I got an email recently from someone I have worked with talking about a new account that they got on Facebook. Every once in awhile I get these and I read them because don't we all want to make new contacts and ultimately get new accounts from the time we spend in these spaces?
The truth is although I'm in all of the major ones, and I've found partners on LinkedIn for projects, I've never gotten real business from social media. I've gotten in hot water over a handful of blog posts which isn't fun. The problem is we want to be provocative to drive traffic to our social media spaces but then when we are someone gets upset. I suppose that would happen face to face as well - although the audience is certainly much smaller.
As a journalist, you have more leeway. You can take an issue and examine it from all different sides - unless you work for Fox News. But as a marketing/PR person truth is it's better to just repeat the pablum that passes for information which most businesses put up.
The whole point of social media though is to start a conversation that others join in. To me that's the benefit more than anything. People are continually trying to come up with questions that will spark responses on Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, etc. But there doesn't seem to any rhyme or reason to what gets people to respond.
Some of the conversations I've seen that have drawn a huge following include -
Why is business writing so bad?
Who still uses PowerPoint and what's the alternative?
What is the best communications book ever?
Here are a few other ways that organizations are using social media right now:
Social media as a billboard ad - Many organizations use social as a one way billboard to push information out into cyberspace. It appears to be a control thing - if you close down your comment sections or police them people have a tendency not to respond. But you can still look at traffic and where it comes from which has some value.
Social media as a network building tool - I go in and out of this one with Linked In being the one I use most often. Every couple of months I start to contact people I've met and ask them to join my collection of business contacts. Does it do much? I don't know - it's better than nothing. For awhile Linked In was a hot bed of activity - now it seems to be lukewarm.
Social media as a way of showing personality - That's what blogging is supposed to be about but it's pretty risky unless you're already well known in a certain field and watch what you say. I prefer Facebook because I have clients and friends on it - my network is closed and I can say and do more of what I really want too. I wish my Facebook page could be more open - but sometimes we have conversations that shouldn't be open to the world. And that's better I think.
Social media as a way of establishing and maintaining your niche - This is a Twitter issue mostly. I work with a lot of different clients on different projects. While we focus on science and health there are so many other things I find interesting and want to share and do on Twitter. But my messaging is all over the place. Besides Twitter has become total blather although I do try to tweet a few times a week. But who has time to read all of that stuff?
Social media to push a political agenda - People may not agree with me but I think that social has created a new venue for what Hillary Clinton once called a "right wing conspiracy." In health care particularly, any time someone comments on reform there are dozens of responses by people who blame the president and the Democrats for taking away their right to choose. The messaging is just too consistent and I do believe on many of these issues there is an army of people who are paid to respond to hot button issues. Kind of like the tea partiers misspellings and all.
Social media as a way of starting a dialogue - The most innovative spaces - take a look at ScientificBlogging which is a very good example of how to do it right - offer an open forum to everyone and get conversations going. I do blog on this site when I have time and I find people read what's written and do comment frequently. The site is far more provocative than most and is kind of like a think tank for scientists.
So where is this post heading? People are still preaching the importance of social media particularly to non-profits and associations who want to keep members engaged. Corporations seem to use social as another distribution system for the stuff they put out anyway. Lawyers and management consultants can't really be convinced to go on these spaces because they're so public - same with therapists. Probably better they remain discreet.
Independents - I think we're still figuring it out. If anyone has something to add please do.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Workplace Bullies - They're Rampant and We Let Them Get Away With It
This blog is about marketing and I'm digressing from that topic to discuss something that affects all of us, particularly women who work.
Bullying among school kids is really hot right now - schools are scrambling to come up with rules and states and counties with laws that protect vulnerable students from bullies. The schools at this point really have no choice - some of these kids are committing suicide and having all sorts of other mental and developmental problems.
Yet, there is not a single law in this country that protects workers from bullying. If you can prove it's discrimination you may have a harassment case. Otherwise you're on your own.
What is bullying exactly? The data comes from an article in Forbes. In the U.S., where the practice is being studied, an estimated 37% of workers, or about 54 million people, have been bullied at the office, or repeatedly mistreated in a health-harming way, according to a 2007 Zogby International survey.
The percentage of bullying balloons to 49% of workers, 71.5 million people, when witnesses are included. What do bullies do? The whole point of workplace bullying is to make the employee feel powerless and bad about themselves. It's about power - and wanting more control.
Years ago when I was working at a leading business school there was a management professor who had been practically knighted as a guru on how to lead companies and manage employees. I knew her research assistant and although the professor was brilliant and getting quite famous, she was abusive to those who worked for her.
What does that mean exactly? Her research assistant was 22, smart, a really nice person and very competent. Yet everything she did was wrong, and the professor continually picked at her until her assistant confided in me. My advice to her was pretty simple - if you go to the administration they will listen and then ignore it. The only thing you can really do is get another job.
A couple of years later the New York Times ran a story about that professor. The story line? Management guru is awful manager. I was writing for the NYT then and I remember thinking I really wish I had written that story.
