Healthcare Brand Strategies

Who needs a marketing plan?!?

2011-09-06T16:33:00.001-04:00

I know it's 2011. Yet I still get asked, do I need a marketing plan? Why? I recently had a very successful physician come to me for help whose built a weight loss/ weight management practice and is now venturing into the on-line get a pill diet world. He said, now, wait, I am NOT looking for a 5-6 figure consultant to write a marketing plan for me...we need to sell our product!

My response to this was measured. I began with trying to relate why a marketing plan (certainly I wasn't thinking in terms of 5-6 figures) was the best place to start. I asked him about his weight loss practice. He told me every patient began with a history and physical. To which, I replied, well, so do my marketing plans. I want to know whats worked elsewhere, what have you tried so far, and what are others trying to do to sell similar products. He then proceeded to say, well I have to be sure my patient is ready for the weight loss plan...to which I said, interesting, my market plans do the same thing. We make sure your product is ready for market, and that there is a market for your product. Finally he said, at the end of the patient visit, I go over the patient education materials, what to expect of the diet, what I expect of them as a patient, and how to reach me if they need me. Likewise, I said, it is with a marketing plan. As we look at tactics to reach the target, we must understand how much is educating the client about the product (do we need to build category and what is the best way to do that) and who the client thinks is best at this work today (do we need to build brand, and what will be the best way to do that).

Many healthcare organizations are like my doctor friend and now client. Department heads, senior leaders, so many just want the marketing team to get right to tactics...a tv spot for this, a radio spot for that, newspaper ads, banner ads, google ad words, you name it. Yet, without understanding the full picture for any particular service line, and not understanding the timing and roll up of all initiatives into a master plan, how does the marketing professional make a compelling case at budget time for needs, use, and priorities? In a time when budgets are slashed, staffing is in short supply, and the demands for efficiency and effectiveness have never been greater, marketing plans MUST take priority and SHOULD focus the work and resources of the department in such a way as to advance the goals of the organization. In our next blog, understand better how we help our organizations undertake the market planning work.

So you need to write an RFP--4 tips for success

2011-09-05T09:10:00.000-04:00

Writing an RFP and then managing the selection process is rarely a task that any marketing manager anticipates with relish. Indeed, finding the right consultant, researcher, ad agency, or other external partner using an RFP process can be challenging, disappointing, and time-consuming. For the marketing manager, finding the words to describe exactly what you need, what the right partner must bring to the table, and why you are looking for this in this manner, at this time, can be just the start of the almost overwhelming task. Many are turning to consultants who have done this multiple times to assist. Here are some tips I have learned over the years, having done dozens of these for not only myself as a marketing manager, but also as a consultant on behalf of my clients, and finally as a consultant respondent.

Truly understand yourself what services you want to buy, very specifically. Nothing is harder for the responding partner than trying to figure out what you mean. RFPs should be long enough to fully describe where your organization is today, what the challenge is you want to address, how the consultant can help you with this challenge, what will the relationship be like (i.e., consultant, partner, staff support/supplement), and what your expectations are for both the engagement as well as the RFP process.

Know what your process to select the finalist(s) is and share that up front. Then stick to your timelines, your parameters, and be fair to all recipients throughout the process. Frequently you have a preference going into what can be a mandated process by your organization. While that is certainly a reality, keep an open mind to the process…you might be surprised by the expertise you’ve never met or considered. And, it makes that favored vendor really show you their stuff if they know the process is serious.

Make yourself equally accessible to the respondents. Remember, this is the start of a longterm relationship with you and one of these respondents. Not being communicative at this point can be disastrous. It also sets the stage for signalling to the consultant/agency/researcher that its ok for them to proceed without your input…big mistake.

Before you ask the consultant/agency to create speculative work, consider the pitfalls and potholes in this thinking….you are assuming that the respondent can know enough about you to give you answers, without the due diligence and partnership a relationship brings. And, depending upon how you ultimately select the partner, and who you involve, do you really want the audience falling in love with a creative that you KNOW won’t work for reasons you know based upon your role? This can be a bad start for you, your relationship with the internal selection team, and your agency. The right consultant/agency/researcher should be able to demonstrate through case studies similar to the situation you describe that they are prepared and qualified to do the work. While you may not like their creative, in the agency example, that they used in their case study, you learn what the challenge was they faced with their client, what constraints the client put on the work, and the results of that campaign in their client’s market. This will tell you more about how their creative team thinks, works, and partners with the client than any speculative can.

