February 27, 2012
Recent snafus prove that we should think from the consumer’s perspective. And not about what’s best for our organization’s operations.
Recently Facebook made changes to its social network’s interface. This was closely on the heels of earlier changes that Facebook users weren’t even used to yet. And users were not happy. Then Netflix customers who were already unhappy with a price increase were then angered more when the company announced it was separating its streaming video offering from its video rental business to create a new company.
Two very successful corporations who had great loyalty and good will but unilaterally made decisions, which were good operationally without considering the impact on consumers. It’s a mistake many companies make. Although not as widely discussed and criticized as these two. Both of these companies thought they could do anything they wanted and consumers would accept it. They never even considered what the consumer would think. It was good operationally for each of them and that was the basis of their decision.
So a management decision that made complete sense internally backfired because no one bothered to consider or ask what their customers thought. And now they’re paying a large cost in public perception, consumer loyalty and sales. Their brand has been tarnished.
Healthcare organizations sometimes make the same mistake. In an effort to cut costs, improve efficiency and increase productivity, hospitals and healthcare organizations make decisions that make sense internally but may not be received well by patients.
It proves that we need to listen to the consumer and evaluate every decision from the customer’s perspective. In a very competitive marketplace with pressures on the bottom-line organizations can ill afford to alienate customers. Decisions made without considering the consumer may save money but it could cost far more in business, consumer locality and brand perception.
Of course we know this. But sometimes we forget. We look at decisions from every angle except from the viewpoint of the consumer. Sometimes it takes highly publicized snafus like Facebook and Netflix to remind us that what our customers think is of extreme importance. May we not get so removed from our customers that we repeat the mistake.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Leave a Comment » | 
Patient Experience | Tagged: Ad Agency Huntsville, Ad Agency Tuscaloosa, advertising firm, consider the consumer, consider the patient, healthcare marketing, Hosptial Marketing, Jimmy Warren, Lori Moore, Marketing Firm Alabama, Marketing Firm South, Nancy Siniard, patients perspective, what's best for the patient | 
Permalink
Posted by Jimmy Warren
January 31, 2012
Every hospital has unhappy customers. The question is not if you have them but what will you do with them?
Every hospital will have disgruntled customers from time to time. But instead of letting the situation create bad ill and tarnish the brand, the situation can be used to show how your hospital cares and even build brand loyalty.
Based on consumer satisfaction research, an article in The Financial Brand listed the expectations of customers once they have issued a complaint. The list is important for hospitals to understand and use as a guideline for dealing with angry customers.
Customers who have issued complaints expect to:
- Receive an explanation of how a problem happened
- Be told how long it will take to resolve a problem
- Be given progress reports if a problem cannot be solved immediately.
- Be given useful alternatives if a problem cannot be resolved.
- Be allowed to talk to someone in authority.
- Be contacted promptly once the problem is resolved.
- Be called back when promised.
- Know whom to contact in the future.
- Be told about ways the customer’s situation might be used to prevent future problems.
It’s important hospitals address customer issues and fulfill the expectations listed above. Unsolved problems have a particularly negative impact on both continued loyalty and word-of-mouth recommendations to others. Dissatisfied customers tell far more people about their experience than do satisfied customers.
So it’s imperative to deal with customer complaints and use the opportunity to turn a negative situation into a positive one. One that can actually build customer loyalty.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Leave a Comment » | Patient Experience, Uncategorized | Tagged: Dealing with Unhappy Customers, Huntsville Advertising Firm, Jimmy Warren, Lori Moore, Nancy Siniard, Patient Experience, The FInancial Brand, TotalCom Marketing, tuscaloosa ad agency, Unhappy Patients | Permalink
Posted by Jimmy Warren
January 31, 2012
Every hospital has unhappy customers. The question is not if you have them but what will you do with them?
Every hospital makes mistakes. With as many patients that come through our doors and with as many varied points of contact, it‘s inevitable there will be unhappy customers. Plus, many customers are not in the best frame of mind to begin with, which means they are often easily agitated. No matter how much customer service is stressed, there will be screw-ups. There will be disgruntled customers.
