Hospital Branding

When you check your newsfeed of your favorite social media site, there is always one – okay, many – of your friends, family, or co-workers whose updates are annoying enough to make you cringe. It may be posting a picture of every meal they eat, or sharing too many cat videos, a bad joke, or (especially this time of year) their political views. As much as you may “like” this person in real life, their actions have probably left you hovering over the unfriend button more than once. Individuals aren’t the only ones on social media who can be annoying. Brands are right up there. A report from Sprout Social titled, “ Turned Off: How Brands Are Annoying Customers on Social ,” contains some very interesting insights from a consumer survey centered around this topic. As you may have guessed, there are a number of things brands do to rub their audiences the wrong way, including: posting too many promotions, trying to be funny when they’re not, and not replying to their audience’s messages.

Summer is typically that season when, between vacations and short attention spans, your brand pretty much runs on autopilot.  Hello fall and the brisk change in colors and temperatures.  Suddenly, it seems that everything is due at once and demands on the marketing department have gone full throttle. Before you jump right back into it, now is the perfect time to give your brand a check-up to make sure it’s healthy, vibrant, and able to keep pace with the changing market.  The year-end is fast approaching, budgets are due, and performances will be measured. A suggested brand check-up is below and I recommend you schedule it on an annual basis.  There is just too much happening in the industry today to risk having your brand be at risk for the ills of “same ol’, same ol’.” Cleanse, clear your head, and breathe : The best prep and start for your brand check-up is to clear your head and breathe.  There are several hospital marketing conferences coming up (SHSMD Connections ’16, Ho

Branding in healthcare organizations is still predominantly associated with how and where consumers see your brand.   It could be digitally, on traditional media, or your brand architecture displayed on signs and buildings.   But the total brand experience goes well below “see” level and must immerse your stakeholders in order to drive preference and create consumer loyalty.    The emergence of immersive marketing and its impact on brand value has caused marketers to recognize the value of being sensory driven as much as data driven.   The Huffington Post recently surveyed 1,600 companies and learned that 84% believe that experiential marketing activities and events are important, or very important to their organizations.    One of the companies that responded added,   “people are inherently social, and there is nothing that can make a more powerful statement about your brand than the ability to bring people together physically through immersive events and experiences.” Big bra

Branding in healthcare organizations is still predominantly associated with how and where consumers see your brand.   It could be digitally, on traditional media, or your brand architecture displayed on signs and buildings.   But the total brand experience goes well below “see” level and must immerse your stakeholders in order to drive preference and create consumer loyalty.    The emergence of immersive marketing and its impact on brand value has caused marketers to recognize the value of being sensory driven as much as data driven.   The Huffington Post recently surveyed 1,600 companies and learned that 84% believe that experiential marketing activities and events are important, or very important to their organizations.    One of the companies that responded added,   “people are inherently social, and there is nothing that can make a more powerful statement about your brand than the ability to bring people together physically through immersive events and experiences.” Big bra

This question used to be asked differently – “do your audiences click with you?”  Meaning, do they engage with your messages, watch your commercials, open your direct mail, or subscribe to your email. Today, it works differently.  It’s your brand’s job to click with its audiences in a way that encourages them to opt-in and engage with your organization.  These HubSpot statistics are a bit scary and support who’s really in control of message delivery and reception:          95% of consumers say they have skipped TV ads          98% have unsubscribed from an email           53% cite that there are direct mail pieces that go unopened         66% have requested to be on “do not call” list:  Approximately       200 million Americans  have  registered their phone numbers on     the FTC’s list As written about in other posts on this blog, branding has become deeply personalized and consumers have more choices than ever to pick the messaging and products that best meet their per