Do Consumers Trust Your Cardiovascular Marketing Brand?

February 13, 2012

“Trust me.”

We’ve all heard the phrase a million times. But what makes one person or brand’s plea for trust more credible than others?

We’ve recently been exploring this theme with a health system client. Think about your own experience. Which brands have really earned your trust? Why do you trust them? And how does your level of trust influence future purchase decisions?

I recently saw this post about strategies used by financial services brand, Charles Schwab, to continually deepen trust with its customers.

I think many parallels can be drawn between financial services and healthcare in terms of why it’s critical to gain consumer trust. Both industries handle people’s most vital information and transactions. Money and health are arguably two of the most critical and, certainly, most personal aspects of running the business of life.

Schwab’s well known “Talk to Chuck” campaign, works to truly understand consumer concerns about working with a brokerage firm. Messaging speaks candidly about those concerns in real, human terms.

The next iteration of the campaign, “Fuel the Movement” is described in the Schwab Talk blog:

Just like the first “Talk to Chuck” ads that launched six years ago, we truly mean what we say—good investing should start with a conversation. And we believe that it’s our role to listen carefully to clients to understand their unique needs before doing anything else.

We believe that investors today want plain talk. That means tangible solutions for their specific situations and transparency about cost.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Health care consumers today also want someone who will listen carefully, provide specific solutions and provide cost transparency.

Schwab is engendering trust by addressing concerns and focusing on integrity, candor, engagement, and straightforward actionable ideas packaged in a wrapper of plain talk. In today’s jaded, cynical consumer environment, it’s a refreshing approach that stands out.

Schwab also highlights third-party ratings and customer testimonials on its website to back up its brand promise of “Trust Us.” Healthcare marketers typically have access to both of these third-party endorsements as well.

I think we can all learn some great lessons from Schwab. What are you doing to engender trust for your brand?

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Five Ways Cardiovascular Marketers Can Use Pinterest

January 17, 2012

The surprise social networking success of 2011 may be exactly what your brand needs to boost engagement in 2012.

Pinterest is hot. It came out of virtual obscurity last year to become one of the top ten social networks, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

Pinterest is an image-based platform that focuses on lifestyle issues. It almost looks like an upscale women’s magazine. The basic premise is this: users create and name boards about any subject they like (Places I’d Like to Visit, Healthy Meals, Hobbies, etc.). People post (“pin”) relevant photos and articles on the boards and follow one another based on interests. Photos are displayed in a pin board-type feed that is simple, yet visually appealing.

Today, the audience is heavily female, and there are many topics that are relevant to cardiovascular marketing: diet, exercise, almost every aspect of health and even a Go Red For Women board.

So, how can you take advantage of this community? This article from Mashable offers five ideas.

1. Host Contests

Contests can range from creating the “Best Board” to earning the most Repins. Users could post photos of their best heart healthy meals, best ideas for exercise motivation, or photos of themselves in a red dress to support heart health and awareness. Similar to photo contests on Facebook or Twitter, Pinterest offers a way to build visual between your brand and target audience.

2. Conduct Social Media Focus Groups

You can use boards to get reactions to new developments in your heart and vascular institute. For example, are you adding items to your cafeteria menu, redecorating a waiting room or adding a community workout facility? Because of Pinterest’s commenting ability, it’s an ideal platform on which to introduce new ideas and gather firsthand opinions. As users Repin a photo, you can gather more intelligence, and ultimately decide whether you should move forward with an idea.

3. Showcase Brand Personality

Pinterest’s photos offer unlimited possibilities to showcase your brand’s personality. For instance, you could have a Pinterest Board of photos that features your philanthropic outreach and community events. You can post past and present photos that showcase new construction, past milestones, employee honors, etc. Each Pin allows for a description and a link to the original story. Therefore, you can quickly connect an audience with stories, mission and future plans, all via photo Pin.

4. Display Various Sectors of Your Organization

Larger operations can use Pinterest to nicely organize areas of focus and relay them to the public. For instance, you might host several individually themed boards. One board might showcase physician and staff interests, while a specialty board displays ideas related to specific procedures or areas or expertise. Another board might show photos of employees in action.

