The Healthcare Intelligence Hub E-Newsletter
Data / Empowering High Performance
Take a Dose of Messaging Medicine
Jennifer Dennard, E-Media Marketing SpecialistJuly 21, 2010
As a market research firm, Porter Research helps its clients reassess their brands and messaging. As part of our brand positioning research services, which includes measuring brand awareness and product messaging, we help our clients step back and take a look at their marketing programs. Is that logo as effective as it could be? Does that tag line truly describe what the company does? How does the total package resonate with the client's customer base?
We've used bulletin board focus groups to help key suppliers of hospital patient safety solutions test several communication messages to the C-level suite to help them determine which would be most effective, so we are well aware of how the process works, and how effective the results can be to a client's bottom line.
But how often does a marketing research firm take a look at its own brand? Its own messaging? How does the firm itself stay fresh and up-to-date, while still accurately reflecting the core services it has become known for?
"In branding, relevancy is important; as long as our brands are relevant to both who we are and what our customers need, we should keep our brands intact," says Don Seamons, founder of Lumeno Marketing, an agency that caters to the healthcare industry. "But market needs are always evolving, as are the companies that serve those markets. Companies should take time once a year to evaluate the markets it serves and its own relevancy to those markets. A good practice is to do this at the beginning of your yearly marketing planning and budgeting sessions."
Additional steps should include talking with current clients. What message do they think your brand conveys? Is this accurate? A bit of crowdsourcing may glean even more feedback from the public at large. Take a look at the National Archives recent use of crowdsourcing to develop a new look for its Archives.gov homepage. Comments from these sources may then lead to a reevaluation of the website, which could also involve redesigning logos and tag lines.
What has worked for your firm? What steps have you taken to make changes to your firm's brand? What changes in the market prompted you to do so? Join the discussion at the Healthcare Intelligence Hub LinkedIn group today!
