Healthcare Branding Week: Consumers Go Online For Healthcare Answers
Part 2 of 5
Consumers of all ages are becoming increasingly proactive online when it comes to getting answers about their health. This includes choosing doctors, treatments and healthcare facilities. A study by the Pew Internet Project found that 75-80% of internet users have looked online for health information, and that the internet is ranked second only to physicians when it comes to gathering trustworthy information about health-related topics (Fox 2008).
An even more recent study shows that 40% of hospital or urgent-care center patients report that social media influenced their healthcare choices, with the percentage jumping to over 50% in the 25-34 age bracket (Marketing Charts 2009).
A Nielsen study found that 39% of patients already use an online support group to discuss medications or treatments, and that “the anonymity of the internet affords a comfort level that encourages individuals to share details about their symptoms, treatment history, experiences with their doctors, the efficacy and side effects of medication, the impact of their condition on their own lives and more.” (Davies 2008)
However, depending on the nature and seriousness of various conditions, consumers may not wish to publicly identify with the brand on social networks such as Twitter or Facebook. To counteract stigma, some healthcare brands, such as GlaxoSmithKline’s weight loss product, Alli, have overcome stigma by creating their own community where consumers congregate, share personal stories and milestones.
Hospitals can facilitate consumer engagement by offering services and interactivity through their Web sites. A good example is Community Memorial Hospital in Menomonee Fall, WI. Their home page offerings include an “Ask Our Nurse” service, a baby gallery, a way to send patients e-cards, and a direct link to CarePages.
Some hospitals now post emergency room wait times online as a way to manage patients’ expectations for non life-threatening situations. Such is the case at Liking Memorial Hospital in Newark as reported in April, 2010. According to the chief executive officer of the hospital this effort not only helps the hospital be more transparent, “making this information available was another step in making the community see how we’re doing and how we’re taking care of them as a hospital system.” (Hoholik 2010)
Overall, creating a strong healthcare brand presence online can be challenging. A successful online initiative should integrate carefully with the overall brand strategy and offer new ways of listening, interacting and engaging with consumers. Gaining attention in the crowded electronic field takes special creativity in order to stand out.
Sources:
Fox, Susannah. “The Engaged E-patient Population.” PewInternet.org 26 Aug. 2008.
MarketingCharts.com Berthiaume , Dan. 30 Sept. 2009.
Davies, Melissa. “Listening to Consumers in a Highly Regulated Environment: How Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Can Leverage Consumer-Generated Media.” Nielsen Online August 2008.
Hoholik, Suzanne. “Hosptial in Newark posts ER wait time on Web site.” The Columbus Dispatch 3 April 2010.
Healthcare Branding Week: How Important is Branding for the Healthcare Industry?
Part 1 of 5
In today’s tough economic climate, the wellness of a healthcare organization’s brand is more critical than ever. This can mainly be attributed to the complex and highly competitive nature of the industry. Awareness with strong identity and messaging are a good start. But aside from basic marketing, successful branding goes a lot further. It must start from inside a healthcare organization’s core. At its soul. From that point, everything that the organization does—from brand promise, to advertising, to employees working as brand ambassadors—complete brand alignment is essential. Why?
In the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer: An Annual Global Opinion Leaders Study, trust and credibility in brands exceeded all other corporate attributes. Where else is trust more important than in healthcare? Healthcare decisions are emotional. Personal. Sometimes it’s a matter of life and death. You may wonder, well, where does a brand come in? Brands sound like toothpaste or toilet paper. But that’s also the similarity. Studies show that people are most loyal to brands that are most personal. Brands that you feel, that you touch. Things that comfort you and make you feel better. This is where healthcare needs to see itself today.
So where does an organization start? A brand assessment is a good place. Not unlike a SWOP analysis, a brand assessment will uncover brand strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. However, it goes much deeper than that. With the right research, an effective brand assessment will help your organization uncover desired goals within the organization and contrast those with patient perceptions. The right discovery work will identify what makes your organization different from your competitors. From that key information, branding communication tools with creative signals are developed.
Once communication tools are in place, the following steps are helpful to the implementation process:
1. Launch the brand strategically. Explain to staff why branding is so essential. Take measures to ensure employee pride and ownership. Employee perceptions trickle down to patients. Customers can sense when there is lack of transparency and empathy. It is crucial for a holistic brand framework to be implemented consistently with genuine care for patients.
2. Make sure your organization is well-informed and consistent with the use of the brand’s identity. Provide detailed brand guidelines. After the launch, continue employee brand education with attention-getting, motivating and inspiring reminders.
3. Consider that your brand and the mediums by which you communicate are ever-evolving. Identify and implement on-gong measurement. Continually reinforce your brand infrastructure. Be consistent in messaging but stay fluid with changing technology.
