Healthcare Digital Marketing

Healthcare Marketing: Younger Population Does Read Newspaper – Online

To fully reach the print audience, healthcare marketers must include an online component. Though not as easy as one might think.

Sixty-one percent of adults under 30 who read newspapers read it online.  Compared to just 39% who read a printed version.  Additionally the average income for those who read it online is 20% higher than those who read the printed version.   More astonishing is that adults under 30 who earn more than $100,000 annually are 82% more likely to read digital news content than print.

According to a survey of 5,034 households conducted by Pulse Research, online readers of newspapers are younger, more affluent and better educated.  The survey showed the average age of print readers is 51 compared to digital readers at 44.

Digital readers are 22% more likely to have a college education.  Additionally 48% of the digital readers have children at home compared to 32% of print readers.

While circulation of daily newspapers continues to decline, the print and online audience is substantial and desirable.   To penetrate the younger, more affluent, better-educated audience with print we must adopt an online strategy.

The chief problem with this for healthcare marketers is the options online are not nearly as attractive as those provided by newspaper print versions.  Traditional print offers good real estate, which can create impact and allow a brand to develop and tell a story.  Online options provide very little more than name recognition and a brand statement.  Until newspapers decide to offer significant space in their online content, newspaper advertising will continue to be less and less attractive.

Many marketers are shifting money away from newspapers because a significant portion of their audience is going online for the content, but offer limited advertising options for digital marketing.  Newspapers will have to address this issue as they provide little more than billboard advertising but with a much smaller reach and frequency.

 

 

 

 

 

Healthcare Marketing: 20% of Time Spent Online is with Social Networks

Social media sites reach 82% of the online population and Facebook reaches over ½ of the world’s population.

Social media continues to show amazing growth.  In “It’s A Social World”, ComScore has issued a report concerning the growth and impact of social media.  Without a doubt social media has become the most popular online activity.  In 2007 social media represented only 6% of online activity but that has now increased to 20%. Over 1.2 billion people globally use social media sites.

The report verified that women spend more than 30% more time online than men.  Social networking is no longer a young person’s activity as the participation now spans all age groups.   And Facebook now reaches 55 billion people, which is more than half of the world’s population.   Despite the hype for mobile access and marketing, it still captures just a fraction of the fixed-line connection.

The study just proves again the impact of social media.  The extensiveness of social networking.  But it does not answer, for healthcare marketers, the question of how to take full advantage of this massive audience.  Savvy healthcare marketers have experimented with some success.  But there are so many unanswered questions. We continue to learn and hopefully grow smarter.  But with limited resources and some of the limitations of healthcare marketing, it’s still a learning process.   There is still much to be explored as we attempt new tactics and new ideas.  Stay tuned….there will be much to come.

 

Healthcare Marketing: Ten Steps to Creating Effective Hospital Landing Pages

Improve your web marketing by utilizing landing pages that make engagement much easier.

In a recent issue of Ragan’s Health Care Communication News, Scott Bille contributed an article on how to create effective landing pages.  The article has some very useful information and is republished here:

Now that people are coming to your website, the next question most marketers ask is, “How can I make the site work harder for me?”

Take a look at these ideas.

1. Identify business goals.

Before you can figure out how to make a landing page work harder, ask yourself, “What was the business need behind the campaign?” Lead generation, patient education, engagement? Answering this will help define a call-to-action (CTA) to engage visitors on the landing page. It will also help you find effective ways to measure how well everything is working.

2. Define a target audience.

Your next question should be, “Who can help us achieve those goals?”

3. Develop marketing tactics.

Once you know whom you are targeting, you need to ask, “How can I get my message in front of them at decision-making time?” It may be that you have a few targeted messages for subsets of the audience. This leads to another vital piece of this step—setting up a plan for reporting on individual tactics (messages, creative and placements).

4. Drive visitors to unique landing pages.

Sure, when someone clicks a link in one of those places, you could send them to the home page and they should be able to find the desired content. But why make them work that hard? You have a specific message—why not send them to a landing page focused on that message?

Now the fun begins. How can we make the landing page convert visitors into action-takers?

