Notes from the Back of the Book

What Would A Pharma Marketing Champ Do? 9 Imperatives for 2010

This is the final post of a four-part series.

What Would Steve Jobs Do? 

What Would Google Do? 

What Would Jake and Rocket Do?

These are champs.

What would a 'new marketing' champ do in Pharma and Healthcare?

Here are 9 imperatives I see for Pharma Marketers as we enter 2010 and a new decade:

1. Adopt human-centered thinking across everything you do. Both Steve Jobs and Google share a relentless focus on knowing and pleasing their core customer - the consumer. No detail is ignored if it brings value. Importantly, these champs don't think of consumers sporadically or when it's convenient, but in every decision and action they take.  The customer experience is front and center from beginning to the end.
   
   Pharma and Healthcare marketers: are patients at the center of everything you do? Really? As Steve Jobs might ask, are you taking full responsibility for your patient/e-patient user experience? Are you thinking about every touch along the treatment pathway, that is no longer a straight linear line, but made of multiple touches, information and influences often hitting at once and with circular repetition? (You may also want to read: Is Your Brand Patient-Centered? 5 Critical Success Factors)
2. Get outta town. Experience and see what your patients see. What are your patients' challenges? How could you help? How can you insure that learning is turned into action back in the office? Who should 'own' a particular learning or insight and see it through? Pharma and Healthcare Marketers: is listening and learning part of your everyday doings? What are consumers and patients saying about you? your product? your service? What are they saying on twitter? Facebook? patient communities? How are patients rating your brand on sites such as iGuard? (You may also want to read Jonathan Richman's Dose of Digital blog: The Best Pharma Products According to Patients)
3. Simplify.  Challenge your product and marketing design: Is it simple enough? Simplify your products and services; simplify your customers' lives; simplify your own life...Create simple experiences.  Think about starting a search on Google...or picking up an iPod...Pharma and Healthcare Marketers: During every step of product development and marketing planning: stop and ask yourself: If Steve Jobs was the Product Manager on this, what would he do? Is the design and implementation  of your product/program flawless?
4. Embrace publicness and openness. Transform your relationship with the public in every quarter of the organization.  You may extend this new relationship in many ways from blogging, interacting with bloggers and e-Patients, participating in twitter or Facebook, customer service and sharing ideas.  Overtime, you may even truly involve customers in the real-time design process for products and/or services...But 'publicness' is much more than having a web site. It's about taking actions in public so people can see what you do and react to it, make suggestions, and tell their friends.  Living in public is a matter of enlightened self interest. You have to be public to be found. Every time you decide not to make something public, you create the risk of a customer not finding you or not trusting you because you're keeping secrets....the more public you are, the easier you can be found, the more opportunities your have...(Read Privacy (and Publicness) by Jeff Jarvis Buzz Machine)
   
5. Don't try to control content and distribution, and think about how you can bring your customers 'elegant organization'.  First, think in distributor ways.  Go to your consumer whenever and however you can.  This is still the opposite of many companies who continue to think centralized and want to make consumers come to them.  They spend large dollars to advertise to attract consumers.  Many try to make their home pages into destinations.  In sum, while many internet sites think of themselves as an end--Google thinks of itself as a means.  While many see the job of their home page to take you to where they want you to go, Google sees its home page as the way to get you to where you want to go.  Google distributes itself.  Google enables others to use tools as they wish. Think of your site as 'answers for every question you can imagine'.
   
   Second, it will also be helpful to think about 'elegant organization' as Jeff Jarvis outlined in What Would Google Do?--Mark Zuckerberg originally coined the phrase to stress that communities already exist... As marketers, entrepreneurs and technologists, we can benefit from these communities by providing them with elegant organization. Help them do what they are already doing better.  Pharma: how can you aggregate and curate useful and valuable content for your patients/ customers? How can you replace focus on mass market with focus on mass of niches? And how can you provide helpful content consistently?
6. Think mobile. Engage real-time with your customers 24/7. Mobile doesn't have to be just about apps; consider the value of texting, geolocators, and/or the use of quick response (QR) codes for simplification...
7. Takers may eat well, but givers sleep well. While most will wait for the FDA guidelines to be published for social media and web, some will move forward to listen, learn and to "give as well as to take." There are still opportunities for Pharma to learn, and support patients and their communities, especially if Pharma starts to see themselves not only as products, but as a service, a platform, a means to enabling others. The bottom line: help your patients (and customers) build value. One new example may be the launch of the new Patients Like Me Epilepsy Community in Partnership with UCB. (While UCB is a client, I have nothing to do with their epilepsy business.)
   