How do you know you're being bullied? The data shows its mostly men who bully women. Their affect on you is insidious. Bullies usually single out one person who they know is vulnerable. They are often well liked by others. But the person they've chosen to go after doesn't see that side of them. They see someone who makes them feel worthless, and even more, powerless to change their behavior.
What are signs of bullying:
Unwarranted or invalid criticism. You know that you are a competent, hardworking professional. The bully knows it too. But if they can take you down it builds them up. Watch out for this.
Blame without factual justification. "But I didn't do anything," is the rallying cry often of those who are bullied. It doesn't matter. The bully needs someone to blame and he or she has chosen you. Likely the bully did something that screwed up a job but it doesn't matter because bullies can never be wrong. It's your fault, never theirs.
Being treated differently than the rest of your work group. - You hear that others were invited to a cocktail party or a get together that you weren't invited too. Or people line-up outside your door to go to lunch and you can see them but are not invited. That's bullying and it makes you feel horrible.
Being sworn at. Someone who never curses in the workplace is suddenly cursing at you. Or who never loses her temper, lets loose on you. You go to a meeting with her and she's great with the clients - charming, smiling, thoughtful. Then you get out of the meeting and she starts cursing at you - out of earshot of course.
Being shouted at or being humiliated. - Bullies are yellers. The veins stick out in their neck. They attack you personally. They try to scream you down. Know that no matter how much you fight back you cannot win because the bully is wrong and they'll never acknowledge it.
Excessive monitoring. - Your boss asks you to do something. You've done it. Then he asks you 15 minutes later if you've done it. You don't answer right away. He does it himself making you look stupid in the process. You hand in something that you know is really good but she tells you it's garbage. I once had an editor who did that with a story I'd spent weeks writing - she said it was unpublishable. A co-worker read it and said it should have been a cover story.
What kinds of problems can bullying cause? Bullying can mess with your health both mentally and physically. If you were bullied as a child or by a spouse or school mate it can bring up all sorts of repressed issues that bring you back to that time. Here are some examples of what bullying can cause:
High stress; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Financial problems due to absence
Reduced self-esteem
Musculoskeletal problems
Phobias.
Sleep disturbances.
Increased depression/self-blame.
Digestive problems.
So if you are bullied, and need the job, what can you do? You can confront the bully but make sure you do it in front of a witness. You can get a new job. You can go get some counseling. You can report it to a superior if there is one.
But know this as you try to deal with the bully. They've done it before and they'll do it again. The school yard bully 20 or 30 years ago is that man or woman who is screaming at you today. A bully will never change. You're what matters. And as a co-worker once said to me, even if you and your family have to live on macaroni and cheese for the next year you're better off walking away than letting the bullying continue.
Bullying among school kids is really hot right now - schools are scrambling to come up with rules and states and counties with laws that protect vulnerable students from bullies. The schools at this point really have no choice - some of these kids are committing suicide and having all sorts of other mental and developmental problems.
Yet, there is not a single law in this country that protects workers from bullying. If you can prove it's discrimination you may have a harassment case. Otherwise you're on your own.
What is bullying exactly? The data comes from an article in Forbes. In the U.S., where the practice is being studied, an estimated 37% of workers, or about 54 million people, have been bullied at the office, or repeatedly mistreated in a health-harming way, according to a 2007 Zogby International survey.
The percentage of bullying balloons to 49% of workers, 71.5 million people, when witnesses are included. What do bullies do? The whole point of workplace bullying is to make the employee feel powerless and bad about themselves. It's about power - and wanting more control.
Years ago when I was working at a leading business school there was a management professor who had been practically knighted as a guru on how to lead companies and manage employees. I knew her research assistant and although the professor was brilliant and getting quite famous, she was abusive to those who worked for her.
What does that mean exactly? Her research assistant was 22, smart, a really nice person and very competent. Yet everything she did was wrong, and the professor continually picked at her until her assistant confided in me. My advice to her was pretty simple - if you go to the administration they will listen and then ignore it. The only thing you can really do is get another job.
A couple of years later the New York Times ran a story about that professor. The story line? Management guru is awful manager. I was writing for the NYT then and I remember thinking I really wish I had written that story.
How do you know you're being bullied? The data shows its mostly men who bully women. Their affect on you is insidious. Bullies usually single out one person who they know is vulnerable. They are often well liked by others. But the person they've chosen to go after doesn't see that side of them. They see someone who makes them feel worthless, and even more, powerless to change their behavior.
What are signs of bullying:
Unwarranted or invalid criticism. You know that you are a competent, hardworking professional. The bully knows it too. But if they can take you down it builds them up. Watch out for this.
Blame without factual justification. "But I didn't do anything," is the rallying cry often of those who are bullied. It doesn't matter. The bully needs someone to blame and he or she has chosen you. Likely the bully did something that screwed up a job but it doesn't matter because bullies can never be wrong. It's your fault, never theirs.
Being treated differently than the rest of your work group. - You hear that others were invited to a cocktail party or a get together that you weren't invited too. Or people line-up outside your door to go to lunch and you can see them but are not invited. That's bullying and it makes you feel horrible.
