Healthcare Marketing Blogs

Dan Diveley
VP of Business Development

Healthcare Marketing Blogs

At G/L, we’ve worked on a variety of healthcare marketing projects. Through our years of experience and research, we’ve become something of an expert on the subject, so we’ve compiled all of our relevant insights of the healthcare market in one convenient location. Just click on the headline to view the blog.

Be Disruptive In Everything You Do – Especially Your Healthcare Marketing

When your company brings something unique to the table, it can disrupt the status quo of an entire market. Discover how one of our clients, Metro Imaging, managed to do just that by offering a little extra transparency.

How Effective Healthcare Marketing Can Limit Patient Outmigration

It happens time and time again in the healthcare industry: patients are leaving local hospitals behind for what they (mis)perceive as greener pastures. We take a deeper look into why patients are migrating from their local hospitals and hone in on how hospitals can limit patient outmigration with the right message.

Marketing Accountable Care Organizations – A New Approach

As Accountable Care Organizations trend more towards the mainstream, patients now have a choice for more affordable healthcare solutions. But with a shift in organizational structure comes the need to re-optimize your marketing. If you’ve recently become an ACO or are considering making the jump, we offer you our insights for a clean transition.

Real Price Transparency in Healthcare – I’ve seen it! 

With high-deductible medical insurance on the rise and patient satisfaction falling due to unaddressed price concerns, there’s never been a better time to offer your patients transparency. We examine how much patients value price transparency in healthcare (hint: it’s a lot) and show you how offering true transparency can make your brand stand out.

7 Key Components to Developing a Strategic Healthcare Marketing Plan

Planning ahead for next year? You should be! Here are a few key components you should focus on to maximize your marketing efforts in 2017.

Consumer Engagement: Think Your Marketing is Tough? Try Selling Heart Attacks.

Anyone can make a burger and fries look appetizing or sell you a new sports car. But marketing heart attacks? That’s a whole different animal. Our very own Dave Geile gives his insight on how healthcare marketers can produce viable messaging, even with such serious subject matter.

Creating Effective Healthcare Messaging

Getting the right message out at the right time for the right audience is key for your brand’s success. But how does that translate to healthcare marketing? We take a closer look at what patients are looking for in healthcare and translate their needs into more effective messaging. 

Increasing Patient Volume Requires Thinking Like a Patient

You know the old phrase: “You can’t truly understand someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” Well, that’s true in healthcare marketing too. We explore what it means to think like a patient and translate that insight into optimized messaging.

Programmatic Buying: How Media Is Changing

The media landscape is ever changing. Are you keeping up? It’s okay; we’ll fill you in.

Healthcare Marketing Includes Understanding the Cares of Patients 

Tired of marketing that just keeps missing the mark? We break it down for you right here, with our own research and insights into healthcare marketing trends and unique solutions. Grab a snack and get comfortable. It’s a longer read, but well worth your time.

Inbound Marketing

Your Digital Budget: How Much Interactive Do I Need? – A G/L Executive Brief

Move over, traditional advertising! The digital world is expanding at an incredible rate, so how much should you spend on marketing in it? We have you covered.

Integrate Inbound Marketing into your next Website and Social Media campaign 

Inbound marketing helps keep the conversation going between you and your target audience, engaging them in a way that traditional advertising just can’t. It’s relatively inexpensive and any company can do it­—we’re doing it right now! Check out how inbound can work for your company’s website and social communications.

A Step-by-Step Guide to implementing an Inbound Marketing Program

So you’re thinking about implementing a little inbound, eh? Lucky for you, we have an easy, step-by-step guide on creating an effective inbound campaign. What are you waiting for? Let’s get the ball rolling!

Target Audience

Example Personas to Improve Messaging

Marketers deal in general target audiences all the time, but sometimes it helps drive the message home if we can put a name and face to that audience. That’s where personas come in. We humanize our target audience by showing them as real people with real dreams and aspirations. See for yourself how your messaging can improve with your own personas in mind!

Why Target Audiences Don’t Work

Your target audience is more than data and research; they’re real people. To get messages that resonate, you have to see them as more than a bunch of numbers.

