The iPad has only been out for a few months, but the health care blogosphere is abuzz about its potential impact on the sector. Some iPad users may be skeptical at first, but once they discover the “wow” factor of the technology, they often find it easy to use and elegant. And even though the new iPhone 4 has a beautiful, new and improved screen, well, bigger is still better. The iPad screen is 9.7 inches large with amazing clarity. Plus, it’s lightweight and easy to carry around the office. (And no, we don’t work for Apple.)
One area of great potential for the iPad would be during patient-clinician communication and interaction. Imagine a doctor conferring with the patient to explain a surgical procedure. Instead of a long, hard-to-follow lecture, the physician could just get out his or her iPad. With rich graphics and the ability to show video, the doctor can give the patient an excellent idea of what’s going to happen. And if the patient didn’t absorb it all, or wanted to share that info with loved ones, no problem. It’s easy to envision a digital repository of prepackaged, multimedia presentation links for various procedures, diseases, conditions, and other medical information that could be emailed to the patient–right then and there from the iPad—or further review.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Will the iPad be a big contributor to HIT adoption? What impact will it have on the HITECH Act—and on medical education? How will it interact with EMR/EHR systems? How will pharmaceutical companies use the iPad? What a great opportunity for e-detailing–now doctors can study information about new drugs directly from pharmaceutical companies about their new drugs.
The possibilities are nearly endless, limited only by one’s imagination–and economics. One thing is for certain; thousands of health care apps have been created—with many more to come. More and more, the health care sector will be able to say, “Oh yeah, there’s an app for that.”
Posted in Health Care Marketing, MF, Technology | No Comments »
Over the past decade, according to a 2009 Pew Internet Research statistic, the percentage of American adults looking for health information has grown from 25 percent to 61 percent.
Just as we look online for recommendations on consumer products and services, we look online for information about health topics ranging from information about a specific disease, treatments, alternative medicine, health insurance, health care providers, doctors, medical facilities, and ways to stay healthy. The study also reports that 41 percent of patients have read about someone’s experience regarding a health issue or procedure via an online blog, forum, or website.
However, with the magnitude of health information available on the Web—both accurate and inaccurate—it’s likely that these patients can easily be misinformed. More than ever, it’s essential for hospitals and health providers to rethink their health care marketing mix to include a valid and reliable online presence, which includes social media, blogs, and videos. That’s where your audience is spending its time in research and self-education.
By integrating social media into the health care marketing mix, organizations can share accurate and timely information. The benefits of integrating social media into health care marketing efforts are priceless–from improving patient care and education to attracting new patients and staff.
Among patients who researched health information online, the majority of respondents said that the Internet had an impact on their own health or the way they care for someone else. Sixty percent said it affected their decision about how to treat an illness or condition. Fifty six percent said it changed their overall approach to maintaining their own health or the health of someone they care for. And, 53 percent said it led them to ask their doctor new questions, or to get a second opinion.
While the Internet is not a substitute for health care professionals and the care they provide, it can help hospitals and health care providers reach patients who are deepening their engagement with the online world.
Posted in Health Care Marketing, MF, Online Advertising, Technology | No Comments »
It seems these days that every illustrious consumer brand and large retail corporation has an equally great cause to support. Corporations—such as Pepsi and the Refresh Project, and Tide and its Loads of Hope campaign—and retailers, including WalMart, Target, and Starbucks, are cashing in on their good deeds.
Your consumer health brand doesn’t have to be a household name or the largest OTC brand in the world, but causal marketing and social responsibility are still important to your customers and affect how they view your brand.
Now is the time for your health care brand to launch a cause marketing campaign. Performance Research found that 41 percent of U.S. consumers believe that companies can best improve brand perceptions by increasing their cause sponsorships. And, predictions by the IEG Sponsorship Report states that cause marketing will be the fastest-growing category of sponsorship spending in 2010. According to its forecast, corporate cause sponsorship will rise 6.1 percent to hit $1.61 billion this year.
With the current economy far from rebounding, consumers expect the brands they purchase to give back. They expect corporations to support those being hit the hardest by the dire economy.
