Share Moving Media

Search Results for: brand awareness

Brand Storytelling in Healthcare: If You’re Not Visible, You’re Irrelevant

By

Today’s world is fast-paced and digitally driven. Consumers have adopted a “need it now” mentality and value brands that prioritize instant gratification. 

As a result, brands focus on convenience instead of the personalized human touch. However, to better connect with your target audience and break the cycle of endless scrolling, it’s important to engage with them on a deeper level through storytelling. 

Brand storytelling in healthcare requires embedding skill, creativity, and vision in your marketing campaigns to evoke emotion and increase your bottom line. By telling the “why” behind your brand, you’re able to engage with your customers and give them a reason to invest in your products and services. 

You need to start sharing your story to edge out the competition. Let’s take a look at what brand storytelling is and how medical suppliers can implement it in a marketing strategy.

What is Brand Storytelling in Healthcare?

Storytelling has existed for over 27,000 years. Brand storytelling is the art of weaving fact and narrative together to communicate a message to your target audience. While you’re providing real and transparent stories, you can embellish them to better explain your core meaning. While “good” and “bad” storytelling is relative to your customer, developing a positive brand story includes the following elements:

  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Universal
  • Memorable
  • Organized

As a medical supply brand, you can utilize storytelling to create powerful videos, testimonials, case studies, marketing materials, and more to amplify your brand.

Why is Brand Storytelling Important?

Brand storytelling in healthcare is no longer a nice-to-have. Successful storytelling allows you to boost your brand awareness, profit, and impact to drive more engagement and conversions with your customers.

Why is brand storytelling successful? Consider the following benefits: 

  • Stand out: You can gain an edge against the competition by creating a memorable narrative that highlights your products and how they have helped save lives.
  • Build loyalty: You’re not just attracting customers through a story; you’re building a relationship with people who will become loyal to your brand and products. 
  • Increase bottom line: You can boost your ROI and overall profitability through complex content marketing stories that drive engagement.

How to Create Healthcare Brand Storytelling for Your Brand

As a medical supply brand, your story can bridge the gap between your company, distributors, and the end-user to increase awareness and engagement. It’s not just a differentiator, it’s a strategic tactic that yields long-term results. Here are two types of brand storytelling for healthcare you need to know:

Data-Driven

76% of marketers fail to use behavioral data in their marketing strategy. With 149 zettabytes of data created worldwide by 2024, you can leverage data to create more targeted stories based on your audience’s preferences and pain points. 

As the key to create content that resonates with your audience, your data is one of the most powerful resources you can leverage for powerful storytelling. Consider analyzing your data from qualitative and quantitative sources to derive key insights for your stories. For example, you can use data to discover the following insights:

  • Does your audience prefer videos over static images? 
  • Do they consume short-form or long-form content? 
  • What are they searching for on search engines? 
  • How long are they engaging with content?
  • What platforms does your audience prefer?

Audience-Focused

To develop successful stories, you need to take your healthcare brand out of storytelling. While you may be accustomed to selling yourself, building impactful content needs to focus on your customers instead. The purpose of your story is to provide your audience with valuable content that evokes emotion and compels them to move forward with your products.

Brand storytelling videos are the most popular types of media marketers create. Get started by assessing your current content and note how often you mention your products or brand throughout the story. Depending on your audience needs, you can develop storytelling through the following mediums to attract customers:

  • Podcasts with industry-adjacent guests to connect with your audience on topics that matter
  • Micro-moments through videos and mini-ads that quickly bring your brand to life
  • Philanthropic news to showcase what your business cares about on social media

When you create user-generated content, you’ll be more likely to expand your reach and build trust with your customers.

Strategic Brand Storytelling for Your Healthcare Business

What’s the “why” behind your brand? Impactful storytelling is the art of highlighting your brand purpose. Without honest and transparent content marketing, your customers will likely find a competitor they better connect with. If you’re looking to build a deeper connection with your distributors, developing brand storytelling is the best way to establish long-term relationships. Looking for quality content marketing services that engage your customers? Contact Share Moving Media for more information.

The #1 Reason Why People Will Follow Your Brand on Facebook

By

“Facebook?” you may say. “Does anyone even use Facebook anymore?” The answer, of course, is yes, millions of people still use Facebook regularly. Perhaps the question you should be asking is if you are successfully marketing to your Facebook audience? While selfies, funny pet videos, and political rants may fill many users’ feeds, countless people also use this social media outlet to “Like” their favorite brands. But why? What exactly are they looking for when the click on that little thumbs up?

Opportunity Lost?

Facebook has faced a lot of bad press recently, but the truth remains that if you don’t have a definitive marketing strategy for this social media network, you’re missing a big opportunity. A recent MarketingCharts article found that while Facebook has experienced a decline in usage amongst younger generations, it remains the most used platform for Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers. And according to the Pew Research Center, 68% of Americans use Facebook as of 2018!

