Healthcare Advertising

Hospital Marketing: Strategy First, Social Media Second

Social media is not the answer to marketing woes. But a strong, strategic plan is.    

“TGIF” – that’s Twitter, Google, the Internet and Facebook. And listening to some people you might get the impression the answer to every marketing problem is one or all of the above.  We just need to use these four tools, use them more often, invest more money and resources in them and we will become the market leader.  There is no doubt these four revolutionary developments have forever changed how we market products and services.  But are they the answer to all our marketing issues?

I think not!  As powerful and effective as these mediums can be, they are not at the core of what makes brands strong.  The most important thing is an effective marketing strategy. Without it, no combination of TGIF can resurrect a bad brand or sustain a good one.  Al Ries, chairman of Ries & Ries effectively made this very point in an article in Ad Age.  He emphasized that better strategies, not better weapons, win wars. And he gave some compelling examples.

Linen N Things didn’t go bankrupt because it didn’t effectively use Twitter. It went bankrupt because it was a knock off of Bed Bath & Beyond and never differentiated itself from the market leader.

DHL didn’t pull out of the U.S. market because it didn’t buy enough AdWords from Google but because it was the No. 3 brand in a category dominated by UPS and FedEx.

Kmart didn’t go bankrupt because it couldn’t figure out how to use the internet to promote the brand. Rather it went bankrupt because it was caught in no man’s land between low cost Wal-Mart and the high end Target.

Coca-Cola didn’t fail in 3 attempts to build a leading energy drink brand (KMX, Full Throttle and Tab) because it didn’t have a Facebook page but because it waited too long after the launch of Red Bull.

The point is obvious.  While TGIF are useful, effective and should be important elements in most marketing campaigns, they will not compensate for a bad marketing strategy. As Ries states, “what wins wars are better strategies.”   We sometimes spend a lot of time analyzing and utilizing Twitter, Google, the Internet and Facebook and not nearly enough time developing a strong effective strategy.  Without a good strategy, no medium will be effective.  With an effective strategy, just about every medium can be effective.

Let’s do the hard work.  Let’s focus on our brand strategy.  Then we will be prepared to choose the appropriate tactics to win the brand wars.


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Healthcare Marketing: Aging Boomers Still the Bomb

As baby boomers grow older they will increase their importance to marketers.    

For years the emphasis of marketers have been with the 18-49 year olds. They were the ones who had increasing buying potential and had not developed strong brand loyalties. Those over 50 were believed to have decreasing incomes, reduced desire for new products and services and developed brand loyalty.  However research is indicating these ideas are becoming more mythical than reality.

Baby boomers are now moving into the older age bracket and there are larger numbers of senior citizens. In fact, within the next decade persons over 60 will reach an all-time high.  This is compared to the younger aged market that will have fewer children, thus smaller households, and smaller incomes. Older citizens have salted away money and have more money to spend while younger segments will find their incomes shrinking.

Plus, baby boomers are proving to not be so set-in-their ways.  New products and changing technology have forced baby boomers to be more open to new ideas and even expect newer and better services and products. Therefore they will be less brand loyal than previous senior citizens.

Also, media will be redefined based on the increased numbers of senior citizens.  Television, was established as the medium of the young. The wheelhouse for television has always been 18-49.  But now the medium age of viewers of prime time television is 51. And that will most likely continue to increase as the large number of baby boomers age.

This change in business and marketing dynamics was referenced in an article in Ad Age by Brian Steinberg. Quoted in the article was Alan Wurtzel, president-research and media development at NBC Universal, “While baby boomers are leaving the demographics that have been favored by advertisers for decades, their value is actually increasing.”

Its true, as health care marketers, the older demographics have always been important because people spend more on health care as they age.  But with these changing dynamics, senior citizens will be even more important.  There will be larger numbers of them, they will have more to spend and they will change loyalties.  Our planning, processes and marketing should put them clearly in our cross hairs.


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Hospital Marketing: Ad Adjacency Over Rated

Research indicates readership of ads not dependent on the adjacent editorial content. It has been a long held belief that ads placed adjacent to relevant editorial copy improves the readership of those ads.  And ads placed in the front half of a publication have higher readership than those placed in the back half.  But a recent study conducted by Gfk MRI and reported by Lucia Moses in Mediaweek indicates this is not necessarily true.

