Spur Interactive

A Changing Landscape
The Web has dramatically changed the way we live our daily lives – both personal and professional.  Media consumption has shifted dramatically, along with the way we seek information.  This is especially true in the health care industry where patients are taking a more active role in their health care decisions and the advent of medical tourism has created a global marketplace that is becoming increasingly competitive.

New Challenges
Health care marketers, both domestic and abroad, have a daunting task: develop and execute strategies to accommodate changes in customer behavior, fragmentation of media and increasing competition from global providers.  For many health care providers, one of the keys to success (and in some cases survival) will be the ability to reach, engage and cultivate relationships with patients via the Web.  This is clearly much easier said than done.

The Need for Direction
Most health care marketers know the Web is a critical medium for reaching patients and building your brand.  Yet many are still on the sidelines, wondering what to do, where to start and how to measure results.  Whether you’re looking at Google, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Email, Blogs or other media, there are many options and seemingly few answers to the question “what should we do?”  Based on 6+ years of online marketing in health care, along with 3+ years of social media marketing on behalf of large and small brands, I believe I have the answer which is presented in the archived webinar below (see below for table of contents).  If you’d like to view the slides (without the voice-over) view Online Strategy and Best Practices for Healthcare Marketing on slideshare.

Trouble viewing? View “Online Marketing for Health Care” on Vimeo.

Presentation Overview
With the goal of helping health care providers, marketers and facilitators understand interactive marketing, I conducted an online webinar for the Medical Tourism Association in 12/09. The lessons are equally applicable to international and domestic providers. “Online Marketing for Health Care: What You Need to Know!” addresses the following:

1. Business case for online marketing in health care
2. A five-point plan (and best practices) for online marketing success
- Understand your audience
- Optimize your Web site
- Create demand via paid, owned and earned media
- Engage and interact via social media
- Define metrics and measure results
3. Social Media: Keys To Success
- Business case for social media
- Common mistakes and pitfalls
- Tactical recommendations for success

Social Media Resources
If you want to learn more about social media, here are some related posts and presentations:

- Social Media Strategy for marketers
- Business Case for Social Media
- New Media Toolkit

I hope you find this to be of great value to you and your organization.  If so, please feel free to comment and share with others!

Steve Latham (follow me on Twitter!)

___________________________________________________________________

Tweet This Post

Medical tourism is a relatively unknown but rapidly growing industry.  By 2014, more than 3 million Americans will travel abroad for medical care (Deloitte 2009), taking advantage of opportunities to save 50-80% on cosmetic dentistry, plastic surgery, lasik surgery, bariatric surgery, joint replacements, rehab treatment and invitro fertilization (to name a few).

Historically, local health care providers were somewhat insulated from competition. They didn’t have to be the best marketers; they just had to be better than their local competitors.  But like most industries, health care is going global. Our world is becoming flat and the perceived gap in the quality of medical care is closing quickly.

If you could get a procedure done by a U.S. trained surgeon, treat your spouse to a great vacation and save 50% vs. having surgery here, would you?  According to Deloitte, 9% of the population would strongly consider it. The implication for health care marketers: the competitive landscape is changing and geographic barriers no longer offer a sustainable advantage.

Everyone in health care knows the web has changed the game from a marketing standpoint.  With shrinking reimbursements, restricted coverage and increasing deductibles, patients are taking a more active role in their healthcare decisions and they are using the Web to do their research, explore options and choose providers. The battle for brand awareness, consideration and preference is moving from the primary care physician’s office to blogs, social networking sites, search engines, health care sites, email and other forms of new media.  If international health care providers want to reach U.S. consumers, online media is the place to do it.

Just as domestic healthcare providers have learned, online marketing offers superior opportunities for medical tourism marketers to expand their share of the global healthcare market.  The growth in online media consumption, coupled with the compelling advantages offered by online media make online marketing a critical channel for medical tourism.

Like all things, success begins with a plan.  Before you start spending valuable time and money on one-off marketing efforts, develop a strategy that addresses your audiences, objectives, tactics, requirements and metrics with a focus on creating awareness, engaging audiences and acquiring new customers (patients, referring physicians, etc.).  With the goal of helping medical tourism marketers better understand how to use online media to achieve these goals, we’ve published the Medical Tourism Marketing presentation above.  In it we discuss the business case for online marketing and provide a digital roadmap for medical tourism marketing via online media. You can also view the presentation Online Marketing for Medical Tourism on slideshare

While international providers have some additional challenges compared to domestic providers (concerns of quality being the biggest), the path to success is the same: deliver a compelling message in an efficient and effective manner to your target audiences. Whether you are in Boston or Bangkok, Manhattan or Manila, online media offers the most effective way to engage patients and build your brand.

