In the race to have the latest shiny object, chasing cool has become the siren song of the tech/marketing moment.

And at this moment, it’s cool to have your own branded, mobile/portable app. We can’t go a day without a large B2B or B2C company producing an app or a tech company picking sides in the Android or Apple OS “war.”

Every. Single. Day.

But because of competitive envy or sheer bravado, so many company branded mobile apps that get produced are half-baked or woefully missing the point. That doesn’t mean app development is dead, it’s just that marketers need to stop the assembly line.

Branded mobile apps must deliver a consistent brand message and experience that understands the consumer. For the owner/creator, the app must provide useful feedback and insight (data).

I recently came across a hospital system promoting a mobile app that helps patients find the nearest emergency room with the shortest wait time. On the surface, it achieves cool, but is also functional. It provides a service that ER-goers wouldn’t have otherwise, and the hospital system (in theory) can at least get some usage and/or geographic statistics from users.

In this instance, the app crossed the chasm from cool to useful.

To make the leap, there must be substance. Anyone can build an app these days. Google’s announcement that we all can build our own Android app (We are all developers?), proved that.  The publicity you could potentially receive from telling the press “LOOK AT ME, I HAVE AN APP!” is running on fumes. At one point, it didn’t matter what type of app companies came out with, if you were the first baby bottling company from Louisville to have a branded app, that was enough.

No more.

Anything in marketing worth a dime must provide value, to both sides. No matter how cool.

After crab fisherman, a hospital marketing leadership position may be the most difficult job in America. Not only is there a need to do more with less, there’s the hard work of aligning messages and strategies for a board, CEO, CFO and medical staff.

Toss in healthcare reform and new communication technologies, shake and serve cold with two olives.

With a drink in hand we’d like to discuss how reform and technology can be more friend than foe and create new marketing opportunities in a multi-blog format.  This is part 1. Here is part 2.

Part 1: Reform = Change

I’ve often thought that “reform” is too harsh of a word to accompany healthcare, yet we see it far too often. We all want to be healthy and we all want to be cared for.

Reform has a draconian feel and reminds me of the place bad kids are sent or something chairman Mao cooked up. So let’s start off thinking about how healthcare will evolve over the next few years.

While the 2,000+ pages of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) have been mocked for their complexity and legislative ugliness, there is a clear attempt to affect markets, provide more people access to care and in time create greater cost control, the effect of which will change healthcare markets and offer consumers new kinds of choice.

More People and Access

It’s estimated that 47 million Americans are uninsured. Here’s some quick facts about this segment courtesy of Maggie Mahar’s excellent healthcare blog, Health Beat:

• 15 million have earnings between $25,000 to $50,000
• 9.7 million live in households with income over $75,000 per year
• 19 million are 18-34 years old
• 11% of the uninsured are in fair to poor health
• 50% of all uninsured adults suffer from a chronic condition
• 75% have gone without insurance for more than one year
• 55% have not had insurance for more than three years

Marketing Implications

For hospitals the changes will be double-edged. Healthcare providers will feel a surge of new patients, many of which will have disproportionately greater healthcare challenges. But the challenges will still be manageable if a hospital is positioned to work with patients in efficient and holistic models. Those that are able currently to provide break-even and or profitable Medicare services will see significant opportunities for growth and income.

The key challenge will be combining access points for populations that are less mobile with marketing that can close the gap with hospitals that have clinical leadership positions. New participants will have more choices and will need to believe that your hospital can deliver on the promise of quality care and respond to their health needs.

Those “healthy, wealthy and young” represent a cohort that everybody would like. Unfortunately many in this group have failed to see the value of healthcare from a risk-reward perspective and have decided to manage risk through disengagement.

To reach this segment, healthcare providers will need to expand the offering to more holistic and complete care, showing a benefit for staying healthy.

The current proposed penalties for non-participation may not be enough to drive enrollment until the penalties reach high enough pain points by 2016.  Healthcare systems will need to create programs and messages that show a benefit to keeping healthy versus fixing the sick. Think about life style messages versus immanent health challenges.

For those who can create a strategy to reach this new segment of “newly insured and healthy” the marketing opportunities will be significant.

Creepy flickr photo of the Mansfield State Reformatory courtesy of Krystn Palmer Photography

Healthcare marketing is changing dramatically. PTP is looking at what those implications are for marketers in that field in a multiple-blog post format.

You can read Part 1 here: Change from a Healthcare Marketing Perspective

Part 2: Upside and Downside of Cost Control

The unseen levers of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) are the reimbursement models that promise to create efficiency and improved care.

Hospitals that have above-market reimbursement models from private pay and or Medicare Advantage will have two options—become more efficient while improving on care to participate with an expanded payment base or ignore the changes and depend on private insure and the kindness of major gifts.

