When marketing healthcare brands, achieving top-of-mind awareness is good. Most preferred healthcare brand is even better. Most likely to return and to refer to others -- fantastic. But how about love for your healthcare brand? Read more »

People are talking about your brand. They could be telling each other glowing stories about their experiences, or complaining about the substandard service that they received. Your audience is building a brand narrative, with or without you—so if you want to help shape the story arc, you must participate in the dialogue. Read more »

A common meme in healthcare today is disruption. And there's a lot to be said for disrupting healthcare. A lot of healthcare is broken. Same goes for healthcare marketing, which lags behind other categories in engaging audiences. But looking for solutions often means starting with inspiration. I found inspiration for fixing healthcare marketing while eating at Chipotle. Read more »

For many hospitals, branding has lost its top spot on the priority list. For some, it’s the lack of long term funding. For others, it’s internal pressure to promote only service lines. Still others lack the marketing culture required to really implement such large-scale change. Regardless of the reason, it has resulted in many great hospitals not being known as great hospitals. Read more »

You may have seen our previous blog on taboo topics for women. Well, guys, you’re not getting off that easy. There are a slew of topics we know you’d rather sweep under the rug (and often do). These brands are winning over men by not being afraid of being provocative. 1. Viagra could have gone the way of punchlines. Instead, the brand’s newest campaign taps deeply into an audience of Boomer men who don’t run from adversity. Read more »

We spend a lot of time talking about good branding and what it means in healthcare. But even the great branding efforts will fall flat if it’s not executed consistently across all media—including signage. After all, the best ad campaigns in the world won’t help you if people can’t find their way around. And since patient satisfaction and feedback also affects government reimbursement, good signage is more important than ever. Read more »

One of our clients reminded us recently that healthcare is a two-sided coin of Life and Death. Unlike any other business category, healthcare marketing and branding requires engaging prospective patients who would rather avoid the conversation altogether. We are starting to see the trend of audiences becoming increasingly engaged in proactive healthcare lifestyles. Read more »

Emotionally charged and humorous ads championed this years Super Bowl. Take a look a our team's favorites:Volkswagen: Get In. Get Happy.http://youtu.be/9H0xPWAtaa8Despite some precursory controversy surrounding the use of a Jamaican accent, we think this infectiously cheerful spot secures the German brand's ownership of 'happy'. And while it doesn't pack any surprises functionally, it tugs at our inner road king, reminding us how a good Read more »

Our experience in healthcare marketing tells us that health audiences are generally open and willing to embrace conversations about heart care and joint care. Cancer services, however, is still a taboo topic, which means health audiences are more likely to close the door on the conversation before our advertising and other communications strategies can break through. In "Buyology" Martin Lindstrom, explains that "...emotions are the way in which Read more »

The New Year means the chance to embrace change, and to grow. Here are our resolutions for the healthcare marketing community, which we are grateful to be part of. We wish you a bright and prosperous New Year.Resolution No. 1: We will do less and accomplish more.We will say no to those activities that do not solve our organization's business challenges. As Lisa McCluskey, VP of Marketing Communications at Memorial Health Care System says, Read more »