Hospital Branding

At a recent breakfast featuring several CEO’s of Chicago hospitals, the panel was asked this question: “what keeps you up at night?”   Their answers really woke up the audience of nearly 500 and provided a chilling reminder about how the world and our priorities have changed. One panelist explained that his answer would have been very different years ago.   It would have focused on the hospital’s census, average length of stay, and quality ratings. Today what keeps these hospital CEO’s awake is concern over patient safety. At first glance, you might suspect that their comments have to do with Medicare’s Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction program.   Or, reports from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that cite one in eight hospital admissions result in a patient injury of some kind.   After all, the HAC program alone costs hospitals nearly $400 Million in Medicare payments. This kind of  “patient safety” is not what these admin...

It has happened twice in the last month to restaurants near me.  Both closed suddenly, after their owners made huge investments of time and money in their dreams and visions.  While this happens across the country to businesses everyday, there are similarities between these restaurants that more than hit close to home;  they emphasize the importance of brand positioning and how it can either open new doors to customers, or close them. Restaurant A was in a very popular and trendy northern suburb of Chicago. The owner was a first time restauranteur who bought the property and totally gutted it.  New floors, tables, music stage, lighting - you name it. He wanted it to be known, or positioned, as a great restaurant with a lively bar and awesome music scene.  Aside from the fact the food quality didn't start out of the gate that great, people didn't like that their meal was served with loud music and congestion from the crowded bar area.  Was it a bar wi...

"Facing" is a great term used in marketing circles for decades.  Originally, it referred to the level and amount of shelf space a brand received in retail and centered around the "P" word, "place," from the   4 P's of Marketing . Today, it's used more than ever as it relates to the promotional strategy and audience mix a brand is pursuing.  In marketing meetings everywhere, statements or questions arise about a brand's facing such as "what's your consumer facing?" or "our brand also has a business-to-business facing," or "our online facing..."  Still a great term, but the context has shifted dramatically. The more it comes up in conversations, the more we need reminding that a brand should only have one face.  Sometimes the way it faces  toward different audiences, will change, however, the profile of the brand should be consistent.  Different messaging should be used to motivate different audience...

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 deter...

The phrase "win-win" has been engrained in our vocabulary, to the point where business books call it one of the most overused statements of the last decade.  Obviously, the meaning implies there is a mutual benefit to two parties who take part in a common activity or situation.  The opposite side of that equation is the "lose-lose," reflecting an individual or organization that chooses not to engage in a strategy that has limited risk and high potential return. Such is the case with digital marketing.  Believe it or not, there are still many healthcare organizations that are merely skimming the surface and not committing more of their budgets to paid digital media.  They are engaged in social, SEO, and other forms of owned media, but not shifting their budgets in favor of digital spend versus traditional media.  To borrow another phrase in the business vernacular, digital media is a "no brainer."  Think about the benefits: You can precisely target by...

In this branding blog, we have written about the "sweet spot."  The book, "Aaker on Branding," defines it as the intersection between consumer passions and brand benefits.  While there are several variations of this description,  the basic premise of the "sweet spot" relies on a deep understanding of your consumers beyond demographics, household composition, and top-line preferences.  It requires real insights on their dreams, visions, and interests. At a recent advertising conference I heard this:  "Branding moves at the speed of culture."  It was a "wow moment."  The example was based on a popular brand of headphones and ear buds that have done an incredible job of tying their products to what's currently trending.  As a result, the brand is always at the forefront of culture and endorsed by many top athletes and celebrities.  I should add, too, that the creative work is pretty brilliant. The intersection of your brand promi...

It takes years to create a trusted brand; one that carries with it quality, safety, assurance, and credibility in the minds of your consumers.   Then, in an instance, it’s gone and – in many cases – impossible to get back.   There are several reasons this occurs – some controlled (think Coke’s new recipe or Maker’s Mark less potent one), some out of control (think Tylenol).   According to David Horsager, author of “The Trust Edge,” a lack of trust is the biggest expense a brand can endure.   One of the hot topics today when it comes to brand trust is the use of a spokesperson and whether this makes good sense for an organization.   From Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods (who reportedly lost $110 Million income in two weeks) in the sports world to Bill Cosby and recently Brian Williams in the “entertainment” industry, to countless others, tying your brand to an individual is a risk you should seriously consider.   It has JELL-O shaking in its’ Nike shoe...

The most effective way to be disruptive in today’s marketplace is to have the deepest possible understanding of your consumers. Have you ever been behind a fo­cus group mirror watching a group of your customers, wanting to reach through the glass to educate them about your brand so they could better understand the brand mes­sage and successfully choose your product or service? All the work you think you’re doing to develop the most compelling and differentiating brand proposition is falling terribly flat! It has happened to all of us and, while it is a humbling and reflective experience, it reinforces a basic principle of branding, communications, and breaking through the clutter. It’s not that customers don’t “get” or care about the message, it’s mainly that the content is not engaging or disruptive enough to rise to the top in their already multi-tasked lives. And this leads to the brand marketer’s next task. We use the term disruptive as an adapta­tion of Clayton M. Christe...