A formula that works for just about anything . . . marketing, brand building, strategic thinking, planning, strategizing, design, sales, cooking, tennis . . . and yes, writing.
Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.
Note to readers: I read this post recently on the blog Hospital Branding and thought it offered excellent insights into the importance of key words, phrases and images that reinforce brand positions. Thanks Rob!
by Rob Rosenberg, Hospital Branding
At a recent breakfast branding club, featuring those in the business and not famous cereals and toaster items, the discussion popped up about the strategy of owning key phrases and images. In addition to graphic standards, which organizations develop to illustrate proper spacing and color palettes, the conversation centered on the need for companies to create key words, phrases, and images that support their brand propositions.
Having once worked on Sealy Posturepedic mattresses, I recalled the “ownership” (and subsequent trademark) of the phrase, “designed in cooperation with leading orthopedic surgeons.” Key words that created a franchise and contributed to a 90% awareness of the Posturepedic brand. In addition to this copy, all sales materials and advertising were required to feature the now famous mattress “cut-away,” the scientific illustration that shows various layers of ticking, coils, and foam. This combination of art and copy became a hallmark of Sealy Posturepedic and helped to create an iconic brand.
Other examples of brands that “own” certain words, phrases, and images include Lexus, State Farm, and Southwest Airlines. Just the mention of these brands conjure up a unique “look and feel” that are associated with their traditional, social, and digital media communications.
Hospitals are getting better at differentiating their organizations. Strategic ideas are shining through in taglines and unique positioning buckets focused on a single-minded platform. But they are also falling short when it comes to standards reflecting branded words and images. No matter the market position – such as patient-centered care, breakthrough technology, or physician expertise – the executions always seem to fall flat and into the undifferentiated abyss of hospital advertising.
The words “excellence,” “comprehensive,” and “multi-disciplinary” are totally “me too.” Forget “advanced,” “quality,” and “leading.” In terms of images, try something other than a surgical scene, patient/physician consultation, or a slow-motion shot of a former patient engaged in their favorite activity, UNLESS they support your brand position.
Here in Chicago, there are some excellent strategies in play. However, when strategies turn to execution, the work often turns to mush. And is virtually impossible to distinguish one hospital or system from another for lack of branded words and images.
Here’s what you can do to help translate your strategy into execution:
Marketing departments differ from health system to health system. Some are expansive, core business functions with strong growth accountabilities aligned to strategic planning, business development, clinical operations and financial management initiatives.
In others, marketing is configured more functionally to support the development and deployment of marketing tactics aimed at research, promotions and sales.
And some have not evolved far from those early days when marketing relied on a narrow set of tools (e.g. press releases, health fairs, advertising, newsletters) to promote programs and services, making it difficult to link marketing expenditures and activities to business outcomes.
Why such a difference? An organization’s approach to marketing is shaped by a variety of factors including strategic focus, growth objectives, culture or even leadership’s understanding of the marketing discipline.
Which of the following describes your health system’s approach to marketing?
One approach is not necessarily “right” where another is “wrong” – what is important to understand is that each path requires a specific configuration of core competencies, staff capabilities, processes and investments. Misalignment occurs when management wants to achieve significant improvements in strategic growth, for example, but has a production-oriented marketing operation.
With all of the change going on in the industry, this is an ideal time for marketers to assess their marketing department structures, capabilities and investment priorities.
So where do we start?
Part 4 of Prioritizing Marketing Resources Key to Return on Investment Goals.
Marketing resource allocation planning is critical to assuring that limited marketing resources (dollars and FTEs) are focused on growth and marketing initiatives that have the best potential for improving business performance and positioning health systems for long-term success. Parts 2 and 3 of this series described the first two primary decision points in resource allocation modeling:
The third decision point is “what infrastructure investments will be required to support effective growth and marketing management?” In other words, what are the capabilities, technologies, skill sets, business partners, processes and tools necessary for the marketing team to execute marketing strategy and achieve growth objectives? Building a high- performing marketing team and the systems to support that team are strategy-critical investments that will generate far greater returns over the long term.
What should you consider?
Conclusion
More than ever, chief marketing executives are being held to a higher standard of accountability for return on marketing investments. A disciplined approach to marketing resource allocation planning is required to understand what programs, services or segments will best drive growth and improve business performance, and what activities and support systems will contribute most to those growth initiatives.
Both top-down and bottom-up approaches to marketing resource allocation are necessary; top down for strategic marketing planning across a health system’s portfolio of service lines and market initiatives – and bottom up to develop specific marketing plans and budgets within each priority program.
Most important, perhaps, is to use this data-informed approach to gain organizational commitment to investment decisions and staying on strategy.