8. Do one thing really really well--focus on what's most important.  Each champ does one thing really, really well.  Google never loses sight of what search means to their business strategy, and in their continuous focus for improvement of search, it continually spurs other applications and new products/services. Apple never loses site of flawless and simple design for maximum consumer appeal. Jake and Rocket for Life is Good always stay close to their roots of humor and humility. What does your company or brand do really well? Where can you focus resources to continually innovate?
9. Raise Your Bar. Good isn't good enough.  If you don't think it would pass Steve Job's bar, then don't let it pass yours...Or you can think like Google: being great is a starting point, not an endpoint. But as Steve Jobs says, Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Welcome to the new decade of new-marketing--any other imperatives that you'd like to add or delete from this list? Please do share!


Muhammad-Ali Image: 1976 World heavyweight boxing champion. Photo Source: Frank Tewkesbury/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Marketers: What Would Jake and Rocket Do? 13 Imperatives for 2010 (part 3 of 4)

What Would Jake and Rocket Do?
This is the third of a four part series for Consumer and Pharma/Healthcare marketers looking to tame the rigors of 2010... In case you're just coming in now, here is the first of the series: What Would Steve Jobs Do? And the second: What Would Google Do?

Who are Jake and Rocket you ask? Jake and his trusty dog Rocket have become icons of optimism, and Life is good ® America's little clothing brand that could-that is trying to spread good vibes all over the world. Having recently returned from a few days of holiday skiing in Vermont, and the proverbial t-shirt buying with ‘my three sons'... Life is good was all around us spreading their optimism and good cheer.

Here are some of Jake and Rocket's insights that all marketers-Consumer, B2B and Pharmaceutical/Healthcare - may want to pay attention to in 2010.

What Would Jake and Rocket Do?

1. Run like a dog. Dream on. High end destination.
Optimism, hope and dreams are crucial for human beings, healthy and/or sick...If you forget what it feels like to ‘run like a dog', take a look at: 19 Seconds of Pure Joy and Steve Woodruff's young dog experiencing snow for the first time! Or listen to Dr. Groopman speak about Hope and Medicine on NPR. You can also read Jen McCabe's blog on the importance of hope.

2. Consider yourself a lucky dog.
Go deep. Think out of the box. Don't knock something, build something. Create your own happy hour. This is not a year to wish you had more. Use any financial or human constraints to innovate...to build something big, to go deep. Constraints are not something to fear, but often spur innovation. Read 37 signals Getting Real: Embrace Constraints; a concept duly noted by Tim Brown and Matthew May's Change This Manifesto on Elegant Solutions (no.6 p 22)

3. Whatever you are, be a good one.  Style points count. Get dirty.
Successful people and companies raise the bar, and continually strive for excellence with every move they make...If you take nothing else away from What Would Steve Jobs Do?, think about the bar of excellence he sets and expects for himself and others at every step of the way.

4. Get outta town. If you don't go, you don't see. If you don't live it, it won't come out your horn. Who feels it knows it.
Reading Tim Brown's book Change By Design, I was stuck by this quote: "Good design thinkers observe. Great design thinkers observe the ordinary." How true it is that you have to get out to see and experience what your customers are doing and thinking, and how they're interacting with the world. Yet how many busy executives actually do? And then actually take the learning and insights and share them across the organization and find rightful ‘owners' to turn them into action? (Brian Solis often speaks to this very need of leveraging what you hear in social media throughout the organization by insuring rightful owners.)

5. Mix it up.
We seem to be stuck in a world of X OR Y, TV advertising or web, traditional advertising or social media, facebook or twitter, branded advertising or value-add conversations...when we could be mixing it up and thinking AND...The consumer mixes it up, why don't marketers?