We have consultants that have done literally dozens of these for organizations. If you’d like more insights or suggestions, feel free to contact us. We’d love to hear from you what works as well…post your thoughts here.

Healthcare Reform: Beyond Cost Containment and Quality: The Brand

2010-08-07T10:17:00.000-04:00

On March 23, 2010, Congress put into place the 1,000-page piece of legislation PL111-148, known more popularly as Healthcare Reform. While there are thousands of regulations, rules and details to come, this white paper will focus on the aspects of that legislation that will result in unprecedented market growth as never-before-seen numbers of people gain access to health insurance. The legislation provides for mandated insurance coverage and broadens access to Medicaid across the board during 2014-2017. Using Massachusetts as a bellwether, some models show two-year growth in the numbers of insured to range between 3-4%. The 2008 statewide-uninsured rate in MA has fallen to a record low of 2.7%. (Sg2 presentation 7/28 ABTF)

Today, hospitals are focused on preparing for the financial reality of declining reimbursement rates that will accompany this expanded access. Cost and quality measures of performance are expected to be such that if you do not meet or exceed the measures, you may not be able to participate…call these the ticket to play. So while this focus is certainly prudent, it is also time to assess the strength and position of your brand.

Winning organizations under healthcare reform will not only be lean, efficient, and have predicted quality outcomes, but they will also have strong, relevant, recognized brands for those key profitable services placing themselves in a position to demonstrate value and relevance directly to the insured consumer.

2014 is out there…what’s the rush?

While 2014 feels like ample time to worry about branding after the reform dust settles, be advised that you may need every day of those 36 months to discover, design, develop, deploy and display (the 5D’s of brand positioning) a brand strategy and activation that will put your organization in the Brand-of-Choice position for those targeted critical service lines that will generate the profits you will need to succeed in a reform era.

The typical timeline for deliberate brand activation can take 18-36 months, depending upon the life cycle of the brand, the consistency of the brand promise delivery, the position in the target market, and the integrity/consistency of the messaging in support of the position. The 5 D's (see post earlier) of Brand Strategy creation can take months and are influenced by many factors.

The key to any organization’s success, whether you do this organizationally or by critical service line, is you must begin now.

The 5 D's of Brand Strategy Creation

2010-08-07T10:09:00.003-04:00

Whether your organization is a one hospital stand alone entity, a single service line, or a multi-facility integrated delivery system, the 5 D's of Brand Strategy Creation remain the same. The following D's will highlight for you the process and steps to consider as you begin this work.

BRAND STRATEGY: DISCOVERY PHASE

All healthcare organizations have a brand…that set of deliverable expectations that are linked with the organization, commonly, consistently observed, and delivered…but that does not make it a strategy. Many brands simply exist; delivering changing brand promises, confusing messages, and falling generally in the category of indistinct, without significant value, irrelevant, or out of sync with the organizational aspirations. The first step in forming a winning brand strategy is to discover what can be known about the brand as it is today, and the potential for the brand going forward in your target market.

During the discovery phase of the brand position, the organization must look at all measures of the brand’s performance in the market, understand the aspirations for the brand by the leadership (board, administrative, and clinical), and discover the brand’s potential in the minds of the consumer as it competes in its unique target markets. This phase is intended to bring to light the following:

A) Those areas of strength and weakness regarding the current performance of the brand. We learn this by:

Consumer awareness, attitudes, and utilization surveys (AAU’s…quantitative research)
Market share reports (by service line)
In-Depth Interviews with leadership (board, administrative, and clinical)
Patient , Employee and Physician satisfaction/loyalty surveys, by service line
Qualitative research among current/recent patients

B) Those aspiration for the brand that support the long-term organizational goals

Strategic plan review for brand contribution (growth, people, quality, community, service)
Interviews with leadership

C) Those brand attributes that add value to the brand’s position among its target market

Quantitative research of target market(s)
Qualitative research among current/recent patients
Comprehensive review of competitors performance and position (Physician Interviews, market intel, etc.)

