By Paul Dumouchelle, Management Consultant, ADVISA
Previous versions of “The SIG Chronicles” described my experiences as chair of the Healthcare SIG. This edition covers my experience in a July meeting of all the SIG leaders focused on improvements to our program.
Our new VP of SIGs, Rex Parsons, called a meeting of all the SIG chairs in July to talk about the program and make plans for improvements.
At the meeting were Erika Pryor for Social Media, Ann Beeson for B2B, John Hondroulis for Internet/e-Commerce (which we decided to change to “Interactive”), Dave Demarchi for the In-Transition group, Bill Troy for International and Lisa Bowers for Nonprofit. Joining us was Martin Poston, new VP of Communications.
We kicked off the meeting with a short team-building exercise that I led using management tools from ADVISA.
In true marketing fashion we focused on research and communications. Rex shared some key research on SIGs that showed the primary reason, by far, for people to decide on attending a SIG was the speaker. Location, timing and networking opportunities were all much lower. This highlights the focus that the SIGs must maintain on developing topics and speakers of high interest.
Rex also shared research showing which SIG areas were of greatest interest to our audience – there was a long list but all I can remember from that slide is that Health Care marketing (my team’s focus) had the lowest number. Good thing I like a challenge!
Regarding content we discussed the growing importance of mobile technology and its impact on marketing. This is an area all the SIGs hope to explore more in-depth in the upcoming year. We also thought a day-long program focused on marketing involving all the SIGs might be a good approach to try – this would replace the regularly-scheduled morning programs for a time.
In the area of communications we discussed ways to improve the promotion of the SIGs. We plan to move the initial email blast earlier in the promotion cycle and increase the frequency. Martin is also looking at how to improve the interaction with the event registration program – currently there are very few people with the training necessary to effectively use the system. The website was another key topic – it needs a bit of help, for example the names of people associated with the SIGs (yours truly, included) had not been updated as of the time we met.
We also committed ourselves to goals to increase attendance and membership recruitment – which means we have to improve the content of the meetings, the speakers we include and communication of all this.
Next in “The SIG Chronicles” – Topic TBD!
About “The SIG Chronicles:” This blog series records Paul Dumouchelle’s experiences, impressions and insights gained as Chair of the Healthcare Marketing Special Interest Group for the Columbus branch of the American Marketing Association.
By Paul Dumouchelle, Management Consultant, ADVISA
Apple’s advertisements for the video calling feature on their latest iPhone have caught my attention. While elusive, the promise of combining a video feed of the person with whom you’re talking via a phone has been around at least since Dick Tracy’s fancy wristwatch. Technology that actually delivers on this promise has blockbuster potential.
Apple had done a good job of focusing on the human element of its technology – a grandfather viewing his newborn grandchild for the first time – a woman telling her mate that she is pregnant (though she describes their efforts at achieving this status as “work,” a term that is at odds with my personal experience). It is this human touch that makes the promise of the technology so powerful. In this disconnected age, anything that brings people closer together has tremendous value.
This makes me think of Aldous Huxley’s “Feelies” described in his 1932 novel Brave New World, one of my all-time favorites. When will Hollywood transcend “moving pictures” to create actual experiences and transmit feelings directly? The recent success of 3D is a step in this direction. Virtual reality devices are another stab at this. Someday, perhaps, we’ll be able to experience love scenes where we feel everything, including the hairs of the bearskin rug on which the movie stars lie, as Huxley described it.
Huxley’s future was largely dysfunctional, of course, but I don’t foresee sinister implications from video calling – it looks like a great thing!
By Paul Dumouchelle, Management Consultant, ADVISA
Previous versions of “The SIG Chronicles” described my early experiences as chair of the Healthcare SIG. This edition promotes the upcoming SIG presentation on September, 23, 2010 by Amy Dawson, Sr. Vice President and Healthcare Group Account Director of Fahlgren. Established in 1962, Fahlgren is a Columbus-based full-service communications agency with 160 associates in seven offices across four states.
Make Twitter, Facebook and YouTube work for your medical practice using proven strategies and tactics from a master in the field! Newbies and social media “veterans” will benefit from real-world case studies and execution tips for marketing medical services from Amy Dawson, Sr. Vice President and Healthcare Group Account Director of Fahlgren.
Prior to joining Fahlgren, Amy spent 13 years with OhioHealth, and she has extensive background in public relations and marketing on both the client and agency side. Her work has been recognized locally, regionally and nationally, including a PRSA Silver Anvil Award for Excellence in Healthcare Marketing Communications. She has worked with integrated health systems, academic medical centers, specialty hospitals, physician practices, medical device and distribution brands and health-related non-profits.
Date: Thursday, September 23, 2010
Time: 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM
Location: 1266 Manning Parkway, Powell, OH 43065
Cost: $5 for AMA members, $15 for non-members
Next in “The SIG Chronicles” – Making SIGs Better
About “The SIG Chronicles:” This blog series records Paul Dumouchelle’s experiences, impressions and insights gained as Chair of the Healthcare Marketing Special Interest Group for the Columbus branch of the American Marketing Association.
By Paul Dumouchelle, Management Consultant, ADVISA
Previous versions of “The SIG Chronicles” described my early experiences as chair of the Healthcare SIG. This edition describes the presentation by Brenda Stier, CEO of Marketing Works at our 5/27/10 event.
Brenda began by asking us to think of the best marketing event we can remember attending and also the worst – what was the difference? For me, the best was a nonprofit organization’s annual fundraiser dinner held at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan. That one black-tie event funded the bulk of our budget for the year but it took almost one person’s full-time commitment to pull it off. The worst were probably some radio tie-ins during my time in Regional Marketing with SC Johnson – if the radio station’s reach was too narrow we got virtually zero in-store activity.
