mommyjenlin

An inconvenient truth for IT vendors: The factors least considered by vendors in go-to-market programs are those most valued by technology buyers: IT vendors focus on the ROI of their marketing programs and their sales programs. They might also talk about the ROI a buyer can expect to achieve with their product (i.e., product ROI). Few sufficiently consider the ROI a buyer expects to achieve by spending time with a vendor’s information and people -- the relationship ROI. Technology marketers build marketing mix plans based on format (e.g., advertisement versus conference versus blog) and communications channel (e.g., TV versus Web versus print). But, in making IT purchase decisions, corporate buyers value content relevance and credibility over format and channel. When it comes to mobilizing a sales force, most tech vendors subscribe to one sales methodology or another and institute a sequence of selling stages. Meanwhile, the buying process is far from standard. According to a recent ...

The Chicago Bears, Brian Urlacher and HIPAA No, this is not a joke. It has been most interesting reading sports columnists and broadcasters lament to a great common chorus that no one knows about the extent of Urlacher’s injury and his neck surgery. The Bears aren’t talking, the doctors aren’t talking and nobody else is talking. It is as if some serious plot has developed to keep the real story from the media. Hogwash….. As a 20 year healthcare executive life changed a few years ago when HIPAA became the law of the land. Simply put, if an individual does not want anything released about their medical condition, treatment, so forth and so on, that was that. No press leaks, no briefings from the Bears, no info from the hospital, doctor’s or anybody else. The federal government has clamped down really hard on the privacy issue and this falls into that. Urlacher is the only person, who can make the decision on who does or does not receive any information about his medical condition or trea...

A most interesting column appeared in the Tuesday, January 29, 2008 Wall Street Journal "The GOPs Prescription for Health Care", by Grace-Marie Turner. A good read and provides valuable information. Ms. Turner is the president of the Galen Institute and editor of "Empowering Health Care Consumers through Tax Reform", University of Michigan Press, 1999. But and this is a big but, the premise of empowering consumers is that competition in the marketplace will fix the healthcare ills of the US faces some serious questions. On the face of it potentially true. In most markets competition drives down cost, improves quality and diversity of choice. Healthcare does not operate as a true free-market competitive environment. It is more complex than the private health insurance, workplace, choice debate. The fundamental problem with the healthcare landscape is that until the very basics of regulatory reform are made to impact and make it a true competitive environment, all the...

Economy With the economy nearing recession it is a safe bet all the talk about healthcare reform and national health insurance will slow down. People want jobs and economic security. That debate is beginning to overshadow everything. Politicians are like a 3 year old child's short attention span and they focus on the flavor of the day. Until someone comes up with that private government combo plan for reform, its dead in the water. Look for incremental change that tinkers around the edges but fails to address underlying systemic issue. If real change is going to come it will have to come from employers large and small. As the old saying goes....Money talks and ........, well you know the rest. Hospital margins We all know that hospital margins for the most part have been showing signs of improvement the last couple of years. With the growth in spending in Medicare and Medicaid, and CMS realizing its out of control faster than they even thought, reductions are in the works. That wil...

Online advertising, social networking, search engine marketing (SEM), Internet broadcasting, wikis, Web 2.0 … what do these terms mean for your marketing strategy? How do you harness the power of this new medium without straying from your current strategy? The new and constantly changing digital marketplace represents great opportunity for your marketing organization and your company; however, many tech marketers are off to some operational false starts in this area. I recently completed a study of the online and interactive marketing area and related processes of 15+ tech marketing leaders. This included in-depth interviews with marketers as well as spending a full day with ~20 leading tech marketers discussing these issues as part of an IDC Marketing Operations Board meeting. Here is some key insight and guidance based upon this research: Consolidate online and interactive marketing efforts from a process, infrastructure, and governance perspective, yet continue collaborating with bu...

Happy New Year everyone. Jan, 1, 2008 and another year starts anew. Check out the poll on Certificate of Need. Quality Ads Been seeing a lot of hospital quality ads lately. HealthGrade ratings are out touting we are the best. How many people out there really understand that hospitals and health systems have to pay a lot of money to use the HealthGrade logo and rankings? Not many I expect. Five stars, four stars etc, kind of like choosing from a menu at a restaurant. Wish my doctor had admitting privileges at all those hospitals, then we could pick and choose where to go. Like that is going to happen. I'd rather have info about medication and surgical error rate and malpractice suit results, physician qualifications and satisfaction rates. Hospital Ad Wars Always fun to watch hospital dueling in the marketplace with ads. Especially in a two hospital town. Lots of ad dollars and the only ones that profit are the local papers and radio stations. The ads are silly, cover nothing, have ...

I first studied the rise of the marketing operations (MO) function early in 2005; and MO professionals and teams have made significant progress since then. However, much work still remains; and the momentum of marketing operations leaders' strategic impact is at risk of being lost at many organizations. Here are some key findings/insight from my 3rd annual study of the MO function to help ensure the continued success of this important role in the marketing organization: 1. Make the case for an MO function that reports to the CMO if you haven't already, and leverage IDC research to justify staffing levels for this function. Based upon IDC's Marketing Performance Matrix, 90% of companies in the Marketing Leadership quadrant have one; and your position and your marketing organization's success depends upon the strategic planning and process discipline that this role brings to the table. IDC's overall guidance or "rule of thumb" for staff allocation to the MO...