Instead of looking at such occurrences as a disaster, it can become a positive branding experience if handled properly. Instead of an upset customer who becomes a noisy distracter, the goal is to convert him into a brand loyalist who sings the hospital’s praises. The unhappy customer should not be viewed as the enemy but as an opportunity to characterize the brand as responsive and caring.
So what do you do when you make a mistake? Four simple steps:
1. Apologize. Disarm the angry customer by apologizing upfront.
2. Listen and empathize. Listen and don’t try to defend the hospital. Let the customer know your hospital cares.
3. Address the problem. Try to fix the problem and satisfy the customer as much as possible.
4. Offer to correct the problem. The customer wants to know the hospital will do everything possible to prevent the problem from happening again.
5. Follow up. Contact the customer and let them know what has been done to fix the problem. This is essential for customer satisfaction.
Research indicates it costs five times more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. So it’s important to keep customers, even the ones that have bad experiences. Solving customer problems not only keeps customers, it also helps build brand loyalty.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Leave a Comment » | Patient Experience, Uncategorized | Tagged: Ad Agency Tuscaloosa, Advertising Agency Huntsville, healthcare marketing, Jimmy Warren, Lori Moore, Marketing Firm Alabama, marketing in southeast, Nancy Siniard, Unhappy customers, Unhappy Patients | Permalink
Posted by Jimmy Warren
July 15, 2011
Although consumers have a louder voice than ever before, make no mistake about it, you still own and control your brand. Marketers are still responsible for the brand’s narrative. 
“The consumer is now in control.” You hear it often. You’ve probably read it in some of my blogs. But is it ultimately true? Yes consumers have a louder voice. Yes consumers have new and expanded ways to exert their influence on a brand. But ultimately brands still control themselves. And we must not forget that.
Look at some of the ways consumers can now influence a brand:
- DVRs allow consumers to skip past television commercials
- Use of social media to critique or criticize a brand
- Provide content and produce ads for brands
- The myriad of opportunities to give input and suggestions to brands
- The many avenues available to hold brands’ feet to the fire and make them accountable.
So it is true, consumers can now influence brands in ways never before available. And that’s probably a good thing. But that doesn’t give them ultimate control. It just requires brand managers and companies to be more responsible and more diligent.
True consumers can use DVRs to skip commercials but they have always had that right. No advertiser has ever been able to force a consumer to see or watch or hear it ads. It’s still incumbent on advertisers to attract and hold the attention of consumers to see and hear its messages.
Groupon saw and felt the backlash for it’s ill-advised Super Bowl spots. The company was forced to pull the ad and apologize. But is that an example of consumer control or thoughtlessness by the brand?
Consumers can now create content for brands. Many brands are soliciting consumer assistance with the content of their advertising. But would anyone just laud the brand building power of consumer directed spots for Doritos and Pepsi in recent years? If consumers now have control of the brand, it’s because brands have given it over to them.
And some would point to consumer reaction to Gap’s effort to modernize its logo only to repeal its efforts at the appearance of consumer complaint in social media. But was their backpedaling justified? Only a very some percentage of GAP customers weighed in on the issue. I contend the vast majority of their customers didn’t care. And compare that to the Sci-Fi channel that would endure widespread disapproval when they changed their name to Syfi. But the network did not waver and as result, now the network is setting new levels of viewership and success.
True, consumers have more voice. A louder voice. But that is no excuse for a marketer to give up control of its brand. It requires more work, more accountability, more thoughtfulness and more discernment. But the brand is still responsible for itself. It’s a cop-out to concede ultimate control to the consumer. Sure brands should react and respond to the needs and desires of consumers. And letting consumers have input is essential in today’s marketplace (as if it hasn’t been before). Ultimate control however still rests with the brand.