5. Showcase Communication Between Brands and Customers

Using Pinterest, brands can create Pins and boards that feature customer feedback and product interpretations, and then showcase them for entire audiences. Customers can further relate to products and services, and brands have a way to thank their supporters by integrating them into their communities. For example, grateful patient stories could be featured or patients who want to share stories of how they lost weight, got in shape, etc. could be featured.  Patients and prospective patients could be inspired to return, and you are creating content that keeps fans constantly involved.

It seems that Pinterest holds immense potential to interact with various audiences. Using the power of image, brands can create buzz around products and services, display more in-depth aspects of their businesses, and ultimately create more personal and visually pleasing social experiences for their audiences.

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New Cardiovascular Marketing Sensation: Know Your Numbers Video

November 4, 2011

A video from Mayo Clinic takes viewers back to the ‘80s with a spoof of the 1982 hit “867-5309/Jenny”. It features actual Mayo Clinic staff and cardiologists.

Check out some of the lyrics:

You need to know your numbers,

Don’t let ‘em get too high

Jenny please watch your numbers

Blood pressure, lipids and BMI

It’s a fun way to encourage people to pay attention to important numbers, blood pressure, lipids and BMI, that can potentially reduce their risk of heart disease.

It also has high hopes of going viral. To see the video on Mayo’s site, it asks you to create a personal profile, which I did. By spreading the video to your family and friends, you then have a chance to win prizes as part of a related contest.

Here’s the body of the email I got after registering:

Dear julieseifertrobinson,

Thank you for registering for Know Your Numbers! Please find your account details and some tips for promoting your profile below.

Profile URL: http://knowyournumbers.me/profile/julieseifertrobinson

Username: julieseifertrobinsonYou can login to the site on: http://knowyournumbers.me.

Some Helpful Tips For Promoting Your Profile

All of these steps can be accomplished on your profile.

1.Share your profile URL via Facebook, Twitter and Google+ (http://knowyournumbers.me/profile/julieseifertrobinson).

2.Send email invitations to your friends and family.

3.Include your profile URL in your email signature.

Best wishes and good luck!

Know Your Numbers Team

Interesting approach. I like it. To watch the video on the Mayo Clinic site, click here.

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Six Ways to Improve Your Cardiovascular Marketing e-Newsletter

October 13, 2011

Effective email newsletters can be a key part of engaging patients and prospective patients.

If you’re like most of my clients, you’re constantly looking for ways to attract attention while extending your budget.

Email newsletters can be a great way to provide relevant content and develop stronger relationships with your target audience.

However, with email spending on the rise, what can you do to stand out from the crowd?

This post from consultant Tom Pick has six good suggestions:

  1. Keep your masthead or any graphics near the top of the newsletter shallow vertically, so that readers using the preview pane with images turned off don’t see just a blank box.
  2. Use white space on both sides, or at least on the right side of the template, to improve readability and make the newsletter seem less “heavy.”
  3. For each content item, combine a small graphic, compelling headline, and one – two sentence summary to entice the reader to click through to your site to read more.
  4. Incorporate a “share by email” or “forward to a friend” button to encourage readers to pass along your content. Also include a “view this newsletter online” option, with social sharing buttons on the online version, to encourage social sharing of your content.
  5. Include buttons for your social network accounts in the newsletter to build your following on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other social sites.
  6. Make use of the footer to provide links to supplemental or less important content: upcoming events, popular past articles, additional newsletters you offer, etc.

What else is working for you?  I would love to see samples of great email newsletters that are generating results.

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Five Steps for Improving Your Cardiovascular Marketing Landing Pages

October 4, 2011

Landing page design is critical in maximizing conversions

Matt Bartlett, Kuhn & Wittenborn Account Coordinator, contributed this guest post.