Let’s think of the “Bs” and “Cs” for a moment—that is, business to business (b2b) versus business to consumer (b2c). How you market depends heavily on to whom you are trying to market. In healthcare, we often market to other companies or to salespeople who are selling our products for us. This is a different tactic than we should use when trying to speak directly to consumers. Marketing through social media is a cost-effective and enjoyable way to engage with your customers. According to MarketingSherpa, 95% of online adults ages 18 to 34 are likely to follow a brand on social media, so if you aren’t marketing through these platforms it truly is opportunity lost.

What are the Motivators?

The question now turns to the reasoning behind the like—why someone likes a video of a golden retriever (it’s cute!) is very different to why someone likes a post from Coca-Cola.

Surely customers want to learn about your product…right? It turns out people don’t often seek out informational content through social media. The number one motivator is all about saving a buck or two! Your customers want information about upcoming sales. Saving 10% on your favorite sneakers or getting a low interest rate on that new car you’ve had your eye on is quite the motivator!

Some of the other top motivators may surprise you:

Upcoming sales
Incentives, such as promotions and coupons
Info about new products
Supporting a favorite brand
Entertainment value

The right Facebook post will help you reach specific audiences depending on your goal and should compel users to respond. The more reactions and responses your post gets, the more curious others become. In short, clicks lead to more clicks, and if users share your posts then they will introduce potential customers to your brand!

Avoiding Common Blunders

We’ve all seen it—a company posts what they think is acceptable content on a social media platform that ends up backfiring in one way or another. It’s wise to think of social media interactions like dinner with your co-workers or in-laws—avoid religion and politics! It’s safe to assume that unless you cater very specifically within those topics you won’t always understand how your customers feel about your brand’s relationship with those subjects.

If many of your customers reside in another country, brush up on their customs and beliefs. What is appropriate here many not be appropriate there! Additionally, you may feel inclined to post on some of the hundreds of holidays and “awareness” days, but ask yourself if these days really resonate with your audience? For example, it wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense for one of the top car manufacturers to try to connect with customers on Small Business Saturday.

Ultimately, remember what your customers are looking for (sales and incentives likely top the list!) and use Facebook as a tool to generate meaningful interactions that will increase your visibility and hopefully reach new audiences.

Standing Out Among the Rest

By

Consumers are constantly surrounded by media and advertising influences. As a result, navigating marketing efforts as a healthcare company can be daunting. So, how can brands create unique, consumer-focused marketing campaigns? And what exactly makes a brand stand out from its competitors?

Mayo Clinic Health System may provide a blueprint. Mayo is a brand proven to be very successful at healthcare marketing, and was recently nominated as an Academic Medical Centre (AMC) brand for the second year running by Brand Finance, the world’s leading independent brand valuation consultancy, in its second annual AMC Global Brand Ranking.

44% of healthcare professionals note Mayo Clinic’s leadership in integrating technologies such as robotics, digital imaging, and AI into its healthcare services, a key driver of the company’s reputation and brand strength, according to the AMC Global Brand Ranking. The Global Brand Ranking also recognized that Mayo Clinic’s brand overall is getting stronger, with a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score increase of 1.2 points to 86.9/100.

So, what makes Mayo Clinic so successful at marketing? And how can your brand emulate their strategies and tactics to succeed?

Highlight successes

A large aspect of Mayo Clinic’s brand building success has to do with its transformative research and technological innovation in the field of medicine. Those aspects of the company serve to intrigue consumers, and in turn, drive the company’s overall brand reputation, according to Brand Finance.

As a brand navigating advertising in the supply chain industry, you should highlight any technological assets or groundbreaking research that your company has been involved in within advertising campaigns. Customers nowadays are looking for brands that are trustworthy, groundbreaking, and future oriented. Focusing on how your brand aligns with these topics in advertising campaigns will help your brand to stand out.

Brand awareness

U.S.-based brands claimed seven out of the top ten spots due to widespread recognition, according to the AMC Global Brand Ranking.

Brand awareness is critical to a company’s ability to gain customers and to sell. Widespread recognition is when a brand name is broadly recognized, and companies should strive to increase their own recognition through its marketing efforts.

Companies can learn from others’ successes when planning a marketing strategy. If your  company in the supply chain industry could use assistance creating content that both stands out and increases awareness, contact John Pritchard at jpritchard@sharemovingmedia.com to set up a time to brainstorm your company’s marketing success strategy.

The Benefits of Outsourcing Content Marketing: Why Your Company Needs an Expert

By

Having a solid marketing strategy is key to successfully promoting and selling products. All companies in the medical supply chain industry should be spending time and effort on marketing to increase brand awareness and customer following.

Marketing strategies have continued to rapidly develop, as technological advancements, changing consumer preferences, legal changes, and more has recently greatly impacted the industry, according to Forbes. Options are extensive when companies are deciding how to best promote their products. Companies today are, in fact, allocating more and more of their annual budgets toward marketing campaigns. According to Forbes and a Taradel marketing survey, 94% of small businesses have plans to boost their marketing spending in 2024.

While marketing is a critical component to a business’ success, there is no doubt that content creation can be time consuming and requires expertise to properly master. That’s where outsourcing content marketing comes in— your company doesn’t have to produce its marketing content all by itself. By outsourcing marketing, your team can focus its time on what it does best.

