Posted by Tina O'Oconnell on Thu, Mar 18, 2010 @ 08:16 AM
That new hospital fitness center aerobics class is starting in two weeks and you want the word out. Your hospital's marketing team has been working on just how to do it.
The big question is "How to make sure that the invitations don't make there way to the ninety year old recent heart attack patient asking him to join the latest aerobic kick boxing session."
As absurd as that sounds it happens every single day in marketing. The message, money and effort is wasted on that person who really is not the appropriate audience for the message. Worse, the result of that ninety year old person getting that kind of message makes him associate your brand name with junk mail. So when that message about the new cardiology program at your hospital designed to improve his heart health comes to him, he is expecting another aerobics class invite and drops it in the bin. Your marketing window of opportunity is shut! You really only do get one shot to do it right.
How about the message? The what you see is what they get is not actually how the message is always viewed. Three people can read the same sentence and gain a completely different understanding than the two other persons standing right next to them. You have to make the message so articulate and so clear that it can not be mis-interpreted by any reader to the best of your ability. I know this sounds like you need superman to join your marketing team; but, it is really not that hard. Simply taking the time to read and thinking through the message as if you were the on the receiving end and putting your self in the shoes of various types, ages and lifestyles of people to gage how they will view it will help you make sure it gets through to them as you intended it to in all scenarios to all readers.
The word of the day is target marketing and it is critical to your online and in house retail marketing success. Whether the effort is for your hospitals core programs and services or for your new online store; the message if going to everyone should be very general, if it is not, than it should be targeted in nature and sent only to those appropriate for that message. The message always must be simple and clear.
The right readership can be tricky. It takes research, and a good understanding of who your customer base is that your communicating with for that message.
At Paquin Healthcare we have technology built into our system that lets us learn who our visitors and our clients visitors are and really understand their health interests, health conditions, buying habits, activity level and interest, what thier family's health conditions are; and so much more, beyond the standard demographical data. This mass of information is then structured and "scored" to allow us to use the data gathered to appropriately communicate the message we are sending to the readers who have those specific interests at heart.
The more important result of all this technology is that we are making sure our message is always read, never junked and getting the financial results we and our clients want. Our virtual "aerobics classes" and our virtual "cardio testing programs" are able to host a full house because the right message is getting to the right people. Can you say the same? If not, talk to us about how we can do this for your hospital or retail business.
Posted by Brian Halstrom on Tue, Mar 09, 2010 @ 02:09 PM
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Posted by Gloria Caulfield on Mon, Mar 08, 2010 @ 07:28 AM
One of the most common questions, that we receive at
Paquin Healthcare is, "How do I make my gift shop more profitable?"
There are a couple of key areas of opportunity. One of the biggest problems is that a single gift shop usually doesn't have the buying power or the staff with the negotiation skills to get merchandise at the appropriate discounts. In fact, even within the same healthcare system, we often see that buying is not coordinated from one gift shop to another. This is a missed opportunity.
Our mission for clients is to deliver a gift shop buy plan that has an exciting merchandise selection, but also has high margin items. Our target mark-up on products ranges anywhere from 250%-300%, which is more in line with best practices in the retail industry. At the same time, it is always the goal to deliver value to internal customers. Internal customers should always feel that the price they receive is fair and comparable to the quality of the product they are purchasing.
Second, but equally as important, is buying products that your customers want to buy. We often survey employees at hospital sites; it is amazing how large the disconnect can be. Employees, for example, want to patronize the gift shop on a regular basis. Often, however, the products they are willing to purchase are not available.
Following current trends, keeping the merchandise fresh and turning it often is certainly one of the keys to a successful retail strategy.
Posted by Tina O'Oconnell on Wed, Mar 03, 2010 @ 11:22 PM
Marketing is done by first understanding your audience and second by understanding the end result you want to achieve. The creative ways you analyze your resources to maximize results is where you can really make the most bang for your buck. There is everything from cost, time, labor and potential return factor into your decisions. In marketing it is often the traditional avenues that are used based on the resources that are common or comfortable and time to implement is why.
Each of these traditional resources is often repetitive for the marketing team. Consistency is important in marketing so your customers know exactly where to look but, sticking to old ways in a new world can put a stop sign on your returns. It is more important to know that the traditional options for getting the information to the consumers and getting the consumer to act on that information do not work the same way for marketing physical locations versus locations in the e-commerce world.
A good example is Billboard advertising, which for a physical location will mostly likely produce a fair return on the investment, but for a virtual destination such as your ecommerce site it will provide zero return for very logical reasons. A person who drives by a billboard is not going to slam on their breaks to write down a website address, nor are they going to lean over to the laptop in the passenger seat to get onto your ecommerce site. There is no harm in any positive marketing efforts only less or more return for effort. That is the gage.
The marketing path needs to bring the potential customer from the physical location into the online world. The best path is one that leads your online world to your consumer. If the URL is going to be brought to the consumer it needs to travel to the computer with the consumer or meet them there in the virtual world. (e.g. a take away card, brochure or materials with a good spin to compel or capture interest and an email address). The ideal situation is to simply get digital contact information from your consumer so all communications can be online. In usuing this path you bring the URL to your consumer in a much more effective way and you can do it over and over again. An email marketing address is not a "one hit" wonder. Just like traveling on the road there are rules and requirements to keep the tank full and keep going. If you market via email strategically and each time compel and provide incentives for the consumer to comply you can continue the journey with them to your destination.
There are solid tools in e-commerce that consistently work. The tried and true like newsletters & loyalty card programs each should require an email to receive. This is how you capture that digital contact information.
The important thing to do when considering any marketing plan is to think through the process from a consumer's point of view. What happens when I see the ad? What will it do to make sure I can get to the website? What is the incentive to comply? What is the real bottom line message to me? Is the process easy for me? Is the message compelling to a wide enough audience? Take the time to consider the process, the message and carefully drive your consumers exactly where you want them to go. Be sure they will not have roadblocks in getting to your intended destination that you in haste put in place. Make the road clear for your travelers to get to your online destination.