by Natalie Wong | May 30, 2019 | Springboard News
Lessons from the Shark Tank Smart marketers will treat C-suite presentations as if they were walking into the “Shark Tank” to sell not only their marketing plan, but the strategic vision and value they bring to the organization. If you’re like millions of Americans, you’ve seen the award-winning television show “Shark Tank,” in which entrepreneurs have 10 minutes to sell investors on their business idea. Now transfer that image to the last time you walked into the C-suite to sell your annual strategic marketing plan and budget. “It can be a similar experience,” said marketing consultant Rob Rosenberg, president of Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy, Ltd., in Chicago. “You have a limited time to give your presentation to a skeptical audience who has typically been sitting in a conference room for hours listening to numerous other pitches involving new investments or the request for more resources.” Read more on SHSMD’s newsletter Spectrum that features an interview with Rob Rosenberg and Paul Szablowski. Contact Springboard for more... 
by Natalie Wong | Oct 17, 2018 | Branding & Identity, Social Media, Springboard News
Today, there are over 3 billion worldwide social media users. And almost 9 out of 10 companies in the United States are using social media for their marketing. Social media is no longer a place for friends and family to stay in touch or to connect with others. It’s where people can stay up-to-date with news and current events. Specifically, in the healthcare industry, social media marketing plays a large role. It can help providers engage with patients, connect with other healthcare providers and companies, and create awareness to the public of relevant and timely information in the industry. Engage with Patients via Social Media Marketing According to a recent study by Pew Research Center, 74% of internet users engage on social media. About 80% of those internet users specifically look for health-related information, and nearly half are searching for information about a specific doctor or health professional. Patients want the most reliable information possible when searching for information about their health. Because of a doctor’s knowledge and expertise, about 60% of users say they trust a doctor’s post over a company’s post. Connect with Other Healthcare Providers and Companies Social media connects doctors and physicians to other companies and keeps them up-to-date on the latest medical developments, technology, minimally invasive treatments and more. About 88% of physicians use social media to research pharmaceuticals, biotech and medical devices. Create Awareness to the Public About 32% of internet users post about their friends and family’s health experiences on social media. When it comes to health-decision making, people gravitate towards providers who have treated related or experienced similar situations. Patients care about other patients and they want to provide the best information that may be useful for others and their loved ones. In addition, patients and caregivers are always seeking out specific providers for a condition or second opinions about their health. Information on social media can have a direct influence on their decisions. It can provide them potential alternatives to treatments they otherwise wouldn’t know about. If you need help with your social media marketing, contact Springboard today. We can create a strategic plan that will benefit you, your patients, and your practice or... by Natalie Wong | Apr 18, 2018 | Branding & Identity, Springboard News, Website Development
Your healthcare website is the hub of your digital marketing strategy. It is the place where patients, members and influencers want to learn more about your organization. While many medical product and service companies have an online presence, they don’t think of search engine optimization (SEO) while building it or even after the site’s been developed to maintain it. A website can look great, but if it’s not built for SEO, no one will be able to find you. Follow these 5 important factors to make your website more successful, including design and development, and what to do once the website is live. Simple is better, especially for healthcare brands. Before you get started with a new website, first define your goals. What do you want your visitors to see and what do you want them to do? This all contributes to the design of your new site. Not everything can stand out. Highlight a few things that sets you apart from your competitors and make those stand out on your homepage. If visitors want more information, then they can click through the inside pages of your site to learn more. Keep in mind, if your website is too cluttered or looks confusing, it overwhelms your visitors. They may end up leaving your site because they can’t find what they are looking for. Also, your site should be optimized for conversions. How do you want to measure success? Make sure you have that clear call-to-action. Built for quality. Many people can build a website but it’s how you build it that matters. When people think of search engine optimization (SEO), they tend to think of keywords or content. However, it’s more than just that. Your website needs to be built and optimized for SEO, it needs to be built to perform on the web. For instance, the way a website is coded can affect the load speed of your site. Load speed contributes to your SEO. The faster your site loads, the higher quality score it will get. Research shows that if your website takes 3 seconds or longer to load, your visitors won’t wait. Your site also needs to be responsive. Whether you are viewing the site on a tablet, phone, laptop or even a TV, it needs to automatically adjust accordingly to fit each screen size. Engagement. How will you keep visitors engaged on your healthcare website? Make sure your content is easy to read by avoiding chunky paragraphs. Your content should be concise with captivating headlines. Share content that is compelling to visitors, such as patient testimonials, stories or exciting news. Also, incorporate photos and videos as well. All of this is shareable content. Post on your social media accounts or send out e-newsletters to subscribers. This will also help to drive traffic back to your website. Security. Unfortunately, websites are prone to security risks. There is no such thing as having a website that is 100% secure. Website security is more about risk reduction than risk elimination. The first thing you need to do to enhance the security of your website is installing an SSL Certificate. SSL Certificates are what make a website trusted. In addition, search engines typically list websites that are secure and safe first. To make your website even more secure, you should conduct daily backups of your site. In the instance your site were to get hacked, which can happen at any time, you can revert the site to a time prior to when it was hacked – maybe a day or two or even a couple of hours. This allows for minimal loss of the site if you frequently add content. Maintenance. Your website will always grow. Whether you have news to share, photos to add, new testimonials or stories to promote, it’s always good to add it to your site. Google loves fresh and relevant content. It also shows Google that your website is consistently active. Be sure to link Google Analytics and Google Search Console to your website. These are great tools to have so that you know where your visitors are coming from, how they are navigating throughout your site, and how your website is ranking on Google search results. These are all great success factors for a very effective healthcare website. Keep in mind, if you take care of your website, it will take care of you and you will have a great return. If you are thinking about redesigning your healthcare website or want to know how effective your site is in terms of SEO or development, contact Natalie at Springboard today for a free website... 