Being sworn at. Someone who never curses in the workplace is suddenly cursing at you. Or who never loses her temper, lets loose on you. You go to a meeting with her and she's great with the clients - charming, smiling, thoughtful. Then you get out of the meeting and she starts cursing at you - out of earshot of course.
Being shouted at or being humiliated. - Bullies are yellers. The veins stick out in their neck. They attack you personally. They try to scream you down. Know that no matter how much you fight back you cannot win because the bully is wrong and they'll never acknowledge it.
Excessive monitoring. - Your boss asks you to do something. You've done it. Then he asks you 15 minutes later if you've done it. You don't answer right away. He does it himself making you look stupid in the process. You hand in something that you know is really good but she tells you it's garbage. I once had an editor who did that with a story I'd spent weeks writing - she said it was unpublishable. A co-worker read it and said it should have been a cover story.
What kinds of problems can bullying cause? Bullying can mess with your health both mentally and physically. If you were bullied as a child or by a spouse or school mate it can bring up all sorts of repressed issues that bring you back to that time. Here are some examples of what bullying can cause:
High stress; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Financial problems due to absence
Reduced self-esteem
Musculoskeletal problems
Phobias.
Sleep disturbances.
Increased depression/self-blame.
Digestive problems.
So if you are bullied, and need the job, what can you do? You can confront the bully but make sure you do it in front of a witness. You can get a new job. You can go get some counseling. You can report it to a superior if there is one.
But know this as you try to deal with the bully. They've done it before and they'll do it again. The school yard bully 20 or 30 years ago is that man or woman who is screaming at you today. A bully will never change. You're what matters. And as a co-worker once said to me, even if you and your family have to live on macaroni and cheese for the next year you're better off walking away than letting the bullying continue.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Whatever Happened to Truth in Journalism?
I was watching Bill Maher last night and he was interviewing Bill O'Reilly. Interesting combination of personalities.
At one point Bill Maher asked O'Reilly about the $200 million that Fox News was reporting President Obama is spending everyday of his trip to India and whether he knew that was true and if knew it wasn't true then why were they reporting it?
Bill O'Reilly - We're not reporting that.
Bill Maher - Sean Hannity did.
Bill O'Reilly - Well he's not news, he's entertainment.
Bill Maher - Well it's still a lie (Ok this is not exactly how he said it but you get my point)
So I Googled that statement. It has 3,130,000 listings on Google. Many of them were this is untrue and ridiculous and way exaggerated. Many others treated it as fact.
What has happened to journalism? I know that Fox News has created a new manipulation standard and a nation of believers of these television talk show personalities who just spout anger and fear. But why are we putting up with it?
Is it as Maher inferred that the Democrats just don't know how to sink that low, lie that well and fight that dirty? Certainly the mid-terms showed that both sides are capable of it.
How have we let "liberal media" become the equivalent of a racial slur? Why are we all so afraid to stick up for what's right - Is it the economy? Is it the job market? Is it the fear of a backlash?
I was a journalist for a long time and I got raked over the coals if I made even a small mistake in a story. We apologized. We corrected it. I got a lecture.
Once in an article for the New York Times about Russian business students at Harvard, I mentioned a company and mis-identified what it did. I wasn't far off but it was enough that it was wrong. It was the one fact in the story that I thought I knew and didn't bother to check. And I had to write a retraction and an explanation with my name on it that was published a week later in the business section. That would never happen today.
Now major news organizations make stuff up and repeat it over and over again until people believe it's true. And tons of media outlets go right along with them.
My son who is 15 and of course knows everything, says that liberal media does the same thing. And there is truth in that - but it's not the same. They don't outright lie and treat it as fact. Bias is one thing. Lies are another and spreading them is worse.
So here's one voice that is speaking up. Let's bring truth in journalism back - or we're going to create a generation of kids who don't even know what it is.
At one point Bill Maher asked O'Reilly about the $200 million that Fox News was reporting President Obama is spending everyday of his trip to India and whether he knew that was true and if knew it wasn't true then why were they reporting it?
Bill O'Reilly - We're not reporting that.
Bill Maher - Sean Hannity did.
Bill O'Reilly - Well he's not news, he's entertainment.
Bill Maher - Well it's still a lie (Ok this is not exactly how he said it but you get my point)
So I Googled that statement. It has 3,130,000 listings on Google. Many of them were this is untrue and ridiculous and way exaggerated. Many others treated it as fact.
What has happened to journalism? I know that Fox News has created a new manipulation standard and a nation of believers of these television talk show personalities who just spout anger and fear. But why are we putting up with it?
Is it as Maher inferred that the Democrats just don't know how to sink that low, lie that well and fight that dirty? Certainly the mid-terms showed that both sides are capable of it.
How have we let "liberal media" become the equivalent of a racial slur? Why are we all so afraid to stick up for what's right - Is it the economy? Is it the job market? Is it the fear of a backlash?
I was a journalist for a long time and I got raked over the coals if I made even a small mistake in a story. We apologized. We corrected it. I got a lecture.