Initially, insurance companies will feel the brunt of healthcare evolution and begin to mandate better efficiencies from hospitals. The phasing out of Medicare Advantage will erode a significant profit pool and force insurance providers to take a harder look at their current payment schedules.

Maggie Mahar highlights a quote in her healthcare reform blog post from a MedPac study:

Hospitals with the greatest resources are less aggressive about containing costs and therefore have the highest Medicare ‘losses’ (the difference between Medicare rates and a hospital’s average costs).

Mahar references other insights that discuss the pricing power of marquee hospitals which have historically reduced the willingness of insurance companies to negotiate more aggressive payment models.

PPACA is intent on eliminating pricing premiums and will reward those that are able to deliver reliable and quality driven healthcare in a cost effective environment. Providers that provide clinical excellence and cost control will experience significant growth and opportunity.

Look for hospitals that may not have the high end cache to start gaining more market share and be more competitive than historically have been.

Flickr photo courtesy of ordinaryfool

We are all brand ambassadors. We are all salespeople.

I’ve always thought that the world would be a better place if everyone had the position of salesperson at some time in their life. To be on the other side of the table is to have an appreciation of what it’s like to walk in with hat in hand.

If you’ve ever sold something you know what it’s like to fly 500 miles and be told the person that confirmed the meeting isn’t available. To sit in a waiting room for 45 minutes. To prepare for three days, escorted to the cafeteria and present your brilliant ideas next to the condiments table. To write a proposal that was needed the next day  and never receive a return call or any acknowledgment. To be minimized.

We are all busy. We are also representing companies that sell and buy things.

When we act rudely we are making enemies for life. Enemies that tell their friends that they’ve been treated badly. Enemies that raise concern of the quality of the company, the values of culture and how they treat their people and customers.

Interacting with another company presents an opportunity to represent the entity and the values of the organization. Yet, I am amazed that people in marketing, the same people who carry the flag of the company’s brand, can be rude. Rude as hell.

As Clevelanders are often reminded by a larger-than-life LeBron James: “We are all Witnesses.”  If the old adage is true that one unhappy customer tells 10 people, imagine how many hundreds of millions of dollars have been lost by companies that mistreat salespeople.

Brands get their reputations from all kinds of places. Don’t forget that salespeople are customers too.

If you are interested in more of our thoughts on brand planning, contact us today and tell us about your challenges.

Flickr photo courtesy of Luiz Felipe Castro.

Regardless of what happens in healthcare reform, health systems still need to gain private insurance revenue market share. Now more than ever, providers need to present new and different ways to reach and appeal to consumers through more effective hospital marketing. Below, we’ve outlined four ideas that could help:

1. Given that most people with private insurance work, create office hours that complement working people’s schedules. Why not offer earlier and later hours for office visits and access to diagnostics and labs?
2. Speaking of diagnostics… talk about how your tests are easier, less intrusive and friendlier. We don’t like getting poked, tell us why we won’t.
3. Friendlier? Try reducing penalties and increase rewards. Do you charge for parking while forgetting to thank longstanding patients for the patronage?
4. Patrons? Start thinking of patients as customers. When it comes to outpatient services, they have endless choices to make and like any good consumer they develop preferences for what they like.

If you’d like to continue the conversation we’d love to hear from you. As always comment below or contact us today.

Flickr phone courtesy of Julie70

For months there has been speculation that the new iPad would be the second coming of technology. Sadly, it appears the iPad will not solve world hunger nor will Steve Jobs be awarded the Nobel Prize. It’s no wonder that a few days after their announcement, Apple’s stock dropped over 20 points.

What’s missing? A lack of a USB port, bandwidth challenges and no physical keyboard are a few on the long list of grumbles. But what the list doesn’t take into account is the most important feature of all: delightability. It’s that spark that we feel when we hold and touch something that delights us in unexpected ways.

Using an example we’re all accustomed to by now, the iPhone is loaded with delightability. Yes, Android is great and an up-and-coming platform, but it lacks the pure delight that one feels with an Apple product. It’s like comparing Disney World to all the amusement parks within a short drive. All are amusing, but only Disney is designed from the ground up to delight.

So let us not focus on “should have or could have,” but rather on what might be with the iPad. Here are 10 delightful marketing opportunities that the iPad is accelerating:

1. The door to video has been pried wide open—think video, video and more video at all levels of marketing.
2. Mobile providers are taking one more step to being pure data providers. They have no choice—data wherever and whenever will be our reality and reaching people will only get easier.
3. Advertising will evolve and create new opportunities to develop richer and more connected messaging. Check out Time’s thoughtful video below.
4. If you can think of it, there will be an application to help sell it.
5. The death march for bookstores will accelerate. Books will be cheaper and easier to access and start to integrate video. Yes my friend, Moby Dick and all your favorite classics will have embedded imagery.
6. Words alone will feel naked. Expect commercials in books or contextual product placement.
7. Hand out more shovels for the hole being dug for video stores. Just a few more feet to go.
8. The movie studio will evolve into something else based on a different access and pay model.
9. Look for vertical market applications that redefine entire industries. Start with healthcare.
10. And of course, the biggest of opportunity of all: the idea that hasn’t be thought of (yet).