5. Deliver on off-page promises.

Since you built the marketing campaign driving traffic to the landing pages, you know what visitors were reading immediately before they arrived. Your page title, URL, headlines and body copy should all relate directly to the message that got someone to the landing page.

This will help them quickly realize that they are in the right place and prevent high bounce rates (people leaving the page without taking any action). It will also boost your quality score for pay-per-click (PPC) ads like Google AdWords, which could save you money on your ad bids.

6. Don’t make visitors think.

Keep the message on the page focused and simple. Eliminate distractions (too many choices, navigation to the rest of your site, etc.). Create a bright shiny and irresistible call-to-action.

If visitors came from an email, chances are you might know some of their personal info. Talk to your IT team to find out if they can pre-populate the form fields in the landing page’s CTA. At AB&C, we have had conversion rates of more than 50 percent by pre-populating form content.

7. Build trust.

Bounces can be caused by failure to establish trust. Web surfers are a savvy bunch and will bail out of any site that feels like a spam trap created to get their personal info.

When visitors hit your landing page, you need to assure them that they arrived at a legitimate destination. Tell them where they are. Show your contact information, accreditations, awards, etc. to help create a sense of authenticity.

Avoid over-use of capitalization and punctuation. “AMAZING!!!” Or “NEW!!!” Might as well read “SPAM TRAP!!!” “RUN AWAY!!!”

8. Optimize Call To Action.

OK, you have identified the right people, driven them to the landing page, given them a concise message. Now, how do you get them to take action? On the web, it’s often a lead-generation form. Here are some tips to make that form process simple for your visitors.

  • Outline the benefits: Let visitors know why they should fill out the form. What’s in it for them?
    • Keep it short and simple: I always start by asking, “What fields can we remove from that form?” If you don’t have an immediate use for every piece of information you’re asking for, remove them. More importantly, remove any field that might make visitors ask, “Why would they want that?”
    • Create a simple scan line: Line up fields and titles to keep the user from having to jump around to understand the form. This will help even complex forms to feel less daunting.
      • Make the form easy to read: Make the type large enough for your target audience to easily see (the older the audience, the larger the font size).
      • Don’t skimp on white space: Let your form have room to breathe. It will make it less intimidating.
      • Identify required fields: This shouldn’t be necessary if you have done your job in eliminating unnecessary fields. But, if only some of the fields are mandatory, mark them.
      • Inline validation: Don’t make visitors hit the submit button before they find out that they didn’t enter a valid email, or they skipped a required field

9. Measure results.

If you are using Google Analytics and have properly tagged all inbound links, it should be fairly easy to see what tactics are driving the best traffic. Look at how many people hit the site versus the number of completed actions. Now, ask yourself, “What can I do to get more people to convert?

10. Test, test, test.

Try some variations to the page to see how they affect conversion rates. Fight the urge to test multiple variations the same time. If you do, how will you know which one made the difference? Run A/B tests to two variations; observe and refine as you learn from visitor responses. Here are some variables to throw into your A/B testing.

  • Headlines
    • Graphics and other images
    • Multiple CTAs: Some people will click the first shiny object. Others may read through your content before deciding to get involved. Make sure that second category doesn’t have to hunt back up the page to find your CTA. Sometimes a secondary CTA could work for someone who isn’t fully committed
    • Button colors: Try colors that blend with the page’s palette, and colors that contrast. There is no perfect formula. Some say that green means “go” and red means “stop.” Others say red evokes a strong emotional response. Some say blue is the standard link color, so use that for buttons. Whatever color you choose, make sure it looks “clickable.”
    • Button text: Label your button something that ties in to your CTA like “Request an Appointment” or “Apply Now.” Avoid labels like “Submit” or “Go.”
    • Form variations: Try your full form. Then, try simply asking for a name and email. Somewhere in between lies the perfect blend that doesn’t scare people away, but still gives your staff the info they need to follow up.

 

Scott Bille is the interactive director at Aloysius Butler and Clark.

 

 

Healthcare Marketing: Are Your Internet Ads Ignored?

Research shows Americans ignore internet ads more than advertising in any other medium.

