompanying identifying document. Now that’s fair.
4. Remember the long haul
Not too long ago, clients and advertising agencies maintained relationships that could last for decades. However, modern client-agency relationships last between three and four years. In fact, half of those relationships won’t even last two.Part of the churn rate can be attributed to the clunky selection process practiced by many current businesses.
Picking an agency-of-record is a lot like dating – you’re going to meet a lot of duds before you find someone worth spending time with. So streamlining the agency-of-record selection process can save you a lot of time, work and heartbreak. By taking incremental steps like the ones detailed above, you can quickly and efficiently narrow the field to the agencies that work well with you. With a little luck, you’ll find your efforts rewarded with the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
How have you streamlined a selection process? Would your hospital’s leadership support a pilot project or the traditional proposal process? Got an RFP horror story? Please share!
Franklin Street, a strategic healthcare marketing firm located in Richmond, Virginia, announces its newest teammate, Arielle Blais, who joins the firm’s production department.
Arielle is responsible for departmental workflow, communications with the firm’s vendor partners, and overall ensuring on time, on budget campaign execution for Franklin Street’s growing client base.
Despite the down economy, Franklin Street has achieved double-digit sales growth since 2010, and has grown its staff by 26% in the last 24 months. The firm credits its success to its expertise in solving complex brand challenges and identifying new revenue opportunities for hospital systems, biotech firms and other health organizations.
Arielle is a recent Virginia Commonwealth University graduate and is a welcomed new addition to the Franklin Street team.
You’re a savvy marketer—savvy enough that you probably turn off your brain whenever you hear the word “engagement.” After all, what is engagement other than another painful buzzword?
But here’s where things get tricky—“engagement” isn’t necessarily meaningless, but it also isn’t a cure-all panacea for your marketing woes. It does not have intrinsic value. It is not a metric, nor is it an easy way to build loyalty. It is not an end in and of itself, but it IS a valuable means to an end—and it is especially valuable if your end-goal is to raise awareness for very specific healthcare services. Because while your consumer might not need your brand-spanking new IMRT technology today, they might need it a few months or even years from now—and you definitely want to be top-of-mind when that need arises.
An engaged audience is a profitable audience.
Think about needs that are large investments, like automobiles. While you might not need a car in the near future, automotive brands are constantly fighting to make sure that you think of their respective companies when you do need a vehicle. In particular, they want to keep you in the family; if you drive a Ford now, they want to make sure you continue to drive a Ford in the future. They go to vast lengths in this struggle for mindshare, encouraging the consumer to participate with their brand as much and as often as possible. Healthcare marketing is no different.
In healthcare, having a relevant brand means engaging consumers today for solutions they may need tomorrow.
Keeping your audience interested is one of the bigger challenges in healthcare marketing, because no one wants to really talk about the subject. Who actually likes to think about possibly catastrophic events like heart attacks, strokes and cancer? On the other hand, some of the most successful websites cater to our inner-hypochondriacs; for example, Web MD has built a mini-empire around allowing users to at least feel as if they are taking an active role in their own health diagnosis and care. This is key.
Let’s think about one of the bigger health systems, like Mayo. Part of their success stems from their constant efforts to engage, educate and empower the audience. From various live events to their immensely informative website, they’ve gone out of their way to ensure that their brand pops to mind for the most intractable medical conditions. It is no small coincidence that the Mayo site ranks among the top Google search listings when potential users search for specific conditions, like “skin cancer.”
To ensure the long-term success of your service lines, you have to take the lead and actively promote them now through audience engagement. Keep your brand relevant in the minds of your consumers for their future healthcare needs. While some amount of effort is required, and the results are not immediate, the returns can be long lasting and immensely rewarding. By simply using calls-to-action whenever possible in your campaigns and websites, you can help keep various service lines on top.