5 Tips to Remember When Marketing to Moms

We love moms. Our moms, your mom, any moms. They’re all great in their own way! And they’re huge decision makers in their homes, according to our research. So here are 5 tips on how to show them some love in your marketing efforts.

Key Elements to Creating Personas

Personas help make your target audience feel a bit more personal than charts, graphs, and raw data. We feel that creating personas for our target audiences is an integral part of our creative process, and we give you the rundown on how you can incorporate them into your marketing efforts as well.

The Importance Of Personas in Shaping Targeted Messaging

You know what sucks? Getting treated like a number. You know what rocks? When advertisers see you for who you really are! Try using personas to create messaging that hits home with your target audience as a person, not a dataset. [snark: It’s so important to us, we wrote four whole blogs on it!]

Internal Branding/Communications

Minimize Medicare Penalties with Internal Communications

Show of hands: who likes paying Medicare sanctions? Anyone? Yeah, that’s what we thought. So what if we told you that your hospital could reduce their risk of having to pay Medicare sanctions with the brand messaging, both internally and externally? Read on and save!

6 Steps to Building a Brand from the Inside Out

Putting your brand on display for the entire world to see is great, but it means nothing if you ignore one vital ingredient: your people. As we discuss here, a great brand is backed by people who truly believe in the brand they represent on a daily basis. Make it a full team effort!

Healthcare Case Studies

Hannibal Regional Healthcare System – “Guiding You to Better”

We talk a big game about our expertise in healthcare marketing. Fortunately, we have the results to back it up. Check out the work we’ve done with Hannibal Regional Hospital. 

Metro Imaging – The Clear Choice 

Our client, Metro Imaging, has a few innovations up their sleeves that could disrupt the healthcare market, and they wanted us to help show them off. We were happy to oblige.

Have any questions? Contact me (Dan) at [email protected] or fill out the form below.

[gl-hs-form form_id=’1863abe3-c1e4-43d0-a298-c7b132f8ce03′]

 

Trending from G/L: Spector typeface tool is coming soon to a creative near you

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: Spector typeface tool is coming soon to a creative near you

Designers and other creative folks find inspiration out in the wild all the time — whether it is a cool package typeface at the grocery store or a unique leaf color they see while walking the dog. They snap a picture on their phone in hopes of figuring out that typeface or sampling that color for a later project. However, it’s usually difficult to accurately identify and recreate these inspirations once back at the desk.

Enter a creative’s new best friend — Spector.

Spector is a handy, working prototype tool designed by Fiona O’Leary that she describes as a “physical eyedropper”. All you have to do is place Spector over whatever you wish to identify and press a button. This tool then cross-references type with a font database to discover its’ name and reads the color to create a RGB and CMYK value. The results are then connected to InDesign for you to use — no more time wasted trying to uncover that mysterious font! Spector even recognizes type size, kerning and leading. Even more time saved when you are trying to achieve a certain layout look.

Check out this video to see Spector in action.

Everyone at G/L was super impressed by Spector. Any tool that increases productivity while also increasing our “visual literacy” is a must have in our book. The only not-so-awesome thing about Spector — you can’t go out and buy it right now. This is a working prototype that can only recognize a handful of typefaces so far. O’Leary does plan on integrating with a much larger database someday. Hopefully we will see Spector on the market in the very near future — we will be first in line tacking anyone who gets in our way!

Have any thoughts? Shoot us a note here and we’ll get right back to you!

[gl-hs-form form_id=’1863abe3-c1e4-43d0-a298-c7b132f8ce03′]

Behind the Scenes: Product Videos for Major Retailers (with Lincoln Electric)

Dan Diveley
VP of Business Development

Behind the Scenes: Product Videos for Major Retailers (with Lincoln Electric)

Product videos on retailer sites lead to greater sales. I’m guessing that’s why retailers like Home Depot®, Lowe’s®, Northern® Tool and others are encouraging their suppliers to provide video and other assets. We recently had the opportunity to jump in the retail video phenomenon for our client, Lincoln Electric, a major manufacturer of welding products and related accessories.

We work with Lincoln Electric’s WTCA division, the retail side of the business. We produced several product videos, 360° videos and more than 150 still photographs which will be posted on a variety of retailer sites, big box stores, farm/ranch dealers, etc.