Once in an article for the New York Times about Russian business students at Harvard, I mentioned a company and mis-identified what it did. I wasn't far off but it was enough that it was wrong. It was the one fact in the story that I thought I knew and didn't bother to check. And I had to write a retraction and an explanation with my name on it that was published a week later in the business section. That would never happen today.
Now major news organizations make stuff up and repeat it over and over again until people believe it's true. And tons of media outlets go right along with them.
My son who is 15 and of course knows everything, says that liberal media does the same thing. And there is truth in that - but it's not the same. They don't outright lie and treat it as fact. Bias is one thing. Lies are another and spreading them is worse.
So here's one voice that is speaking up. Let's bring truth in journalism back - or we're going to create a generation of kids who don't even know what it is.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Can You Believe this Campaign Didn't Win An Award?
I hated high school. I have judged some of these awards programs and although there is a formula for how to pick winners sometimes it still seems like all that matters is size, trying to impress people who can help you and brand names. Just like high school. This is one of the most successful PR campaigns I've ever done. Enough said.
Healthcarebluebook.com Launch Campaign - 2009
The Market was a Mess
As healthcare costs climb 9-10% a year, and national unemployment edges close to 10%, companies are increasingly shifting their employees into consumer directed health plans which with health savings accounts, according to Mercer, mean more out-of-pocket costs to everyone.
For a generation trained by managed care organizations to pay flat fees for most healthcare services and prescriptions, learning what they have to pay for health insurance and care can be staggering. Most consumers didn’t even realize that physician’s and hospital fees can be obtained in advance, vary dramatically even within the same market for the same service, and are negotiable particularly if they pay cash.
Dr. Jeffrey Rice, an E-health veteran and healthcare data expert, created the web-based product Healthcarebluebook.com, to help educate consumers about fair prices for surgeries, treatments and provider office visits.
I worked with Dr. Rice 10 years ago at the beginning of the E-health boom when he raised awareness about the inaccuracies of healthcare information on the Web and advocated the beginning of research-based sites. He asked me
if Stern Communications would help him market and publicize his new venture.
Since all healthcare contracts are negotiated by insurance companies with individual providers, prices for the same service in the same market can vary by more than 500 percent. The Blue Book provides the average price that PPOs pay their providers by zip code for each service. It includes not just the doctor’s costs, but facilities and most other fees associated with a procedure, helping people avoid sticker shock. So consumers can go to their provider with fair pricing information in hand before they agree to a healthcare service and where it will be performed.
Figuring out a Media Strategy with a Product No One Understood
Jeff had a Beta prototype up of Healthcarebluebook.com on the Web. While competitors required digging for pricing information and a lot of generalized data, the Blue Book was really easy to use. The challenge was that although consumers were savvy about shopping for cars and houses – they knew very little about shopping for healthcare.
A media assessment conducted by calling a dozen major healthcare bloggers at outlets like the Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, the New York Times, and Health Day showed that the challenge was even greater. Veteran healthcare reporters were skeptical that any new product – was funded by insurance companies as a way to make more money. And they were not reluctant to tell us that.
Making a Splash with a New Launch
The PR campaign goals were to: Transform the Healthcare Blue Book into the leading brand in the fledgling healthcare pricing market by educating media and consumers and creating a network of advocates through industry partners and PR, and to make Dr. Rice a major resource to the media on healthcare pricing.
We wrote a Communications Plan with messages, target audiences, etc. but it was very flexible and changed a lot as we moved forward.
The www.healthcarebluebook.com web site was designed for maximum search potential. Key words were identified and used throughout the site, page coding was aligned to SEO terms and volume and all traffic was tracked and sourced.
More specialty categories are developed as search terms for commonly searched ailments and tests, a higher volume of traffic was driven to the site. Every media hit was analyzed for how much traffic it drove to the Blue Book – and we made a point of going back to places that drew large audiences.
The launch focused on Web versions of traditional name brand media as our top twenty targets and then PR Newswire as a primary distribution source. Our plan was to use monthly news releases to get the Blue Book’s name out there explaining that price is negotiable and build a solid search engine presence.
We did put up a Facebook page, a Wiki, and I tweet campaign milestones, but as the healthcare industry is closely regulated it was not a priority. We also added a modest media home to the web site but focused more on resources for patients, teaching them how to use the Blue Book and shop for fairly priced care.
Initial coverage of the Blue Book was extensive but pretty negative by seasoned healthcare reporters – most media came right out and said it wouldn’t work. Many of the bigger outlets we wanted to write about the new company passed. Although this was somewhat expected, it was a real stumbling block. The bright spot was radio coverage which was primarily based on how to save money.
We sat in on the early calls with Dr. Rice and gave advice on how to tell his story better. He has done quite a bit of media before and is very good at it – our focus was mostly to point out areas where he wasn’t as succinct as possible and could strengthen his messages.
