by Cori Albrecht | Sep 19, 2018 | Branding & Identity, Springboard News
The best healthcare marketing strategies, offline, online, traditional and new media all have to work together. They must reach, motivate, and engage healthcare consumers. In order reach and motivate your target audiences to choose you over another practice, your brand needs a “heartbeat.” A heartbeat creates an emotional statement about your organization. A promise to the marketplace that focuses on the benefits consumers will gain by becoming a patient of your practice. Whether yours is a large medical practice or small physician office, it’s important to ask yourself the following on a regular basis: Do your marketing strategies deliver on your customers’ expectations? Is your brand’s messaging delivering on that strategy? Is your creative really breaking through? What’s the competition up to? Working to develop your brand’s heartbeat, and marketing strategies to address all of these things is crucial to creating a creative and compelling message that will engage your specific target audiences. The next goal of your brand should be to meet your key audiences’ interests, needs and passions, and creating and executing a tactical plan to reach those audiences. Below are some marketing strategies for taking this next step – 1. Offline/Traditional Offline marketing, also known as traditional marketing, includes radio, television, billboards, print collateral and direct mail, among others. These can be considered antiquated and ineffective but should still be considered as part of an overall, integrated marketing plan. There’s a reason you see so many healthcare/pharmaceutical ads on TV and receive so many special offers via the mail. For the right demographics and with the right strategy behind them, they still work. Especially when combined...
by Cori Albrecht | Apr 18, 2018 | Branding & Identity, Medical Association Branding, Springboard News
According to Deepak Chopra in his bestselling book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, “How can I help?” is the only question that truly matters. “It coaxes and expands your awareness out toward the service and care of others.” Many medical associations struggle with articulating an effective value proposition that helps their members expand awareness and services. Establishing this in clear and compelling manner is an essential step if you want to communicate how your organization can provide the keys to your members’ success. There are some important steps you must take before embarking upon creating your medical association’s value proposition. It all begins and ends with research. So where do you start? Here’s a brief 3-step plan for medical associations. 1. Refine your target audience First and foremost, you need to determine who your “key” target audience is. You can’t be “all things” to “all people.” Many have tried, and failed. But by clearly defining and refining your true core audience, you can be all the right things to the right people. It’d be easy for medical associations to assume that their target audience is “anyone in a certain specialty and/or those who use those particular services.” But having such a wide audience would make it nearly impossible to tailor its strategy to specific types of individuals for specific purposes. The key to success here is knowing who to target, and why. The increased focus and definition will result in a much more effective strategy. 2. Be the go-to organization for the value you provide in the industry you serve When thinking about the opportunity you provide to that core audience,...
by Cori Albrecht | Oct 19, 2017 | Branding & Identity, Springboard News
Creating a winning digital strategy takes the right combination of ‘earned,’ ‘owned’ and ‘paid’ mediaUnderstanding what those are, and how to leverage them to create a successful plan can be confusing. A great way to tackle this is by thinking of earned media, owned media and paid media as a triumvirate. Each is an important part of your organization’s strategy, and combined, they can contribute to a successful digital marketing plan. For the purposes of this blog, we are going to focus on owned media. Owned Media is any communication channel or platform that belongs to your brand that you create and have control over. This can include your website, any content you publish, your social media channels, and the content you distribute on those channels. The cornerstone for any digital owned media strategy is a good website. For many, building a website can be an overwhelming prospect. But building one doesn’t have to be such a monumental task. It’s important to remember that the goal is to build that website, and get your organization online. A website is not a “one and done” project. It is a living, breathing entity that you can enhance and refine over time. What you start with does not have to be your end game. Unlike the catalogs and printed materials of days gone by, your website can be modified quickly and easily as you learn what messaging and design resonates with your audience(s). If you build it they will come? While goal #1 is getting online, merely creating a website with your name on it will not help you meet your business goals....
by Cori Albrecht | Jun 8, 2016 | Branding & Identity, Medical Association Branding
Medical associations support their members through educational opportunities, networking forums, mentoring programs, public awareness activities, leadership activities and advocacy efforts, among others. But how do they determine how successful they are? Membership growth? Member retention? Seminar attendance? Member engagement? Member satisfaction? Revenue? Visitors to websites? Facebook likes? Patient interactions? Advocacy wins? The answer is – all of the above and more. So how do you measure your success? For associations, it begins and ends with the members. Membership Growth Membership growth is a hot topic. Most, if not all, associations strive for membership growth. More members = more revenue = successful association, right? So how do you market to and attract new members? Start with your existing membership, and how well they know your brand, what you stand for, and your perceived value to them as medical professionals. Understanding your most dedicated membership can help you learn more about how to deepen their relationship with your association. Determining your brand values and promise is the first step into finding new ways to communicate with your members and potential members. Medical Association Branding Springboard has worked with multiple medical association branding clients to help develop their value propositions and programs to meet member needs. Member marketing toolkits, eNewsletters, landing pages and microsites, testimonial videos, marketing videos, among others, are all within your reach. Again, starting with member needs is that first step. Many member businesses do not have the resources to develop marketing materials on their own, so providing templated marketing materials to your members can help improve their volumes, and will demonstrate a real value in their membership, resulting...
by Cori Albrecht | Aug 5, 2015 | Branding & Identity, Social Media, Springboard News
Only 10 years ago, MySpace was the king of the social network hill, and Facebook was still primarily for students. Back then brands were still trying to reach their target audiences in the traditional ways, and we had no concept of forging the dialogs and close connections with our target audiences that we can develop today. Responding in real-time to those audiences was just a pipe dream. Fast forward to 2015 – having a social media presence is no longer a “nice to have,” but is now a definite “must have.” And in order to make the most of our presence on social networks, build a strong brand and effectively manage our social media accounts, we’ll need to do more than just create great content, we have to do some social listening and have a dialog as well. Top 5 reasons to monitor brands on social media 1. Powerful marketing analytics Social media listening helps uncover a myriad of powerful statistics. By tracking social media metrics, brands can determine what is being said about them, and who is saying what. Marketers can also track when their followers are most active online, what content is most popular, and which posts are resulting in the highest number of click-throughs. Keeping track of all of this activity can help a brand optimize its content, and drive more effective search engine marketing campaigns. 2. Building a community Listening enables brands to track conversations and detect leads and key influencers in their industry. The insight gained from listening helps brands to interact with consumers in a way that builds a positive image and better...