While my agency has produced many videos and TV spots throughout our 27 years, this was our first where the director and videographer weren’t able to directly watch the shot without eye protection.

I got a chuckle out of seeing our team in welding helmets as they directed the shots.

Lincoln Electric

Our client sells through a variety of retail outlets but not all carry the same helmets, clothing and equipment. So while shooting the videos, we had to keep track of the clothes and other items used by the talent so each video contained only the products sold by each retailer.

Welding is one of those specializations where a true welder would be quick to catch any discrepancies regarding technique, skill level or applications that a novice welder like me would not notice. So we sourced a professional welder who now teaches high schoolers the skills of the trade. Our clients at Lincoln Electric were so impressed with him and his knowledge that they donated helmets and gloves to the school as a way to help his students. Thank you Lincoln Electric!

 

lincoln electric

Alongside the product videos, we produced 25 360° videos that allow customers a view of the entire product. It’s amazing what requirements retailers have for these. Some are actual videos and others are up to 27 still shots stitched together. To accomplish these, our videographer, Steve Parisi from Frame Four Studios, built a turntable strong enough to hold the equipment, some which weigh hundreds of pounds.

PortaTorch – Lincoln Electric

To view more examples in this series, visit Retail Product Videos.

This was an amazing project for a great client that appreciates quality work. If you are needing videos to support your retail or distribution sales, please give me a call – Dan Diveley, 314-727-5850 or email me at [email protected] or fill out the form below.

[gl-hs-form form_id=’1863abe3-c1e4-43d0-a298-c7b132f8ce03′]

 

Trending from G/L: Why Ili Means You Wasted Your Time on Rosetta Stone

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: Why Ili Means You Wasted Your Time on Rosetta Stone

Joining the travel agent, newspaper editor, and Blockbuster clerk, the professional translator may be the next to find themselves searching the classifieds, thanks to a new innovation in the field of multicultural communication. The Logbar ili is a new, soon to hit the market wearable translator, the next evolution in translation technology.

One of the first capable of voice recognition and verbal translation, it relies on its own self contained operating system, rather than having to be built around an existing platform like current and unreliable phone applications are. About the size and shape of the original iPod shuffle (and arriving almost a decade after), the first generation ili is currently capable of translating between Chinese, Japanese, and English, facilitating nearly instant multilingual conversation between any combinations of the three. Version two will add French, Thai, and Korean, and version three will add Spanish, Italian, and Arabic.

Without a current list price or the ability to pre-order one, it’s tough to say when this device (and others sure to follow soon) will begin to diffuse through any number of cultures and languages, but the process of instant and accurate translation from a wearable piece of technology is essentially priceless to those in both the business and personal world.

Though currently limited in dialect and surely far from peak efficiency, the ili exemplifies improvements to and enforcement of the current trends in personal technology, being both wearable, and accelerating the ever more important idea of a “glocal” mindset. Like the first run of any groundbreaking technology, I won’t rush out to buy one.

While the concept is exciting and the uses seem infinite, this seems to be a stepping stone in the field of global communication technologies, paving the way for a world with seamless and universal conversation, one, which I can’t be the only one looking forward to.

Have any thoughts? Shoot us a note here.

[gl-hs-form form_id=’1863abe3-c1e4-43d0-a298-c7b132f8ce03′]

 

Trending from G/L: Colgate shows LGBTQ support with #SmileWithPride

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: Colgate shows LGBTQ support with #SmileWithPride

It seems to be a recent trend that brands are showing their support for the LGBTQ community and this time, this minty brand took a new spin on it.

Check out Colgate’s “Smile With Pride” ad at the link included.

 

LGBTQ

Most of us have been in this kind of situation. You’re making the move to a new place and you’re unsure of the culture of the neighborhood. Will you be able to borrow an egg or a cup of sugar from the neighbors? Will they be willing to watch your dog when you’re on vacation? Most importantly, will you get along?

This commercial shows the wall of skepticism torn down by a simple smile. This Spanish ad translates to, “Sometimes you just need a smile, sometimes, all your smile needs is Colgate.” Sometimes you just need a smile. Good message, Colgate.

The Colgate ad was the first Mexican ad to feature a gay couple and was put out just weeks after the president of Mexico approved revisions to the constitution for same-sex marriage.