Here is a list—by no means comprehensive—of calls-to-action that work when marketing healthcare:
Downloadable questions to ask your physician about a specific condition
Microsites for more in-depth interaction among consumers and your services
Email campaign with links to wellness information, classes and events
Ask the Expert monthly web chat led by physicians
Interactive kiosks in hospital lobbies and common waiting areas
Men’s health promotional events at local hardware stores
“Afternoon Tea” women’s events
Heart healthy shopping menus at local grocery stores and restaurants
Sign ups for Facebook “fan” exclusive promotions
Twitter/tweet announcements from live events
Sign ups to hospital Twitter accounts get entry into raffles
New resident gifts for completing surveys or calling to get a new physician
Find a new physician promotions with a call center or website payoff
Use Flickr and other photo sharing sites for cutest baby contests
Baby fairs and other community events
Meet the physicians night at housing community clubhouses
Clinics for sports medicine promotions (proper stretching, nutrition and rest)
Engagement is not a solution, but it is a very useful tool. Make sure you use it properly.
What calls-to-action do you use for your healthcare brand? Which has been most impactful? We’d love to hear from you.
Take a moment to think about the following brands: Nike, Apple, Coca-Cola, Exxon, McDonald’s. What do they all have in common besides giant war chests, near-global ubiquity and a preference for questionable business practices?
Consistency. There’s a very good reason why every Apple retail store looks exactlythesame, or why every McDonald’s bag faithfully adheres to the red and yelow color scheme. True, consistency can be boring and predictable, but it also works. It preys on our collective need for familiarity, creating a simple set of symbols for complex associations.
By keeping your brand identity consistent, you are removing one of the most important barriers between you and your market. Repetitive exposure to the same symbols allows your consumers to quickly and easily recognize your core message. This is why all your communications—whether it’s an ad campaign, a website, or the waiting room—must be visually consistent with each other. Your brand changes from being an unknown entity to a familiar presence. Familiarity builds trust. When people trust you, they are more inclined to listen.
There are other consequences to ignoring brand consistency. Your customers should be able to follow a clear path between your collateral, your advertising and your physical spaces. Without those clear links, your organization risks credibility and appears disorganized. At worst, consumers might think you’re new to the market, causing them to avoid you altogether.
Take a look at a few non-healthcare examples of consistent brand identities:
You can clearly see the narrative thread that connects every aspect of Apple. Consistency has turned their brand identity into a brand experience, which is one of the reasons why they’re one of the most valuable companies in the world. Note how their advertising, website, products and retail spaces align harmoniously to present a unified image—an image that is unmistakably Apple.
Similarly, there’s a very good reason why Pepsi has been unable totopCoca-Cola ever since their ridiculous 2008 logo change—and it’s coincidentally the same reason why New Coke was such an utter disaster. For the most part, straying from your core brand identity will inevitably end in nothing but tears, lost revenue and confused consumers.
Healthcare marketing is no different. Brand consistency leads to trust and acceptance. So when Centra—a leading three-hospital system in Virginia—added a new hospital and expanded to serve 13 counties, we created a visual identity that unified the system but allowed flexibility for growing service lines.
After Centra’s new identity launch, research showed staff morale, name recognition and patient volume for key services increased. In fact, consistent brand extensions actually proved to strengthen the overall brand and helped increase recognition. Finally, consistent branding strategies helped Centra save money on brand development and overall marketing expenses. After all, tweaking a brand identity with every new service line or center of excellence may mean you have to work harder to help consumers make the connection with your hospitals. And why do that, especially in lean times?
Know a brand that’s growing effectively? Or an extension that’s stretched a little too far from the brand? Please share.
When you think of Harley-Davidson®, do you think of a premium woman’s brand?
Maybe you should.
According to NBCU, which does an annual brand power index study, Harley tops the list of brands that are doing all the right things to connect with women.
Harley’s new “My Time to Ride” campaign documents women from across different lifestyles and life stages learning how to ride a motorcycle. The webisodes are instantly engaging and do what great branding does: marry the product with a higher emotional state. In Harley’s case, it’s freedom and confidence.
Most health systems cater their brands to women. (She’s the healthcare decision-maker in the house, after all.)
So what can we learn from Harley?
1. Be real. The 2012 Trendwatching study talks about “Maturialism.” Consumers have zero tolerance for brands that handle them with kid gloves. They want frank, honest conversations. The “My Time to Ride” campaign does this brilliantly.
