Innovation
What we tell ourselves is hooey
We’ve spent a lot of time in some recent podcasts harping on the idea that many traditional means of research – especially surveys and focus groups – fail to provide true insight into consumer motivations because what people say often doesn’t correlate with what they do. One of our favorite sources for this philosophy is Martin Lindstrom, author of the best-seller “Buyology” and consultant to Fortune 500 companies. Lindstrom’s recent work Read the rest of this entry »
Two words that often kill great ideas: “prove it”
When it comes to healthcare marketing, one of the most feared comments from executives, physicians and operational leaders is this: “If you can’t prove this will work, then we’re not doing it.”
As we’ve stated many times over the past year in our blog posts, podcasts, and paper, we feel passionately that marketers should strive to measure the success of their efforts whenever possible. Measurement allows you to demonstrate marketing’s value to leadership, and, more importantly, to better understand what works and what doesn’t. That kind of measurement discipline can help marketers answer that dreaded question by allowing them to pull from past experiences and demonstrate that yes, this can work, and this is how it has in the past.
Except in one case: when the idea is brand new and hasn’t been done before, either by you and your organization, or, even worse, by anybody else. Of course, launching a new idea before anyone else can lead to great success (iPod, TiVo, Starbuck’s “third place” experience, etc.) But in a conservative culture, the lack of a proven track record is often what kills an innovative idea. An article in this week’s BusinessWeek titled “Innovation’s Accidental Enemies” does a great job of reminding us why the lack of a proven track record should be considered an opportunity, not a deficit. Read the rest of this entry »
Introduce some Paranormal Activity to your marketing
If you haven’t heard of Paranormal Activity, chances are you tripped over your router cable a few months ago and forgot to plug in back it back in. This independent film has made quite a stir through Twitter and other social networking outlets. In fact, this low budget ($11,000) flick has relied almost exclusively on social networking for promotion. And it pulled in over $7 million last weekend.
CNN covered this story today. In it are a number of valuable nuggets for all marketers – healthcare and otherwise.
Read the rest of this entry »
Story on Mayo Clinic’s social media efforts has quotes from Bevolo
Mayo Clinic’s social media efforts were the focus of a recent newspaper article that included quotes from Interval president Chris Bevolo. The comments covered how Mayo Clinic’s leadership in social media should help pave the way for others in healthcare. The quotes were included in the April 26 Minneapolis Star Tribune story, “Mayo turns to social media to reach out to patients.”
