by Rob Rosenberg | Aug 21, 2019 | Branding & Identity
Twenty years ago, when some companies were “printing money,” corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies were often developed as a way to deflect consumer attention away from big profits, write-off more expenses, and – in fairness to those who did – do good for the sake of society. Studies prove that CSR has a positive impact on a brand; increasing preference, loyalty, and engagement. The companies benefit, too, with less employee turnover and more revenue. That was then. This is now, and CSR seems to have taken a back seat. Not saying it doesn’t exist, but it appears less visible and instrumental in brand strategies. There are probably good reasons for this; certainly digital media is highly targeted and therefore these types of initiatives are not as mainstream as they once were, markets are much more competitive and some brands can’t afford to spread budgets too thin, and senior marketing people are less willing to take risks and implement programs that don’t generate an immediate ROI. After all, CMO’s are the most volatile in the C-suite with an average tenure under five years and constantly feel the heat in terms of performance – and CSR initiatives can’t always be measured in weeks or months. Beyond the economy and corporate performances, the world needs more CSR and it can do wonders for your brand relevance. We live in a time of social turmoil; whether it’s tragic mass shootings, political divide, acts of hatred and bullying, or just a general sense of uneasiness in our world. This is not a climate for strong brand “selling.” In fact, there are many audiences (i.e. Millennials) who don’t want to “buy.” They want to support, help, and heal. And your brand should focus on these initiatives, too. Brand relevance is created not only on what’s important to your consumers lifestyles, but also what’s meaningful in their lives. Marketers have reacted well to changing lifestyles by recognizing today’s “family” is vastly different from 20 years ago and showcasing these different profiles in their communications strategies. But the opportunity exists to also recognize social trends and create CSR strategies around how your brand is helping the world or community in which it lives. Take a stand. Have a POV. Make a case. Do more than “sell” your brand. Look for non-traditional ways to integrate your brand into the lives of your constituents, both inside and outside your organization. Years ago, a great client – Lehigh Valley Health Network – was willing to put its money where its heart was and developed and launched one of the nation’s first anti-texting/while driving campaigns. Using the theme, “Stop in the name of love,” the initiative underscored the dangers of distracted driving and created a multi-layered strategy including yard signs, community ed events, physician engagement, and traditional media to spread the word. Oh, they also were willing to invest in the Diana Ross’ music to make the effort more visible and memorable. Talk about being culturally relevant – engagement was never higher and the organization benefited from all the metrics; employee satisfaction, revenue, loyalty, you name it! Bottom-line, CSR isn’t about the bottom line. It’s about creating a “heartbeat” for your brand. Using its strength of it to do good and make people feel better. And in today’s world, there’s nothing more culturally relevant than... 
by Rob Rosenberg | Apr 16, 2019 | Branding & Identity, Healthcare Branding, Healthcare Marketing, Springboard News
During an annual exam, your physician can get a good sense of your heart health with an EKG. As healthcare marketers, a Brand EKG can also give you a quick read of your brand’s health. Several years ago, this model was introduced to help hospitals, namely C-Suite representatives, understand consumer research findings and implications. As indicated above and based on the classic consumer marketing behavior model, a brand has to have established a strong sense of awareness and preference before leading to trial. This model has been expanded to include brand attributes such as likability, intent to recommend, and other layers of behavior. Based on an analysis of nearly 100 consumer studies, and validated by leading healthcare researchers, we concluded that a “healthy” brand EKG would have a variance of 12-15 percentage points between key indicators. A larger number would indicate an “unhealthy” brand that is not converting on the preceding attitude. For example, a brand with a preference score 20 percentage points higher than usage is not converting market share. This could be the result of many factors including accessibility, customer service, and operational considerations (schedule, capacity, etc.). Those brands not converting awareness to preference indicate a lack of differentiation or strong consumer brand relevance. Fast forward to 2019, and the same model can be used to assess the health of your digital marketing efforts. Springboard’s Digital EKG Healthcare marketers can add to their digital dashboards by providing a Digital Brand EKG indicating the level of conversion being established from a preceding behavior. For example, if impressions served (or similar metric) are significantly higher than CTR, you’ve done a good job targeting and delivering your digital message but you have not enticed anyone to take action. If you’re creating an action and people are clicking through but not engaging, then your landing page, website, or other content “hub” is not compelling enough. Adding an EKG to your current digital dashboard will help you and your team understand the layers of consumer behavior that are taking place with each online activity. Better yet, you’ll be able to develop content strategies and tactics to improve upon your ability to convert consumers through the behavior model. Better still, you’ll be able to strengthen the other metrics on your dashboard and impress the C-Suite with the health of your brand and EKG in terms (and formats) they’ll understand and appreciate. You might even be able to include B.D. initials after your name – Brand Doctor. Happy to help you assess your brand and digital health. Contact us... by Rob Rosenberg | Feb 22, 2019 | Healthcare Branding, Healthcare Marketing, Integrated Marketing