D) An understanding of the brand positions currently held by the competition in the target markets

Comprehensive review of competitors performance and position
Quantitative research of target market
AAU studies

The drivers for the timeline include the process steps needed internally to conduct the n-depth interviews of leadership. Typically, this can take as long as 24-40 hours of interview time alone, 1-2 weeks of scheduling, and another week or more to consolidate the input. The review of the existing secondary data is not usually an encumbrance to the time element, but where data does not exist, and primary research is required, the time line for this phase can grow quickly.

Patient focus groups can take 1-2 weeks to schedule, and typically 2-3 can be conducted per day by a trained facilitator. Typically, hospitals offer participants free parking or transportation assistance, a meal, cash or equivalent gift cars of $50-100, and a “hospital” item, like a mug, tote bag, first aid kit, etc. The patients should be grouped with some degree of commonality, such as similar points of service (OP, IP, ED) and/or same unit or service line (ortho, cardiac, neuro, etc.). This “shared” experience frequently allows the conversation to get to specific attributes that reflect relevant areas of focus.

Physician and employee focus groups, similarly, require 1-2 weeks of planning and scheduling and take a similar amount of time to conduct. Again, hospitals “thank” these participants with a meal, cash or gift equivalent (if employed, there is a value that does not require withholding…your HR department can be helpful here), hospital logo items, and the opportunity to participate during paid work time. With volunteer physicians, you may reward them for work under Stark as long as the reward for the work is reasonable…a $50-100 gift for one and ½ hours is typical.

The Quantitative survey (including the AAU) can take 4-12 weeks to conduct, depending upon the following parameters:

1. Survey design – 1-3 weeks, dependent upon the level of organizational process required at your hospital

2. Survey implementation – 2-10 weeks

Target market size (local, regional, national)
Sample size
Methodology

Mail—not recommended typically
Telephone
Online

3. Findings tabulation and report generation 2-4 weeks

At the completion of this phase, you should know the following:

The current “brand” and it’s consistency in the hearts and minds of your multiple audiences
What is desired, valued, and compelling to the target audience
What is doable, motivational, and aligned with your organization, your employees, and your physicians
What brand position is held by the competition, and how effective those positions are in the target market

BRAND STRATEGY: DESIGN PHASE

Enlightened by the findings in the discovery phase, the design phase work involves designing a meaningful brand position (s) to test within the organization to validate fit with the same. Successful brands are relevant, valued, believable, recognizable, and compelling to not only the target market, but also to the organization, staff and physicians.

Key elements in this phase involve equally considering what to include as well as what to exclude. This may seem simple enough, yet there are many “potholes” to avoid…specifically:

1) “Let’s add the kitchen sink” – this is the tendency to take every position possible and combine it into a single position. The problem that results—no position. You have really done nothing to create a situation that truly distinguishes you in the market.

2) Just pick one—any one---no process. Successful brand development needs to be an integrated, facilitated, and inclusive process, requiring participation by patients, target market, employees, and your medical staff. Agree to a process in advance, and stick to it.

Many organizations hold the focus group session detailed in the discovery phase during this phase, incorporating “non-=patient” groups representing the targeted future market to better understand the expectations that come with the brand positions articulated as valued/compelling in the Quantitative study.

Also, during this phase, if you did not start the process with one, it is recommended that you form and convene a “Brand Team” to work through the internal brand build. Typically, organizations include the following types (roles) on the team:

The marketing team as staff, with the department leadership as full member/chair
A brand strategy consultant as guide and facilitator
Senior leadership, both administrative and clinical (CEO, COO, CMO, CNO, HR, Key service line leadership, other key medical staff leaders)
1-2 Board representatives if this is appropriate in your organization
The Account representative/manager from your ad agency if you have one

The Brand Team can be convened up front or upon the commencement of this phase. In either case, a kick-off meeting with education in mind is highly recommended. The brand strategy consultant in partnership with the Chief Marketing leader co-present an educational session intended to define terms, explain what brand strategy is and is not, and clearly articulate the process and products that are intended through your process. Critical to this is clearly articulating the role of this brand team in your process.

It is important to share with the Brand team all of the findings of the discovery phase to gain consensus on those brand positions that have possibilities for the organization. Taking these 3-4 positions into testing will really be the focus of this design phase.