6. The little things in life are the big things.
How true it is that what we most often remember is not the big things or the big/expensive presents, but those little special gestures that let us know that people really appreciate us, trust us, care about us, and know us. (You can also read Linda Kaplan and Robin Koval's Power of Small)

7. Takers may eat well, but givers sleep well. Sometimes the best conversation is a game of catch.
We all know that building relationships is a give and take. What better analogy for two-way conversation than a game of catch? When your catching the ball, you can't be throwing at the same time...it's a rhythm of give and take... While it's never this simple, much has been written about how the new world of marketing is no longer about ‘sell and tell' or ‘push', but give and take (with more emphasis on giving than taking), remembering to listen first - sell later, adding value via marketing with meaning), earning trust a la Brogan's trust agents, and ‘earning' customer love and word of mouth.

8. Hold a true friend with both hands.
This is the year for quality over quantity and this goes for relationships as well. Only those that add value to your life will get your time and attention. Who are your true friends? Who are your most loyal customers? What do they need and want? How can you help? How can you bring them value?

9. The best things in life are free.
If you are around kids, how many birthdays and holidays need to go by before we realize that it's not the most expensive present that people/kids like, but the box that it comes in...The concept of Free is everywhere and shouldn't be overlooked or taken lightly. The web is full of content... so it's critical to create content with value or to organize content to bring value: ‘elegant organization'...Think free or the minimum you must charge or take out of the system if you want to maximize growth and usage. Read Jeff Jarvis' What Would Google Do? or Chris Anderson's Free: the future of radical price if you're still are unsure....

10. Change your perspective.
Experts in education suggest that adult learners should "jiggle their synapses a bit" by confronting thoughts that are contrary to their own..."bump up against people and ideas" that are different. (NYTimes: Neuroscience-How to train the aging brain) If you are a ‘social media' guy, look at the world through other lens...most of the world still doesn't know what RSS feeds are, let alone use them...email is still the most widely used way to send others information...Marketers, look outside your industry for ideas, seek different perspectives that may bring new value to your customers' and patients' lives. Look to other disciplines, from science to design, for new thinking.

11. Write on. Read ‘em and reap. Keep Growing.
They say 2010 is the year that Content is King. We know that Links create value. Creating valuable content and acting as a ‘content curator' are critical new marketing and leadership skills...think "elegant organization".

12. Simplify.
With the number of emails, blogs, tweets, friends contacting us, more and more it will be critical to simplify and focus on what's most important. Only a few can stand out. Focus on less and make each ‘friend', ‘contact', ‘tweet', 'program'  more impactful and valuable...both simplify and 'elegance' are at the very core of both Steve Jobs/Apple and Google's success. Do You Have a Stop Doing List? (Also read Power of Less or Mathew May's The Elegant Solution)

13. Laughter has no foreign accent. We will never know all the good a simple smile can do. Celebrate.
Let's promise each other that we won't overlook a little laughter and smiles in our busy lives this year...(You can also read Dave Murray's 11th Lesson of Life)

 

Marketers: Which ones are most meaningful for you this New Year?
Which ones would most help spur growth and innovation for your brand and business?

Pharma and Healthcare Marketers: Which ones would most bring growth and innovation to our industry? Which ones would help bring back hope and trust? Value to our patients?

Stay tuned for part four of 4...What Will Pharma and Healthcare Marketers Do? What Will Champs in New Marketing Do in 2010?

Marketers: What Would Google Do? Ten Imperatives for 2010 (part 2 of 4)

What Would Google Do? What would the fastest-growing company in history and a model for thinking in new ways do? Even this week, Google makes waves with their launch of their new android-based Nexus One (MIT Says Yes).

Welcome to the second of a four part serious for Consumer and Pharma/Healthcare Marketers looking to tame the rigors of 2010... If you missed post 1, read: What Would Steve Jobs Do?  And by all means, I hope you'll stay tuned for What Would Jake and Rocket Do? And What Would Savvy Marketers Do?

"Once upon a time, all roads led to Rome. Today, all roads lead from Google." - Jeff Jarvis

What Would Google Do?

1.    Focus on the user and all else will follow. Design with simplicity. Google strives to provide the best user experience possible—from the user/customer’s point of view.  Google often forgoes paying for marketing and instead focuses on creating something so great that customers distribute it—it goes viral.