The research firm studied over 68,000 ads that ran in consumer magazines over the past 18 months to determine if ad placement affected it’s readership.  The research indicated that ads that ran adjacent to editorial rated better than ads adjacent to other ads. The lack of clutter raised readership from 46% for ads adjacent to other ads to 51% for ads adjacent to editorial copy.

One of the surprising findings was that ads that ran adjacent to relevant editorial (defined as being about the same subject) performed no better than ads that ran adjacent to irrelevant editorial. It has been a commonly held belief that the readership of ads improved significantly if placed adjacent to relevant editorial. Apparently this may not be true.

One big bump was gained by ads running adjacent to the table of contents. Such ads increased readership to 59% because readers lingered on and returned to the table of contents.  Other studies conducted by Affinity found little difference between recall of ads whether they appeared in the front or the back half of publication.

So maybe we are wasting our time trying to match our ads to similar editorial content and fighting to get our ads in the front of the magazine.  Instead the emphasis should be on negotiating placement next to any editorial and not other ads.

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Healthcare Marketing: Keep Your Ads Simple

Advertising creative is changing and becoming much more simple and clean.  It’s the product of a consumer driven marketplace.  

Before the 1960’s, creative consisted of pages filled with type and graphics. Dark, serif-faced ads with little white space.  Along came the 60’s and all that changed.  Ads became simple, clean, with little copy and lots of white space.  The “Think Small” ad for Volkswagen was a perfect example of such.  And the change was basically art-driven.  The German-based Bauhaus design movement affected advertising like it did art, architecture, interior design and graphic design ad led to simple and clean characteristics.

The 80’s and 90’s brought more complex ads, with more copy and certainly more graphics.  But now we are reverting back to the simple clean look of the 60’s.  But this time it’s not art-driven.  It’s consumer driven.  Tony Mikes of Second Wind wrote concerning this shift in his “Consider This” blog.  He points out that back in the 60’s marketers controlled the process of marketing. Consumers believed whatever the marketer said, especially when backed up with clever creative to reinforce the message.

But today, marketers don’t control the process.  Consumers do. Consumers are knowledgeable, have access and can state their opinions and thoughts on any of numerous social networking sites. Peer-to-peer reality is an important part of the marketing process.  Consumers depend on comments, ratings and feedback from other consumers to make purchase decisions.

And this has influenced advertising.  Now instead of lots of graphics and lots of copy, the emphasis is on honesty and clarity.  Ads are simple and clean.  No need trying to overwhelm the consumer. It’s more about communicating a simple but pertinent benefit in a very personal approach.  Engaging the consumer in a very attractive but simple manner.

Perfect examples are the ads for iPod and iPhone. Extremely simple and direct.  Just communicating a benefit and lifestyle.  And two other classic examples that use simple clean approaches are the iPad and it’s older competitor, Kindle.  Little or no copy. Very visual but incredibly clean with engaging music. It’s all about honesty and simplicity.

So as we engage in healthcare marketing, the creative should be about transparency and honesty and simplicity.  Astute media buying, cost containment and strategic planning will remain important.  But ideas, creative execution, clear copy points and perhaps most importantly truth and honesty will reign supreme. And they should.


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Healthcare Marketing: Creative Messages Motivate

With all the changes in the world of advertising, it’s important to remember, creativity is still king.  Creative messages still have impact and motivate consumers. 

The advertising business has changed so much during the past few years.  New media, social media, analytics, ROI, SEO, social marketing, internet marketing, viral marketing, media fragmentation and a host of other terms and phases are the hot topics.  They have each impacted the way we approach advertising and what we emphasize. There are so many things to occupy our attention and demand consideration.

Currently one of the hottest, “hippest” television shows is “Madmen.”  It’s about an ad agency and advertising back in the 60’s.  It is a fascinating show.  It is also quite appalling as it depicts attitudes and stereotypes and behaviors of that day.  But there is one thing that rings very loud and clear in these episodes: the creative is the most important thing.  And while we are all thankful many things have changed from the 60’s this is one thing that shouldn’t.  It’s still about the creative.  Not that other things are not important, they certainly are.  But creativity is the still the big stick.

There are at least 4 reasons why creative is still the heart of the business:

1. Creative is unique.   Lots of people and businesses can do ads but it the idea that separates the great ones from the not so great.   Ads are a commodity but ideas are unique and differentiate your brand.