So we switched to a regional strategy and collected data on healthcare prices on specific services or tests like MRIs on a market by market basis. So for instance, we researched MRIs in Chicago, pediatrician office visits in Manhattan and physical therapy fees in Boise. With data showing that what people were charged varied by hundreds or thousands of dollars, we were able to go back to reporters and get them to write about us.
Some took our data as it was – others did their own research. The campaign started to build momentum and we started to get coverage in markets like Chicago, Miami, Houston, etc. We also got coverage from some local television stations – but it was harder because they wanted real people to talk about their experiences. That became a year two goal.
Using Google and Lots of Free Tools to Track Everything
As a supplement, we monitored through Google Alerts coverage of CDHPs, healthcare pricing, and a dozen other search terms related to the business the Blue Book is in. Every time a story appeared on one of these topics we left a comment relating to the story but talking about the Blue Book and the benefits it offered. Slowly but surely we began to get the attention of leading bloggers and writers in the healthcare and consumer finance industry.
Then the health reform debate started and we shifted strategies again. To take advantage of the coverage, we started pushing stories on how to negotiate prices with doctors and hospitals offering advice for how to do it to personal finance reporters who began writing about how to save money on health costs.
We received feature coverage in the online editions and some print editions of the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, New York Times, CNN Money, SmartMoney, Forbes, NPR, Mother Jones and many other outlets.
Analytics were closely tracked and we were able to evaluate which media hits sent the most traffic to the Blue Book site and develop an understanding of media reach in this changing time. There were over 1,000 articles mentioning the Blue Book and about two dozen features in major online media.
How to and pricing data-based news releases were written for SEO and garnered hundreds of thousands of web placements. Blue Book web traffic climbed from a handful of users to upwards of 30,000 per month and grew dramatically in year two. It consistently places at the top of major search engine rankings.
Consumer education is still in its early phases but the Blue Book is clearly the most respected and best known healthcare consumer pricing guide on the market today. Dr. Rice gets an average of 3-5 media calls a month, generated by the 2009 campaign, and the Blue Book was recently featured on CBS’ Morning Show, the Today Show and ABC News online.
I spent three days and a couple hundred dollars creating a notebook that was really thick, a cover, etc - killing trees - because there wasn't even an electronic submission process.
I guess that's what blogs are for.
Healthcarebluebook.com Launch Campaign - 2009
The Market was a Mess
As healthcare costs climb 9-10% a year, and national unemployment edges close to 10%, companies are increasingly shifting their employees into consumer directed health plans which with health savings accounts, according to Mercer, mean more out-of-pocket costs to everyone.
For a generation trained by managed care organizations to pay flat fees for most healthcare services and prescriptions, learning what they have to pay for health insurance and care can be staggering. Most consumers didn’t even realize that physician’s and hospital fees can be obtained in advance, vary dramatically even within the same market for the same service, and are negotiable particularly if they pay cash.
Dr. Jeffrey Rice, an E-health veteran and healthcare data expert, created the web-based product Healthcarebluebook.com, to help educate consumers about fair prices for surgeries, treatments and provider office visits.
I worked with Dr. Rice 10 years ago at the beginning of the E-health boom when he raised awareness about the inaccuracies of healthcare information on the Web and advocated the beginning of research-based sites. He asked me
if Stern Communications would help him market and publicize his new venture.
Since all healthcare contracts are negotiated by insurance companies with individual providers, prices for the same service in the same market can vary by more than 500 percent. The Blue Book provides the average price that PPOs pay their providers by zip code for each service. It includes not just the doctor’s costs, but facilities and most other fees associated with a procedure, helping people avoid sticker shock. So consumers can go to their provider with fair pricing information in hand before they agree to a healthcare service and where it will be performed.
Figuring out a Media Strategy with a Product No One Understood
Jeff had a Beta prototype up of Healthcarebluebook.com on the Web. While competitors required digging for pricing information and a lot of generalized data, the Blue Book was really easy to use. The challenge was that although consumers were savvy about shopping for cars and houses – they knew very little about shopping for healthcare.
A media assessment conducted by calling a dozen major healthcare bloggers at outlets like the Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, the New York Times, and Health Day showed that the challenge was even greater. Veteran healthcare reporters were skeptical that any new product – was funded by insurance companies as a way to make more money. And they were not reluctant to tell us that.
Making a Splash with a New Launch
The PR campaign goals were to: Transform the Healthcare Blue Book into the leading brand in the fledgling healthcare pricing market by educating media and consumers and creating a network of advocates through industry partners and PR, and to make Dr. Rice a major resource to the media on healthcare pricing.
We wrote a Communications Plan with messages, target audiences, etc. but it was very flexible and changed a lot as we moved forward.
The www.healthcarebluebook.com web site was designed for maximum search potential. Key words were identified and used throughout the site, page coding was aligned to SEO terms and volume and all traffic was tracked and sourced.
More specialty categories are developed as search terms for commonly searched ailments and tests, a higher volume of traffic was driven to the site. Every media hit was analyzed for how much traffic it drove to the Blue Book – and we made a point of going back to places that drew large audiences.