I recently attended a webinar presented by Target Marketing and hosted by Closed Loop Marketing on website landing pages and came away with five good tips to ensure the design of a landing page delivers great results:

1. Make a good first impression. A Stanford University study in 2003 discovered that 75 percent of web users admit to judging the credibility of an organization based on the design of its website.* Additional studies have shown an individual can judge a website in around 1/20th of a second. If you don’t make a good first impression, potential clients are going to move on – really quickly.

This judging can occur before someone actually visits the site. For example, search for something on Google and hover over one of the results. You’ll see two arrows at the right side of the link. When you hover over these arrows, Google shows a screenshot of the page. If you make a bad impression here, it’s possible an individual will never visit your page.

2. Be clear and obvious. Someone visiting a site should be able to identify the subject of the page in two seconds or less. Immediate concept clarity can be achieved through multiple visual clues.

Relevant images are extremely important, as the brain comprehends images faster than words. It’s also important to have a clear “next step” for the visitor. If you have to, outline steps with numbers and walk the visitor through the process.

3. Get relevant. People like to feel unique and be treated with a personal touch.  Good landing page design uses this as an advantage. Landing pages can be customized to know a person’s location and how they came to access the page. If a person feels like the page is customized, he or she is more likely to convert. It’s also okay to ask visitors to designate what they are interested in or what industry they are from.

Another key element is to have more than one landing page. It’s a mistake to have one generic landing page for everyone. Have multiple landing pages that make the visitor think your page is a perfect match for what he or she is looking for. Have different page titles paired with different search terms so that your page looks like the most relevant result on the search page.

4. Make small changes. Not everyone has the budget or time to completely redesign a landing page. For those individuals, there are some simple changes that can really make a big difference. The presenters use a process called R.A.R.E.

Remove extraneous text, decorative images and unnecessary form fields.

Add credibility support, special offers, sectional headings and progress     indicators.

Replace old/small buttons, form styles, low-quality images and links that leave the page.

Enlarge page titles, sectional headings and buttons.

5. Persevere. If you redesign a landing page and it starts performing better, great.  But don’t stop there. There are always ways to improve performance and what the visitor wants is constantly changing. Keep evaluating the page’s design and keep striving for even better results.

This is by no means a complete list of everything that goes into a well-designed landing page, but it’s a good place to start. Though most of these steps are very simple, it always amazes me how often they are overlooked, and how big an impact they can have on a campaign’s success.

*Fogg, B.J., Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility, Persuasive Technology Lab. Stanford University, 2002 (revised November 2003)

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How Will Facebook Changes Affect Cardiovascular Marketing?

September 29, 2011

It looks like brands will have to become more compelling to get noticed on Facebook. 

The last week or so has seen a whirlwind of changes to Facebook following founder Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote at the f8 conference in San Francisco. Based on an informal survey of my personal Facebook friends and clients, people are confused. What do these changes mean and how will they work?

I found a post that does a pretty good job of outlining the highlights:

1. Profiles are turning into Timelines — a scrapbook of people’s lives.  Timelines will be  a stream of information about you — the photos you’ve posted, all your status updates, the apps you’ve used, even the places you’ve visited on a world map — that scrolls all the way back to your birth. It encourages you to post more stuff about your past, such as baby pictures, using Facebook as a scrapbook.

Timeline will have a lot of customizable features.  It is in beta now and will be opt-in to start. In the long run, it will become the new default profile page.

2. Liking something is “so five minutes ago.” — now you can [verb] any [noun]. The social network has launched Facebook Gestures, which means that Facebook’s partners and developers can turn any verb into a button.

So you’ll start seeing the option to tell the world you’re reading a particular book, for example, or watching a given movie, or listening to a certain song.  A lot of experts think this will lead to major “oversharing,” and it will certainly increase the clutter factor in your feed.

It will also mean that a common metric for brand success – generating “Likes” for your brand will become less relevant.

3. Facebook apps need only ask permission once to share stories on your behalf. This change may be one of the more controversial. Previously, apps had to ask every time they shared information about you in your profile.

But app information won’t clog your news feed, because …

4. All “lightweight” information is going to the Ticker. Status updates, photos, etc. will still show up in the news feed. Game updates and other  “trivial” details have been banished to the Ticker, a real-time list of things your friends are posting now that scrolls down the side of your screen.