Although supporting a cause or launching a sponsorship program may appear to be an easy task, be careful to protect your reputation in the process. Self magazine’s most recent “Good” survey uncovered skepticism among female consumers about brands that practice cause-related marketing. Of those surveyed, 39 percent feel that companies are only doing good things to get individuals to buy their products, and 32 percent feel like companies are trying to distract individuals from the bad things that they are doing.
Finding the right way to launch a cause-marketing campaign can be confusing, but the “Good” survey offers the following suggestions to conducting a successful campaign:
* Prove that the initiative is not a one-off. Provide a timeline of the commitment to the project. Extend it into the future and help consumers look ahead with it.
* Expand the campaign to include adherence to a code of behavior that applies to all aspects of business. It’s not about doing good on one side to hide the bad on the other. It does matter how employees are treated, how products are manufactured, and how the company interacts with other companies in its industry.
* Be sure to respond proactively to any negative press, comments, or buzz. Don’t wait for it to become a huge issue. And, “respond” doesn’t necessarily mean “refute.” Explain the situation the best way possible and discuss the company’s plans moving forward.
The stage is set, and this is the year to get involved in a cause that is important to your brand or organization. Avoid the skeptics and be sure to develop a campaign that you can back up and thoroughly complete.
Posted in Brand Strategy, Health Care Marketing, MF, Public Relations | 4 Comments »
ROI isn’t just a slogan at Martino Flynn (as in, Return on Ideas). It’s the name of our pet hamster.
Yes, a pet hamster. ROI (pronounced “Roy”) came to Martino Flynn in the winter of 2009 to star in one of our brand-oriented videos. He ended up becoming sort of a mascot.
Since then, life for ROI has been pretty great: a nice cage to live in, three square meals a day, and an occasional trip around the office in his hamster ball.
Last week, though, we noticed that he just wasn’t his usual active self. After examining ROI, the vet told us he had an injured eye. We were given three choices: apply eye drops three times a day, remove the eye, or have him put to sleep. We tried the eye drops, but ROI didn’t want any part of them. (And we could never even consider the last option—ROI is family!) So ROI ended up having surgery.
Happily, ROI is back at the office now and doing great! He looks a little different, but don’t we all change over the years?
ROI still needs a lot of love and support from his family (that’s us) and his friends (hopefully that’s you). Please join us in wishing ROI a full recovery.
Posted in MF, News, ROI | 6 Comments »
The incongruous aspect of Martino Flynn’s Mature Market Practice is that it singly focuses on multiple and, well, incongruous groups of audiences whose only common bond is “maturity.” Although it may be tempting to blend them for the sake of convenience, keeping the multiple audiences and sub-audiences clear is an imperative—and fascinating—task for marketers. To view theses groups more clearly, we experiment with an almost infinite number of “lenses,” or combinations of lenses to gain insights. One of the best ways to understand an age group is to study their formative years; that is, what the world was like when they were young adults. This time in our lives in believed to be an innate touchstone.
So here’s a fun lens to peep through for better perspective on older Boomers and their genesis as renegades. The “lens?” Fashion.
According to some fashion historians, young adults in the 50s chose fashion to illustrate their rebellion of the uptight societal norms. The anarchic attitude toward society created a generation gap that has yet to be filled. Nothing better illustrates the paradox between social mores and the new social awareness of young people like the rock n‘ roll attitude in fashion that burst onto the runways in the 1950s. The provocative styles of rock stars like Elvis Presley and film stars like James Dean directly conflicted with the conservative sexual attitudes of the era. (Don’t forget, at the time it was illegal to sell, let alone use, birth control in most states). As Denise Meechan says online at Rewind the Fifties: “No other decade has captured such a wide divide of class and social structure on the catwalks or of the social oxymoron America has copyrighted into its national structure”.
By coming of age during this dichotomy, older Boomers learned to thrive in states of change and contradiction. Perhaps this adaptive/endurance quality will help them thrive throughout old age, too? I’m betting it will.
So for marketers wanting to better understand older audiences, the idea is not to view them as one-dimensional (old), but from as many perspectives as possible. An afternoon of James Dean or Sandra Dee movies is just one way to experience what older Boomers’ formative influences were all about. Hey,whatever it takes! But, really, weren’t their clothes pretty cool?
Posted in Behavioral Targeting, MF, Mature Market, Pop Culture, Senior Marketing | No Comments »
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