Healthcare is not simple. For consumers, it’s difficult to navigate the waters of patient care, referrals, and insurance costs/reimbursements. For physicians, balancing patient care with enterprise-wide business and growth goals is challenging. And for employees of larger health systems, there is confusion as to other providers in the organization and how/when to make appropriate referrals. These issues, along with many others, make healthcare one complex industry. And healthcare brands have become just as complicated. That’s why healthcare marketing needs to be made simple. After all, the simple definition of marketing is “meeting customer needs”. Making a complex buying cycle and multi-layered organizational structure easier to understand are right in line with the basic tenants of marketing. Why simpler is better for consumers Healthcare marketers face a ‘double whammy’ when trying to reach and motivate consumers. First, studies show that the average consumer is exposed to 5,000 – 7,500 brand messages and marketing content a day (depending on which study you read). And with more and more channels being developed to reach consumers, that number is growing dramatically on a daily basis. The School of Human Sciences and Technology estimates that consumers switch between screens up to 21 times an hour and the average person’s attention span is now just eight seconds. Eight seconds! Not only do healthcare messages need to gain consumer attention, they also need to communicate a story, capture their interest, and cause an action, all in less time than a ten second commercial. This leads to the second whammy; healthcare marketing and messaging has traditionally not been that simple, or made that interesting. It’s often complicated, duplicative, and undifferentiated. The big, cliché advertising words alone take almost eight seconds to say: multi-disciplinary, continuum of care, state-of-the-art technology, and other mouthfuls. Not easy to communicate, understand, or capture the attention of consumers who only give it a fleeting moment to resonate. As healthcare systems continue to grow, audiences will only be able to handle so much information. That’s why stories need to be short, memorable, provide an overarching single-minded promise, and be relevant to the lives of those they’re seeking to influence. Why simpler is better for employees and referral sources Enterprise success and growth goals depend on strong internal communications. It gives an organization a strategic advantage. When employees know who is part of the system, how to make referrals, where to access information, and why their role is important (as well as the “why” of the organization), patient leakage goes down and their satisfaction goes up. In the many employee focus groups I’ve conducted, internal team members constantly express their concerns that they are not informed enough to make important patient referrals and recommendations. As a result, it’s not uncommon to see patients go “down the street” to other providers for services that are, in fact, part of the system from which they were referred. The tools that can help with these issues should also be made simple. Brand books, videos, even old-school laminated cards are effective methods for communicating messages to employees and referral sources. Remember, your stakeholders are “consumers,” too, and they give the same eight seconds to different messages throughout the day. Simpler is definitely better. Why simple is better for your C-Suite When presenting your annual healthcare marketing plan and budget recommendations to leaders in the C-Suite, it’s important to stay out of the “weeds”. Meaning, don’t mire them in discussions around length of videos, size of ads, or even dashboards boasting impressions and click through rates. Not only don’t they get it, they really don’t care. Studies strongly encourage marketers to talk in the language that the C-Suite speaks; growth, revenue, and business goals. Marketing is their investment, not your expense or budget. You have to know what the organization’s core goals are and speak (simply) about them in clear, thoughtful ways and how marketing will help achieve growth. Chief Marketing Officers have the shortest tenure among C-Suite members because they often lose, or have little sight of the big picture, and focus too much on the image of healthcare marketing. A SIMPLE brand strategy is the place to start for your healthcare marketing Make it easy on those to whom you are telling your story. Instead of cramming five services into a video message or, worse yet, running five different campaigns with different looks and feels, think SIMPLE: Singular Idea that Motivates People to Listen and Engage. Acronyms make it easy to remember things, so hopefully this one will help you keep things simple. Singular Consumers only have the mental capacity (and time) to remember you by one single name or