Healthy Conversations
Imagining & Creating New Value For Health Brands & Consumers

We’ve had a number of similar client conversations over the past few months. They begin something like this: We feel like we have far too many brands in our portfolio. More than we can probably support. Every time someone introduces a new service, it becomes another “brand” with another logo.

The truth is, not all programs and services are created equal. Not all are “brand/logo worthy.” Particularly in this economic environment, energy and resources must be focused on supporting those health services that best align with vision and business strategy, build strategic and financial value back to the organization, and meet customer/stakeholder current and future needs.

Here are our seven portfolio “P”s that you can begin to use to evaluate and strengthen your healthcare portfolio:

Purpose. Do each of your brands reflect your strategic vision, business goals and strategies
Perspective. What story is the portfolio telling from a customer perspective
Place. Do each of the brands in the portfolio have a clearly defined role; are relationships clear; is there sufficient separation between them
Potential. How do your different brands contribute to building strategic advantage, and to current and future growth and profitability
Performance. Do you sufficiently cover the market given the needs of your priority audiences
Potency. Does market attractiveness (size and potential growth) merit investment
Pink Slips. For those brands that don’t meet this criteria, what is our plan for phasing them out

Have I missed any “P”s?

How do we align the customer experience with social media?

This was the main topic of discussion in our client meeting the other day. With so much emphasis being placed on integrating social media into the marketing mix, this was a conversation about its impact on the total customer experience.

Given this perspective, many conversations about social media start too far downstream. First, even those that begin with objectives, audiences and strategies often bypass the fact that effective brand management is an organization-wide endeavor.

What this means is that all internal stakeholders across business functions need to play together on the same team, as audiences who are tweeting, posting, updating and uploading don’t care much about individual silo practices. And this means that an effective social media program must be “socialized” across the organization, as all disciplines must work together to deliver the brand promise. And delivering this promise depends on having the processes and systems in place to enable this to happen.

So how will your organization align the real-world customer experience with social media:

• how should you/will you respond to customer’s real-time questions, comments or concerns?
• which conversations are more important to business and relationships, and how do you know?
• how will you empower your customers so that they become an extension of your marketing and your sales force, and add value back to your brand?

These are a few of the questions we discussed in our meeting the other day. If you have any thoughts about this subject, please share.

Mayo’s reputation for being a forerunner when it comes to all things “social media” isn’t news to those in and around the healthcare space. But even I was surprised at this finding.

As part of some secondary research for another client, we visited a lot of healthcare organization’s Facebook pages. Mayo has 8,811 fans. That’s a big number (at least in healthcare). Far greater than many other well-known institutions.

This means that 8,811 people are listening, discussing, messaging, updating, receiving Mayo’s feeds (which in turn gives these fans some viral power), interacting with Mayo and connecting with other people just like them (which we know in healthcare is very powerful in terms of improving health outcomes for people with a range of conditions).

Most importantly, this means that 8,811 people are telling (and participating in) personal and honest, living and breathing, powerful and overwhelmingly positive stories about Mayo in ways that traditional communications just can’t convey. Though I still believe that social media is not a single solution in itself, but one element of an integrated marketing communications plan.

It’s always been that people’s stories are important, not those of the organization. What an incredible, equity-enhancing benefit it is to have 8,000 plus people socially and passionately involved with your brand, while letting you (the marketer) actually spread your message more effectively.

Kudos (once again) to Mayo.

As an addendum to my previous post, here are twelve principles for becoming a connecting versus campaigning organization. I refer to these principles as an Attraction Manifesto because of what “manifesto” implies – passion, game-changing, an appropriately public (social) declaration of your intentions and how you’ll set out to achieve them.

And because it’s a manifesto, it asks others to join together to make it a reality. Clearly, you’ll need to put your own spin on this doctrine to make it actionable for your organization and your audiences (which I hope you’ll do).

