Despite the fact that study after study continues to support the critical role that employees play as ambassadors (or detractors) for the organizations they work for, not all organizations are focused, as they should be, on their staff first. If you’re interested in boosting your marketing, you need to first start inside–with your employees. Seem a bit counter-intuitive? Maybe. But consider that, particularly for Continue reading “Why Employee Engagement Should Be Part of Your Marketing Mix”
Category: Healthcare Communication and Marketing
Small Businesses and Local Advertising
Should small businesses use local advertising? While this is one of those questions that can quickly be responded to with “it depends…,” if the market is a local one I do tend to believe that local advertising makes sense. And I’m not alone. Consider the increase in local online advertising among many marketers. Local online advertising was predicted to surge by 18 percent in 2012 to $18.5 billion
, according to paidContent.
The bigger the world gets, the more opportunities to leverage a small circle of influence I think. Just as when generating followers, friends and fans through social media Continue reading “Small Businesses and Local Advertising”
Connecting With Your Audiences Through Social Media
As hard as it may be to believe, not everybody is engaged in social media these days. And, even those who have profiles established on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter may not be active participants and, importantly, may not be seeing your communications, regardless of how frequently you post or how brilliant your insights are.
In my work as a marketing communication consultant I work with clients regularly to assess and improve their communications, including online communications. The first area of discussion Continue reading “Connecting With Your Audiences Through Social Media”
Markets Can’t Really Tell Us How They’re Influenced
I’m a proponent of marketing research and the use of data to drive business decisions at every level and in every aspect of organizational performance. I recognize, though, that sometimes the predictive value of research can be questionable and that it can be most useful to evaluate actual behaviors to support future decisions.
Advertising efforts are a good example of this. Continue reading “Markets Can’t Really Tell Us How They’re Influenced”
How to Meet Senior Managers’ Expectations for Corporate Communications
What are senior managers across the globe and across multiple industries concerned about these days? Reputation. So says a recent study conducted by Spencer Stuart and Weber Shandwick. Not surprising given the hit that many companies have taken over recent years in terms of their reputation, credibility and trust among consumers. So what are senior leaders’ expectations of the communications function according to the study? Continue reading “How to Meet Senior Managers’ Expectations for Corporate Communications”
Are MARCOM Professionals Out of Touch? CEOs Think So, and I Tend to Agree.
Newsflash: according to a recent survey from Fournaise Marketing Group, 70% of the CEOs surveyed said that marketers and communicators are disconnected from business results and living “too much in their creative and social media bubble.”
Now, I appreciate the numbers being tied to this reported sentiment, and I do love surveys, but as a marketing communications (MARCOM) professional for a number of years I have to say that this is not really shocking information. Those of us in MARCOM know this; we’ve known it for a long time. Ironically, though, too few of us Continue reading “Are MARCOM Professionals Out of Touch? CEOs Think So, and I Tend to Agree.”
Why Communication Fails
“They just don’t get it!”
“How many times have we told them this?”
“Why don’t they understand?”
These are common phrases in the world of business, whether applied to employee communication, marketing communication or customer communication. But there is something fundamentally wrong with each of these statements which contributes immensely to our failed communication efforts.
SOPA, PIPA and Health Care Reform
If there’s one thing that can be said with certainty about SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (the Protect IP Act), it’s “the issues are confusing!” What does it all mean? From media reports that both are bad for business, particularly small business – to backers of the proposals, the reports are confusing to say the least.
At the most basic level Continue reading “SOPA, PIPA and Health Care Reform”
Advertising in Healthcare – Driving Up Healthcare Costs?
Some media coverage recently by NPR and AdvertisingAge addresses the issue of advertising in the healthcare industry – whether it’s a good use of healthcare dollars and whether it is money well spent. I’ve often asked the same question. Continue reading “Advertising in Healthcare – Driving Up Healthcare Costs?”