service, regardless if your brand is a hospital or system, master or endorsed. Campaigns that throw out multiple entities, or play the name game, are not only hurting but also competing with themselves. This thinking supports the “branded house” strategy …if you have a “house of brands,” allow the same time and spacing to give them their freedom to grow in the future. Idea With social and other digital applications of your brand message, content seems to be all the rage. And that’s fine. As long as it still has an idea guiding it – one that is carefully crafted based on research, brand differentiators, and a unique and captivating story. This is the “why” of your organization; it has to be there for people to want to buy a product or service. It also needs to align with their own philosophy and purpose. In more traditional branding and advertising circles, the “big idea” still reigns; born from creative strategy, a competitive assessment, and customer insights. Motivates With barely any time to register, your message still has to create a response. Whether a click, call, or visit, be engaging, entertaining, and interesting enough to motivate desired behaviors. Of that eight seconds, you probably have a third of that time to hook an audience member with an irresistible email subject line, an eye-catching logo, or a tagline that... 
by Rob Rosenberg | Jan 23, 2019 | Branding & Identity, Springboard News
As the new year kicks in, there are all sorts of tips and habits to break in order to help improve your personal and professional success. For those in healthcare marketing, here are eight bad habits that need to be broken to help fix your strategies and outcomes. Focusing on marketing and not business building Marketing in many healthcare organizations still lands on the promotional side of the equation. Successful marketers are those who understand the growth goals of their organization and develop strategies, beyond campaigns and clicks, to generate revenue and support new customer acquisition. Developing the wrong dashboards You know you’re too focused on the promotional side of things when your marketing “dashboard” consists of primarily digital terms that leave the C-Suite in the dust. When you include business metrics, too, your dashboard will truly provide a snapshot of your organization’s marketing success in terms of share-of-wallet, customer acquisition, profit margin, and conversion rates. These will be sure to get the attention of your CEO and put your department and initiatives in a new light. Using market research to learn all about yourself Most market research studies ask a lot of questions about the brand, not about the customer. Other than demographics at the end, very few ask consumers, for example, about their interests and passions, what’s important to them, and the issues they’re most interested in. Look at your customer research from their POV and you’ll gain great insights on how to make your marketing strategies much more relevant and engaging. Not having a clearly defined brand position It’s head scratching and nail biting to develop a brand position that your organization can own, fits like a glove, and is different and relevant to the marketplace. But, oh is it worthwhile. Without this, your brand defaults to a “me too” position and means everything to everybody. Absolutely the opposite of what a brand position should be about. Messaging that is all chest beat, not heartbeat We talk about “Heartbeat Branding” as the intersection between culture, product benefits, and customer needs. It takes great insights about your customer and a continuous nature of learning, observation, and discovery about your marketplace to develop a heartbeat for your brand. The opposite side of this spectrum is a chest beat brand, one that only talks about itself and reels off a list of attributes and features. I’m sure you can guess the approach that is more interesting and engaging. Copy Overload With over 5,000 messages a day vying for the average person’s attention, studies show an approximate 8-second time span to make your point. This is why more communications are going visual; to capture attention, gain engagement, motive toward an action. There is always an important place for keywords and copy, but keep them short. Being Too Social Social media is no doubt powerful, but it doesn’t need to be “too” social. Brand strategies should drive your posts and, as with every other media, shouldn’t be “all things to all people.” Overly social posts don’t benefit from optimization of keywords and tend not to stay on brand, rather, they take your message in an entirely different direction. You can drive engagement and interaction without sacrificing the integrity of your posts and brand platform. Not making your internal audience a priority Internal communications has evolved over the years from a preview of an ad campaign to an engagement strategy with real ROI. Hospitals experiencing “leakage” often find that employees are unaware of the scope of services provided by their health system. Physician practices find that making in-system referrals can be tedious and time-consuming, therefore defaulting to old habits. As healthcare companies grow through merger and acquisition, it’s more imperative than ever to not only educate, but facilitate communications from within. We’re only one month in for 2019, and there’s still lots of time and opportunity to strengthen your healthcare branding and marketing strategies. Time flies, so take a moment to reflect on these suggestions and avoid defaulting to old habits that weaken your position, both personally and... 
