Become involved (and strategic) with social media.

Fear is a terrible thing. Especially when it causes healthcare systems to back away from using a potentially powerful communications tool. When it comes to using social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, healthcare systems tend to fall into two categories. The first suffers from significant fear regarding negative feedback that may come from using such tools. This group also struggles with how much time it will take to make this a successful venture. The second group is “gung-ho” and jump into the pool before they check to make sure it’s been filled with water.  This group tends to throw every possible press release, article and “approved” message they can find onto their social media channels, only to realize they’ve created a one-way conversation.

There is a better way.Read full post...

A lesson in bad advertising.

Another car brand is on the chopping block. Ford has announced that it intends to discontinue the venerable Mercury brand.  Mercury’s recent ad campaign—a bad one—didn’t help the cause.  My apologies to Jill Wagner…it really wasn’t your fault.  Instead, a weak value proposition and bad execution did in the campaign.

You gotta put Mercury on your list? Their entire campaign was built around the premise of asking (almost begging) you to just consider their product in your selection set. Hardly instills confidence. That’s like a high school junior (let’s call him Paul P.) going up to a senior girl that he likes and saying, “Hey, this Friday when you’re thinking about guys that you’d like to spend some time with over the weekend, I hope you’ll consider giving me a call.” Two words: dead end. Trust me, I know.

Too bad, because Mercury has done it right before. Here Farrah shows the right way to do it. Better ad = better results. This Cougar XR-7 model went on to set sales records.

Using your differences for better recruiting.

Successful recruitment is more than simply putting together a job description and posting it out to the industry’s dominant job board. In your struggle to find top talent you need to understand two essential truths: 1.) You are different; and 2.) Your differences are what make your organization attractive.

What makes you different is your employees and the culture within your organization. If your employees are happy and say good things about your organization you’ll have an easier time recruiting top talent. If they are willing to provide testimonials, or to speak through social media channels about your organization, even better.

All employees want to work where they feel comfortable. They want to be successful within a culture that feels right to them. Beyond salary, beyond benefits, beyond the traditional, building a sense of belonging serves organizations well in recruitment and retention. When competing on salary, the company willing to pay the most wins. When competing on benefits, the company willing to pay the most wins. When competing on culture, the company that communicates the most wins.

So, if you’re struggling with bringing in top talent, maybe it’s not the salary or benefits that are the problem. Maybe you’re not providing them with the information they are looking for, “What is it really like to work there?”

How ironic - a writer who can't type.

There I’ve said it. The fact that I have 20-plus years of writing experience and never learned to type with any more than two fingers is hardly a point of pride. To me, watching someone type with ten fingers (without looking down at the keyboard) is like witnessing someone spinning a basketball on a fingertip. It’s a wondrous, magical skill. I realize that I could learn to type like a normal person, but then again I could also learn to fingertip-spin a basketball. But let’s face it. I’ll never be a Harlem Globetrotter.

My latest personal revelation is tied to the “Ultimate Typing Championship,” which took place on March 14 in Austin, Texas. Let’s call it “March Madness, nerd-style.” (Who lines up for tickets to an event like this?) The winner, Sean Wrona, broke the world record with a speed of 163 words per minute. First-place prize? $2,000. The event has a website that dares you to match your typing skills against America’s most fleet-fingered folks. (I’d suggest going into battle with all ten digits.)

Regulatory approval for genetic tests.

The week of May 10th was not a good one for Pathway Genomics. That’s when the FDA sent a letter saying it was looking into Pathway’s genetic test offering. And it’s not the only interested party.

According to Genome Web, the House Energy and Commerce Committee wants more information about Pathway’s test,  and about similar tests from other companies, 23andMe and Navigenics. Key questions are how the test is analyzed and how accurate those analyses are. The firms are being asked to come up with proof that they have regulatory approval or convince regulators that they don’t need it.

The accuracy of the analysis may go directly to the interpretation of the tests. While it might be possible to send the same sample to all three of these companies, all of which may get similar results, it’s the interpretations that can be wildly different. Responses are required by May 25, 2010. Hold on!

Read our previous blog about this issue.

Creating a customized online risk assessment

So how do you get a cardiovascular campaign to stand out above the clutter when there are more than 50 hospitals flooding the market with similar messages? How do you engage consumers to come to your website and sign up for your marketing materials? How do you get people to realize that they’re at risk for heart disease and proactively seek out a cardiologist in your health system?

These are all questions we were asked by The Chester County Hospital (TCCH) marketing team and questions we asked ourselves as we developed marketing recommendations for their cardiovascular service line.  Our answer was to develop an online risk assessment that would determine an individual’s risk level for heart disease.Read full post...

The danger of marketing without FDA approval

The strange story of drug store–based genetic tests.

It was a quick trip on and off the shelves at several thousand Walgreens drug stores for Pathway Genomics direct-to-consumer genetic testing kit. Less than 48 hours after announcing the availability of the test kits, Walgreens pulled back due to an intervention by the Food and Drug Administration saying that the test was without regulatory approval, telling Genetic Pathways that it would be an “illegally marketed device.” In Act II of this genetic drama, CVS also pulled out of marketing the same product a few days ago.

For my money, I can’t believe they went to market without considering the FDA’s reaction. Naivety? Cockiness? When you work in a regulated environment, particularly one in which the regulations are under development and fluid, assume nothing. I have clients that have worked with the FDA, not around them, even thought their product did not require FDA approval. They obtained the guidance they needed to move forward and both parties were better off for the interaction.

Imagine all that must have been involved in doing two deals of this magnitude. But, according to the FDA, “if a company is making claims about a product that hasn’t been reviewed or validated by FDA, we want to make sure the information to consumers is accurate and the test will do what it says it will do.”