Don’t underestimate this device. Wait till the delight begins. Look instead to new user experiences that we never dreamed of.  I can’t wait, I’m already dreaming. Looking for more marketing tips? Subscribe to our RSS feed.

I recently received my second email from Time Warner, forewarning that the cost of programming may go up as much as 300%. It seems that they are trying to create some sense of activism from their existing customers by beating the drum of discontent against those big meanies at my beloved TV brands. There’s even a web site asking for support at http://rolloverorgettough.com. Dark days are ahead; “Don’t let these TV networks hold your TV hostage. Together, we just might make a difference in what America pays for TV.” Amen brother, you and all of us that watch TV must save America’s TV. Put your hands on the TV and feel the loving touch of your cable company.

Should companies ask customers to fix their business? Should the auto industry send out a plea for help against tire manufacturers? Should my utility company call to complain about the cost of natural gas and ask me to do something? Nice try, but the buck stops with your invoice, your business model and your brand.

Don’t feel bad for your cable company. The advent of Internet aware TV and TV widgets will create more content options than we can currently comprehend. Imagine your boob tube with the brains to find the content you want when you want from a cornucopia of sources on the net? The market will determine what the cost of content needs to be, not the urgings of a company.

Stay tuned, or maybe not. For more information on our media planning agency, visit our contact us page.

I was recently on the Healthcare Strategy Institute’s web site and noticed an upcoming conference titled,  Fifteenth National Forum on Customer Based Marketing Strategies. What the what?

Forgive me, but how can you have a marketing strategy that doesn’t involve the customer. Feels like the national photosynthesis conference based on plants.

Marketing at its core is the study of  the customer. Remember the 4 P’s? What will the customer pay for it? Where will the customer buy it? What will it do for the customer? How will the customer hear about it? If you’re not focused on the customer, you’re not marketing.

So is this just a bad title, or is this a sign that in healthcare it’s still possible to market without thinking about the customer? I’m hoping it’s the former.

The origin of Social Media was pure: connect people with people to share personal experiences and opinions on mutually interesting topics.  Now we’re approaching a new era where each person is a media property. And like all media properties, each person’s social network can be valued by relevance and reach. In social terms, topics and connections.

Companies like  Ad.ly,  Izea and Peer2 offer social media participants payment to post messages that promote specific products. Let’s say I’m following  Kim Kardashian on Twitter and she sends out a Tweet about Inigo Montoya Prepare to Die Barbecue Sauce. She may be receiving thousands of dollars for each savory post she makes. Is that really about sharing personal experiences?

When personal experiences are replaced by marketing messages, the intent of the medium is co-opted to leverage reach. If the medium is the message, it’s only a matter of time before the message will destroy the value of the medium.

Welcome to the Truman Show, starring everyone.

I recently went on a rampage and unsubscribed from all email that I found myself regularly deleting instead of reading.

As my email colonic began, I became aware of what my information intentions were versus what my information processing realities are. Sure I’d like to know more about branding, advertising, media, social media, email, investing and how to green my house. Unfortunately, each email assumes I have unlimited time and that more is more. But my day is being squeezed like most folks, as this video can confirm.

Technical Side Of Business Email:
How much time do we spend on e-mail?

Are we reaching an information paradox? That is, the more information we have available, the less time we have for comprehension? Do readers,  bookmarks, RSS feeds, social media and email enhance learning?

Let’s diagnose the paradox:

1. How often do you actually read your reader?
2. What percentage of your bookmarks (including Delicious) have you actually used more than once?
3. How many of your RSS subscriptions do you read?
4. What percentage of email alerts that you subscribe to do you actually read?
5. How many email and social network accounts have you created and ignored?
6. What percentage of your day do you spend in email land?

My answers:

1. Rarely – too much to read
2. 1%
3. 5-10%
4. 5% tops
5. Too embarrassing to answer
6. Too absurd to answer

So what’s this have to do with marketing? It’s not enough to regurgitate information. Today’s tools make it possible to confuse quantity and immediacy with quality and relevance. Moreover, with such an abundance of information at our disposal at all times, how much can we actually recall and put to good use?

Pascal and Twain summarized the current situation best with the quote, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I’ve written a long one instead.” Know your audience and distinguish between the need to fill a screen versus valued content.