2. Use multiple platforms. Harley connects with women in traditional ad campaigns, on-line via webisodes, and social media. Harley also offers directories for women to find mentors and group riding events. As you plan your next campaign, challenge yourself to go beyond print, radio and TV. How many different ways can you connect with your audience? (Often, these secondary level tactics produce surprising buzz.)
3. Engage your audience. Inspiring campaigns are one thing. But nothing can replace the sound and feel of a real Harley-Davidson®. So Harely hosts Garage Parties, opportunities for women to join other non-riders to learn the basics of motorcycling. (Men are off-limits at these events, by the way.) Health fairs, screening events and symposiums, once passé, now have new opportunities for healthcare marketers, and social media helps keep the conversation going. Give your audience an opportunity to connect with your physicians and healthcare providers.
Do you ride a Harley? What do you think of this new campaign?
Have a surprising brand that can inspire the healthcare marketing conversation? We’d love to hear from you.
According to a study from Deloitte, 80% of people will travel outside their community for perceived higher quality of health care.
Many community hospitals are challenged with the perception that they are good for the common illnesses and broken bones, but can’t handle the major stuff.
Satilla Regional faced a similar quandary when they asked for our help in marketing their cardiac services program. Despite outperforming 75% of all hospitals nationwide in the emergency treatment of heart attacks, many locals believed they needed to go out of town for heart needs.
Using research on how and why consumers choose and evaluate healthcare providers, we developed a solution that spoke openly and honestly to Satilla’s audience. When it comes to your heart, use your head, became the campaign theme.
We featured one of Satilla’s cardiologists as a spokesperson for the campaign. Based on research we’ve conducted in markets all over the country, we knew physicians can be excellent spokespeople for hospitals, creating a halo effect for providers. Consumers feel that physicians can choose to practice medicine at many hospitals, so if they are choosing this particular hospital to practice, it must be of high quality.
We also featured testimonials of former cardiac patients and the life-saving care they received at Satilla. Television and web videos wove the softer, more emotional factors that lead to trusting Satilla for cardiac services.
We’re still tracking results for the campaign, but early numbers suggest the campaign is reaching our audiences’ hearts and minds.
What’s your take on using physicians as spokespeople? Curious about our clients’ take on STARK laws? Drop us a line — we’d love to hear from you.
Great branding campaigns are, ultimately, campaigns of great story telling.
Stories are the best way to impart information. People forget facts. They remember stories.
Before the written word, oral storytellers shared history, which was passed to other generations.
Peter Guber writes about the art of storytelling as a persuasion tool in Tell to Win.
Nike, Disney, Coke, Chick-fil-A. Just Do It. Magic. Refreshment. Cows telling us to eat more chicken.
Storytelling.
Now we’re in the age of Story Building.
Your audience contributes to your branding.
She tells her friends about the great experience she had at your hospital.
How your nursing staff calmed her husband’s fears.
How the physicians saved her husband’s life.
She does this on the phone and on-line.
She’s so grateful for the miracle of her husband’s recovery that she takes to Facebook, a modern day Paul Revere, letting everyone know your brand is expertise, compassion, life-saving, life-giving.
Her friends write back: Thank Goodness for that hospital, those nurses, those physicians.
One Facebook post turns into 100 comments.
Friends of friends contribute to your hospital’s story, building onto it, line by line, as if surrounded by a digital campfire.
Now: How do you support this story building? What do you put in place at the launch of your next campaign to encourage story building?
The challenge: Storytelling is in your control. Story building isn’t.
That’s also the opportunity.
What brands do you think do a great job with story building?
We’ve spent months curating predictions and trends that are most likely to impact marketing and communicating healthcare brands. Below are five key trends brands should embrace in order to engage with today’s healthcare audiences.
Just 44% of Americans believe their home is worth more than their mortgage, and only 22% of likely U.S. voters believe the country is headed in the right direction. With so much uncertainty and feelings of disillusionment, today’s audiences have no time for organizations that talk down to them. They want frank, honest conversations more than ever from brands.