Duh!

Read another blog entry about this issue.

Media relations is a lot like dating...

Recently I found myself consoling a coworker who was bothered because a reporter wouldn’t return her phone calls or emails or agree to go to lunch with her. Suddenly it occurred to me that entering the world of media relations is a lot like diving into the dating pool. Both involve unwritten rules, lots of phone calls, rejection and frustration—but with a little patience and a little luck, a long-lasting and trustworthy relationship can develop.

The relationship between a PR professional and a journalist is not just a one-night stand. It takes persistence and commitment.Read full post...

Can mobile media compete with the jumbotron?

These days, it seems like everyone is asking whether something is about to kill something else: “Will html5 kill flash?” “Will the iPad kill Kindle?”

So, with tongue firmly in cheek, I thought, “I gotta get in on this killing spree.”

In my daily romp through my normal news sites, I stumbled upon an article about a guy named Fred Ehrhart who is taking advantage of online marketing’s incredible targeting capabilities to ask a question usually reserved for jumbotrons, billboards and banners being towed behind airplanes: “Will you marry me?” The ads are all long gone, but they directed his potential bride and anyone else who clicked to this landing page.Read full post...

The important of audience clusters.

A while ago, my friend Eric and his family came for a visit. When he pulled into our driveway, he asked, “Hey, Shari, does every homeowner get a Subaru Outback with the house?” I looked around the cul de sac and up the street. As far as the eye could see, driveways hosted different-colored Subaru Outbacks.

If you work in this industry, you know that clusters are not just for breakfast anymore. Clusters are segments of people who have so much in common, even their similar consumer-purchase habits are similar.

Understanding these clusters is important in everything from budgeting to positioning and messaging. Know your audience — in all their idiosyncratic glory. But don’t be fooled into thinking clusters are just demographics. Clusters are people who make decisions in similar ways based on similar needs. Understanding clusters means understanding how target audiences make decisions for themselves and their families. Read full post...

Determining the all-important why.

My six-year-old son asks a lot of questions. More questions than I ever knew one human could possibly ask. If I am lucky, I can answer maybe a third of them. Sometimes the questions are about Star Wars or subjects he learned in school, but there is always one common thread with his questions that requires both my husband and I to think quickly — he wants to know the motive.

“Why did Obi Wan die so they could get on their plane?”
“Why did Anakin go to the dark side?”
“Why did Jack’s mom get so mad that he sold his cow for the magic beans?”
“Why is Dopey so dopey?”Read full post...

Finding the right social media tool.

My husband is a carpenter, so he’s into tools. As a social media guru, so am I. Whenever we come up with a project, we immediately start thinking about what tools we have and what we may need to buy. We’ll scour yard sales, flea markets and the Internet to find just the right compound miter saw or three-phase plasma cutter — often to the detriment of the job itself.

Though perhaps not as exotic as a four-foot finger brake or Pittsburgh lock-seam hammer, the most exciting social media tool is video. Healthcare professionals are learning to take advantage of video along with everything else in their toolbox, as this online marketing blog explains. Surgeons have used Twitter, for example, to tweet out live procedures from the O.R. — the first being a surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from someone’s kidney. Universities such as Stanford are using video on Facebook for question-and-answer sessions between professors and students. Mainstream media is now plugging into social media for obvious reasons — mainly because they know their audiences are plugged in.Read full post...

It's time for the AB&C Spring Art Show.

It’s the time of year for new beginnings — spring is in the air, the Phillies just had their season opener and new art is being hung on AB&C’s walls. That’s right, it’s time for the agency’s spring art show. It’s our tradition to host an art reception every spring and fall. The show helps decorate our walls and inspires agency staff and guests, while offering local artists an opportunity to display their work.

This spring we will be featuring work from artists Adam Kolodczak, Steve Lewis and Katie Lillard.

The opening reception is on Thursday, April 8, from 5 to 8 p.m., but the art will remain on display until the end of July.

We’re expecting record-breaking attendance for this month’s show. If you’d like to join us on Thursday evening for light hors d’oeuvres, beverages and some fine art, become our fan on Facebook and RSVP to the invite.

We will be Tweeting live from the event so be sure to follow us on Twitter @ABCadvertising!

Environmentally friendly & really loud!

You may have seen the latest campaign promoting the new compostable bag from Sun Chips. I myself started a compost bin last year, which literally cut our landfill contributions in half — not to mention the effect it had on my new garden. As an avid tree hugger I applaud this effort by our Frito-Lay friends, but their new package needs a warning label.

The problem lies in the bag itself. It produces by far the highest level of ear-piercing decibels in the history of chip bags. Quite frankly this crinkly cacophony has to be completely screwing with Frito-Lay’s main target audience — the late-night snacker. And yeah, I’m one of ’em. And there’s a technique to late-night snacking — a very challenging technique. I mean, you’re already dealing with a chip — come on, even the word “chip” sounds loud and crunchy. And you’ve always had to deal with the crinkle of the bag. Some bags are worse than others, am I right? And when you’re down to just crumbs, you wind up cutting the top half off with a scissors, ’cause that’s a lot of bag to work through. Really, it’s a losing battle that’s just going to drive your wife crazy.Read full post...

Is Twitter dead?

Every once in a while you’ll see an article asking “Is Twitter Dead?” even suggesting that if you’ve been avoiding Twitter as part of a “non-strategy,” it may be paying off!

The problem with that perspective is that Twitter is not a strategy. It’s not even a tactic. It’s a channel!

The strategy (and ultimately your goal) is usually specific to your organization so it’s hard to discuss. But we can identify a general growing audience: people who create and consume information, wherever and whenever, with increased frequency, increased brevity and often with groups of people (as opposed to one other person).Read full post...