A key element in favor of “experiential marketing,” as Brenda called it, is the QUALITY of the contact you have with the participants. Events can make connections with key stakeholders and provide an opportunity for lengthy interaction that is impossible in the day-to-day world. This quality connection can reduce the elapsed time necessary to achieve closure on a decision. Relationships built this way tend to last longer, as well, since you create a bond that extends beyond a mere transaction.
Balanced against this quality, of course, is the cost in time and money to make an manage an event – but the budgetary discussion should include an emphasis on how much better the quality of resulting connections can be.
Brenda also emphasized several tactical considerations to maximize the impact of your event:
- Training for event participants – so they understand the business goals for the event and don’t get too caught up in any of the fun or entertainment designed for the guests
- Plan for real-time course corrections during the event – stay on top of what is happening and make changes as necessary to stay on track toward your goals
- Utilize email and text messaging to attendees during tradeshows to draw traffic to your booth or presentations or parties
- Leverage Linkedin discussion groups to build a buzz about your tradeshow activities and promote appointments at your booth
Marketing Works, Brenda’s firm, has organized several events for healthcare clients and she highlighted case studies on projects for Neurological Associates and another for Progressive Medical.
Next in “The SIG Chronicles” – “Social Media for Healthcare Practices”
About “The SIG Chronicles:” This blog series records Paul Dumouchelle’s experiences, impressions and insights gained as Chair of the Healthcare Marketing Special Interest Group for the Columbus branch of the American Marketing Association.
By Paul Dumouchelle, Management Consultant, ADVISA
The core responsibility of any marketer is to maintain, sustain and build the strength of their brand. The discontinuation of a brand, then, is the ultimate failure. We’ve seen the demise of some once-iconic brands in the recent past.
Lehman Brothers, once a major force in corporate finance, is no more. The Pontiac brand of cars is on its way out. Compaq computers – the pioneers of portable computing – absorbed into HP. Airline brands seem to come and go with alarming frequency – alarming, that is, if you rely on them for safe transport.
So what will become of BP? Retailers carrying the BP brand try to deflect the negative public sentiment toward the oil giant by saying they aren’t part of the BP corporate entity. They also claim that BP gets only a tiny benefit from any sale of their gasoline. I am skeptical that the buying public is going to ignore the signage of a gas station based on these arguments.
By Paul Dumouchelle, Management Consultant, ADVISA
Previous versions of “The SIG Chronicles” described my experiences that led to my chairing the Healthcare SIG. This edition describes what happened when I had to assume my duties earlier than planned.
If doing it yourself is the best training then I got excellent training in how to manage a SIG event in advance of assuming my full responsibilities as Chair. My predecessor was scheduled to manage our May event, the final one of his tenure, but a change of business plans meant he’d be out of town and he asked me to take over – so I did.
By Paul Dumouchelle, Management Consultant, ADVISA
Previous versions of “The SIG Chronicles” described my experiences that led to my chairing the Healthcare SIG. This edition covers my attempts to get a handle on what the group needed to accomplish as I took on this responsibility.
Andrea L. Crabtree
Injecting a sense of urgency into your customers is more important than ever and I will never argue against this time-honored marketing tradition.
By Paul Dumouchelle, Management Consultant, ADVISA
Neal Roberts’ eyes light up when he advocates for more bicycle riding. He speaks from the heart when he describes how “micro-entrepreneurs” are creating new economic momentum in Central Ohio. What is cool in his life today is the way he has integrated these two passions, his professional skills and personal life into a balanced whole.
By Paul Dumouchelle, Management Consultant, ADVISA
Earlier in “The SIG Chronicles” I described how I got involved in the Columbus AMA and wound up chairing the Healthcare SIG. This edition records my impressions upon attending my first-ever Healthcare SIG event.
Part of the fun in taking on any new challenge is the little bit of thrill one gets in experiencing the unknown. Admittedly, the thrill of finding an office in the predawn darkness of Powell, Ohio, on March 25, 2010 isn’t going to rank high on anyone’s list of lifetime memories, but, first impressions do stick with you for awhile. So as I pulled into this new (to me) parking lot it was good to see other marketing professionals arrive at 7 in the morning in preparation for our program that day.
The presentation, “The Day Marketing Saved a Life” by Laura McCoy, VP of Marketing and Communications for OhioHealth, was quite excellent. It focused on a comprehensive OhioHealth marketing campaign whose crowning achievement was the video advertisement of their patient from Ireland who had some vascular surgery on his leg which avoided possible amputation.
The line that stuck with me the first time I saw the ad – and in Laura’s presentation I learned was the result of almost two complete days of filming in Ireland with the patient – went along the lines of “Doctor’s told me I might lose my leg, which was really bad news because I wasn’t done using it.”
Like most creative breakthroughs, that line came about because of outstanding marketing work in framing the strategy and pursuing stellar execution.
What I also spent time doing that day, though, was paying attention to the logistics and teamwork necessary to pull the event off. The registration table at the event is the culmination of advance work involving a web communication team and event administrator, plus leadership coordination of materials and site requirements, plus volunteer commitments to pull the whole thing together at the event itself. Refreshments involve leadership preparation, planning and finally execution in getting up early enough to have stuff ready at the site by 7AM – no mean feat.
Laura’s involvement and presentation, I learned, was the result of months of pre-planning and content preparation. To the casual attendee all this advance work is not visible – all you see is a smooth-running program and thought-provoking communication in an environment conducive to networking with other Central Ohio marketing professionals.
Next in “The SIG Chronicles” – “Planning the Work”
About “The SIG Chronicles:” This blog series records Paul Dumouchelle’s experiences, impressions and insights gained as Chair of the Healthcare Marketing Special Interest Group for the Columbus branch of the American Marketing Association.