The launch focused on Web versions of traditional name brand media as our top twenty targets and then PR Newswire as a primary distribution source. Our plan was to use monthly news releases to get the Blue Book’s name out there explaining that price is negotiable and build a solid search engine presence.
We did put up a Facebook page, a Wiki, and I tweet campaign milestones, but as the healthcare industry is closely regulated it was not a priority. We also added a modest media home to the web site but focused more on resources for patients, teaching them how to use the Blue Book and shop for fairly priced care.
Initial coverage of the Blue Book was extensive but pretty negative by seasoned healthcare reporters – most media came right out and said it wouldn’t work. Many of the bigger outlets we wanted to write about the new company passed. Although this was somewhat expected, it was a real stumbling block. The bright spot was radio coverage which was primarily based on how to save money.
We sat in on the early calls with Dr. Rice and gave advice on how to tell his story better. He has done quite a bit of media before and is very good at it – our focus was mostly to point out areas where he wasn’t as succinct as possible and could strengthen his messages.
So we switched to a regional strategy and collected data on healthcare prices on specific services or tests like MRIs on a market by market basis. So for instance, we researched MRIs in Chicago, pediatrician office visits in Manhattan and physical therapy fees in Boise. With data showing that what people were charged varied by hundreds or thousands of dollars, we were able to go back to reporters and get them to write about us.
Some took our data as it was – others did their own research. The campaign started to build momentum and we started to get coverage in markets like Chicago, Miami, Houston, etc. We also got coverage from some local television stations – but it was harder because they wanted real people to talk about their experiences. That became a year two goal.
Using Google and Lots of Free Tools to Track Everything
As a supplement, we monitored through Google Alerts coverage of CDHPs, healthcare pricing, and a dozen other search terms related to the business the Blue Book is in. Every time a story appeared on one of these topics we left a comment relating to the story but talking about the Blue Book and the benefits it offered. Slowly but surely we began to get the attention of leading bloggers and writers in the healthcare and consumer finance industry.
Then the health reform debate started and we shifted strategies again. To take advantage of the coverage, we started pushing stories on how to negotiate prices with doctors and hospitals offering advice for how to do it to personal finance reporters who began writing about how to save money on health costs.
We received feature coverage in the online editions and some print editions of the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, New York Times, CNN Money, SmartMoney, Forbes, NPR, Mother Jones and many other outlets.
Analytics were closely tracked and we were able to evaluate which media hits sent the most traffic to the Blue Book site and develop an understanding of media reach in this changing time. There were over 1,000 articles mentioning the Blue Book and about two dozen features in major online media.
How to and pricing data-based news releases were written for SEO and garnered hundreds of thousands of web placements. Blue Book web traffic climbed from a handful of users to upwards of 30,000 per month and grew dramatically in year two. It consistently places at the top of major search engine rankings.
Consumer education is still in its early phases but the Blue Book is clearly the most respected and best known healthcare consumer pricing guide on the market today. Dr. Rice gets an average of 3-5 media calls a month, generated by the 2009 campaign, and the Blue Book was recently featured on CBS’ Morning Show, the Today Show and ABC News online.
I spent three days and a couple hundred dollars creating a notebook that was really thick, a cover, etc - killing trees - because there wasn't even an electronic submission process.
I guess that's what blogs are for.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The RFP Process is Not a Test Kitchen
This is a rant so if you don’t want to read it then leave this blog. This is a post for every organization out there that outsources public relations or other services and conducts an RFP process. When you ask an individual consultant with a small or virtual firm to submit a proposal for your company, and put them through a proposal process, it’s not some mid-level executive’s expense account that you are using.
It is funds that go into feeding their children and paying their mortgages. If you give them the idea that they really have a chance at your business, then they will drop everything and go after it. That’s not a small thing for a small firm. At a larger firm, they take a proposal template, throw a 23 year-old on Google and say enough that they sound smart about your industry.
Or maybe they know your industry. That doesn’t mean you are going to get the best thinking they have. The creative people who would do the work were promoted to a level where they started spending all their time pitching new business, years ago.
So my message to all of you is don’t use my company as a sounding board so you can go out and hire within your comfort zone. If your CEO wants a brand name agency, then ask brand name agencies to pitch. If you want a firm that knows your market and works in it right now, then ask those firms to pitch. If your marketing director isn’t a risk taker, or wants someone with the exact experience you need, because they have worked for one of your competitors, then ask those firms to pitch.
Don’t ask me to be part of the RFP process if you don't know what you want. I'm not a test kitchen. My time is money and it also belongs to my family.
I’ve heard a lot of independents complain lately about how they’ve put enormous time and effort into proposals because they were given the impression they are a serious contender for the business. And then the organization that issues the RFP hires someone the chairman’s wife recommended or they just take your ideas and give them to someone they hire to do the work. That’s just plain wrong.
Again, if you’re an agency with overhead and staff, you can write that time and funding off. Independents can’t. We pay our bills – no one else does.
Independents also don’t use formulas. We figure out what you need to do and offer you salient advice on it. There are some that won’t do anything without a legal document, but the rest of us don’t have that luxury. We treat your RFP like it’s the first week we’re working for you. That’s how we get business. And it’s also how we get screwed.