The old adage that “half of my advertising budget is wasted, now if I only knew which half” appears to have a lot of merit. Especially with internet ads.  Research produced by Adweek/Harris Poll from an online survey conducted by Harris Interactive indicates that:

  • 63% of Americans ignore or disregard internet ads.
  • 43% say they don’t pay attention to banner ads.
  • 20% ignore search ads.  

For hospital marketers, those are significant numbers.

Wayne Friedman reported the findings in MediaPostNews.  Other media compared to the internet faired much better.  Only 14% ignore television ads, 7% for radio and 6% for newspaper.  Probably not surprising, 91% of consumers ignore some of the ads they see.

Even out of the largest users of the internet, adults 18-34, 40% of them state they ignore internet banner ads.  And of those consumers who have some college education or a college degree, 46% ignore banner ads compared to just 40% of those with a high school diploma or less. There was practically no difference between men and women.

So for healthcare marketers maybe we shouldn’t rush out and totally embrace internet advertising and shift significant amounts of money away from traditional media.  Some voices are constantly telling us that our budgets are out of whack because the percentage we spend on internet advertising is typically far below the percentage of our audience who are regularly on the internet.

Sure, we should have an internet presence and take advantage of opportunities of reaching and engaging our target audience.  But the number of people using the web is not the only factor to consider.  Research is indicating that it’s harder to break through the clutter and gain traction with internet advertising than with traditional mediums. 

Internet advertising is viable and should be in the media mix but it’s certainly not time to abandon traditional mediums for the web.   Internet advertising and social media are the new kids on the block.   But the old standbys aren’t dead yet.  In fact, this research indicates less of our advertising on traditional mediums is not as wasted as much as advertising on the internet.  But of course for each medium, we are still stuck with the question: which part is wasted and which is effective?

Share

Healthcare Advertising: Consumers Internet Time Now Equals TV Time

Overall, adults spend as much time on the internet as they do watching TV while younger adults spend more time on the web than TV. 

For the first time, the amount of time adults spend on the internet and spend watching TV is equal  –  13 hours each per week.  Forrester recently conducted the survey and published the results.  Brian Morrissey reported in Adweek that research has already indicated younger adults (18-30) already spend more time on the web than watching TV and now it’s true of 31-44 year olds too.

The losers in the survey were radio (down 15%), magazines (down 18%) and newspapers (down 26%). Continuing the trend of the last few years.

So for healthcare marketers, that begs the question if an equal amount of your advertising budget should be allotted to the web as to TV.  Some argue the percentages of ad spend are way out of line and marketers are hanging on to better known traditional media way too much.  And there is a tremendous opportunity for those who align their budgets to actual consumer habits.

Others argue in contrast, that television is still the most effective way to build and sustain a brand and that web advertising does not have the impact of television.

As Morrissey stated, one important factor to remember is that over a third of the hours consumers spend on the web are work related while practically all the time watching TV is for leisure and entertainment.

It is obviously true that adults are spending more time on the web and that time is now equal to the time they spend watching TV.  But I’m not sure it’s time yet to spend as much of our scarce budget on web advertising as television.  Television continues to prove that it is extremely effective building a brand.   And when people watch TV they are truly engaged – and actually watching TV.  But while they are on the internet, they are often at work or may be searching for specific information with restricts their attention to web advertising.  They are more often “on a mission” when they are on the internet than when they are watching TV and thus less likely to notice ads.  Sure, one can rightfully argue that people can leave the room or tune out the TV when there are breaks in programming.  But research indicates that happens much less often than assumed.

For healthcare marketers, it’s important we take advantage of the opportunities available on the web.  And as consumers spend more time on the web, it becomes even more important.  It also seems logical to take some of the budget from mediums that are declining in audience share to accomplish this.  But the time spent watching television has remained stable over the past 5 years and therefore it remains an extremely viable media option.

It’s an argument that will continue and healthcare marketers will continue to experiment to determine the media mix that is most effective.

Share

Hospital Marketing: An Ad is an Ad is an Ad, Right?

Placement of web ads greatly influences effectiveness.

Ads that appear on the first screen of a user’s browser window above the fold have been found to be most effective.  Research by Casale Media has shown that ads above-the fold can be seven times more effective at generating click-through than ads below the fold.

Casale analyzed nearly 2 billion ad impressions and found that users were three to four times more likely to act on an ad if it is the first or second ad they see during their session.   As the consumer continues to browse, ad effectiveness continues to diminish.