Implications for healthcare brands: Health systems can’t be skittish about engaging prospective patients and caregivers. This means more on-line communications where straight talk via blogs and open door conversations via social media. Traditional branding efforts should evoke honest dialogue: more real life instead of make-believe. Our audiences can handle adult conversations about their healthcare; in fact, they demand it. Meaningful calls-to-action are hallmarks of Maturialism in 2012: make an appointment, speak to a nurse, or attend a screening or event for early diagnosis and prevention.
DIY (Do It Yourself) Health
Health is the new wealth. Tech innovations will keep fueling our audiences’ desire to take charge of their health. (There are already more than 9,000 mobile health apps available and Ford is now testing in-car health monitoring technology in their cars.) This trend dovetails one of the tenets of the Affordable Care Act: keeping patients well and out of the hospital.
Implications for healthcare brands: Health systems have a huge opportunity to lead the charge for wellness, not just treatment. This means new approaches to traditional community health events and screenings. Healthcare had been a low interest conversation, a “pay attention only when I need it” philosophy. Today, our messages have a sticky factor as audiences clamor for how to live and feel better. Yet, healthcare providers account for only 2% of all social health buzz. It’s time for health systems to pony up and engage to the DIY Health crowd.
In the age of Siri, access to information isn’t a problem. It’s finding the right answers and solutions that’s the challenge. Our healthcare audiences are seeking trusted guides to deliver enlightenment. With our audiences’ time and attention at a premium, though, they are seeking out gurus on topics. These gurus take a patient approach to sift information and distill in meaningful ways to audiences.
Implications for healthcare brands:It’s not enough to purchase third party health information, plug it into a website and expect it to be perceived by healthcare audiences as valuable and useful. Healthcare brands must play the role of gurus: sifting and filtering information and sharing it in ways that don’t overwhelm audiences. Because healthcare audiences vary so widely in need, healthcare brands should use multiple platforms to connect with audiences. This means Facebook strategies geared to new moms, blogs and support discussion groups for people living with COPD, and monthly lectures on trends in heart care.
Attitudes towards aging are changing, with people of all ages taking a positive view of growing older. As the demographic and culture changes, along with medical advances, audiences will redefine what “old” means and when it occurs.
Implications for healthcare brands:Traditional healthcare services like orthopedics and cardiac services will benefit from appealing to the youthful spirit of audiences 50+. This means more emphasis in messaging on how healthcare brands get patients “back to a busy, full life.” Because older adults today don’t view their age as a barrier to youth or vitality as did generations prior, healthcare brands can benefit from their willingness to actively seek out medical treatments that keep them on the go.
The universal archetype of masculinity is over. The old rules that define a man’s role in the home and office do not apply in today’s world. More women are out-earning their husbands and men accept it. In fact, 77% of all men say they are comfortable with their wives earning more than them and 72% are okay staying home to take care of the children.
Implications for healthcare brands:Because men accounted for over 75% of the recessionary job losses, they are running more errands and homesteads while the spouse works and brings home the paycheck. For the coveted healthcare age cohort of 55-64, men use the Internet equally as women to search for healthcare information (74.7% to 75.4%, respectively). Women, once the default demographic for healthcare messages, should no longer be considered the sole target audience for all healthcare campaigns. More health systems are developing programs and services around men who are tuned in to healthcare messaging–and responding to it–like never before.
Communication Trends
Strictly speaking communications, we see the continued growth of mobile and web-based video as tools for healthcare brands in 2012. Consider these facts:
Smart phone web-based searches have quadrupled in the last year and now 1 in 3 mobile searches are for local brands (like hospitals!).
Smart phone usage is expected to double within 5 years as mobile overtakes the PC as the most popular way to get on the Web.
Americans spend on average 2.7 hours per day “socializing” on a mobile device.
eMarketer estimates that US online video ad spending will grow by a compound annual rate of 38% in a five-year span ending in 2015, making this by far the fastest-rising category of online spending.
By 2015, video ad spending will reach $7.1 billion, up from $2.6 billion in 2011. In the past year alone, growth was 52.1%.
What do you see as the trends that could positively or negatively impact your brand? What’s next?