Every minute that I spend writing a proposal and researching your organization takes time that I could spend raising my children and finding funds to pay for them. It’s hard enough to find time to spend with my kids and run a business. I’m a single parent. My life is packed with other peoples’ needs.
My children’s father writes an embarassingly small check every month and takes them on vacation for a week or two in the summer. The rest of the time, I raise them. If you ask me to write a proposal and I have to miss the class play to do it, and I really need the money, I will probably miss the class play. Don’t put me in that position.
I don’t know, maybe I’m different than most consultants. I saw a proposal recently from a firm we compete with often in one business segment, and their winning proposal was a formula that they had taken off someone else’s web site and didn’t even bother to change the name of. I Googled their “proprietary model” and found it in less than five seconds with someone else’s name on it. Yet, they beat us. Why?
Well it wasn’t on merit. Our proposal was far stronger, contained original thought, and didn’t promise things we could not deliver. I assume because the other firm had close ties to the organization that put out the RFP, they were a shoe-in to begin with.
Then just give your buddies the business or don’t ask me to pitch it in the first place. If you need to stay within your comfort zone figure that out before, not after or during the RFP process.
I'm not talking about the people who really genuinely consider you and decide to choose someone else. That's the way business works and it happens all the time. Chemistry matters. Budget matters. What your CEO wants matters. And you have to do what's best for you too.
I understand that in recessionary times, if you hire a brand name agency and they do a lousy job, you can always say but we hired So and So, the brand name agency. And it won’t cost you your job. We know that you have a family to feed too.
I take comfort in one thing I really do believe in. Good people raise good kids. Bad people raise bad kids. I see this all the time - the neurotic parent ends ups with neurotic children. The parent who is not paying attention ends up with kids who do things their parents don't want them to do just to get their attention. The parents who do their kids' homework for them end up with kids who don't learn anything. It all comes back to haunt you eventually.
I am a good parent and a good person. At the very least my kids, even if I blow half of our vacation on a proposal for a project I never stood a chance at, will not grow up to be awful. That makes me feel better. But not right after I find out that you just wasted a week of my time.
So just to make sure I’m completely clear here. Marketing people – if you’re not going to seriously consider my firm for a job, don’t ask us to compete for it. Ask the people you really will end up hiring. You may not sleep better at night. But I know I will.
It is funds that go into feeding their children and paying their mortgages. If you give them the idea that they really have a chance at your business, then they will drop everything and go after it. That’s not a small thing for a small firm. At a larger firm, they take a proposal template, throw a 23 year-old on Google and say enough that they sound smart about your industry.
Or maybe they know your industry. That doesn’t mean you are going to get the best thinking they have. The creative people who would do the work were promoted to a level where they started spending all their time pitching new business, years ago.
So my message to all of you is don’t use my company as a sounding board so you can go out and hire within your comfort zone. If your CEO wants a brand name agency, then ask brand name agencies to pitch. If you want a firm that knows your market and works in it right now, then ask those firms to pitch. If your marketing director isn’t a risk taker, or wants someone with the exact experience you need, because they have worked for one of your competitors, then ask those firms to pitch.
Don’t ask me to be part of the RFP process if you don't know what you want. I'm not a test kitchen. My time is money and it also belongs to my family.
I’ve heard a lot of independents complain lately about how they’ve put enormous time and effort into proposals because they were given the impression they are a serious contender for the business. And then the organization that issues the RFP hires someone the chairman’s wife recommended or they just take your ideas and give them to someone they hire to do the work. That’s just plain wrong.
Again, if you’re an agency with overhead and staff, you can write that time and funding off. Independents can’t. We pay our bills – no one else does.
Independents also don’t use formulas. We figure out what you need to do and offer you salient advice on it. There are some that won’t do anything without a legal document, but the rest of us don’t have that luxury. We treat your RFP like it’s the first week we’re working for you. That’s how we get business. And it’s also how we get screwed.
Every minute that I spend writing a proposal and researching your organization takes time that I could spend raising my children and finding funds to pay for them. It’s hard enough to find time to spend with my kids and run a business. I’m a single parent. My life is packed with other peoples’ needs.
My children’s father writes an embarassingly small check every month and takes them on vacation for a week or two in the summer. The rest of the time, I raise them. If you ask me to write a proposal and I have to miss the class play to do it, and I really need the money, I will probably miss the class play. Don’t put me in that position.
I don’t know, maybe I’m different than most consultants. I saw a proposal recently from a firm we compete with often in one business segment, and their winning proposal was a formula that they had taken off someone else’s web site and didn’t even bother to change the name of. I Googled their “proprietary model” and found it in less than five seconds with someone else’s name on it. Yet, they beat us. Why?
Well it wasn’t on merit. Our proposal was far stronger, contained original thought, and didn’t promise things we could not deliver. I assume because the other firm had close ties to the organization that put out the RFP, they were a shoe-in to begin with.
Then just give your buddies the business or don’t ask me to pitch it in the first place. If you need to stay within your comfort zone figure that out before, not after or during the RFP process.