2.    Don't try to control content and distribution. Instead think about creating open networks that sit on platforms. Think in distributer ways. Go to your consumer whenever and however you can. This is the opposite of most companies (even still) that think centralized and make consumers come to them. They spend large dollars to advertise to attract consumers. Many try to make their home pages into destinations. In sum, while many internet sites think of themselves as an end- Google thinks of itself as a means. While many see the job of their home page is to take you to where they want you to go, Google sees its home page as the way to get you to where you want to go. Google distributes itself. It puts its ads on millions of web pages it does not own, earning billions of dollars for these sites and for itself. Google enables others to use tools as they wish. They know their own needs.

Think of your site as ‘answers for every question you can imagine’. 

3.    See yourself not as a product, but a service, a platform, a means of enabling others. Help others build value.  Google has many platforms to help its customers. e.g.: Blogger for publishing content, Picasa for pictures, Google docs etc.

4.    Cede control. Embrace ‘Publicness’ and openness. Transform your relationship with the public in every quarter in the organization. You may extend this new relationship in many ways from blogging, interacting with bloggers, enabling customers to critique your products or services (hard to do in Pharma) and sharing ideas.  Overtime, you may even truly involve customers in the real-time design process for products and/or services…

But 'Publicness' is about more than having a web site.   It's about taking actions in public so people can see what you do and react to it, make suggestions, and tell their friends. Living in public today is a matter of enlightened self-interest.  You have to be public to be found.  Every time you decide not to make something public, you create the risk of a customer not finding you or not trusting you because you're keeping secrets. Publicness is also an ethic.  The more public you are, the easier you can be found, the more opportunities you have.  (For more on privacy (and publicness) read this insightful blog by Jeff Jarvis.   

5.    Bring them "elegant organization". Ask how you can bring constituents, customers, community-even your competitors- elegant organization. Create value through links. Replace focus on mass market with focus on mass of niches. Understand that the economy is made up of a mass of niches-the aggregation of the long tail. Small is the new big.

6.    Extract the minimum value from the network so it will grow to maximum size and value.  In other words, charge as little as the market will bear.

7.    You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer. Google is looking to fuel greater innovation for mobile users everywhere with Android, their free, open source mobile platform. It sure feels like 2010 will be the ‘year of unprecedented mobile growth'...

8.     Move faster-not slower. Most companies say this in reference to making sure they move fast to develop new products and services. Google means this from a user experience because they know how valuable time is to their customers.

9.    Do one thing really, really well. Google does search, and in their continuous focus for improvement of search, it spurs other applications and new products/services. But they never seem to forget the role search plays in their business strategy.

10.    Great just isn't good enough.... Being great is a starting point, not an endpoint.  Ultimately, our constant dissatisfaction with the way things are becomes the driving force behind everything we do.

Is Google the only one who knows how to survive and prosper in the internet age?  Stay tuned.

What Would Steve Jobs Do? Six Marketing Imperatives for 2010 (part 1 of 4)

What Would Steve Jobs Do? This is the first of a four part series for Consumer and Pharma/Healthcare Marketers looking to tame the rigors of 2010...by taking a closer look and asking ourselves what three incredibly successful people and companies in business today would do...

The genesis for this series first came while reading Fortune's CEO of the Decade and The Decade of Steve, and thinking about the question that Apple executives asked themselves over and over during Steve Job's six month leave of absence in early 2009: What would Steve Jobs do? Recently, I picked up What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis (great book)... I hope you'll stay tuned for What Would Google Do? And What Would Jake and Rocket Do? And What Might Marketers Do in 2010?

As you're developing new products, services and/or marketing plans this year, here's a question to ask yourself at each major milestone and decision point...

What Would Steve Jobs Do? The threshold for moving forward: Would it pass Steve's test? In the past 10 years alone Steve Jobs has radically and lucratively reordered three markets --music, movies, and mobile telephones--and his impact on his original industry, computing has only grown.