As reported in Media Post, repetition is proven to increase effectiveness. Ads seen five times or more by a consumer were 12 to 14 times more effective than ads seen less than five times.

The research also indicated that ads appearing on cluttered sites lose effectiveness.  Ads surrounded by photo galleries or clusters of other ads were much less effective.  And ads may not be seen at all when displayed on a web site that uses auto-refresh mechanisms to inflate impressions.

As hospital marketers we have long known the importance of ad placement.  We are careful which radio stations to buy and what time periods.  We buy the most watched or most cost effective television programming.  We buy specific placement in magazines. We ride outdoor locations to choose the very best addresses. And we often complain about the placement of our ads in the newspaper.

But many times in placing our hospital’s adverting on websites we have been much less particular.   That is partially because we have not known much about ad placement and the ad effectiveness on the web.   We have had our intuitions but research like the kind conducted by Casale is beginning to give us the reliable information we’ve needed.  And what we are finding is ad placement on the web is just as critical for effectiveness as every other medium.

So as hospital marketers increasingly utilize web advertising it’s important to know where the ad will be seen and in what type of environment.  There are many websites with lots of traffic but designed in such a way that makes the ads placed on the site much less effective than sites with less traffic.

And it’s still true that frequency matters.  Repetition and frequency is just as important on the internet as it is in other mediums.  It’s only effective if we commit enough to make sure it is seen and seen often.

 

Share

Healthcare Marketing: Internet is Woman’s Best Friend

Women turn to the internet for health information over family, friends or doctors.

Women are uncomfortable discussing health concerns with other family members, friends, doctors or even spouses.  And as a result they turn to the internet for information and answers.  iVillage conducted an online poll for Harris Interactive, which revealed women’s dependence on the internet for health concerns.

Some of the results from the survey are:

  • 82% of women are uncomfortable discussing health concerns with family and friends
  • 62% are twice as likely to turn to the web over their own mothers about health issues
  • 64% use online communities to discuss health concerns
  • 49% stated that online would be the first place they would go to research health issues.  More than twice the amount who would go to their doctor first (25%) or family (15%) or friends (6%).
  • 30% gather information from online communities to prepare them for their doctor’s visit.

These results verify women’ s dependence on the web for health information.  Healthcare marketers must recognize this and develop web strategies for communicating to women. Robust web sites, web advertising and the development of social networking sites are some of the tools that may be used to reach women.  Even directing consumers to existing websites can be helpful in creating relationships and building strong brand perceptions.

Women are traditionally viewed as the primary influencer and decision maker in regards to their family’s health.  As they increasingly turn to the web for valuable information, healthcare marketers must recognize it and create ways to meet them there.


Share

Healthcare Marketing: Are We Overreacting When We Respond to Consumer Complaints?

After receiving resistance to their new logo, Gap went back to the old logo.  Did they overreact?  Patient Complaint

After undoubtedly a series of focus groups and extensive research, Gap decided it needed to change its logo.  They wanted a more contemporary look that was current but yet honored its heritage.  A tremendous amount of research and work went into developing the updated logo.  So Gap introduced it’s new logo on it’s website.  But four days later reversed the decision and returned to their original logo.

The change occurred because consumers took issue with the new mark and voiced their disapproval using various social networking sites.  The reaction was strong and fervent.  So four days later, Gap president Marka Hansen announced the logo change was being rescinded and the company was returning to the original logo.

Many people praised Gap for listening to its customers and paying attention to their concerns.  And for responding rapidly and answering the consumers’ requests.  It’s the way marketing works today.  Consumers are in control. They voice their opinions and solicit others in the network to join the crusade.  And a company is highly regarded for listening to consumers and responding to their concerns and wishes.  Everything you read about marketing today would affirm that GAP did exactly as it should.

Maybe that’s true.  But maybe not.  Was all the research conducted by Gap about their logo just wrong?  Was it bogus?  Did the resistance merit abandoning the new logo?  Were those complaining brand loyalists?  Would those who resisted the change stop buying Gap clothing?  Is it no longer strategically important to update the logo for the future?