Read the series:
By guest blogger Susan Lilly
So I’m Susan Lilly, recently “outed” on this blog as a breast cancer patient, and now, a survivor. My experience over the past year has given me some fresh insight into trends that we’ve been talking about here at Corrigan Partners, most notably the rise of the self-directed health care consumer.
After my diagnosis last spring (Stage 2, invasive ductal carcinoma), I pretty much created my own treatment path by assembling a disparate, but top-notch medical team. Why does this matter to health care marketers? Because I did this without the sway of traditional marketing messages. In fact, I decided to go out of area for part of my treatment because I found out about a unique surgical procedure from a top hospital’s online forum for breast cancer patients.
The irony is that the hospital’s discussion board was nothing fancy, but it was moderated by a nurse practitioner who counsels newly diagnosed breast cancer patients from all over the country. Yet, by suggesting the out-of-area hospital as a destination for a second opinion – and touting its unique approach to a common illness – she planted the seed in my mind to go out of area to have a look.
This is why the digital space can be so effective at growing the business. From the comfort of home, during a frightening time, people are searching for the best, most compassionate care after a serious diagnosis. They (we) do this by searching for answers online, and seeking others who are going through the same thing.
Looking for a digital welcome mat, really . . .
Hospitals, with their mission to serve and available resources, are perfectly positioned to put out such a welcome mat. Every single institution, from the rural community hospital to the academic medical center can set up such programs by building on their unique strengths in caregiving, and supplementing their internal resources with outside expertise – anything from marketing assistance to more technical matters.
The self-directed consumers are out there, and they’re looking for your help. Will they feel welcome when they find you?
Next post – a challenge to the oncology field, and how marketing can help.
Part 2 of Prioritizing Marketing Resources Key to Return on Investment Goals.
How do healthcare marketing executives allocate marketing resources? In today’s complex environment, determining what gets funded and what doesn’t, how much to invest and what your team should be spending time on can be a daunting task.
Marketing resource allocation decisions must be made across multiple dimensions. What services offer the best opportunity for growth, profitability and improved competitive performance? Within those programs, what specific marketing strategies and tactics should be used to achieve goals? What staffing and infrastructure investments are needed to improve marketing performance?
While it’s not an exact science, the process of marketing resource allocation modeling will help CMOs better invest limited marketing resources in initiatives that improve business performance, build brand equity and position the organization for success.
The first decision point is determining what lines of business, clinical programs, market expansion initiatives and customer segments offer the best opportunity for growth, profitability and competitive advantage.
ESTABLISHING TARGETS AND OBJECTIVES
Effectiveness of the marketing resource allocation model is supported by the discipline to target and select the FEWEST, MOST IMPACTFUL programs in which to concentrate resources. Priority growth program investments are derived from the analysis of key elements such as:
This will require some work but the outcome will be well worth the effort. By comparing this information across major business initiatives and service lines, it becomes obvious that a focused subset should be targeted.
The following is a simple framework for ranking business lines, services or segments in accordance with their potential for contribution. Tier one programs are those with the greatest potential for financial or strategic returns on investment. Tier two and tier three programs are supported at lower investment levels. In this example, the health system allocates 60% of marketing resource investments to tier one projects and the remaining 40% is spread across tiers two and three, with three receiving a minimal amount.
These percentages can be adjusted up and down – keeping in mind that the objective is to adequately resource those projects most important to organizational performance.
I’ve found this process to be particularly helpful in arming the marketing team with an effective, data-driven platform to ward off requests that that seem to fly in from left field on an all too frequent basis. You know the ones I’m talking about. It also helps the CMO build agreement with his or her peer executives on a focused growth agenda.
In the next post, I’ll discuss decision point two: within priority programs and service lines, what strategies and tactical initiatives will best achieve marketing goals?
Someone once asked me what the difference is between ‘focusing’ and ‘prioritizing’ – focusing is knowing what to do; prioritizing is knowing what to do first. These are the decision points faced by marketers every day. And especially when planning and budgeting for a new fiscal year.
For those healthcare marketers managing to a calendar-based fiscal year, the mad rush of the holidays is compounded by winding down current year activities and preparations to launch newly-funded projects. Hunkered down with marketing teams, plans and spreadsheets, most CMOs are trying to conjure up ways to achieve more with less. Unfortunately, too many times we end up spreading scarce dollars over too many projects.
When stuck between a rock (the health system’s need for profitable growth) and a hard place (the drive to cut costs), how do marketers prioritize marketing investments and gain organizational commitment to those investment decisions?
