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Nov. 2003

Beg, Borrow, But No Stealing

Abraham is a marketing guru who is well compensated for his advice because he has worked in 400 separate, unrelated industries and achieved marketing success in each of them. And he knows how to apply things he learns in one industry to another.

He contends that if you look at any field, almost every player in that field is following the same playbook, executing the same types of marketing strategies in the same way. Abraham says that you don't want to learn what your industry is doing, because plus or minus ten percent, everyone is doing the same thing, be it some more proficiently than others. Learning best practices from your industry is useful. But if you rely on that solely, you are missing 98 percent of the marketing possibilities that are out there for the taking.

In short, find an industry unrelated to healthcare and find out:

• How do they sell a product or service?

• What are their most effective techniques?

• What impacts sales most?

Then, ask yourself what you can apply from this industry directly or indirectly to what you do? And if there is nothing for you to apply, is there someone else in your organization that can?

Following are a series of "what if" scenarios, examples of real marketing strategies in practice outside of healthcare followed by some possible healthcare applications:

1. An electronics store recently released health-related electronic products (blood pressure gauges, body fat measuring devices, etc.) They are marketing through Web banners that feature branded healthcare editorial content. You click to read the article and you also find out more about the products.

   The question you ask: Who offers non-competing health-related products locally that I can partner with? What value can I bring to this partner? By doing so, you extend your brand and reach an extended audience of the same types of people that you are targeting.

2. Online shopping is becoming more and more popular but there is still some drawback in that you cannot touch and feel a product or try it on so to speak. Car manufacturers and electronic retailers have started to bridge that gap by offering state-of-the-art 3-D visualization techniques for viewing products. You have probably seen the incredible detail that these technologies offer.

   The question you ask: 99 percent of my healthcare colleagues are touting their state-of-the-art technology. How can I show my state-of-the-art technology to someone sitting at home on their computer?

3. A 90-year old ice cream maker in the Boston area partnered with a local Web site to offer coupons for a free ice cream cone at stores. They received a 10 percent response rate compared to their traditional three percent from print advertising.

   The question you ask: Am I pursuing alternative advertising channels that might draw better? Can I partner with the local health food store or fitness facility to offer free wellness evaluations or fitness profiles? Can someone sign-up for these on my Web site while at the same time filling in a questionnaire about his or her health interests and opting-in to future information? In the world of HIPAA, you probably find yourself having to reinvent your target lists, no longer able to solicit based on confidential diagnostic categories. How can you start to build new lists? Creative partnerships can help.

4. There is an increasing blur between television and the Internet with more deliberate staged interactivity. For example, you might be watching a show and a poll comes on that you have to go to the Internet to fill out and it might be tied to a promotional giveaway. Healthcare organizations have been using traditional television advertising for years and many also sponsor health programs, 30-60 opportunities for interaction.

   The question you ask: How can I increase viewership and also Web activity and opt-in opportunities by exploring the interactivity between the two? If my health program is on diabetes, can I drive someone to the Web site for more information, to fill out a survey, to opt-in to a campaign, to win a diabetic sensitive gourmet meal prepared in their home by a master chef? You get the idea. And here's a related dilemma. Busy people are increasingly using digital video recorder technology to record their favorite shows while bypassing the commercials. Major retailers have responded by pulling back campaigns and focusing more on product placements in movies and television shows, in other words, the things that people actually watch. How does this trend affect your advertising?

5. Mass customization is a growing trend. For example, you can go to certain clothing retailers' Web sites and build clothing to your exact specifications. It is not enough though to just have mass customized products. Users want closer relationships with companies that customize products for them. In other words, they want companies that will actively sustain relationships with them.

   The question you ask: How can you build that customized experience with your audience? How can you elicit as much information about their healthcare needs so that you can build a healthcare plan just for that person? You have seen this in rudimentary forms – the dentist sends out a six-month reminder for a checkup or a reminder card for the yearly mammogram shows up.

6. A large communications firm partners with an online music service to reach kids 13-18 and explain their services. At the same time, they sponsor a concert tour of a favorite youth group tied to promotional giveaways. They are essentially building brand loyalty with kids as an entrée to reaching their parents by banking on the fact that a company that has done right with their kids might be a company that can do right by the parents.

   The question you ask: There are 75 million baby boomers about to hit retirement. Certainly healthier than their parents when they were that age, these people may not need your services now, but will certainly need them later. How do you build brand loyalty to this generation through the products, services, needs and interests that occupy their mind? And remember, this is a generation that not only will have its own healthcare needs, but a generation that are now acting as caregivers to older parents, many reaching the century mark and who look to these youngsters for guidance and advice.

Granted, you must use your imagination and creativity to make what works in one industry work in yours. But what greater challenge? By figuring out realistic ways to apply practices from other industries, you will position your organization for giant leaps, not incremental baby steps that come when you follow the rest of your industry.

Anthony Cirillo, CHE, ABC is president of Fast Forward Strategic Planning and Marketing Consulting, LLC in Huntersville, NC. He is a board member of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, a Diplomate of the American College of Healthcare Executives and an Accredited Business Communicator of the International Association of Business Communicators. You may reach Anthony at Anthony@4wardfast.com

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