4. Develop a social media plan to disseminate your brand message and stay connected to your customers. We’ll be talking more about social media on Wednesday.
Over time, strong branding will reap very tangible rewards. We know that people will pay more for a brand name than a generic alternative. This is especially true when it comes to one’s healthcare. People trust brands because of what those brands represent. Whatever the brand distinction in the eyes of consumers, a branded healthcare organization is worth more than a non-branded one. Successful branding will give an organization a big advantage over its competitors. Making a promise known to customers, then living up to it, is key.
Sources:
Edelman, Richard. “2010 Edelman Trust Barometer Executive Summary.” Edelman.com. 2010. 8 June 2010 http://www.scribd.com/full/26268655?access_key=key-1ovbgbpawooot3hnsz3u
Is your online budget going to waste?
With limited ad budgets, relevant and targeted advertising becomes essential.
Geotargeting
Geographic and demographic targeting on the internet serves web ads based on location, age, sex, income, education level, etc. This allows any size company to target a message to a tighter geography surrounding its location. It can also allow a company with an erratic footprint or service area to focus on sending a message to specific areas/zip codes it services. This affords an advertiser the luxury of building some frequency of message to a specific target audience, delivering a better ROI. An important note to remember is that many people work at a different location than they live and the bulk of internet traffic happens during the work day.
Retargeting
Retargeting is a form of internet targeted advertising by which online advertising is delivered to consumers based on their prior internet actions which did not result in a sale or conversion.
Retargeting is based on where the user “was.” Ads then follow users to subsequent sites to reinforce message, bring a user back or make a new offer.
Example: Kathy recently visited the Walmart website. With retargeting, Walmart ads follow Kathy to increase her likelihood of purchasing from Walmart.
Most likely, a company has spent marketing dollars to get a customer to their site in the first place, so the term retargeting is derived from the concept of marketing to them again.
Some studies suggest that a company needs to have seven different “contacts” with a customer (on average) before they make a purchase. Retargeting allows a company to continue its marketing conversation with a customer after leaving the website.
For more details, contact Cheryl Erlenbach at 315-863-1621 or cheryl@peakbiety.com.
Is your online budget going to waste?
By Donette Arcos, Media Director
With limited ad budgets, relevant and targeted advertising becomes essential.
Geotargeting
Geographic and demographic targeting on the internet serves web ads based on location, age, sex, income, education level, etc. This allows any size company to target a message to a tighter geography surrounding its location. It can also allow a company with an erratic footprint or service area to focus on sending a message to specific areas/zip codes it services. This affords an advertiser the luxury of building some frequency of message to a specific target audience, delivering a better ROI. An important note to remember is that many people work at a different location than they live and the bulk of internet traffic happens during the work day.
Retargeting
Retargeting is a form of internet targeted advertising by which online advertising is delivered to consumers based on their prior internet actions which did not result in a sale or conversion.
Retargeting is based on where the user “was.” Ads then follow users to subsequent sites to reinforce message, bring a user back or make a new offer.
Example: Kathy recently visited the Walmart website. With retargeting, Walmart ads follow Kathy to increase her likelihood of purchasing from Walmart.
Most likely, a company has spent marketing dollars to get a customer to their site in the first place, so the term retargeting is derived from the concept of marketing to them again.
Some studies suggest that a company needs to have seven different “contacts” with a customer (on average) before they make a purchase. Retargeting allows a company to continue its marketing conversation with a customer after leaving the website.
For more details, contact Donette Arcos, Media Director, at info@peakbiety.com.
Getting Started in Social Media
Last month, over 250 marketers and small business owners gathered at the Social Fresh conference in Tampa to hear from 32 nationally recognized social media experts. Here’s some of the most common questions we heard.
What should my brand talk about?
Help your target audience find relevant information—not only about your brand, but about their passions. For Fiskars scissors, that passion is scrapbooking.
Maggie Fox from the Social Media Group in Ontario pointed out that “You can’t just aggregate, you must also curate. Help people find valuable information about your brand. Sites that [put lots of social media feeds about the brand on their homepage], but don’t filter them are useless… I have Google for that.”
How do you know when you’ve achieved social media success?
Its not just about having more followers than your competitors. A social media campaign, like any medium, needs a clearly defined strategy that fits in the overall brand strategy. What you are trying to accomplish with a campaign—sales, awareness, discussion or even just goodwill—should define the end goals of any social media effort. It’s more important to find and develop relationships with 5 people who are really passionate about your brand and what it has to offer than to have 5,000 fans who could really care less.
Whats the next big thing in social media?
Chris Barger, the Social Media Director for GM who is responsible for their early and active involvement in the social media realm had two predictions:
1. Combining SM with location awareness
This is mostly applicable to restaurants and other retail locations. Users “check in” on their mobile phones when they are at a location. The person who checks in to that location the most is named the “mayor”. Some stores are offering discounts, etc to the “mayor” of their stores. You can also leave reviews of the store, and discover where your friends are hanging out. The most popular sites for this are currently FourSquare and Gowalla.