by Natalie Wong | Feb 20, 2018 | Branding & Identity, Springboard News
You probably already have ads out there targeting specific populations based on demographics to promote awareness of your hospital and attract new patients. Now, let’s take it to the next level and apply that marketing strategy with location. What if you could target your competitors’ patients and feed them ads about the benefits of switching to healthcare providers or services at your hospital? Sounds cool, right? Picture this. A patient is sitting in the ER waiting room at a nearby hospital, anticipating his turn to be seen. To pass the time, he plays games on his smartphone, looks at his social media feeds, and browses various websites. An ad pops up promoting your hospital, specifically the short wait times in the E.R. The patient doesn’t have to think twice about what he should do. He packs up and makes the trip across town to your hospital for that faster service. Geo-Conquesting Location-based mobile advertising, called geo-conquesting, allows you to specifically target potential patients who are physically located at your competitor’s location. On average, smartphone users are on their phones more than 150 times a day – making it an easy way to also reach consumers who are interested in the services you offer. With geo-conquesting, you set a virtual perimeter around competitor hospitals, clinics or health centers. This allows you to target ads to smartphone users who enter within the set perimeter. Remember, you need to give patients a valid reason to leave your competitor. Whether you are promoting exercise classes, parenting education courses, webinars or simply wanting to increase volume with new patients, geo-conquesting can help reach people who are already in a healthcare setting. In addition, through this type of advertising, you inform patients that there is an alternative to healthcare services, besides at the facility that they just entered. Enhance your advertising by targeting new patients with geo-conquesting. They already have a need for healthcare services based on their physical location. Take it a step further with regular digital advertising and discover how geo-conquesting can help your hospital grow. Contact Springboard for more... 
by Natalie Wong | Jul 26, 2017 | Branding & Identity, Springboard News
In this evolving, technology-driven world we live in, phone books and directories are a thing of the past. When it comes to finding the best restaurant, electronic store, bowling alley or even hospital, you must exist online. However, having just a website alone won’t do much good if no one can find you on the web. In today’s competitive market, you need to have an effective website that is paired with search engine optimization, or SEO, to help visitors find your site. In short, SEO helps search engines, like Google, figure out what your website is about and how it may be useful for visitors. The best practices of SEO will ultimately improve user experience and ensure visibility on search engines. In addition, search engine optimization is essential because: A vast majority of users are more likely to click on websites that are listed on the first page of search engine results. Your website is more likely to get visited if you are ranked high on the first page for multiple keywords, . This also creates more exposure to your business and brand. Search engines typically list websites that are secure and safe first. This provides a sense of business credibility. SEO helps make your website easier to navigate for users. It consists of rearranging your site’s architecture to make pages within the website easier to find. This is also helpful for search engines to crawl your website to find relevant information about what you offer. Type in a keyword or phrase that best represents your business on any major search engine; whether it’s “Great Italian Restaurant in Chicago,” “Affordable Hotel in Los Angeles,” or “Best Hospital Near Me.” Do you see your company’s website on the first page? If not, you don’t need to think twice about why SEO may be beneficial for you. The faster you start SEO, the faster you will be ranked at the top of search engines, and the faster you will attract new customers to your business. If you have any questions, contact Springboard... 
