Health Care Marketing & Research Blog
What keeps health care marketers up at night?
We recently fielded a survey of health care marketers to ask three open-ended questions. What is the most stubborn challenge you face right now? When you think about the future of health care and your role, what’s one thing that concerns you? What do you want to be...
The Believe in Better Project Speaker Series
At the inaugural Believe in Better Project conference in 2018, we brought together people from around the country who are working on issues surrounding health care—specifically issues that addressed how health care is broken in many ways for so many people. We invite...
Marketers: How to Get Patients to Take Action
If you’re in health care marketing, you know your job is challenging. When I made the shift in my advertising career from packaged goods and retail brands to health care, I realized I was no longer in the business of peddling want: I was now in the business of...
How to Conduct Onscreen Patient Interviews (That Don’t Suck)
In health care marketing, nothing beats a good story with a happy ending. And video is often the most effective way to capture these stories. But how do you get patients and caregivers to talk to you on camera in a way that doesn’t feel stilted or forced or awkward...
The best health care advertising headlines we’ve ever read (or written)
Have you ever read a headline that just blew you away? The kind that sticks in your head. The kind you compare all headlines to. Throughout the over 40 years we’ve focused on health care advertising and marketing, we’ve run across several that have stood above the...
Fake news challenges everyone’s health—especially marketers
Bad news alert: there’s a shocking amount of health information floating around online that’s dubious or downright dangerous. From fad diets to cures for cancer, baldness and beyond, articles with biased or unbalanced advice are nothing new. But this might be:...
The #1 Skill of the Best Health Care Chief Marketing Officers
Of all the amazing traits and skills of the leading CMOs we’ve had the privilege of working with for 40+ years, what is the number one skill that sets the most effective CMOs apart from all the others? I believe the answer is simple: the ability to build consensus for...
The art and science of health care marketing persona development
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you understood your patients so well that creating content for them was like sitting down and having a discussion? Wouldn’t it be even better if you knew where to find them and how to get their attention? That’s the magic of...
The importance of words in cancer care marketing
I’ve lost several close friends to cancer, my dad has had recurrences of the disease over the past decade, and just recently my beloved sister-in-law was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. At this writing, thank goodness, we know that her tumor has not...
The Emotion/Engagement Health Care Marketing Matrix
As a writer, I am all about emotion. I have always believed that there’s an emotional core to every decision we make. I also believe that’s a good thing. Our emotions are what make us human. Backing me up is some strong science called neuromarketing. According to...
5 Ways Marketers Should Think Like A Patient
Health care marketers have a tremendous responsibility to be advocates for the patients and prospective patients that their organizations serve. After all, modern marketing is ultimately the practice of adding value. Without advocating what today’s...
This holiday season take 15 minutes to reflect on what matters
Yes, this time of year is busy. And as I get older, it seems to get even busier. Work, family, friends—all good things, but having the time to do everything, see everyone and be everywhere you need to be can put a serious dent in your holiday spirit....
Health Care Marketers! Why Aren’t You On Instagram Yet?
It’s only eight years old, but the explosive growth of Instagram in that time—and even in the last 18 months—is astonishing. Claiming now more than 1 billion monthly active users, and with a growth of 20% from 2017 to 2018, it’s a platform that brands can...
Content Marketing To Nurture The Health Care B2B Sale
Content marketing for B2B has one core purpose: to encourage a sale. In health care B2B, where sales cycles can be 18–24 months or longer, with multiple decision-makers, content marketing is a powerful—but an often underutilized—strategy for creating new...
This Thanksgiving take time to listen.
The world is a wee bit crazy right now. Twenty-four-hour news about completely insane things. Communities split down the middle with differing beliefs and opinions. Families struggling to “leave politics at the door” when they gather for this holiday born...
Are you curious? {1 way for health care marketers to nurture better lives and workplaces}
Ever wonder how to live and work better? Maybe the question needs to be: “Am I wondering enough?” Curiosity plays a crucial role in more than scientific breakthroughs and great storytelling, but in everything from relationships and personal growth to...
Why You Should Care We Made OUTSIDE Magazine’s Top 50 Best Places to Work
What’s it like to work for a company that’s made OUTSIDE Magazine’s Best Places to Work list two years in a row? More importantly, why should anyone outside of our offices—especially our clients—care? For me personally, it boils down to this. There is a...
Believe in Better Project 2018 Recap
Do you believe health care can be better? Better for patients? Better for those who work in health care? Better for your pocketbook? Better for caring for everyone? Treating the whole person? Treating the root cause, and not just the symptoms? [video...
Why we have to talk about suicide (especially as health care marketers)
Do you remember how you felt when you heard about the suicides of designer Kate Spade and chef Anthony Bourdain? Well, just one short day after the news broke about Anthony Bourdain, I personally felt that same shock and sadness tenfold. I received a voice...
How Can We Fix Our Broken Health Care System? A Nod From The Small Screen
If you’ve been following our social media outreach or have checked out some of our prior blog posts, you’re probably already semi-familiar with the upcoming Believe in Better Project event. If you’re new here, welcome! And, let me give you a quick plug...