2. Brand integration with SM gaming
Currently, lots of time is being spent on games like FarmVille and MafiaWars that are integrated into social media platforms like Facebook. Why not integrate your brand into these games or develop games around your brand that allow users to interact with their existing social media network?
Social Media isn’t everything.
One thing to remember—90% of word of mouth still happens offline. Use social media to help start conversations and engage with consumers—but don’t let it replace good old fashioned face-to-face interaction and other offline approaches.
A Traditional Agency
by Glen Peak
In a recent blog article, What Kind of Agency Are You, an ad agency owner observed his struggle with how to “categorize” his agency, e.g. digital, creative, branding, etc. Lots of varied services and talent no doubt led him to describe such a struggle.
I was struck by the author’s observation that they never use the word “traditional” to describe the agency and wondered aloud if even “traditional” agencies use the word. Well…we don’t currently put the word “traditional” in the descriptors of our 4A’s advertising agency but this discussion prompts me to think that we should proudly include this word in our messaging. Perhaps someone would actually ask: what does the “traditional” descriptor mean?
I don’t believe that many of today’s clients understand that ad agencies were once considered to be true marketing partners (a term that has since been beat to death and misused). Better agencies were involved in high level marketing strategy, new product development, market research, package design, media planning and buying, collateral material (yes… even that stuff), promotional programs and, oh yes, advertising that worked. In short, the agency was viewed as a business-building partner and expected to bring ideas to the table that could make a difference regardless of the medium. To achieve that, agencies had to have the marketing capability and passion to understand the client’s business as well as examine trends.
If “traditional” is about being generally recognized, customary and even long-standing, I really want to incorporate this label into the characterization of our agency.
Online Brand Identity in SEO Strategy
by Amy Phillips
Good brand management is supported by a strong and strategic brand identity. For a brand to stand out in its field, a brand’s online identity is becoming increasingly important. One of the most essential support systems for strong online brand identity is good search engine optimization (SEO).
To examine a brand online, the obvious first place to start is the brand’s Web site. An optimized site, with page titles, clean URLs, good content, headers, descriptions, alt tags and navigation will help with SEO. A very comprehensive checklist can be found here. But is that enough?
For high search engine ranking, the answer is no.
Paid advertising with media such as Pay-Per-Click through services such as Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter, is helpful but can be expensive. Organic SEO costs nothing but the time to build and maintain it. Some knowledge of the ever-changing search engine criteria for ranking algorithms helps.
But are an optimized site and paid advertising enough?
Many organic (as opposed to paid) SEO strategies today call for only 25% of effort given to “on-page” (the website) as opposed to 75% for “off-page” efforts (in-bound links and social media).
Social Media, according to Wikipedia, is composed of three things:
• Concept (art, information, or meme).
• Media (physical, electronic, or verbal).
• Social interface (intimate direct, community engagement, social viral, electronic broadcast or syndication, or other physical media such as print).
If social media is to be used to help SEO, all “concepts” must be strategic and brand-reinforcing. Anything else could actually be damaging. So, a brand’s social media presence with outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube among others, needs to be carefully crafted, controlled and monitored. Never underestimate the power of perception.®
The social interface component of social media presents the most challenges. What does it entail? Meeting people and talking. Asking questions and answering them. Engaging to add value. So how does a “brand” do this successfully?
The first place to start is to create a voice. A company needs to decide whether to set up separate Twitter accounts or one company account. How do you determine the right voice? For the pros and cons of all to consider, check out “The Right Voice for Your Brand is…”
Once your company’s voice is established, make sure that it is consistent from brand image to brand experience. Make sure that expectations are aligned. Create a strategy. Have a plan. Make goals and create timelines. Involve your advertising agency. Outside consultants can give valuable advice from a “fresh” perspective. Consider an integrated advertising campaign. You can’t pay for the publicity of something that goes viral. The more publicity your brand receives, the higher its search engine ranking is, organically.
Designing Effective Eblasts
Does the look and feel of your email messaging effect the campaign results? You may have wondered whether an ordinary-looking email would get better results than a designed one, or vice versa.
We already knew that adding personalization would increase responses. But would people view a simple text email as more personable? Or would the color and design of a newsletter-type email help it stand out in crowded inboxes?
We divided our list in half, sending out a total of 1200 emails. We sent them out at the same time, with the same subject line and the same content—the only difference was the design of the email itself.
Designed email
Plain email
The results? We had more than twice as many people respond to the designed email, and 200% more forwarded it to a friend compared to the plain version.
Results
Overall, click-throughs from the eblast were responsible for a 387% increase in traffic to our site.
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