by Rob Rosenberg | Dec 18, 2018 | Branding & Identity, Springboard News
When it comes to reaching and motivating consumers, healthcare marketers face a double “whammy.” First, studies show that the average person is exposed to 7,500 brand messages and marketing content every day. The School of Human Sciences and Technology estimates that people switch between screens up to 21 times an hour. As a result of this overload, the average person’s attention span is eight seconds! What makes this even more complicated for healthcare marketers is the second whammy; making healthcare messaging engaging, simple, digestible, and differentiating in less time than it takes to say “multi-disciplinary, comprehensive, continuum of care.” As healthcare systems continue to grow adding new capabilities, physician practices, and other services, messaging becomes more complex – all the while consumers are giving them less time. Here are 8 ideas on how you can manage the “8 Second Rule” for healthcare brands A long-time colleague, copywriter and tagline maestro friend of mine, Jim Morris, developed a great tagline for taglines, “Long story, short.” I’ve always loved the power and simplicity of this idea. A tagline becomes a part of the brand’s lore and legacy. Healthcare brands still sound unimaginably similar. And the development of a unique, crafty tagline is one way to stand out and live on after your eight seconds are up. So much more to say on this, but I’ll keep it short. Consistency of messaging from one medium to next, one screen to the next, is also another important idea. Too many brands have too many different “faces” from one screen to the next. Knowing your time is limited, should limit this practice. Become a “heartbeat” brand. Since consumers spend so little time on your message, it should be about them, not you. Understand your customers and create messaging that is as relevant to their lifestyle, interests and passions as possible. Digital re-marketing is another way to stick with consumers. If they’ve visited your website or landing page and then moved on, well look at that – there’s a banner ad on their social media feed or other web site. Use digital marketing as an effective and cost-efficient way to re-connect. Many healthcare brands are undifferentiated from each other. And that starts with a lack of clear positioning and strategy, not good creative. So, the more time you spend up-front will result in more time spent by consumers who see a real interesting difference with your brand. Common to all these ideas is the fine-tuning of your target group. The better you know your audience and their media habits, the better you’ll be in reaching them on a “cluster” strategy basis; media that runs at the same time in similar formats/programming. This is an extremely effective way to “double down” on your message and get the most bang from a narrow period of time. You have eight seconds to make a strong impression. Sounds like a dating site line or hair product. In truth, there is a correlation and when shared it needs to be bold and make a statement that someone will remember. So, when they come across your brand again, they’ll embrace it, not erase it. The old adage, Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) still applies here. With only a dash of time to resonate with consumers, your message has to be clear and uncomplicated. Here is where healthcare brands go awry. By the time all the cliche’s and technology terms are used, it’s way beyond the eight-second mark. Easy solution – read ideas 1-7 again and focus on what should be said, not what your organization thinks needs to be said. Thank you for spending more than eight seconds on reading this post. I hope it has provided you with some ideas for getting the most time with your customers. And also giving your brand new relevance and engagement strategies. You may now move to the next screen. Contact Springboard for more information on healthcare... 