1. Coherence – our brand idea will serve as the nucleus for all of our actions, interactions and conversations.
2. Authenticity – our social media conversations should be similar to our daily interactions with friends, colleagues and family, i.e. open and honest, informal and in a personal voice.
3. Transparency – we’ll represent ourselves as people rather than an organization, because people connect with people, not organizations. We’ll also be honest about who we are, as trust is a huge barometer of engagement.
4. Collaborative – we’ll embrace the fact that true conversations are two-way, give and take exchanges; so that all participants ultimately grow stronger together.
5. Customized – we’ll create specific interest content and communities (thereby enhancing relevance to audiences) by collecting, categorizing, listening and responding.
6. Facilitating – we’ll allow conversations to go on around us without trying to control them, empowering people to connect through our brand, with content as the enabler.
7. Contagious – we’ll create “life-impacting” content and conversations that generate word-of-mouth and that people want to share with others.
8. Co-Creation – by working together, we all learn, grow and become stronger.
9. Evangelists – as feasible, we’ll create passionate and active advocates who will want to spread our message (for little expense).
10. Paced – we’ll start small, do what we can, when we can.
11. Context – we’ll recognize that social media is not a single solution in itself, but one element of an integrated marketing communications plan.
12. Bottom Line – there are lots of ways to measure social media success; so we’ll determine our success metrics (based on our objectives) before we begin our efforts.

As I’ve said previously, you have the opportunity now to benefit your organization by involving and empowering your audiences in conversations by being where they are and making it easier for them to connect, get informed and take action. It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when.” So what are you waiting for?

I read an article “Four Lifestyle Rules To Keep You Healthy” on Time. com and thought to myself what would the four rules be to keep brands healthy.

Tough to narrow to four, but here are mine.

1. An important and differentiating idea – the starting point for all great brands.
2. Relevance to audiences – based on understanding their hopes, desires and real life practices.
2. Tapping emotion – because the majority of our decisions are made with our “guts”.
3. Brilliant execution – which is so uncommonly excellent across the board that it reflects a clear leadership position.

Would you substitute any others? Please share your thoughts.

Moral of the story I’m about to tell is that crappy experiences (on top of poor communication) don’t engender loyalty, particularly when people are on vacation and trying to relax. But they will promote word-of-mouth (though not the good kind). Lesson learned – the simple act of communicating and putting yourself in your customers shoes can often diffuse and turn a bad situation around.

We took a ferry ride yesterday from the mainland to an island (which will remain unnamed). The company that runs the ferry asks people to arrive at least 45 minutes beforehand, as tickets can only be purchased at the window. They don’t take reservations online or over the phone. Okay you say to yourself, a bit behind the times, but not that big a deal. We’re on vacation.

As anticipated, the window’s pretty crowded when we get there, because everyone’s thinking that they need to be beat the crowds. Okay you say to yourself, not that big a deal. We’re on vacation.

We buy our tickets and now it’s about an hour before the boat is supposed to leave at twelve. It’s already kind of crowded in the “holding area” but tolerable. And, we’re on vacation. By 11:30, the dock’s pretty full. Like waiting for the doors to open before a concert. An announcement over the loud speaker asks people to move as far down on the deck as they can, to make it easier for all people to enter the ferry in a timely manner.

By 11:45, people are looking for a boat that’s supposed to be leaving in fifteen minutes. It’s shoulder to shoulder on the dock, and if you’ve ever run the marathon,
you’d know the feeling. By the way, the sun’s shining and it’s also pretty hot. Not so okay anymore, because we’re on vacation.

At about twelve o’ clock, the time the boat is supposed to leave, another announcement asking people to move down the dock. Hundreds of people in unison shout back “no.” And now, the crowd’s not happy. We’re supposed to be on vacation. Babies are crying, kids are fidgety, adults are running out of patience, and a lot of older folks (who’ve been standing around for more than an hour) need a bathroom.

At 12:25, someone who has decided to anoint himself watchmen yells “I see the boat.” A collective round of applause, though it’s still fifteen minutes away. Finally, at about 12:40, we board the boat that is supposed to leave at 12.

To save you time, I’ll tell you that it was the same situation coming home. But to top it all off, they decide to collect passengers tickets as they’re getting off the boat at the destination.

So, back to the moral of the story. Some simple communication on the part of the ferry company could have saved the day. And prevented a whole lot of people from getting really pissed off and swearing that they’ll never do this again. Seems that only one boat was running that day, as the other one was experiencing mechanical difficulties.

Here’s where the bit about communication kicks in. Why not let passengers know about the delays as we were purchasing our tickets. Even better, why not leave a message about the delays on the ferry information line. Or, why not tell us when we’re parking our cars about a quarter mile away from the ferry, passing a number of local food and drink options along the way.