A survey commissioned by AdAge and conducted by Ipsos Observer found that 80% of consumers had no idea the logo had changed.  Is it possible to put too much emphasis on consumer social networking responses?  Do consumers know what is best strategically for a company’s future success?  Are consumers always right?   What happens when Gap someday raises prices to remain economically feasible and they meet resistance in social media?  Do they sacrifice the company’s financial health because some consumers express dissatisfaction?

This real life example raises questions about how much influence unsolicited consumers should have on your brand.  I don’t have all the answers.  I commend Gap for listening and responding to consumers.  That’s the value of social media.  But I also cringe somewhat because they caved to the wishes of a relatively small amount of consumers.  I wonder why some opinionated consumers who didn’t like the new logo trumped all the research that had indicated an update was needed.

Healthcare marketers should listen to consumers.  They should be responsive to consumer feedback and input.  But should they forsake research findings and strategic planning for the wishes of a small percentage of customers?  I know social media experts say we should respond quickly to consumer complaints but I would have liked to have known who the complainers actually were (consumers or non-consumers) and if they were consumers who would have stopped buying Gap products because of the logo change.

Social media is helpful and exciting. But should it hijack and derail strategic planning that’s based on solid research?  It’s a serious dilemma and deserves further consideration and study.

Share

Healthcare Marketing: Consider Newspaper Website Ads

Although newspapers have been pronounced mortally ill they now reach 61% of the adult population –  online.

Newspaper websites reached a total of 102.8 million unique visitors in September of 2010.  That represents 61% of the total adult population. A study conducted by comScore and reported by the Newspaper Association of America found that on an average day newspaper websites attract 20.3 million unique visitors and the average visitor makes 8.5 visits per month.

These web visitors spent more than 3.3 million minutes reading newspapers online and viewed over 4 billion page views. Newspapers readers online outpaced other web news sites.  Yahoo News reached 51% of the adult population, 22% visited CNN online and 26% visited MSNBC.

And those who visit newspaper websites tend to be more affluent too. Twenty-five percent of adult visitors to newspaper websites had annual household income of over $100,000 compared to 21% of all internet users.

So even though newspaper circulation is declining, more consumers are reading their newspaper online.  Healthcare marketers should take notice and seriously consider a web presence on local newspaper sites.  The web audience will undoubtedly continue to grow as circulation continues to decline and healthcare organizations can capture this growing audience by having a significant web presence on newspaper sites. Readers are going web and so should healthcare marketers.

Share

Healthcare Marketing: Boomers Spending Big on Technology

Baby Boomers are into technology, spending more money on technology than any other age group.

Technology and social media are ways to reach the younger generations.  Right?  Not so fast. Baby boomers might be the real target.  The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that baby boomers have fully embraced technology.  They are the biggest spenders on technology according to Forrester Research’s annual benchmark tech study.

Think about the boomers you know.  The typical boomer has a desktop computer at work, a laptop at home, are on facebook, have a smartphone, have multiple accounts on the internet, DVRs their favorite television shows and is wishing for an iPad. If they don’t already have one.

“It’s actually a myth that baby boomers aren’t into technology.  They represent 24% of the population, but they consume 40% (in total dollars spent) of it”, stated Patricia McDonough, senior VP-analysis at Nielsen and reported by Beth Snyder Bulik in Ad Age.

Baby boomers are not early adapters but they certainly pile on.   Ten years ago only 25% of boomers went online daily.  Today 70% go surfing everyday.   And examine these stats about baby boomers:

  • 47% use social media
  • One in five use social media every day
  • A full 66% use their cell phone for texting
  • 91% use email
  • 88% use search engines
  • 78% use the internet to research health information
  • 74% get news from the internet

Baby boomers are aging and have become huge users of health services and that will grow tremendously as they age. To healthcare marketers they are a huge and critical target audience and if we think they can only be reached by traditional media we are making a critical mistake. Technology and social media have been embraced by boomers and have become a very common and pervasive part of their lives.  Technology, new media and social networking are effective ways to reach, communicate and even build relationships with those 45-64 ears old.

Boomers are the greatest spending generation.  And they spend their money and their time on technology.  It would be a huge disconnect for healthcare marketers to assume otherwise.

Share