Pride advertising is a chance for brands to express their stance and speak their truth. When brands take a stand and share stories of diversity and equality in their advertising, consumers, especially millennial, appreciate, respond, engage in conversation and spend dollars on the brand.

The fact that this ad is relatable makes it successful. Plus, tugging at the heartstrings always gets people.

For another example of a brand that did it right, check out Honey Maid’s “This Is Wholesome” ad:

Or the Ad Council’s “Love Has No Labels” ad:

But how do these ads measure up with Bud Light’s flashy ad starring Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen at a gay wedding? In this ad, Rogen raises his bottle and says, “Bud Light proudly supports everyone’s right to marry whoever they want.” The whole ad is bold, comical and in your face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiavhnkrZRU

The whole point we’re trying to get to here is that sometimes flashy isn’t best. Show that people in the LGBTQ community are just like us. Don’t say it. Consumers want to relate to a brand and if that means using emotion to elicit a response, then go that route at all costs.

Any other feedback you have on this campaign? Shoot us a note below and we’ll be in touch.

[gl-hs-form form_id=’1863abe3-c1e4-43d0-a298-c7b132f8ce03′]

 

B2B: Build Your Brand With Instagram

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

B2B: Build Your Brand With Instagram

instagramThe best brands tell stories. Stories that their clients and customers relate to, find compelling, elicit emotion and most importantly – motivate. The content that is created and shared on Instagram can solidify a brand’s identity and relationship with their audience. But, sharing the correct content is always key. (more…)

Be Disruptive In Everything You Do – Especially Your Healthcare Marketing

Dave Geile
Creative Director Managing Partner

Be Disruptive In Everything You Do – Especially Your Healthcare Marketing

Okay, I have to admit it. I have been disruptive most of my life. But in a fun way, just ask my mom. I didn’t think of it as being disruptive at the time. I just thought I was just having fun in grade school. I was sent to the hall, or the principal’s office more times than I care to remember. But you know what? my teachers remembered me. And that’s what I want you to do with your healthcare marketing.

I have applied that talent (and I use the word loosely) to advertising and healthcare marketing for our clients. Take Metro Imaging of St. Louis for example. Metro had a very unique selling position. They could offer unprecedented, upfront pricing for X-rays, CT scans, and MRI’s that hospital radiology simply couldn’t do. Can you imagine buying anything and not getting the costs until after you’ve bought it? At Metro Imaging, you’ll get the complete cost breakdown of your exam, such as how much insurance will cover, what your deductible is, and how much you may need to pay out of pocket. Plus, Metro Imaging can give patients immediate, On-Site Results of their exam, from a real, licensed radiologist before they leave the building. Now think about that for a second.

Better upfront pricing, and patients can get preliminary results of their exams before they leave. So now we are not just selling imaging exams, we are selling peace of mind. So if you have an immediate concern about your medical condition, you can be put at ease right away, instead of spending weeks worrying about the results. You can then talk about it with your personal doctor at a later date. That’s powerful.

I had talked with a few healthcare marketing managers from major hospital systems (you can read more of their insights in our new Healthcare Marketing whitepaper) at the time of this campaign, and they all said, something to the effect of…“You know, you guys really threw us for a loop on that campaign.” I said, “How so?” They said:

“We had several uncomfortable board meetings about your campaign. Our hospital system couldn’t calculate costs of imaging exams up front like Metro Imaging could. It was just too complicated. Plus, we couldn’t figure out how to do the OnSite results thing. We just physically couldn’t do it.”

So, with Metro’s strong, unique abilities and selling position, the next step was to creatively deliver that message in a memorable way. I thought who better to deliver that message than the medical exam images themselves. We call it the Skeleton Campaign. Not only did we produce a memorable and impactful TV campaign, we wrapped entire buses in routes that went right past the hospital locations, telling everyone what Metro could do, and what the hospital couldn’t. A unique selling position, creatively delivered, that actually changed a consumer mindset and behavior. That’s disruptive! And the results were phenomenal!

