HealthLeaders Media Marketing Weekly - April 8, 2009 | Heads Up, Marlo Thomas: FTC is Planning New Rules on Ad Testimonials, Endorsements
|
View as a Webpage | Subscribe for Free |
 |
 |
Heads Up, Marlo Thomas: FTC is Planning New Rules on Ad Testimonials, Endorsements
Gienna Shaw, for HealthLeaders News
Testimonials are a staple in healthcare marketing efforts. But what if, along with the success stories, you had to disclose not-so-rosy outcomes? The FTC is putting the finishing touches on a plan to strengthen rules about testimonials and celebrity endorsements, two popular tactics in healthcare marketing. And merely saying "results not typical" won't cover healthcare marketers under the new guidelines. [Read More] |
 |
| |
April 8, 2009 |
|
 |
|
|
Editor's Picks
|
Stumbling upon a healthcare marketing lesson
Timing matters in marketing and in life—a lesson The Pulse blogger, Lisa Stiles, learned the hard way. After mistiming her step at work, she fell down a flight of stairs and badly injured her thumb. She was referred to a specialist who treated her and sent her on her way. A whopping five months later, she received an e-mail from his practice asking her to take a patient satisfaction survey. "By then, I couldn't remember his name let alone the number of particulars the survey wanted me to recall," she said. "I had had a positive experience, but they waited so long to ask me about it I could offer them no real information." This experience proves that marketers have to do more than go through the motions when it comes to patient satisfaction. If the data collected is meaningless, it's a missed opportunity. (Though hopefully not a missed step. Ouch.) [Read More]
115 ideas for marketers on a budget
Finding a way for marketers to improve their strategies without spending much, if any, money is a popular topic these days. Few people seem to have the answers, but Mike Michalowicz, author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur blog does—more than 100 of them. The most notable: send hand-written follow-up cards, tell memorable stories, inspire customers to call you, enter business awards (we can help you with that—www.hlmma.com), and insult people. Yes, you read that last one right. "Kind of harsh, but the point is that you need to dare to be out of the ordinary," said the commenter who submitted idea No. 62. "It needs to be worth it for your customers to mention to their friends, to laugh about, to be shocked about." [Read More]
Gender stereotypes slowly disappearing from ad world
I've long suspected that the best products for women are designed by women and that the best ads targeting women are created by them, too. I have absolutely no proof, but I suspect the current Cheerios campaign, which features a nasty, unlikable woman's reaction to her husband asking her if she's eating whole grain Cheerios for her health, was created by a man. At the very least, it was created by someone who has outdated and clichéd ideas about how women and men interact. A post on the Branding Strategy Insider blog explores the updated roles women are playing in ads and the trend toward promoting products once considered the domain of women, such as vacuum cleaners, in a gender-neutral way. "Gender stereotypes in so many industries were made up and assumed by the mainly men who, lo so many years ago, were the key decision-making marketers in those realms. Now's the time to wake up, like Hoover, and defy such ridiculousness," writes Andrea Learned. Yup, this smart post was brought to you by a woman. [Read More]
Don't keep your marketing a mystery: Deadline is May 29
These days, with marketing budgets and staff being cut, you need all the recognition and kudos you can get—if only to beef up your resume if you're forced out the door. Sorry, but it's true. At HealthLeaders Media, we care about your career. That's why we hold an annual marketing awards program specifically for healthcare marketers. The best part: The judging criteria are weighted toward those campaigns that can demonstrate a positive return on investment. And while winning a pretty crystal award is nice, it's even better to be able to say you were recognized for creating a campaign that worked, and "an achievement that will make even your CFO smile," says Susan E. Dubuque, president of Neathawk Dubuque & Packett, who's been one of our judges for three years running. Visit www.hlmma.com to view contest details, read about previous events and winners, and download the entry submission form. The deadline for submissions is May 29. [Learn More] |
|
Campaign Spotlight
|
Internal Communications Goes Healthy
We planned for 4,000 and had an estimated 15,000 attend our opening event," Sara Bakken Lee said as she spoke during the ROI roundtable panel at the HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards last November. "On Friday night there were streams of people. It was like a rock concert." The Mayo Clinic public affairs consultant was referencing the grand opening event of the Rochester, MN, campus' Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center?a 115,000-square-foot employee health and wellness center donated by a patient and benefactor of the same name. [Read More] |
|
Calendar of Events
|
Webcasts:
4/29/09: Marketing Neurosciences: Service Line Strategies for Marketers
On Demand: 5 Ways to Improve the Patient Experience at Your Hospital
On Demand: Form 990H: Act Now to Protect Your Reputation
On Demand: Strategic Marketing Lessons from Other Industries: 5 Innovative Ideas That Work
Conferences:
4/26/09: Physician Strategies Summit, Scottsdale, AZ
5/03/09: PRC's 2009 Client Education Conference, New Orleans
6/15/09: Connecting to Consumers in Today's Healthcare Environment, Phoenix
10/14/09: HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards, Chicago
10/15/09: HealthLeaders Media '09: The Hospital of the Future Now, Chicago
|
|
| From HealthLeaders Magazine |
SOS: Public Hospitals
On the brink even during good economic times, many public hospitals are operating in technical insolvency amid a painful recession. But they can take heart from following the example of two that have managed well. [Read More]
|
|
|
| Service Line Management |
Beyond Obstetrics
A changing female demographic has created new opportunities for hospitals to grow the women's health service line into much more than just labor and delivery. [Read More]
|
|
|
Marketing Forum
A Healthcare Marketer's Guide For Surviving in a Bad Economy: Contributor Daniel Weinbach provides a healthcare marketer's "survival guide" to not only make it through the challenges of the current economy, but to thrive. [Read More] |
|
|
|
|
|
Sponsor HealthLeaders Media Marketing Weekly
Contact Lisa Brown, Director of Integrated Sales, at
lbrown@healthleadersmedia.com or call 781.639.1872. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