The goal of your company should be to make a profit, maximize sales, and make lasting, trustworthy connections with customers, not to get sidetracked by marketing. Read on to learn more about how your business can outsourcing marketing:

What is marketing outsourcing?

Marketing outsourcing is delegating a company’s marketing tasks to external professionals. Outsourced marketing professionals will assist a company in creating campaigns, content, marketing strategy, determining a target audience, and more. Outsourcing allows companies to focus on its day-to-day operations while hired professionals take charge of marketing responsibilities.

According to a study from Sagefrog, a marketing agency, 59% of companies decide to outsource marketing. The primary reason is that outsourcing is more cost effective, and because marketing professionals can assist companies in implementing new, innovative strategies.

What are the benefits of outsourcing?

  1. Trusted experts

External marketing professionals/agencies are well-versed in the nuances of the industry. They thoroughly understand industry trends and how to best utilize new technologies. They can also come up with more successful tactics and navigate any potential changes or challenges. External marketing professionals, with extensive experience, are much better equipped to give your brand a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Outsourcing, therefore, allows employees to spend time and resources elsewhere while professionals take care of marketing efforts.

  1. New perspective

Outsourcing offers a company a new marketing perspective. Businesses that conduct their own marketing campaigns often fall into routines and run the risk of reusing lackluster campaigns. Marketing agencies are experienced with what it takes to create successful campaign tactics, and can bring new ideas, innovative strategies, and a fresh perspective to the table to better promote your company.

  1. Cost reduction

Outsourcing can produce results similar to hiring in-house, but it may be more cost effective for your company to outsource its marketing. Outsourcing allows a company to reduce training costs and save time by not hiring new employees. Your business can instead allocate resources where they are most needed, saving time and money in the long run.

If your company in the medical supply industry could benefit from outsourcing its marketing efforts, look no further than Share Moving Media. With over 30 years of experience in the medical supply chain industry, our team of experienced staff have extensive knowledge of industry trends, changes and challenges, terminology, strategies that work best, and more. We can assist you with marketing responsibilities, from determining a successful campaign strategy to helping your team with content creation. Contact Scott Adams today to set up a brief meeting to discuss the benefits of outsourcing your company’s marketing.

One CHP understands digital tactics driving consumerism, strengths of diverse patient communities

By

UnitedHealth Group created the Optum brand in 2011 by merging its existing pharmacy and care delivery services into a single brand, comprising of OptumHealth, OptumInsight and OptumRx. The commercial healthcare provider (CHP) has business interests in technology and related services, pharmacy care services and various direct healthcare services. In 2019, Optum’s revenues surpassed $100 billion.

Focusing on data and analytics, pharmacy care services, population health, healthcare delivery and healthcare operations, Optum serves employers, government agencies, health plans, life science companies, care providers and individuals and families.

How did it grow its brand awareness among its target audience of health system buyers and bellwethers? Its content marketing through different distribution channels including digital, print and other media helped promote its partnerships with healthcare stakeholders.

Benjamin Meents, senior vice president of corporate marketing, brand and events at Optum, has said that the CHP’s content strategy, messaging and story was grounded around celebrating the accomplishments achieved through working with those working in the healthcare space and tackling the biggest challenges in healthcare with their partners.

The intersection of technology, data and analytics with the humanness of the healthcare sector provides a unique opportunity for those in healthcare marketing to share the impact of their organizations. Making an emotional connection with prospective patients and their families can inspire them to stay healthy for themselves and those around them.

A brand awareness campaign in healthcare must be flexible and adaptable to the diverse communities that the healthcare community serves. Optum strives to portray the real, lived experiences of patients and understand that strength comes in many forms. Highlighting patients’ exceptional stories is one of Optum’s own strengths through its omnichannel marketing approach. 

Optum also understands the need for digital marketing in healthcare and what’s driving it. Consumers want instant gratification with access to information anytime, anywhere, online and on-the-go. They want innovation that integrates the disparate data from all their devices into a single view. They also want personalization and expect their needs to be known and their communication preferences to be targeted. And they want simplification in all their interactions, which must be quick and easy.

According to an Optum whitepaper, digital tactics today that support healthcare consumerism include:

  • Online health insurance shopping.
  • Doctor email patients within secure applications.
  • Pharmacy calls with prescription refill reminders.
  • Consumer receives push message on smartphone, e.g., fitness challenge ranking.
  • Health insurers provide free wearable for completing preventive screening.

And digital tactics in the future include:

  • Request medication from smartwatch.
  • Get a real-time text alert when blood pressure is too high.
  • Receive one simple bill for care.
  • Build their own health plan, based on their personalized needs, on their insurer’s website.
  • Have a single dashboard with all their health information.
  • Receive personalized messages based on their data to drive better decision-making and better health.

Healthcare organizations must meet consumers where they are online. Optum says the most commonly researched topics are specific diseases or conditions, treatment options, doctors or other health professionals, and healthcare coverage in general, and that digital marketing is a critical enabler.

How can your business leverage marketing to generate revenue and attention for your brand? At Share Moving Media we help best in class manufacturers build relationships with industry stakeholders. Please contact us at sadams@sharemovingmedia.com to learn how we can help you gain market share.