For more on interactive health care marketing:

• Visit our health care marketing page
• Read “Online Marketing for Health Care Providers“
• View the presentation Online Healthcare Marketing on slideshare.

Please feel free to comment, share with others and subscribe to our blog. Your feedback is appreciated!

Follow us on Twitter!
Find us on Facebook!
Contact us for more information

Tweet This Post

Health care is a hot topic these days!  It’s a huge industry ($2.5 trillion in annual spend) and one of our biggest employment sectors.  It’s a lightning rod in Washington, and it seems the older we get, the more it becomes a factor in our daily lives.  It is also a long-term growth industry that offers significant opportunities to health care providers who can effectively and efficiently reach, engage and acquire customers (i.e. it’s a fertile field for great marketers!).

Changing Customer Behavior?
Rising costs, restrictions in coverage and widespread access to health information is fueling consumer-driven health care.  The web has empowered consumers to become much more knowledgeable about their condition and enabled them to make more educated decisions about the type of care they receive and where they receive it.  Patients are taking a more active role in their health care decisions and are increasingly relying on their own research over the advice of their primary care physician.

Changing behavior is not just limited to patients.  Boomer docs and administrators are retiring, and the next generation of physicians and health care professionals are very web-savvy. They communicate, collaborate and do research online. While medical books and journals will always have their place, online is becoming the preferred medium for staying current. The Web is becoming a critical channel for physicians as well as consumers.

Change Creates Opportunity!
Shifts in media consumption are changing how we think about marketing. Change creates opportunities for forward-thinking brands, and challenges for those who cling to the status quo.  The leading providers of tomorrow are those who can see the trends, adjust their approach and engage consumers and physicians when and where they spend their time: online.

When you consider the growth in online media consumption with the compelling advantages offered by digital media (ability to target, engage, interact and measure) it’s clear that interactive or online marketing is a “must-have” for marketing success.

Navigating the Digital Landscape
While most health care marketers understand the importance of digital media, many are confused, overwhelmed and in need of direction.  Search engine visibility is critical, but so is Twitter and Facebook.  If you aren’t a widely known brand, display advertising can be an effective channel for creating awareness and demand. Email marketing is still highly underutilized by most, and mobile is becoming more and more important.  The online media landscape changes daily, making it a very complicated medium.  It’s not surprising that many health care marketers are still on the sidelines, wondering where to start, what to do and how to measure results.

Roadmap for Success
With the goal of helping health marketers understand how to use online media to build their brand and grow market share, we’ve produced the presentation above.  In it we’ve developed the business case for online marketing in the health care arena and provided an overview of the landscape, a roadmap for execution and keys to success in interactive. You can also view the presentation Online Health Care Marketing on slideshare.

Please feel free to comment, share with others and subscribe to our blog.  We look forward to your feedback!

Follow us on Twitter!
Find us on Facebook!
Contact us for more information

Tweet This Post

While preparing for an interview I was reviewing questions I received from the journalist. One question was “how does your firm leverage social media?” It seems that social media is the latest shiny object that is on the wish list of most brand marketers.  Yet if you ask them why they need it, you’re likely to get a pithy, high level response such as “because we want to engage and interact with our customers.”  Ask how they plan to do that and you’ll often get blank stares.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m a huge fan of social media and I believe it is a killer app for many companies. This is especially true for professional services firms like mine.  At the same time, I frequently see a lack of planning, coordination and understanding of how to best use social media to achieve marketing objectives.  So now let’s go back to the opening question…

How do we use social media? We work in an industry where the cobblers kids (sans shoes) run rampant.  And for the most part this is fine; we can be great media planners and campaign managers, even if we don’t do a lot of advertising ourselves. However, when it comes to social media, I believe we have to lead by example.

If you are reading this, you may know that I blog, twitter, slideshare, facebook, link in, stumble, digg and tag things that are delicious.  Yes, it takes time, but I enjoy it. But above all, I do it because it creates value for my personal and agency brands. Through my investment in social media, I’ve expanded our network of partners, booked speaking opportunities, built awareness for our brand and generated several new client opportunities.

Social media can be a great platform for most businesses.  But as a professional services firm, social media offers some additional benefits that one could argue make it a killer app for marketing purposes.  In my world, the #1 benefit of social media is that it provides a platform for demonstrating thought leadership.