Throughout the design phase, the brand team’s role is to digest the focus group findings and ultimately select he optimal position.

Another key aspect of the design phase is to assess the “GAP” between the brand positions tested and the organization’s reality. A sweet spot happens when the brand position is deemed very strong and the “GAP” is small or non-existent. Typically, however, there is an experience “GAP”. Critical to moving on to the development phase is identifying and gaining leadership’s support for not only the marketing elements of the “GAP” (i.e., what can be fixed by Marketing/Communications alone) but also the operational elements of the “GAP” (i.e., service, quality, performance issues, etc.). This is where the Brand Team’s ownership is crucial.

Factors affecting the time element in this phase include-focus groups (see discovery phase for details), Brand Team consensus building, and detailing the “GAP” analysis (3-6 weeks).

You will have at the conclusion of this phase the desired organizational brand position, the “GAP” analysis for both the marketing elements of the brand strategy as well as the operational “experience” elements that will be required as a part of the brand strategy. You will also have identified if you brand architecture issues (what you call elements of the brand, how you portray them visually, etc.).

BRAND STRATEGY: DEVELOPMENT PHASE

Armed with a Brand position that you have found to be valued, desirable, and compelling to the target markets, as well as deemed doable, aspirational, and appropriate for your organization to deliver, you are in a position to develop your Activation plan. Activation plans must include not only the Marketing communications plans (for both internal and external audiences) but also the experience design plan. For the latter, this may mean changing the way things are done, or hard wiring the things you are doing…getting to that brand promise delivery consistency that successful brands do well. Many organizations today are turning to experts to assist them with this work. Organizations like The Studer Group™, Disney Institute, Starizon, Baptist Hospital and others offer organizations prescriptions and processes to deliberately create and deliver consistent experiences that support a strong brand position. In other cases, the experience piece may only mean “tweaking” a service/unit/department to fix or close the “GAP”, with our without the help of an outside expert. Clearly the nature and scope of the organizational experience “GAP” will drive the complexity, expense, and time needed for this phase.

For the former, here is where the inclusion of both a Brand Strategy consultant and your ad agency representative on the Brand Team is helpful. Working with HR and the Marketing communications team, this group can create the internal communication plan (a critical first step….no successful brand exists that cannot be articulated by those delivering it!). This plan must incorporate the background work in understandable terms as the backdrop for the employee/physician appreciation and ultimate ownership of the position, as well as visual and narrative around the position itself, including an understanding of the words selected, their behavioral implications, and other key strategies and operational implications. For example, if your brand position includes being the market leader in technology and innovation, how will that be realized? What will the organization do and not do to make that happen?

Depending upon the “GAP”, the internal plan may have multiple phases---those in support of establishing the “GAP”, those in support of closing the “GAP”, and those in support of the external plan launch.

The external plan, similarly, is driven by the size and nature of the “GAP”. If the “GAP” is less about operations and more about image or awareness, then the phases of the external plan may include first building a foundation then articulating the promise. If the “GAP” is significantly operational, the external plan should include a strategic response to positioning short term (during the deployment phase) and long term (the marketing communication brand display phase).

This extent of the development phase is driven largely by the “GAP’s” size and nature. During this phase, the selection of an experience design partner and/or agency partner (if one did not exist) will add 8-12 weeks to the 8-12 week work process…in essence doubling the time needed.

Outcomes of this phase include the activation plans detailed above, development of the Brand Story to share with internal audiences, definition of behavioral elements related to the Brand, and incorporation of the same into job descriptions and performance evaluations, resolution of any brand architecture issues (naming, graphics, etc.) and a broad engagement of the management level of the organization in the activation work.

BRAND STRATEGY: DEPLOYMENT PHASE

Armed with the Brand Activation plan, it is time to take action. The emphasis here is on the design and implementation of those action steps required to close the “GAP”. If your brand requires minimal or no operational or experience changes, the deployment phase is minimal, and largely driven by the Mar/Com team. Work begins inside…while the agency may be working on the promotional elements that will display your brand to the world (or at least to your immediate market place), the Mar/Com team and internal communications experts need to be launching the brand promise, telling the brand story, and generally allowing the employees and physicians to hear about it and see it first.