Mike Wolfsohn, Chief Creative Officer at High Wide and Handsome , contributed an article on this topic recently in Ad Age and stated, “It’s critical to distinguish a consumer’s increased ability to amplify a brand’s successes and failures from his or her actual control over the story a brand tells. In the purest sense, consumers have always wielded immense influence with their wallet. That their votes are now cast on public websites long before the ballots are counted on confidential P&Ls only makes it easier for marketers to react more quickly.”
For healthcare marketers, as well as all marketers, we still control our brand. Yes it requires more work to shepherd a brand in a more complex media environment, but it is still within our control. Unless we choose to give that control away. But we must not. Now more that ever, we should seek consumer input, listen to their leanings and use that information to have even more control over our brands than we have ever had before.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Leave a Comment » | Branding, Patient Experience | Tagged: Ad Age, Ad Agency in Huntsville, Ad Agency in Tuscaloosa, Advertising Agency Alabama, Advertising Firm South, consumer influence on marketing, High Wide and Handsome, Jimmy Warren, Lori Moore, Marketing Firm Alabama, Mike Wolfsohn, Nancy Siniard, patient voices, ways consumers influence brands | Permalink
Posted by Jimmy Warren
July 13, 2011
Bad news travels fast… How fast? Who is most likely to talk negatively about your brand? 
There is a renewed emphasis in healthcare today on patient experience. And there should be! Because if a person has a bad experience at a hospital, they will most likely spread the word. Over 75% of consumers tell about bad experiences to their family and friends. Certainly more than the 42% who would recommend a product or service they really like. This according to LoyaltyOne’s COLLOQUY report.
The study also found that even 31% of loyal advocates of a brand would pass along information concerning bad experiences they’ve had with that brand. “One lesson is clear, hell hath no fury like a Champion scorned,” stated COLLOQUY managing partner Kelly Hiavinka. News about bad experiences travels and travels fast. In fact, less than one-fourth of all bad experiences are kept quiet. Affluents are more likely to spread the bad news than any other group. Seniors are the least likely. Young adults and women are strong spreaders as well.
There’s just little chance a bad experience won’t make the rounds. So each bad experience is multiplied. And a series of bad experiences can certainly damage a hospital’s image and reputation. And note that it takes many more positive experiences to make up for the bad ones.
Marketing of your hospital is essential. And very useful. But it can’t make up for bad experiences. And the consumer has so many avenues to share the bad news. It’s not just word of mouth anymore; it’s all the conversations in social media that can quickly spread the unhappy news about a brand. Hundreds or even thousands of others can read one bad word on a social networking site. Much more than just a casual conversation with friends or acquaintances.
So the best thing a hospital can do for its brand is minimize the bad experiences. Even in healthcare, customer service is essential to a brand’s health. A hospital can have the latest technology, the best doctors and the finest facilities, but if it delivers bad service the brand will suffer. It will create a chain of conversation that will be difficult to counter and overcome. Today’s emphasis on customer service and customer satisfaction is certainly well placed.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Leave a Comment » | Branding, Patient Experience | Tagged: Ad Agency Alabama, Ad Agency Huntsville, Ad Agency South, Ad Agency Tuscaloosa, Bad Patient Experience, Colloquy, GOod Patient Experience, Jimmy Warren, Lori Moore, LoyaltyOne, Nancy Siniard, Patient Experience, TOtalCom Marketing Huntsville, TotalCom Marketing TUscaloosa | Permalink
Posted by Jimmy Warren
January 30, 2011
Your hospital’s brand is defined by the patient’s experience as well as others. And it’s being determined all day, every day. 
Branding has finally hit the radar for hospitals and healthcare organizations. The industry’s marketing efforts are maturing to the point that marketers and senior management are beginning to realize how important their brand is. And rightfully so. The battle for the consumers’ minds and future market share will be determined by our brand perception.
But for many marketers, branding is about logos and typefaces, corporate identity standards and taglines. Good branding encompasses these things but it’s so much more. It ‘s really more about the consumer’s experience. What does your brand communicate each day to those who come in contact with it?
And it’s not just the patient’s experience that determines the brand. It’s also the patient’s family and friends and what their experiences are like. And employees and how they experience the brand. And suppliers and vendors. The community at large. It’s the totality of all the touch points. By everyone.