First, clean house. Use this opportunity as a time to take a stand and stop funding those activities that have no or minimal impact on strategic growth, customer acquisition, customer retention and financial performance. Specifically look at non-marketing activities that sap resources and work with your colleagues across the health system to eliminate or move those deeds elsewhere. Make sure your team is performing at its best; while it’s always difficult to move people out, when you are being asked to do more with fewer FTEs, each has to be a stellar performer.
Second, use a marketing resource allocation methodology to prioritize limited marketing resources (dollars and FTEs) to those growth and marketing initiatives that have the best potential for improving business performance and positioning the organization for long-term success.
In prioritizing marketing resource investments, there are three basic decision points:
In other words, what will you choose to invest in to drive growth and improve profitability, and what activities and support systems will contribute most to those objectives? Both top-down and bottom-up approaches to resource allocation are necessary; top down for strategic planning across a health system’s portfolio of service lines and market initiatives; bottom up to develop individual marketing budgets within each priority program.
I know that some of the toughest issues marketers face are cutting others’ pet projects, sunsetting outdated communications tactics, navigating the politics of competing priorities, and so on and so on. Just saying ‘no’ has not been an option for some; a marketing resource allocation method can better arm the CMO with data-driven rationale for investment decisions.
In upcoming posts, I’ll explore the components and key questions to delve into for each of the three decision points listed above. In the meantime, let me know some of your toughest budget challenges — together let’s find a way to stop doing more and focus on achieving more.
True confession: I dislike pink. And the marketer in me winces every time I see another pink ribbon etched, woven, stamped, hung or printed on everything from yogurt cups to kitchen appliances to clothing and even pet food. Don’t get me wrong – I get it. Breast cancer has taken the lives of people I treasure. And I wholeheartedly believe that physicians, healthcare marketers, organizations like the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and even all of the consumer products and services brandishing pink have saved countless women by raising awareness of the importance of early detection.
So what’s the beef? I wish I could offer up a rational argument for my stance on pink, but admit it has more emotional than rational origins. Perhaps it’s what appears to me to be the over-commercialization of the cause. Or maybe something more deep-seated, like fear.
Six months ago, Susan Lilly (one of our colleagues at Corrigan Partners) learned she had breast cancer. She found a lump under her arm and soon discovered that it was a particularly aggressive form of the disease. The past six months have been an endurance race of chemotherapy, surgery and recovery for Susan, her husband and two young daughters. The good news is good! While she still has a couple more surgeries to go, she is now re-entering normalcy – whatever that is.
I remember the stomach-sinking dread felt when Susan first called to say she had breast cancer. And can only imagine what it must have been like for her and for thousands of other women who hear those words coming out of their physicians’ mouths. But Susan taught us much here at the office. How not to give into fear. How to take control of your illness. How to be a smart healthcare consumer, not just a patient. How to keep going through the chemo treatments. How to embrace the fashion possibilities when she lost her hair. How to keep your humor – and your faith – through it all.
So there it is. I’ve outed Susan with her full permission. She has incredible strength of character and is much loved and admired by her colleagues for ‘just being Susan.’
And yes, she and I share similar views on pink. But maybe we just need a little more distance from the tribulations of the past six months to embrace its power to heal.
I had a chance to talk with Bill Moschella Co-founder & CEO of eVariant about the future of healthcare marketing at the SHSMD conference this past September. Here’s that interview. What advice do you have for marketers seeking to improve marketing performance and build future ready marketing operations?
Join Art Sturm, president & CEO of SRK, by webinar on Thursday, October 20 as he discusses how top heart programs are benefiting from the “strategic halo effect” in growing volumes and improving business performance for cardiovascular service lines. You’ll learn strategies and tools for growing CV service line revenue and improving collaboration across multiple specialties. Key topic points include:
The Strategic Halo Effect also addresses the essential question: how to thrive in this new era of healthcare reform?
Follow the link below to learn more about this complementary webinar.
The Strategic Halo Effect: the Science of Improving CV Service Line Volumes, Revenue and Operations; Thursday, October 20, 10 AM Pacific, 12 Noon Central, 1 PM Eastern.
In the world of digital marketing, advertising terms like PPC, CPM and CTR are fast becoming so yesterday. Marketers and advertisers are cooking up an alphabet stew of new acronyms, words and, well, jargon to describe a new wave on on-line advertising technologies.
If expressions like RTB (real time bidding) and DSP (demand-side platform) leave you scratching your head, and terms like re-targeting, dynamic creative and geofencing aren’t dancing on the tongue, then grab the iPad and take some notes from Business Insiders article on “10 Advertising Terms You’ll Be Hearing For Years, So Learn Them Now.”
Click here to read the article.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged advertising, digital marketing, healthcare marketing, Karen Corrigan, marketing, social media
Karen Corrigan
Chief Marketing Officer 