The Brand story simply tells the history of the discovery, design and development phase of the brand strategy exercise. It shares the meaning behind the words, the expectations as articulated by the future customers and the value the promise represents in establishing a strong, relevant, compelling brand position. The timing of this internal launch should allow for assurance that each employee has had the chance to understand the purpose, understand his or her role in realizing the brand, and garner enthusiasm for the opportunity the Brand Strategy represents. Many organizations hold events, screenings, “Brand Fairs” and generally allow employees and physicians to see it first. If job descriptions have changed, or performance expectations have been altered, it is during this phase that those reviews happen with managers with the Brand strategy as the backdrop.

The wider the Brand experience “GAP”, the longer the deployment takes. If an experience consultant/partner is engaged, deployment includes the time needed to substantially adjust the delivery experience to reflect the brand promise. Some organizations attack this incrementally (by unit, department, or service line) and others dive in across the organization. If approached organizationally, the deployment may take as long as 24 months.

As mentioned above, typically, organizations have pockets or areas that have the brand position operationalized and are in part why this particular brand position resonated with the leadership. While the rest of the organization hard wires these brand behaviors, the deployment of a service line specific launch of the brand can lead the external piece to begin impacting awareness and image. However, it is critical that you do this if the service is profitable, important to advancing the long-term strategy of the organization, and if the internal communications has clearly articulated the “why” behind the launch.

At the end of this phase, the organization should be in a position to begin the final phase, Display.

BRAND STRATEGY: DISPLAY PHASE

Some of you reading this article will say, “But this is where my Board member wants me to start…get that ad agency working on the brand campaign!” The display phase is the culmination of months of deliberate work to identify and deliver a Brand Strategy that will be compelling to the target market, motivational to employees, and relevant in a world where access to care is wide-spread and consumers face choices for their care. At this stage in the campaign, it is critical that you work with your agency to clearly articulate the Brand Strategy, the lessons learned throughout its development, and hold the agency creative on task to deliver the messages consistently and on point with that thoughtful brand position.

Graphics, tag lines, copy points, and imagery are designed, tested, and deployed during this phase. Design and testing can commence during the deployment phase as rarely changes in direction occur from that point forward. Testing the execution among groups of potential patients is key to assuring yourself and your Brand team that the messages and imagery have captured the brand strategy effectively.

In conclusion, be sure to continuously test your external efforts against the brand strategy, and measure the performance of your organization against the brand standards. Annual targets for patient, employee and physician loyalty; annual market share targets; annual AAU targets for awareness, attitudes, and utilization should be set and measured; and as you look across the profitable service lines critical to the success of your organization, be sure you periodically speak with those at the front line delivering on the brand promise.

In an era of Health reform, where access, choice, and coverage are expanded significantly, a strong brand position will place you in a position of market leadership and open doors to market expansion, vertically and horizontally.

Honors, Awards, Recognitions...what to do

2009-08-08T09:08:00.003-04:00

Do you wonder what to do about the awards your hospital has received? Do they matter to your community? To your staff? To your physicians? Do they set you apart from your competition? Will your patients understand the points you make?

So, HealthGrades® has just awarded you five stars...or designated you a Center of Excellence; you’ve decided that you’d like to use this, but you’re not sure how to go about it. TJC has just named you a certified Stroke Center. You have great patient satisfaction scores this quarter, and don’t know if it’s too soon to celebrate.

You’ve been using the same slogan and tag line for a while now, and you feel like your marketing team is doing a good job, but shouldn’t the hospital be making some splash with all this great news?

Consumers today are facing more choices than they ever have before. If they are willing to pay differentials, the world is their oyster. How do you lure in those who are willing to pay for the best care available? What avenues do they use to decide which provider is better than the next?

It seems that consumers still trust their physicians as their number one source for expert advice, but more and more are beginning to do their own homework. While traffic to the CMS site and HeatlhGrades® site is still modest, consumers are consulting hospital websites for a closer look at what organizations are saying about themselves.

Consumers are then stacking this information up against what they hear from family and friends and comparing their options.

Is your market ready to begin promoting these honors....these distinctive advantages that are at best difficult to understand? Your best bet...ask your target audience. See how your website is being used today. How does your content drive action? What pages are your visitors lingering over? If it’s parking directions, you might not be ready. But if it’s the quality data you have posted, then perhaps there are some good uses for these honors and distinctions. But remember, if you use the data, explain it. And be ready to defend changes in your status over time.

