mommyjenlin

As healthcare evolves into a consumer-centric, semi-retail market with you existing in a multitude of reimbursement schemes each nuanced for a different market segment, have you   identified from a marketing perspective immediate actions to   improve your market position and revenue generation?   This isn't about massive advertising campaigns, gimmicks, wellness programs, etc. It’s more about getting the basics right, understanding who pays for what and how, the needs of your healthcare consumers, as well as driving demand, managing demand and moving demand to the right locations. In some circumstances it may even mean de-marketing certain services. This is a difficult question to answer given the focus and preoccupation with hospitals and health systems, with EMR, readmissions, cost reduction, quality improvement, etc., but at the very least, it does not mean that marketing leadership cannot make a difference in their organizations, lead change and make a meaningful, me...

A few years ago, IDC opened up a new research area within our "role-based" research area. We sought to understand, and define, and then Advise on an emerging role that we were seeing pop-up within the IT vendor community: The Customer Experience executive. It was a difficult area to research, as we were not able to get a consistent "fix" on the job description. In some organizations, the Customer Experience executive was the head of product quality. In other organizations, the newly-appointed Customer Experience executive was just a re-titling of the head of customer service. And, there were other, "loose" job descriptions across many vendor organizations. It has taken some time, but today the Customer Experience role (and mission) is becoming clear. This executive (and team) is charged with serving-up a unified and integrated buying experience for smart shoppers. The experience needs to fully encompass the "omni-channel" environment. The experi...

Since a) we're buying a house before the year is over and b) summer is Chicago's best season, we've been sticking pretty close to home. But we needed a little  getaway and booked 3 nights at a VRBO rental home in Sawyer, Michigan with our friends. The 4 bedroom manufactured house wasn't that close to the beach or particularly nicely decorated, but it was just the right size for 4 adults and 5 rowdy children, aged 2 1/2-8. Here are a few photographic highlights from our trip. Not pictured is adults-only evenings on the deck, drinking wine and stargazing (which is infinitely more interesting with a stargazing app!). Hours upon hours of sandcastle building BFFs Zoe and Hank Climbing to the top of the dunes in Warren Dunes State Park (hard!) Fernwood Botanical Garden in Niles So much delicious food Raspberry and apple picking You can see all of Josh and my photos here .

The following is a guest post contributed by Caleb Whitmore, founder of GACP Analytics Pros and the BEST Practices Conference , Google Analytics enthusiast and aspiring mountaineer. BEST Practices: Google Analytics Conference Boston, September 19 Seattle, November 14 As a digital analytics firm, we obviously love the constant connectedness of social media, mobile devices and the web. But we are also the first to admit that the never-ending noise leaves little room for the brilliance that come from letting your mind wander. BEST Practices for Google Analytics is designed to give you the best of both worlds.  We combine strategic inspiration, practical instruction and a wide-open location to create a Google Analytics conference like no other. In six short weeks, BEST Practices will land in Boston and we invite you to join us. Top 7.2 Reasons to Attend A BEST Practices for Google Analytics Conference this Fall: Networking : You will be surrounded by innovators in the digital analy...

Best Visual Thinking Tool Internet marketers are a strange group. We lucky few Internet marketers must harness power from both sides of our brain. We need the right brain's creativity to be equally matched by the left brain's engineering and analytics. The problem with most tools created to assist Internet marketers is they are developed by engineers. Engineers are GREAT people, but they tend to be hyper LEFT BRAINERS. Most of my almost 15 year Internet marketing career has been spent learning a series of counter intuitive tools. I say "counter intuitive' because for visual thinkers (as most Internet marketers are) learning to use a Google Analytics, your average Content Management System (CMS) or other support tools means learning THEIR way of thinking. Learning THEIR way of thinking can mean suspending ours. The net effect of using a "counter intuitive" tool is marketers must translate between how we THINK and what we are DOING. This "translation"...

In an article that received little fanfare in healthcare circles, the Pew Research Center issued a study on the social networking by online adults.  And this has profound implications for the healthcare industry that has been slow to adapt to social networking in meaningful ways. Which raises the question, are healthcare organizations missing the opportunity to increase adherence, engagement and experience by participating in the social networking usage revolution by adults?   In an interesting study, Internet Social Networking , Joanne Brenner, August 5, 2013 points to an accelerating trend of online adults actively engaged in social networking platforms. And if I remember correctly adults age 50 and above consume healthcare resources and would be a prime audience to engage in many levels.   I summarize but only seven percent of online adults participated in social networking in February 2005 compared to 60 percent of adults age 50-64 in May of 2013.   But wait it g...

  Content Marketing Needs Great Visuals This amazing and very atypical painting by the artist Jean Michel Basquiat is a great example of every web site's limitless need for original visual content. The content marketing tsunami is in full force. Recent surveys by the Content Marketing Institute and Internet marketing guru Brian Solis show 90% of B2B marketers doubling down on their content marketing. Think you can make any money doing things online when and how everyone else is doing them? NO would be the answer to that question. Let's say you are riffing great 500 word blog posts daily. You want to get your thoughts in front of people who can help spread your message. Advocacy is the only advertising left. The old "word-of-mouth" or WOM a misnomer. Social nets inject jet fuel into WOM. Google and other search engines have been water-boarded into accepting "social signals" as an important way to verify claims and index web pages. Advocacy begins with your im...