We are seeing many hospitals updating logos and altering the visual look of their communications. We see them changing positioning lines. And giving facelifts to their facilities. All of which is good. Very good in fact. But if that is all that’s changing, it’s only cosmetic and only skin deep.
These changes help position a brand but the most important thing is the experience it delivers. What is the experience like? It has to do with parking, cleanliness, friendliness courtesy, wait times, competence, customer service, caring, attitudes and everything else that affects a person’s experience.
It’s great that hospital marketers and senior management are turning their attention to their brand. But hopefully it’s more than just aesthetics. Hopefully the emphasis is on the total experience delivered by the hospital. That’s what will really determine your brand in the minds and hearts of consumers.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Leave a Comment » | Branding, Hospital Marketing, Patient Experience | Tagged: Ad Agency Alabama, Ad Agency Huntsville, Ad Agency South, Ad Agency Southeast, Ad Agency Tuscaloosa, Advertising Agency, healthcare branding, hospital branding, Jimmy Warren, Lori Moore, Nancy Siniard, Patient Experience | Permalink
Posted by Jimmy Warren
August 14, 2010
Social media is no substitute for real interaction and relationship.
So there are now almost 600 million people who have joined Facebook. That’s 
just about everybody isn’t it? It’s the way we connect, network, create and maintain relationships. And brands are trying to get into the social media mix and create meaningful relationships with consumers. Healthcare marketers are slowly entering the fray and experimenting with ways to interact with their constituencies and their community. Everyone is telling us this is the way marketing is done these days. I have drunk the Kool-Aid and have strongly suggested the same thing. And I’m not backing down from that belief.
But sometimes in our rush to adopt and to gain a competitive advantage, our thinking becomes a little skewed. Social media is an aid. It’s a vehicle. It’s a tool. But it is not a real relationship. Especially when we are dealing with service brands.
Pete Blackshaw in an Ad Age article referred to social media as “a relationship vitamin and sweetener and not a destination. It should deepen brands, not defuse or soften them”. He goes on to argue “volume doesn’t always translate into intimacy, speed doesn’t guarantee meaningful connections, retweets don’t necessarily confer respect and friending doesn’t always signal friendliness”.
The point is, social media is no substitute for real, meaningful relationships. The kind that happens between people, personally. Sure, social media can affirm and support those real relationships but it cannot take the place of what happens human to human in real life and real connections. Brands are defined and brands become social with human things like customer service, caring, helping, smiling, being there and maybe just a soft physical touch. These kinds of things can ultimately only be delivered in personal ways. Human ways. And not from places on the internet. Sure social sites can support and confirm such activity, but not take its place.
We can be “social” all day long on the internet but unless we are truly social as we interact personally, human-to-human, it’s not real or sustainable. Listening, authenticity, transparency and responsiveness have to begin in person. Although we use these words often when discussing social media, we are fooling ourselves if we think these uniquely human things can really happen on social networking sites. Brands are made (and broken) at points of real human contact and only sweetened by social media.
We talk a lot about relationship building and conversational marketing. That’s well and good. But they begin with real personal contact. Blackshaw references the fact that we are so “social” these days we all walk with our heads down and eyes fixed on our smart phones as we try to create and maintain relationships. Wouldn’t it be more social to lift our eyes and see people instead of screens? To use a smile or a word to communicate? A handshake or a touch to connect?
Let’s don’t get confused and think we can make a service brand real by capitalizing on every social media site available. The effort instead should go into people caring for and about people. Personally.
Like this:
One blogger likes this post.
Leave a Comment » | Hospital Marketing, Patient Experience, Social Media | Tagged: Ad Age, Advertising Agencies in Alabama, Advertising Agencies in Tuscaloosa, advertising agencies that specialize in healthcare, advertising agencies that specialize in hospital marketing, Alabama, Customer Realtions, Huntsville, Jimmy Warren, Lori Moore, Meaningful Realtionships, Nancy Siniard, Patient Relationships, Personal Relationships, Pete Blackshaw, Social Media, Tuscaloosa | Permalink
Posted by Jimmy Warren
August 10, 2010
Advertising has effectively transformed many brands. It can be done. But it’s much more difficult for advertising to transform a service brand.