New Marketing Structures/Skills Needed

2009-08-08T09:04:00.007-04:00

Is it time to rethink your marketing organization? Are you prepared for the new social media world? Is your website performing? Does your staff have the skill set and mind set for the new challenges the organization is facing? Do they recognize the new consumers? Are they ready for the new shape of healthcare reform? And, who, if anyone, owns growth in your organization?

The healthcare marketing world is changing. New times call for new tools, new methods, new mediums, new messages. Is your team organized to support each other, drive growth for your company, embrace the new social media tools, and maximize the effectiveness of both messaging and reach?

Many healthcare teams have evolved over the years, with staff skilled in writing, journalism, public relations, graphic design, strategic planning, analysts, sales teams, and general marketing staff. Today, most of us have at least one or more staff proficient and skilled at web design, delivery, and content development. But is this what we’ll need going forward?

Where do you get the data that tells you where the growth potential is for your organization? Can you find the critical few service lines that have a high margin, and build the relationships you need to meke them a key focus for your organiation? Are you able to convince your leadership team that the noisiest doctor with the most expensive technology isn't necessarily the most important focus for your organization?

Combine these pressures with the fact that consumers are being asked to grasp and make critical choices regarding their healthcare and it is more and more obvious that no one is taking the lead on helping consumers with this daunting task. As the growth champion, senior communicators and business developers, we have a new opportunity within our marketing organizations. Redefining the relevance of our role in educating consumers, informing staff, engaging patients, setting service line priorities, and enlisting physicians as partners should be the gist of our job descriptions.

But these opportunities are surrounded by challenges. Do you have the right talent base to help you with these? For instance, which tools will be most effective? How can you leverage your current media messaging and placements to allow you to maximize not only the return on those directly, but to also allow you to break into new medias? Do you have a facebook page for your hospital? Videos on UTube? Do you twitter breaking news, important reminders? Are you relevant to today’s decision maker? Are you at the table along side the CMO, CNO, COO, CFO, CEO?

It will take new talents and new thinking to succeed in the next ten years. Will healthcare reform open up access in ways never-before contemplated? Are you ready? How will you reach these people?

Marketing in a down economy

2009-08-08T08:48:00.003-04:00

Is the economy making you ask yourself, “How much should we be spending on our marketing efforts? How do we know we are maximizing our position? What might we do differently to stand out in the market place? Could we focus some efforts to do more with less? If you have these questions, you are not alone!

The economy has everyone challenged today. Bad debts are rising, elective procedures are on hold, and the unemployed ranks are rising. Your market share may be holding, but the bottom line seems to be shrinking.

Where do you start? Cut the marketing budget? Increase it? Stay the course? Change your focus? Before you answer these questions, consider the following:

What do you know about your current patients and most loyal followers? What do they need from you right now?

In many markets, what those most loyal to you need is assurance that you are there with them during these hard times... that your mission includes them... that whatever they face, you face it with them.

This is a great time to look at your outreach activities, and expand them...give away screenings and help those on cholesterol lowering medications afford their liver function tests...keep those free cholesterol checks out there....find ways to be relevant to those most likely to bounce back with the economy.

Consider walk-in clinics that offer free blood pressure checks, reduced rates on flu shots, etc.; try to provide those items good for the individual that are also good for the general public. For example...flu season...consider flu testing to help stop the spread.

This is the time you can take those most loyal to your organization and lock them in for life... and those who are somewhat loyal will come over to very loyal.

As for the marketing budget, focus on the critical few, and use the resources to capture those few service lines with the most potential. Don’t spread a few dollars around everywhere hoping for the best. Even if you take your budget and spend it on your strongest service line, and/or the one with the most potential, you’ll come out ahead at the end of the year.

What are you experiencing? Share your ideas and opinions.

Emotional v. Rational: What works in Healthcare?