It’s important to remember that social media is a platform, not a message.  While awareness and visibility are great benefits of social media, they don’t build your brand.  You can get great visibility with a flurry of self-promoting posts and annoying solicitations for your services, but you aren’t building credibility.  You can use social media to connect with business acquaintances, recruit employees and show the world that you are a forward-thinking firm, but it probably won’t matter to clients. In my opinion, the true value of social media for professional service firms is the ability to demonstrate thought leadership on a large scale that gets even bigger if you have something unique and valuable to say.

Here’s another way to look at it: any firm can hire a web site copy writer to create a compelling message that says who you are, what you do, how you differentiate and why clients choose you.  While this used to be a key factor in engaging visitors, clients do not make decisions based on your home page. Case studies are great but we all know they present an air-brushed image of the results you produced for a client. On the other hand, a blog or tweet stream provides a relatively unfiltered view into how you think and how you act.  If you routinely produce strategic insights, unique perspectives and practical knowledge that are perceived to be of value to your clients, you can establish credibility and thought leadership in their eyes.  Clients hire consultants, agencies, bankers and lawyers because of their people.  Social media enables you to build your brand by showing off your greatest assets in a way that is much more transparent and authentic than it used to be.

In the past we relied on the static html, flash intros, polished copy and powerpoints to educate clients on who we are and how we can help them.  Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Slideshare, LinkedIn and others now offer us a much more effective and efficient means for demonstrating thought leadership, regardless of your size, budget or location.  It’s not often that those of us in client services can point to a competitive advantage that we enjoy over other types of businesses.  But in a world where clients are seeking knowledge, insight and trusted advice, the social web gives us a unique opportunity to show them what we have to offer.

I’d love to hear from other service providers on this topic.  Comments are welcome!

Steve Latham
Follow me on Twitter
Find me on Facebook

Tweet This Post

Welcome to Interactive Musings 1.3, the latest summary of stories that I thought would be of interest to those who online marketing. This edition is dedicated to Audiences – where all marketing plans begin.   I hope you find it to be informative. Feel free to share and comment!

Kids Flock to the Web (AdWeek)
To no one’s surprised, Nielsen Online confirmed that kids are going online at a much faster rate than the rest of us.  While the online universe has grown by only 10% in the past 5 years, the kids’ Web universe has grown 18%. As of late, the kids 2-11 audience reached 16 million, or 9.5% of active online users.  Kids are practically living online, spending nearly 11 hours a month in 2009.
What Men Do Online (eMarketer)
If you are wondering how man use the Internet, check out the eMarketer report. Don’t worry
it’s rated G, but if you market to dudes (or just wonder what we are really doing when we say
we are working late) take a look.

Marketers Target the Over 50 Set (NY Times)
“For decades, older consumers were largely shunned by marketers because they were deemed less wealthy, less likely to try new products and less willing to change brands. Not any longer…

A Fresh Look at 50 (Mediapost)
It seems that 50 is different than it used to be. Interesting article on the 44-54 age group (aka cuspers, young boomers), the transition they are going through and how to market to them. A must read for anyone seeking to engage this group.

Seniors On The Web!
Latest studies show that 45% of 70-75 age group is online (as well as 56% of 65-70 year olds). The web is becoming a bonanza for marketers targeting seniors. If this is your audience, you need to get with the program. For more info see the research brief.

That’s all for this edition. Since this is an interactive blog, you are invited to share your thoughts, questions or comments. Just keep it clean and constructive. You can also share this, digg it, or whatever floats your social networking boat!

Steve Latham
Follow me on Twitter
Find me on Facebook

Tweet This Post

I often hear marketers quip “our audiences (seniors) are not online”.  The presumption is that seniors are too old to use the computer and they would somehow get lost while navigating the Web.  (Really?)  At the same time, I am always hearing about how someone’s 92 year old grandmother is an email fanatic and a Facebook junkie.  I tend to believe this is becoming the norm vs. the exception.

MediaPost recently reported the results of a Pew Internet Research study that clearly debunks they myth that senior citizens are not online.  Surveys show that the graying of the Internet is a powerful trend. View the article!

According to the Pew stats, there are 20 million internet users over the age of 65.  And almost 80% of them use email.  The top 3 uses of the Web are:

1. Email
2. Search
3. Researching Health information

Below is a nifty chart provided by eMarketer.  As you can see, recent retirees are using the Web en masse, and their elders are not far behind.

Surprised? Baffled? Or do you already know this? For more exciting stats view the entire report.

And Grandma if you are reading this, I love you!

Comments are welcome!

Steve Latham
http://twitter.com/stevelatham

Tweet This Post