Healthcare Trends

If you’d like to learn more about the latest healthcare marketing trends, click the link HERE or fill out the form below:

[gl-hs-form form_id=’d7272d0e-44ce-41ae-983e-f52b58f52b41′]

 

Integrate Inbound Marketing into your next Website and Social Media campaign

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Integrate Inbound Marketing into your next Website and Social Media campaign

A brand making the decision to “go digital” is basically a cliché these days. Nearly all companies have some form of website or online home. A vast majority of brands have some social media presence. Digital is everywhere.

And yet, a unified digital approach is something that’s still lacking across the World Wide Web. Digital components don’t align with non-digital components, social media posts don’t have the same brand tone as certain sections of the website and there’s no real way to measure whether anything being done is working.

While a wide mix of marketing tactics can work to generate results, effective, consistent content marketing generates three times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing, but costs more than 60% less. Certainly there is some cost to getting everyone involved on the same page, but it’s nowhere near the costs of giving up consistent results like that. Whether you’re on the B2B or B2C side of things, there’s value in inbound marketing.

A misconception is that inbound marketing is a tool for larger companies. While an inbound marketing program certainly requires some training, it’s nothing that isn’t manageable. Even here at G/L where a talented, albeit nimble team, we’ve haven’t had too many growing pains in getting on board. Regardless of size, industry or audience, there are plenty of inbound marketing opportunities to grow from.

As discussed in our 2016 Healthcare Marketing Trends white paper, many executives are presented with social media as the answer to reaching a younger audience. And while many millennials can be reached using newer tools, it isn’t always the answer in itself.

From our recently released report:

“Social media is a scalpel. Wielded correctly, with a strong strategic plan backing it, you can deliver a delicately crafted message precisely where you need it to go. But when handled without care, social media can do more harm than good.”

That doesn’t mean scrap social. Rather, it means you should strive to make it mean something as part of a larger, digital, inbound marketing strategy.

Want more insights from our team and some of the leading healthcare industry experts? Download the full report here, get ahead of the curve and see what you’re doing right and what you could be doing better. Or fill out the form below and get the report instantly:

Healthcare Trends

[gl-hs-form form_id=’d7272d0e-44ce-41ae-983e-f52b58f52b41′]

 

Mobile Apps in 2016 – The fad is over, but the market is still there

Dan Diveley
VP of Business Development

Mobile Apps in 2016 – The fad is over, but the market is still there

The tipping point for mobile apps probably happened in October 2010 when Apple started the trademarking process for the phrase, “There’s an App for That.” Many thought apps were just a fad.

But now they have become part of the ordinary. According to technology author, Sam Castello, as of June 2015 there were 1.5 million apps available for iPhone, the iPad.

So where does that leave mobile apps?

Well, the age of weird mobile apps for the sake of being weird is probably over. Cuddlr, Cat Paint, and of course, Yo, were part of that phase. It was fun. It was weird. But people got tired of it.

Now we are living in the age of practical apps – those that can support a variety of business and marketing functions.

Something that has been growing in popularity over recent years is the idea of eCommerce – head to somewhere like Cell Phone Deal to learn more about these statistics yourself. You see, those who run physical businesses are now making the transition online, meaning that they need the relevant technology and software to be able to do this.

Are you looking for ways to reach more customers and boost the profitability of your business? If so, a mobile app may be the answer. Developing a mobile app for your business by engaging firms like https://www.expedition.co/services/design/mobile-app could prove to be a lifeline for those who want to integrate more features into the running of their businesses.

So how are companies using apps in a more practical way?

A few examples include:

Customer service

According to a survey by mobile marketing automation vendor FollowAnalytics, 38 percent of the respondents said their primarily purpose in creating an app was improving customer service. Another 12 percent said it was to foster customer loyalty, and slightly more than a quarter wanted to extend their customer experiences beyond the Web. “Customer service is the primary purpose of brands’ mobile presence,” said FollowAnalytics’ CEO Samir Addamine. Especially in eCommerce, empowering the business across multiple platforms including mobile, web, in-store, and social can work well. E-Commerce platform solutions like Demandware B2B (Salesforce Commerce Cloud) can give customers a unique and interactive shopping experience. In Salesforce, there are built-in AI and multi-lingual capabilities across all channels.

Employee engagement

As noted in a recent Forbes magazine article, “With more workers predicted to access business applications via their mobile devices in the future, HR leaders have an opportunity to use mobile technology to simplify administrative tasks, boost engagement and drive organizational effectiveness,” observed Glen Chambers in the Society for Human Resource Management’s HR Magazine.