2009-06-03T13:57:00.003-04:00

It's a debate that dates back to the late 1920's. Even the experts don't agree. In March, 2009, Advertising Age published a piece by Hamish Pringle and Peter Field on the topic. Their take? From their research, the data showed that emotional campaigns are almost twice as likely to generate large profit gains than rational ones...with campaigns that use facts as well as emotions in equal measure falling somewhere in between. They were able to document that successful emotional campaigns reduce price sensitivity dramatically. Additionally, there is an increased sense of differentiation causing greater endurance and a likelihood to survive new competing product launches.

Jack Trout would respectfully disagree. In his blog posting to Branding Strategy Insider on Jan. 10, 2009, he cited a study conducted by TiVo back in June of 2008 that measured which ad campaigns people most frequently fast forwarded through. His conclusions: The top three least fast forwarded through, thereby assumed to have been watched and "sticky", were more effective, and he states that they were all three rational by his definition (he doesn't exactly share his framework for his definition, however). They included the least which was Bowflex...he said that wanting to look like the buff, fit guy on Bowflex was somehow a rational arguement...hmmm...seems emotional to me, invoking desire, envy, etc. Let's look at the other two top vote-getters for sticky...Dominican Republic tourism...relaxation, fun, pleasure....seems emotional again. Ok, surely the last of his arguments holds....Hooters....of course! It's the food! Now we all know that's a rational argument.

Ken Orwig, in a white paper posted to his website, www.orwig.net, says the bottom line lies with the brand itself. The dominant mood (emotional v. rational) is best determined by the brand's elements, including uniqueness (the more unique, the greater the need for the rational argument); price (the higher the price for the brand, the more rational the argument needed, with the exception being purely luxury items where it's mostly an emotional purchase); the more defined the customer perception of the brand category also drives rational v. emotional; the more innovative or intangible the brand, the greater the need for rational messaging; and, the higher the importance to the target, the greater the attention to the rational messages.

Yet, Orwig notes that "neurological research as well as a substantial body of anecdotal evidence supports the premise (sic) that People buy on emotion then justify their decision with facts." He went on to quote Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas who pointed out "At the constitutional level where we work, 90% of any decision is emotional. The rational part of us supplies the reasons for supporting our predilections." Now we understand the debate in Congress over Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor...will she use emotion or rational reasoning in her decisions?

So what about healthcare? Let's look at the taxonomy of Emotional advertising...ads taking this approach must invoke fear, humor, fantasy, hope, compassion, relief or engagement, at a minimum. Ads using rational will feature technical expertise, scientific evidence, comparisons, or third party validation. Today's more successful brand campaigns involving health care organizations use some combination of emotional and rational. With the proliferation of transparency, they have to. The debate will continue. I leave you with this question...what is word of mouth? Emotional? Rational? Hmmmmm...would love your thoughts.

What will it take to identify the brand that will work?

2009-01-27T10:04:00.004-05:00

So, we start inside. But how? I suggest you interview your senior leadership, capturing how they see the brand, listen for key words that resonate from one leader to the next...then go to the managers...do the same...have them relate the brand to popular consumer brands....see where the themes take you....is it trusted? (Volvo) popular? (iPhone) big? (walmart) comprehensive? (P & G) is it synonymous with the category? (Kleenex) quality? (BMW) I have a colleague that works in healthcare research, Klein and Partners, and they have a great focus group process that uses this methodology in a tried and true way to get to this information and much more...(www.kleinandpartners.com) check out their website for much more.

Now, have some focus groups of the rank and file...what do they say...how do they describe the brand?

You should be looking for intersections in the brand descriptions...this is your starting point...based upon where and what you want the brand to be (or become) this information will tell you what obstacles you have to overcome to get it there...especially understanding that these are the people that will make the brand a reality.

Next issue, we'll look at key constituents and how their perceptions drive the brand identity. What do you think?

Hospital Brands

2009-01-04T10:11:00.004-05:00

Hospital Brands rely heavily upon the patient's experience to validate, define, and advance. There isn't enough money in anyone's budget to create a brand simply by advertising. So many hospitals today try to skip this important step.

Over the coming weeks, follow this blog for useful steps in learning how to go about hospital branding the right way.

Step One...start inside. What do employees say your brand is? Let them describe what they feel their work means to those who experience it. Let them give you key words that resonate with them. Ask them what they think management thinks the brand is? What does marketing say it is? Are the words the same?

No brand can ever be stronger than the people who have to deliver the experience. Consumer brands are tied to the experience. So start inside...