My list of “why nots” could go on. Because there were ten different things the company could have done when the hundreds of passengers were shuffled into the “holding area” waiting for the boat. Regardless of what business you’re in, your goal is to create happy customers. And so often (as in life), it’s the little things that make the difference. In this case, both brand and (hundreds of) customers lost.

I’m away on vacation this week, but there are a number of things that I’ve been noticing along the way. All are reminders that everything health brands do, or don’t do, enhances or rips apart at that brand’s reputation and image. And often, as in life, it’s the little things that count.

For instance:

• when you walk into a store (a well-known, high-end regional apparel brand) and there’s a big autographed picture of the two founders promising that “our unequaled apparel will be matched by our unequaled customer service” – the people behind the counter (who never left their posts) should at least be smiling, not on their computers, and might want to say “hello” to shoppers.
• when you sit down to a meal, at a fairly pricey shore-front restaurant, the “wait” staff should probably not be pissed-off about working that night. Doesn’t make for one of those lovely and relaxing sunset meals. Nor will this restaurant make our pass-along list to friends.
• we will, however, pass along that anyone taking the trip from Hyannis to Nantucket take the slow Hi-Line ferry because “Mike” makes the trip worthwhile.

While the make-up of a great brand really hasn’t changed that much, the ways we go about building brands, driven by evolving customer priorities, expectations and practices, certainly have.

I pulled this slide from a presentation titled Modern Brand Building – Stop Campaigning. Start Committing from Paul Isakson, Senior Strategic Planner at space150. Credit also goes to John Grant, who influenced these thoughts in The Brand Innovation Manifesto.

Stop Campaigning, Start Committing (the sub-head of this presentation) is an apt summary of the new reality of how great health brands will create value for audiences going forward. And how audiences will add value back to brands.

This is a wonderful checklist for ensuring that your brand is creating value for people in ways that they value and want.

Amidst all the lies and deceit, we yearn for the truth. Because our trust has eroded. And without trust, nothing else matters. It’s an intangible that overrides the importance of any product, service or experience. It’s the foundation and one of the most desired qualities in a relationship. Alas, truth is behind every great brand. 

In fact, TRUST just might be the biggest differentiator, the most sustainable competitive advantage that companies can now secure. And the funny thing about telling the truth, about earning trust,  is that it doesn’t require any significant expenditure. Yet the payback is enormous, and lasting. 

Mountains of articles provide advice for weathering the downturn. Marketers are advised to seize new opportunities, focus their resources, integrate their marketing, stay close to their customers, exploit digital channels, become more social. But none of it matters if you don’t level with people.

So I would add another strategy to all these lists about pressing on through the downturn (as well as the good times):  Tell The Truth. Because nothing else matters.

What do you think?

Not all products and services are created equal. Not all deserve “brand” status. Particularly in this environment, where resources are scarce and need to be laser-like focused on customer satisfaction.

Some brands might not meet customers’ important unmet needs, be able to meet revenue or profit goals or no longer support your business strategy. Identifying opportunities to trim portfolio fat turns up more resource to support those brands that are both strategically and financially the most important to the company (and your consumers).

Your portfolio goals should be to create:
• the optimal number of brands in line with business strategy
• each with a clearly defined role
• that work together to support one another
• grow value back to the company and shareholders
• and make it easy for customers to navigate and purchase their desired products

In an environment in which you have more to do with less, here are some questions that brand owners need to be asking:
Principle. What is the organizing principle of the portfolio
Perspective. What story is the portfolio telling from a customer perspective
Place. Do each of the brands in the portfolio have a clearly defined role; is there sufficient separation between the company offerings
Positioning. Which of your brands is best positioned for growth
Profit. How do our different brands contribute to profitability
Potential. Which offer future economic potential; and does market attractiveness (size and potential growth) merit investment
Performance. Do you sufficiently cover the market and target customer segments, with the fewest brands possible
Possibilities. Which brands are more firmly positioned for future growth

Answers to these questions (which really come down to relative brand strength and market attractiveness) should lead to the following actions:
• shut down weakest outcast brands
• rationalize overlapping brands
• push sleeper brands to realize full potential
• defend power brands that are strategically and financially important
• launch or acquire brands to fill gaps