Technical Data

Technicians in many fields could use better access to data. For example, our client, Parker Hannifin – Sporlan Division, developed a mobile app as part of their new line of Smart Tools. HVAC contractors can now read temperature and pressure levels of the air conditioning units they are servicing without bulky gauges and hoses. The app runs on a phone or tablet and displays these readings.

Is it time to make Mobile Apps your reality?

The possibilities for mobile apps to support business processes seems infinite. But before you jump into developing an app for your business, there are some important points to consider. Tom Swip, president of Swip Systems, an intelligent technology solutions company, has compiled a list of barriers to consider in his article ‘It’s Time to Make That Mobile App a Reality.’

Barrier #1 – People believe that creating a mobile app is more expensive than it really is.

Barrier #2 – People believe that their app won’t get approved in the associated app store.

Barrier #3 – People aren’t sure what platform to commit to.

Barrier #4 – People aren’t sure what type of mobile app they should build.

Swip Systems has developed several apps. If you need a help, you can contact Tom at 877.377.SWIP..

Are you ready to take the step?

As Tom states in his blog, ‘The bottom line is this. Your customers (or vendors, or employees) are waiting for you to create mobile apps that will make their lives easier. Holding back on these apps may make it appear as though you are not a forward thinking organization. We both know this isn’t true, so what are you waiting for?’

If you are considering a mobile app, here is an informative video “Making Mobile Apps a Reality

Need help promoting your app?

And if you are developing a consumer-facing app and need help promoting it, give us a call. We’d love to show you an example of a mobile advertising program we developed to help a consumer products company successfully promote their app. Just give us a call Dan Diveley a call – 314-727-5850 – or fill out the form below.

Make 2016 your tipping point for exploring how mobile apps can move your business forward!

[gl-hs-form form_id=’1863abe3-c1e4-43d0-a298-c7b132f8ce03′]

Trending from G/L: A Report On Millennials that stands out

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: A Report On Millennials that stands out

Articles about millennials are truly a dime a dozen. If you do a Google search for “millennials” and just limit so you only get results from the past week, you’ll still see a lot of immediate bold proclamations:

“For Millennials, (Bernie) Sanders is a grandpa who gets them”

“Millennials Avoid Taking Care of Sick Relatives”

“Three Ways to Get Inside the Head of Millennials”

And that’s just page one. Lots of generalizations, lots of simplifications and a whole lot of blanket statements posed as facts. It’s head-spinning stuff.

So when our team gets “insights” about Millennials behavior, we tend to be a bit skeptical. A recent report by Goldman Sachs tells a much richer story backed by data, useful categorical info and enlightening takeaways.

Instead of one large thought-piece from one person’s perspective, the interactive guide shows key touchpoints on how millennials were raised and why they view the world the way they do.

Digital Natives

One of the narratives that gets thrown around frequently for millennials is that they’re more socially connected than Generation X and Baby Boomers. While that may be true, the gap is closing rapidly:

Social Millennials

Some platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter in particular, are seeing incredible usage jumps from Gen X and Boomers as Millennials move onto newer portals. So while millennials may be ahead of the curve on this trend, they’re not running away with it. It’s ideas and data like this that cut through the clutter and provide newer insights.

Love and Marriage

Another intriguing one:

Millennials Marriage

It’s an interesting nugget or information on its own. But the report dives deeper into the reasons behind it, including job mobility, home ownership and financial standing. Instead of simply saying something like. “millennials must hate commitment,” the information provides a story that highlights what’s important to people in this age range.

Brands and Retail

Another good section highlighting the ways different groups feel about the brands they use and the way they make purchases. Certainly, millennials seem to be leading some of the charge with regards to online retailing, but we also see growth from other segments in a short period of time. Also, learning why millennials buy what they do is a strong indicator of what kind of products will succeed.

Millennials Buying

All around, it’s a fascinating read that’s definitely worth your time to explore more in-depth. If you have any questions or would like to hear more of our insights from the info presented, contact us using the form below and we’ll get back to you.

[gl-hs-form form_id=’1863abe3-c1e4-43d0-a298-c7b132f8ce03′]

 

Contact