I'm not talking about the people who really genuinely consider you and decide to choose someone else. That's the way business works and it happens all the time. Chemistry matters. Budget matters. What your CEO wants matters. And you have to do what's best for you too.
I understand that in recessionary times, if you hire a brand name agency and they do a lousy job, you can always say but we hired So and So, the brand name agency. And it won’t cost you your job. We know that you have a family to feed too.
I take comfort in one thing I really do believe in. Good people raise good kids. Bad people raise bad kids. I see this all the time - the neurotic parent ends ups with neurotic children. The parent who is not paying attention ends up with kids who do things their parents don't want them to do just to get their attention. The parents who do their kids' homework for them end up with kids who don't learn anything. It all comes back to haunt you eventually.
I am a good parent and a good person. At the very least my kids, even if I blow half of our vacation on a proposal for a project I never stood a chance at, will not grow up to be awful. That makes me feel better. But not right after I find out that you just wasted a week of my time.
So just to make sure I’m completely clear here. Marketing people – if you’re not going to seriously consider my firm for a job, don’t ask us to compete for it. Ask the people you really will end up hiring. You may not sleep better at night. But I know I will.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Death of Traditional Journalism - Not Yet
There's a new resource on what journalists think of the media's future a ""Digital Journalism Study 2010" from the Oriella PR Network. Some really good information is available in the study which is free and can be downloaded at www.orielladigitaljournalism.com.
About 350 journalists across Europe and another 300 plus in the US and Brazil participated. The study is annual so what I'm highlighting shows changes from 2009 to 2010.
Print media will continue to shrink - 44% agreed in 2009, 59% agreed in 2010
Editorial quality will continue to erode because of lack of resources - 43% agreed in 2009, 54% agreed in 2010
Dependence on PR for news will continue due to cuts in staff, etc - 34% in 2009 agreed, 41% agreed in 2010
Blogs will continue to lead the new media landscape - 40% agreed in 2009 and 46% agreed in 2010
Percentage of companies using Twitter feeds - 35% in 2009, 43% in 2010
People will return to reliable media brands because of "opinion-driven" journalism (they basically mean media for sale and/or Fox News) - 29% agreed in 2009, 42% agreed in 2010.
About 350 journalists across Europe and another 300 plus in the US and Brazil participated. The study is annual so what I'm highlighting shows changes from 2009 to 2010.
Print media will continue to shrink - 44% agreed in 2009, 59% agreed in 2010
Editorial quality will continue to erode because of lack of resources - 43% agreed in 2009, 54% agreed in 2010
Dependence on PR for news will continue due to cuts in staff, etc - 34% in 2009 agreed, 41% agreed in 2010
Blogs will continue to lead the new media landscape - 40% agreed in 2009 and 46% agreed in 2010
Percentage of companies using Twitter feeds - 35% in 2009, 43% in 2010
People will return to reliable media brands because of "opinion-driven" journalism (they basically mean media for sale and/or Fox News) - 29% agreed in 2009, 42% agreed in 2010.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
New Twitter Features that Can Stem Overload
Marketing Profs which always has interesting info came up with something today that I thought would be useful to all. It explains how to spend less time on Twitter and get more value from it.
Tweet Adder. This desktop application, used with care, can be great for marketers who need to grow followers fast, and who repeatedly promote deals or services:
Here's stuff you can do under this application -
Auto-load tweets promoting deals/services/blog posts, and set your publication times. Example: Schedule tweets for publication every 90-120 minutes. Limit the amount of auto-tweets sent in a day.
Run searches for keywords of interest, say "basketball" or "birthday gifts." Tweet Adder provides a list of matching profiles you can follow or save for review. You can find, then research, potential clients/heavy tweeters who could become evangelists for you.
Use conversion (follower:followee) tracking. People look at your follower:followee ratio. Don't get obsessed, but avoid following hundreds more users than those following you. Better to let your followers develop organically - at least I think so. If what you say is useful they will find you.
Access and save current/historical trends. Track what's hot on Twitter and compare it with times past to find patterns in user sentiment.
For more: www.marketingprofs.com
Tweet Adder. This desktop application, used with care, can be great for marketers who need to grow followers fast, and who repeatedly promote deals or services:
Here's stuff you can do under this application -
Auto-load tweets promoting deals/services/blog posts, and set your publication times. Example: Schedule tweets for publication every 90-120 minutes. Limit the amount of auto-tweets sent in a day.
Run searches for keywords of interest, say "basketball" or "birthday gifts." Tweet Adder provides a list of matching profiles you can follow or save for review. You can find, then research, potential clients/heavy tweeters who could become evangelists for you.
Use conversion (follower:followee) tracking. People look at your follower:followee ratio. Don't get obsessed, but avoid following hundreds more users than those following you. Better to let your followers develop organically - at least I think so. If what you say is useful they will find you.
Access and save current/historical trends. Track what's hot on Twitter and compare it with times past to find patterns in user sentiment.
For more: www.marketingprofs.com
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