5. You can watch TV and movies, listen to music, and read news with your friends — all within Facebook. Partnerships with services such as Hulu, Spotify and Yahoo News help facilitate this activity. The ticker will tell you what your friends are watching, listening to or reading, allowing you to share the experience with them by clicking on a link.

Very interesting. I’m sure brands will fight to get their messages to show up in the Ticker, as it will imply endorsement by your friends.

6. Facebook has more users and more engagement than ever. It has hit 800 million users, and most of them are active. The social network just saw a new record for the most visitors in one day: an eye-popping 500 million.

Despite consumer grumbling this past week, I have a feeling most of those users will get over it and continue using Facebook.

Have you thought about strategies for keeping your organization at the forefront of engagement given the changes? I’d love to hear your ideas.

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What Cardiovascular Marketers Can Learn from Apple’s New CEO

August 26, 2011

Internal communications seem to be more critical than ever.

If you’re like most health care marketers I know, you’re spending more time lately on strategies that will strengthen things like “employee engagement,” “physician alignment,” and “internal brand ambassadors.”

A strong organizational culture certainly plays a growing role in patient satisfaction. Yet, it often seems getting buy-in on corporate mission statements, vision statements and value propositions is tougher than ever. Why is that? Are people more cynical these days? Are they tired and stressed in today’s challenging economy? Probably. Yet, I also can’t help but wonder if we communicators aren’t making things too complicated, especially in times of change.

That’s why I find the new CEO of Apple’s message to employees refreshing. As widely reported, Steve Jobs, Apple’s highly regarded, innovative-genius CEO, stepped down this week due to health concerns. By all accounts, Jobs leaves big shoes to fill, and if I were the new guy, I would have some trepidation. I would have equal trepidation if I were the person who had to help the new guy write his first message to the employees. However, I think the folks at Apple did a great job. Here’s the first e-mail to employees from Tim Cook, Apple’s new CEO:

Team:

I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as CEO of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I’ve ever made and it’s been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future.

Steve has been an incredible leader and mentor to me, as well as to the entire executive team and our amazing employees. We are really looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration as our Chairman.

I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that—it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.

I love Apple and I am looking forward to diving into my new role. All of the incredible support from the Board, the executive team and many of you has been inspiring. I am confident our best years lie ahead of us and that together we will continue to make Apple the magical place that it is.

Tim

One of the smartest communicators I know says every message should do three things:

  • break through
  • ring true
  • make people like you

I think Cook’s e-mail does all that and more. It’s positive, reassuring and easy to understand. Most of all, it seems genuine, personal and human. It sounds like a letter from a friend, avoiding  “corporate speak.” I’m filing this away as a great example. What do you think?

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The Power of Sharing Cardiovascular Marketing Insights

July 28, 2011

While Julie is on vacation, Susan Levy, Publisher of wellfedheart.com and dedicated reader of The Main Artery, will contribute as a guest blogger.

One of the topics that Julie has written about recently on this blog is the power of social media as a communications channel and about not being afraid to share messages from other reliable sources. I call it “sending our people out into the universe”.

But, just how does it work? After all, people “go away” from your site. Will they hit that back arrow? Will you just lose them…out there in the universe…or worse, to another health care site?

You’ve heard it before and it’s absolutely true — providing valuable content that has perceived value to the reader is exactly what makes people want to return to your site time after time. It’s like that old saying, “Hold tightly with an open hand.”

So even though I usually spend my days in cardiovascular marketing, this past week I viewed the most powerful YouTube public health video I’ve seen in years. I linked to it from the Providence Health System in Oregon’s eNewsletter. Now, more than ever, I feel connected to Providence and their messages, both on their site and out in the universe. And, I just feel compelled to share it with everyone I know, both professionally and personally.

Now, that’s the power of the Internet – at its best delivering sight, sound, and the emotion that a thoughtful story can deliver. Given all the new distribution channels available to us today, as long as the health content you are providing is of value to your audience, even if they go “out into the universe”, they’ll also always come back.