"There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will." - Steve Jobs

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." - Steve Jobs, Leonardo da Vinci

1. Know what consumers want. Paint a big-picture vision that will WOW your consumers and competitors. Create new experiences that can change the world...create a story. Create an adversary and a new way to win. In every story there's an antagonist-the hero fights the villain. Introducing the antagonist (the problem) rallies the company and audience around the hero. In Job's case, create and act upon a ‘digital lifestyle' strategy...He was a very successful ‘David' fighting Goliath... iTunes new paradigm, Macintosh launch in 1984 against IBM

2. Make it your business to know everything about your product area and company. Small details matter and are not to be overlooked. Steve is known for being involved in details you wouldn't think a CEO would be involved in. He's also well known for "One more thing".

3. Take full responsibility for the user experience. Apple is about being a system... In 2002, Steve told Time, "We're the only company that owns the whole widget -- the hardware, the software, and the operating system. We can take full responsibility for the user experience. We can do things that the other guy can't do."

4. Design is critical and must be perfect. He's a perfectionist to the nth degree. He has a willingness to be a pain in the neck to what matters most to him. (Time 2005) The company believes in "deep collaboration" and "concurrent engineering" so there are no hand offs...just flawless design. (You may also want to read Inside the Apple Ecosystem and Tim Brown's Change by Design)

5. Master the message. Simplify complex information. The message to the public is always consistent, simple, breakthrough, and expert at bringing the benefit(s) to life. E.g.:it's not just a 5GB iPod, it's 1,000 songs in your pocket; iconic "think different" campaign. Jobs practices the message over and over and only a few deliver it. He is also careful to avoid overexposure, preferring to speak only when he has new products to promote. He crates 'twitter-like headlines'. E.G.: Macbook air. The world's thinnest notebook. iPod. One thousand songs in your pocket. (You may also want to read Carmine Gallo's: The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs slide share and book.)

6. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Lessons he learned after he found out that he had pancreatic cancer. "Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma-which is living with the result of other people's thinking. Don't let the voice of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."  -  Steve Jobs

Healthcare Marketers:

What if Pharma and Healthcare products/services took full responsibility for the user (patient) experience?

What if Pharma and Healthcare designed the product and user experience to simplify the complex and encourage participative medicine?

What if Pharma and Healthcare mastered the message and dialog so patients and their caregivers immediately and easily understood the benefits and risks and could discuss it with their doctor and family?

Stay tuned for What Would Google do? (WWGD)...

My 13 Favorite Business Books of 2009

As 2009 comes to a close, I want to share my thirteen favorite biz books from this year that I found myself writing the most "Notes in the Back of the Book", and stimulating the greatest new thinking and ideas. The list of books covers social media, marketing and new marketing models, and innovation and leadership. For reference, here are also business book favorites by Fast Company, Mashable, Amazon and The Brand Bubble (John Gerzema).

If you're looking to better understand and excel in today's social media and web 2.0 worlds, here are four: Inbound Marketing is a must for anyone who wants to be found online, and is especially helpful for anyone who is actively considering how to get started with inbound marketing. Written by the leaders of Hubspot, they know what they're talking about. Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julian Smith shows how people use online social tools to build networks of influence and how you can tap into the power of these networks to positively impact your business. Because trust is essential to building online reputations, those who traffic trust are "trust agents" and key people for any business.  Putting the Public Back into Public Relations shows how to reinvent PR around two-way conversations with traditional and new influencers, bringing the "public" back into public relations. Both are consistent thought leaders in the area of PR. Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik begins to bring accountability to web 2.0 online programs with focus on customer- centered thinking and measurement, and builds upon his 2007 book.

Of course, to participate in our ever changing digital and social world, strategic marketing and a deep customer focus are still paramount.  How is marketing evolving? In Marketing with Meaning, Bob Gilbreath outlines the next evolutionary step in a progression following direct marketing and permission marketing. The book calls for the end of "push and sell" marketing in favor of adding value to customers' lives. Excelling in marketing also starts with listening...In Listen First. Sell Later, Bob Poole outlines the benefits of listening FIRST. And to remind us about customer- centered marketing, I Love You More Than My Dog by Jeanne Bliss is a great read. Who can argue that companies like Lands End didn't get it right early on?