I read a blog recently by Chris Bevolo about advertising and it’s ability to change a brand. There are many excellent examples of advertising changing and transforming old brands. The most vivid current example is Old Spice cologne. Old Spice was my father’s brand. (For some it was your grandfather’s brand.) And it stayed my father’s brand. It did not resonate with a new generation of smelly males. There were other more hip, cooler brands that took the market. Old Spice became irrelevant.
But today Old Spice is making resurgence. Did it change its formula or alter the smell to fit a new generation? No. It’s the same fragrance my father wore. But the brand has been transformed. How? Advertising! The Old Spice Guy has made an old stale brand hip and relevant again. The TV spots and videos featuring Isaiah Mustafa as “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” have become a marketing phenomenon. The spots just received the Film Grand Prix Award at the International Advertising Festival at Cannes. And the videos have become the No.1 all-time most-viewed sponsored channel on YouTube with over 94 million views. And its market share has grown over 8% in a flat product category since the advertising campaign broke.
So yes, advertising can obviously transform a brand. But Bevolo went on to make the very valid point that it’s much easier for advertising to change a product brand than a service brand. The product sits on the shelf and a consumer decides to buy it or not based on advertising, promotion, price and a few other various factors. But the product does not interact with the consumer other than through advertising and promotion. A service brand is different. A service brand interfaces with a consumer in a very active manner. There are many more factors at work than simply advertising and marketing.
Consumers’ attitudes toward service brands are determined by their engagement and interaction with the brand. You cannot simply advertise and expect the brand to be different. With service brands, the brand is defined by each customer contact, with each customer experience. If the hospital is not clean, if the staff has a bad attitude, if the food and service are poor, no amount of advertising will change the brand perception.
A service line brand is transformed from the inside out. It is defined every day. Advertising can be very powerful. But for service brands it can only be effective if it is consistent with the consumers’ brand experience. The brand promise must be delivered clearly and consistently. If it is, then advertising can take a transformed brand and effectively reposition it in the mind of the consumer.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Leave a Comment » | Branding, Hospital Advertising, Patient Experience | Tagged: Advertising Agencies in Alabama, Advertising Agencies in Tuscaloosa, advertising agencies that specialize in healthcare, advertising agencies that specialize in hospital marketing, Alabama, Cannes. Jimmy warren, Chris Bevolo, Film Grand Prix Award, Inernational Advertising Festical, Isaiah Mustafa, Lori Moore, Nancy Siniard, Old Spice, Old Spice Guy, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, Transform Brand, Tuscaloosa | Permalink
Posted by Jimmy Warren
July 31, 2010
Hospital customer satisfaction levels declined in the past year, joining the energy sector as the only two industries whose scores declined. And this in spite of a strong emphasis on patient satisfaction by hospital CEOs.
Times have been tough in this economy. For almost everyone. And it’s true for hospitals as well. It has led to implementation of various cost saving initiatives in most hospitals. And in some, it has necessitated layoffs. It appears the result has also caused a decline in patient satisfaction. According to American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which measures consumer satisfaction for ten economic sectors, hospitals’ satisfaction scores fell 5 % over the past year. Only the energy sector joined hospitals with a decline. It’s clear why there was a decline in the energy sector but both surprising and troubling there was a decline with hospitals.
The results were reported by Philip Betbeze in HealthLeaders Media. Overall hospital satisfaction dropped 5% with inpatient satisfaction recording the largest decrease. This is especially interesting when more and more hospital leaders are stating they are placing a stronger emphasis on patient satisfaction.
In fact, Betbeze reports that in the 2010 HelathLeaders Media Industry Survey, many leaders are making patient satisfaction their number priority. Over 38% selected patient satisfaction as their top priority and it was near the top in most of the other surveys.
