As a media planner, part of my job is to negotiate added value opportunities for our clients. Funny thing is, a lot of clients don’t take advantage of them. It makes no sense, especially in these days of tight budgets.
For instance, we’ve negotiated corporate profiles worth over $3,000, premium positions in publications worth more than $2,000, sponsorships of events worth anywhere from $500 to $7,000 and web banners, each worth over $300. Yet some clients just don’t take advantage of these chances.
For a client that did take advantage of it – The American Cancer Society – we got over $42,000 in added value on just one radio station. Of course, they’re a non-profit and a popular cause, but every client has an opportunity to add some value to their media buy. Whether it’s e-blasts, interviews, listings, online profiles or additional time or space, we always try to offer our clients some additional exposure. Your guess is as good as mine why all clients don’t leap at what we can offer.
Posted in
general Tags:
add-on media,
added value,
media
Because of my keen interest in the health care industry, I have been closely following news about Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and online patient service. I knew that doctors and health systems who adopt these practices will save a lot of time and money, but I didn’t really realize how great they could be from a personal standpoint until last week.
I needed to schedule an appointment with a new doctor, so I went to their website to get the phone number. There I discovered that I could register and make my appointment on line, so I decided to try it. I will admit that the registration process took a bit longer than I would have liked, but in the end I was able to register with all my vital health info and request an appointment. A few minutes later I received a message confirming my appointment. A week before the appointment, I was sent information about the test I was going to have. The day before my appointment I received an email message and a pre-recorded reminder phone call at home. I was impressed that this doctor’s office really made an effort to design an online system that works for their patients.
I arrived at my appointment, half expecting that I would sign in at a kiosk with not a person in sight. But to my surprise, there was a real person at the reception desk who typed my name into her computer and up popped all my info – no forms to fill out or sign! Five minutes later I was led into see the Dr. who called up my information on her computer screen. When she was finished seeing me she entered her diagnosis, which was automatically sent to my regular physician. She told me that my scripts had been emailed to my pharmacy and I could pick them up in half an hour.
I’ve decided that I am all for online patient service. In this case, it was designed and delivered with me in mind. And it actually worked – oh, the wonders of modern technology!
Posted in
general,
healthcare Tags:
healthcare,
on line records,
online records,
patient service
So, I’m a little bit obsessive about my alma mater. In fact some say that I bleed maize and blue. So when the latest issue of Michigan Alumnus magazine arrived at my house, I picked it up and began reading the articles, in between paying some bills, reading email, thinking about a proposal that’s due to my client and giving my husband advice on his business.
I was stopped dead in my tracks by an article about multitasking.
To quote the article, in the frenetic pace of everyday life, multitasking seems to be the only way we can get everything done. There is great satisfaction in thinking that you’re accomplishing more than one thing at a time. But University of Michigan researchers say that multitasking is actually a myth. In fact, the switching between tasks takes up so much time that nothing gets done on the actual tasks. People also tend to forget where they were on the previous task and need to re-orient back to that task. So, in actuality, multitasking often slows us down, makes us more error prone and can even increase risk of health problems.
In order to demonstrate this, psychologists use a test to assess multitasking ability. Give it a try!
Trail-making test to assess multitasking ability.
On the left side of the chart, draw a line as quickly as possible to connect the numbers in ascending order. Then, on the right side of the chart, draw a line as quickly as possible to connect alternating numbers and letters (1-A-2-B, etc). Did the right side take you more time? Did you make more mistakes?
I think I’m going to go FOCUS on something now. How about you?
Posted in
advertising,
general Tags:
multitasking,
research,
university of michigan
According to Wikipedia, integrated marketing is “a planning process designed to assure that all contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time. Integrated Marketing Communications is a term used to describe a holistic approach to marketing…Integrated Marketing Communications is more than just an advertising campaign, its a whole marketing policy.”
Well, duh. At re:group, we’ve been talking about how important managing every point on the customer journey is for years. Whether it’s on or off line, guerilla or traditional, whether it’s on social media outlets or on a bus card, messaging must be relevant and consistent. Some have called it 360 marketing, others call it unbiased, people-centric, holistic, etc.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many doing it very well. The companies who started in the digital arena say they’re integrated, and their executions may be flashy, but their messaging and creative is usually, frankly, pretty crappy. The big agencies integrate by buying or hiring littler companies to implement their strategies online – not necessarily through collaborative partnership. What good integration boils down to is – get ready for it – having a great idea and getting in the right places for the people you want to talk to, and who you want to talk back. It’s now WHETHER you’re taking advantage of new media and social marketing, it’s HOW.
Keep that in mind when you’re looking for a partner to integrate your marketing. It’s not who has the most fancy tools, it’s who knows how to use them.
Posted in
general,
new media Tags:
integrated marketing,
integration,
new media,
SEO