Eating the Big Fish still feels as relevant today as it was when it was first published. The 2009 edition is packed with new examples and Morgan's eight credos still worthy of consideration-especially for small specialty and biotech Pharmaceutical brands. In FREE: The Future of a Radical Price, Chris Anderson (Long Tail) argues that in the digital marketplace, the most effective price is no price at all. He illustrates how savvy businesses are raking it in with indirect routes from product to revenue with such models as cross-subsidies and freemiums.  But when you stop to think about the real changes in expectations that the web has brought about, this is a book to think hard about.

Tim Brown's Change by Design suggests that innovation in today's world means taking a design thinking approach, and one that is human-centered. The CEO of global design consultancy IDEO offers a guide for thinking and organizing our everyday creative processes.  A great book and a nice break  from so much focus on social media...

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is a must read for anyone looking to improve their own presentation skills. Why not learn from a master, who is consistently voted the most important CEO of the decade?  Knowing how to present is critical today, but this book goes beyond just presentation tips...Power of Less is a very useful reminder to focus (and act) on what is most important and forget the rest. It's simple and direct without the fluff. Born to Run, while not a business book per say, provides lessons in mind and body, and shows the advantages of anthropological learning from others, in this case a special Indian tribe from Mexico.

Favorite Business Books of 2009

1. Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media) by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah

2. Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

3. Putting the Public Back into Public Relations: How Social Media is Reinventing the Aging Business in PR by Brian Solis and Deidre Breakenridge

4. Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity by Avinash Kaushik

5. The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect With Your Customers by Marketing With Meaning by Bob Gilbreath Listen First Sell Later

6. Listen First Sell Later by Bob Poole

7. I Love you More than my Dog: Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad by Jeanne Bliss

8. Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands can Compete Against Brand Leaders by Adam Morgan (2009 reprint)

9. FREE: The Future of Radical Price by Chris Anderson

10. Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown

11. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great In Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo

12. Power of Less The: Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life by Leo Babauta

13. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race The World Has Never Seen by Chris McDougall

Other books you think should be on this list?

 

Books I plan to read in the New Year:

1. Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today's Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves by A Penenberg

2. Googled: The End of the World As We Know It by Ken Auletta/What Would Google Do? By Jeff Jarvis

3. The Social Media Marketing Book by Dan Zarella

4. Chief Culture Officer: How to Create a Living, Breathing Corporation by Grant McCraken

5. Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations by Garr Reynolds (due December 28, 2009)

6. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink (due out December 29, 2009)

7. Lynchpin: Are You Indispensible? by Seth Godin (due out January 26, 2010)

8. Rework by Jason Fried (due out March 9, 2010)

What about you? What's on your list to read?

 

Other blogs to read related to these favorite books of 2009:

If You Charged For Your Content, Would Anyone Pay? By Jonathan Richman Dose of Digital blog

Marketing With Meaning: Is there any other way? Advertising Age

Pharma: Are Current DTC Ads Meaningful? By Ellen Hoenig Notes From the Back of the Book blog

How Marketing With Meaning Can Save Pharma (3 Part Series) by Jonathan Richman

Book Review: I love You More Than My Dog - Small Business Trends

Pharma: Say NO To More Bullets! and Presentation Tips  by Ellen Hoenig

Pharma: Is Your Marketing Designed to Engage and Educate or Sell?  By Ellen Hoenig

For my list of top books of 2008 and 2007, click here.

Happy New Year to all! See you in 2010!

 

 

 

Some of the Best Healthcare Blogs and eBooks of 2009

As we move into 2010, I've been thinking a lot about what I've learned this year, much of it triggered by the tremendous number of thought leader blogs, eBooks and white papers that I've read this year.  While there is no way to capture all the great work happening 24/7, here's a smattering of a few (well maybe more than a ‘few') that you may want to read or re-read as we get ready to step into 2010...

Topics cover a range- from social media and technology, to ePatients and marketing, including implications for Pharma and Healthcare, in the US and Europe. Please feel free to share other posts that you found valuable. Happy reading...