Hopefully, this increased emphasis on patient satisfaction will turn the tide and lead to significant increases in future surveys. It needs to. Declining patient satisfaction will lead to trouble in many other ways and will certainly negatively impact our hospitals’ brands. When that happens there are long-term effects.
Sure there is great pressure in hospitals to cut costs in the face of a struggling economy, decreased reimbursements and an uncertain industry environment. But as Betbeze correctly states, “investments in patient satisfaction require more commitment than cash. In fact, relative to other investments hospitals have to make, such as high-tech imaging systems, new patient towers, and new operating suites, patient satisfaction improvement is instead based on clean rooms and hallways, better, hotter food, better service, and more eye contact, among other, seemingly simple fixes. Those things improve with culture”
It is certainly disheartening to see satisfaction scores decrease while management makes it a top priority. Hopefully it means there is not just lip service to the problem but the results just haven’t been fully manifested and thus not appearing in the survey results yet. It is certainly a necessity to stop the decline and improve satisfaction scores. So much depends on it. There are many things in healthcare that management cannot control but a patient-centered culture and a commitment to patient satisfaction is one that can be impacted. It must be!
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
2 Comments | Hospital Marketing, Internal Marketing, Patient Experience | Tagged: ad agencies specializing in health care, ad agencies specializing in hospital marketing, alabama ad agency, American Consumer Satisfaction Index, Health Leaders Media, Hospital patient satisfaction, huntsville ad agency, patient satisfaction, Philip Betbeze, trends in patient satisfaction, tuscaloosa ad agency | Permalink
Posted by Jimmy Warren
May 19, 2010
It’s not so much about building relationships with brands; it’s about using brands to build relationships.
All the talk these days is about relationships. Relationships are king. It’s the coin of the realm. Everything is all about building relationships. But the interesting thing is that relationships are often discussed in the context of technology, social media, Web 2.0, apps, metrics, analytics, demo-psycho-socio-geographics, social networking, blogs and a thousand other buzz words. But when I step back it’s all so odd. All of those terms are so very impersonal.
We talk about building a relationship with a brand, a product, a service. Yes I do it too. Everyday. But have we forgotten that real relationships are human? Can I truly have a relationship with my toothpaste, my jeans, my iPod, my microwaveable food, my gym, my computer, my car ? Well yes I can have a relationship with all of those things, in a sense. But not a real relationship.
Real relationships are human. It’s the touch of someone you love. It’s holding a child or grandchild close and squeezing hard. It’s enjoying a family trip. It’s working together with coworkers to achieve a common goal. It’s striving together with others for something noble and right. It’s being with friends talking and laughing and just hanging out. It’s crying with someone you care about who’s hurting. It’s shedding tears when someone dear is no longer here. It’s sharing life with someone. It’s always a uniquely human experience.
This is not to discount all the wonderful new technologies, techniques, methods and knowledge that help us communicate. But none of these can be a substitute for real relationships. And we must not forget it. We are so busy talking about and “building“ relationship in so many artificial ways but sometimes we forget that relationships are human. They involve the body, mind and soul. They include the heart and emotions, which cannot be explained or adequately described.
Doesn’t it make more sense to instead of trying to build relationships using a brand or product, or service, or institution; we talk about how those things can help build true relationships…with other humans? Isn’t that what it’s all about?
Relationships are indeed king. But real relationships are about human relationships. We don’t need to get lost in faux relationships but rather use technology and communication tools to communicate how our brand or service or product can help create and build and sustain and improve real relationships. The kind that is human. The kind that can’t be reduced to analytics and research. The kind that really matter. The kind that makes life truly worth living.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
5 Comments | Branding, Hospital Marketing, Patient Experience, Social Media | Tagged: ad agencies specializing in health care, ad agencies specializing in hospital marketing, alabama ad agency, hospital branding, huntsville ad agency, Jimmy Warren, Lori Moore, Nancy Siniard, relationships with brands, relationships with customers, relationships with patients, social media to build relationships, tuscaloosa ad agency | Permalink
Posted by Jimmy Warren