2. Creative builds affinity with the brand. Great creative establishes a bond between the brand and the consumer.  Consumers are skeptical today and don’t trust marketers.  But great creative helps overcome those obstacles.

3. Creative rallies people. Great creative can be a great motivator.  Remember the anti-litter campaign for the state of Texas…”Don’t Mess With Texas!”  Launched in 1985, it is credited with reducing litter 72% in the state.

4. Creative is beautiful.  Great creative transcends advertising and can become art.  It can inspire, thrill, motivate, and create a sense of wonder.  It can affect a culture.

Advertising has certainly changed but the power of great creative hasn’t.  It endures.

Complete these sentences:

Just __   __!

Got _____?

The chocolate melts ____  ____  ____.

You deserve a _____  _____.

A ______ is forever.

I’d like to teach _____  ______  __  ____.

I can’t believe I ate ___  ______  _____.

Pop, pop, ____  ____.

These are all advertising slogans.  Great creative.  And although some of them are years old, I bet you remember them.  Great creative is like that.  It is the heart of our business.  It transcends everything else.


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Hospital Marketing: Influencers of Water Cooler Brand Conversation

Television and the internet lead the way in influencing conversations about brands, prompting over 30% of all brand conversations.

For many years, television has been the medium that influences the largest number of brand conversations, outpacing every other medium in prompting face-to-face conversations about brands.  But the internet is gaining ground fast. According to a study conducted by Yahoo and Keller Fay Group the web now influences nearly 15% of consumer discussions about brands – nearly matching the 16% conversations inspired by television.

Jeff Neff reported the findings in an article in Ad Age stating that TV’s impact has remained consistent year after year but the impact of the internet is growing. Even though television remains strong, the internet is growing due to four primary factors:

1. The meteoric rise of social mediums like Facebook.   Social networks facilitate online sharing of information and communication.  Facebook use in the US alone has more than doubled from 69 million to 133 million within the past year.

2. The pervasiveness of mobile devices.  Smart phones provide round the clock access to the web regardless of location.

3. More people are searching the web for information about brands and products due to the tight economy.

4. The dependence of younger people on the internet.   Most of the increase in internet-influenced brand conversations were driven by people 13-29 years of age. “They’re now coming into a phase of their lives where brands matter”, stated Radha Subramnyam, VP-corporate and media research at Yahoo.

The vast majority of consumer conversations (76%) still happen face-to-face compared to 7% that happen online but the internet is growing as a channel that influences those conversations. And interestingly the growth of the internet as an influencer has not displaced other mediums; the pie for media influenced conversations is just growing. Television remained stable, as did newspaper, which influenced 10% of brand conversations while point-of-sale displays rose from 8% to 9%.

This clearly demonstrates the power of the media to impact brand conversations. Although most of the conversations are happening person-to-person, the media is heavily influencing the conversations.   And more and more attention should be given to our web-presence because it is growing in its power to influence the conversation.


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Healthcare Marketing: How DVR Use Impacts Your Hospital’s TV Commercials

Consumers are watching DVR playbacks more often and are watching a higher percentage of the ads. 

Nielsen has reported that consumers watch between 40% and 50% of commercials during DVR playback.  This is up from between 30% and 40% from previous reports.   More people are watching their favorite TV shows by using DVR and more are watching the commercials.  It was once feared that as viewers use DVRs they would fast forward through all the commercials and essentially kill television advertising.  But that has not proven to be true.

DVR penetration in America hovers around 40%, which is a 90% increase in the last couple of years.  It is also interesting that Nielsen reports that 42% of playbacks occur within the first hour of the show’s original airing and 61% occur within the same day.  And this is why Nielsen argues that an accurate reporting of the number of viewers watching commercials should include those who watch them on DVRs within the first day of the original airing.  As might be expected, the large majority of DVR playbacks come from younger, higher income viewers.

So it seems apparent that even with the increasing prevalence of DVRs in consumers’ homes, television advertising can still be very effective. There are large numbers of people watching television programming when it airs and even those who DVR their favorite programs, almost half of them are still watching the commercials. Certainly, the TV audience has eroded somewhat.  But what mass media hasn’t seen a decline?   Television still delivers a very large audience.  Although it is more fragmented than ever, the viewers are still there.  Even with its challenges, television advertising can still be very effective.   It remains a very viable and effective medium.   With strong creative and a compelling message, television advertising still delivers.