Susan develops strategies and marketing tactics for health care organizations. With more than 20 million in print, her customized heart-healthy booklet of recipes has been used by cardiovascular centers in more than 35 states. Due to its success, and at the suggestion of hospital chefs and dietitians, The Well-Fed Heart online library was created. Susan’s blog, In My Experience, links current news in health care, research, and trends to her life as a marketer.

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Seven Tips for Using Twitter Chats in Your Cardiovascular Marketing

June 27, 2011

Twitter chats can be a great way to engage your target audience.

Essentially, Twitter chats attract people who are interested in a particular topic. Cardiovascular issues certainly qualify as topics that lend themselves to robust discussion.

Basically, a group will organize around a specific hashtag, and people then follow a single thread of conversation on Twitter.  It’s an easy, low-cost way to get involved in conversation with patients and even physicians.

Like any marketing strategy, though, starting a successful Twitter chat requires deliberate planning.  I found a great post from Megan Berry, a marketing manager for Klout, that lists these seven tips for success.

1.    Be Clear About Your Goals Going Into the Chat

Twitter chats can position your organization as a thought leader and grow brand awareness.  Make sure you talk about how you will measure success before starting your chat. Consider metrics such as the number of people participating, mentions of your brand, sentiment of mentions, and lead generation.

2.    Choose a Topic People Care About

 How do you decide if a topic will be of interest? People should already be discussing it in other arenas.

“It’s better to build a twitter chat around a topic of interest that’s directly related to your brand,” says David Spinks, creator of #u30pro, a Twitter chat for young professionals. “In the end, the participants will still relate the chat back to your brand because you’re the one organizing it.

Heart health, and all of its sub-topics, e.g., prevention, treatment and lifestyle considerations, definitely qualifies in my opinion.

3.    Be Authentic

Choose a topic that makes sense for you. Don’t do it just because you think you’re supposed to. Do it if you are genuinely looking for a way to engage and communicate with a community. Often, chats start out slowly and build.  Keep engaging, and the right people and community should find you.

4.    Choose a Schedule and Be Consistent

Most Twitter chats occur once a week for an hour, but if you’re just starting out, you may consider a bi-weekly or monthly chat instead, as it’s easier to add sessions than to try and cut back.  Good time slots include over the lunch hour or in the evening around 7 or 8 p.m.  Here’s a good example of a chat I sometimes participate in on the topic of healthcare social media:  #hcsm at 8p.m. CST on Sunday nights.

5.    Plan, But Stay Flexible

Most Twitter chats have a topical focus each week. The goal is to facilitate the conversation without getting in the way or letting it get out of hand (easier said than done).  Make sure the person running the chat is someone who can speak for your organization.

6.    Bring In Thought Leaders

Don’t be afraid to get others involved, whether you need a partner to develop and plan the chat, or great guest “speakers.” Twitter chats are successful because of the people in them. Do what you can to get great people involved, especially when you’re just starting.

7.    Thank People Who Participate

If people take the time to engage with your chat, take a moment to thank them individually or in the chat itself.  Acknowledging people gives them more incentive to spread the word, which will help you grow your community.

I thought these were helpful tips.  If you are already conducting Twitter chats, please share your experiences.  Also, please recommend any Twitter chats you know about that might be relevant for other readers.

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Connecting with Older Users on Your Cardiovascular Marketing Facebook Page

June 17, 2011

Facebook users over age 55 are finally catching up with younger users when it comes to “liking” brands.

Less than a year ago, only about one-fourth of Facebook’s older users had “liked” a company on the site, compared with 60 percent of users ages 18-34.

According to a recent study, nearly half of older users are now connecting with brands via Facebook.

This climbing level of activity among boomers seems to indicate a lot of potential with this important target group for cardiovascular marketers.

What should this mean in terms of your Facebook content?

Most social media users say they connect with brands to get information about products and special offers. Affluent social media users, who are often older, are especially interested in staying informed about brands for which they have an affinity.  Good tips as you develop your Facebook content calendar for the next few months.

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