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Healthcare Marketing: There’s Gold in Them There Hills – Its Your Brand

A brand may be old, well established and mature but it may still have tremendous brand equity that can be the impetus for a brand transformation and revival. 

What’s old is now new.  Things from the past are now current.  Things nostalgic are hip again.   Maturity is a positive thing.  It carries all kinds of positive attributes, like trust, experience, familiarity and know-how.  And all of these are good brand traits.

Bob Garfield recently wrote an article for Ad Age and discussed the value of older brands. Products and brands go through a life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity and decline.  Although this is true, there remains great equity in mature or even declining brands that can be used to resurrect a brand and make it relevant again.

It is a time when those things that are old or mature are new again.  They have new life. It’s certainly easier to take older brands and give them new life than to try to start a whole new brand.  Garfield cites these examples of brands that have matured and declined: Studebaker, Alberto VO5, Frigidaire, Schlitz, Bufferin and Jiffy-Pop.  Recognize any of them?  You probably are somewhat familiar with all of them.  How is that true?  They are old and have basically gone away.  But yet all still have brand equity.

Brand equity is extremely valuable.  It lingers for years and years.  Garfield alludes to Slip and Slide and Spic N Span.  When was the last time you saw any branding advertising from either?  But you remember them, don’t you?

The point is, even though we may have a brand that is mature, that’s been around a long time… a hospital or healthcare organization that is a long way from being hip anymore, that’s okay.  Because there may be valuable and meaningful brand equity that can be used to resurrect the brand and make it relevant again.

Hard to believe?  Have you noticed the astonishing sales growth for Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer over the past 5 years?  What about the resurgence of Converse All-Stars and P.F.Flyers?  And who doesn’t know how hip and cool my father’s cheap aftershave, Old Spice, is now.  And what about Harley Davidson?  The ultimate iconic American brand that has not only been rejuvenated but propelled to new heights.

Retro, nostalgia, old things are cool again.  And if you have a mature brand that’s been around for a long time, there is a strong likelihood it still has great brand equity.  Brand equity that can be used to make the brand relevant again, or more relevant.  Brands, hospitals and heathcare organizations with great brand equity can be rejuvenated. And it may be a lot easier than investing and building an entirely new brand.

Yes, even though it may be old, your brand can be cool again.

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Hospital Marketing: How to Write Effective Headlines

Headlines are crucial in determining how effective an ad will be.  Strong headlines can make an ad very powerful while weak ones can render the ad ineffective.

First impressions are important.  The impression someone gives you within the first 5-10 seconds will go a long way in determining if you are interested in that person or not.  Those first few seconds will cause you to want to get to know that person better or not be interested at all.  This may not be fair but it’s true.   You may never get to know a very wonderful intriguing person because you were turned off in the first few seconds of your first encounter.

The same is true about headlines.   Headlines are that first 5-10 seconds that will go a long way in determining if someone is interested in your message or not. There may be great copy points that could be very vital and/or interesting to the reader but if the headline doesn’t draw them in, they will never know.

The headline should state a consumer benefit very clearly and precisely or pique the reader’s interest enough to entice them to read more. The headline should always be written with the target audience clearly in mind.  What would interest them?  What do they care about?  What is a problem they have that you can solve?  The headline should have a clearly defined objective and speak to a specific target audience.

A recent article I read listed four approaches to uncovering the headline that will get immediate attention:

  • How To. It promises information, advice or proven solutions.Other ways to use this approach include “Steps To” and Ways To”.
  • Reasons Why.  Provides reasons for doing something or believing something.
  • Question. Used if the target audience has a particular question that your product or service can provide an answer for.
  • Direct Benefit. Provides a strong benefit to the target audience.

All great headlines will not necessarily fit into these four categories.  But this is a very good way to start thinking about headlines and what will resonate with the target audience.  The headline is the key to ad effectiveness.  If you don’t make a strong positive impression within the first few seconds, the consumer will move on to the next encounter.  The headline must give the reader a reason to be interested and want to know more.  A reason to stay and want to know more.

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Hospital Marketing: Can Advertising Transform Your Hospital’s Brand?

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.


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