Best Blogs

Social Media, Platforms and Technology

Ten ‘Thinks' You Should Know about Social Media by Shwen Gwee at Med 2.0 blog

Pharma Should Forget About Social Media Monitoring by Jonathan Richman at Dose of Digital

Pharma Don't Be Shy About Social Media by Wendy Blackburn at ePharma Rx, Intouch Solutions

10 Social Media Watch-outs for Pharma and Healthcare Marketers by Ellen Hoenig, Notes from the Back of the Book

7 Inputs to a Social Media Strategy by Adam Cohen, A Thousands Cuts blog

5 Social Media Myths by Digital Tonto blog

The 3 F's and 3 R's of Social Media Marketing by Chris Boyer, Hospital Online Marketing

Lee Aase, Mayo Clinic: The Future of Health Brands and Social Media and Greg Matthews, Humana: The Future of Health Brands and Social Media by Eric Brody at Healthy Conversations

A Clinical Infusion of Google Wave  and Healthcare's Google- Facebook -Twitter Platform by Phil Baumann

Is Google the New FDA? By John Mack at Pharma Marketing blog

Google Real Time Search and Crisis Communications and Google and Pharmacovigilance by Mark Senak at eyeonfda blog

Google Sidewiki and Implications for Pharma Brands by Adam Cohen, A Thousand Cuts blog, Rosetta

Why Pharma Needs to Pay Attention to Wikipedia, Guest post Eileen O'Brien at Notes from the Back of the Book

Readability of the Top 50 Prescribed Drugs in Wikipedia by Kevin Kruse, The Patient Will See You Now

Pharma and Twitter: Who's Got Hand by Mark Senak at eyeonfda blog

Follow the Engagement-visualizing #FollowPharma by Silja Chouquet at Whydotpharma blog

The Increasing Use of Social Media to Recruit Patients for Clinical Trials by Sally Church at Pharma Marketing Strategy blog

Video Games: Key to the Future of Pharma and Healthcare? By Ellen Hoenig, Notes From the Back Of the Book

Why the Pharma Industry Should Care About Augmented Reality Guest Post by  Sven Larsen of Pixels and Pills   at Fard Johnmar's Walking the Path blog

Pfizer and Social Media-- an Update by Steve Woodruff at Impactiviti blog and consultancy

Social Media ROI for Hospitals and Health Marketers by Kevin Kruse and Kru Research blog

Splitting ROI by Just So You Know blog (Meredith Gould and Daphne Leigh Swancutt)

Europe You need to Tackle Social Media Now by Silja Chouquet at Whydotpharma blog

The Pachyderm in the Parlour: resisting the legitimation of DTC social media activates in Europe by Andrew Spong STweM blog and consultancy

Pharma, Marketing and Paradigm Shift

What's Hot In Oncology: A Review of 2009 and Predictions for 2010 by Sally Church at Pharma Marketing Strategy blog

Pharma Still Uneasy About Getting Social, Pharma Blog Review by Chris Truelove

The Pitfalls of Doing Nothing by Steve Woodruff at Impactiviti blog and consultancy

Ten things Pharma Companies Will Never Try (But Should) by Jonathan Richman at Dose of Digital

Will Patients Find Value in Discussions with Pharma? By John Mack

Question For Healthcare Marketers: Do You See Patients as Consumers? By Eric Brody at Healthy Conversations

Save Boobs Blasts Attention Glut (guest post Fard Johnmar) Just So You Know blog (Meredith Gould and Daphne Leigh Swancutt)

Refining Patienthood Project Launches: Aims, Goals and Many Questions Ahead by Jen McCabe, Jen's Posterous Health Management Rx

Why Programming Microchoice and Microcontrol into the Healthcare system will lead to the Equivalent of the Microprocessing Revolution by Jen McCabe Jen's Posterous Health Management Rx

Splitting Trouble  and Talking Trash by Just So You Know blog (Meredith Gould and Daphne Leigh Swancutt)

Pharma and Social Media: What Roles Should Personas Play? by Ellen Hoenig at Notes from the Back of the Book blog

CMO 3.0: Why Marketing is the New Finance, Odom Lewis, Healthcare Marketing and Medical Executive Search  

ePatients, Patients and Consumers

Video "Tale of 2 ePatients": Pecha Kucha Limerick Dr Val Jones via The Patients Will See You Now, Kevin Kruse and Kru Research

Mayo Clinic Music Fun  and A Bite of Life at Sharing Mayo Clinic

Disease Guilt by Steve Woodruff at Impactiviti blog and consultancy

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here, Have Something Messed Up Happen? By Jen McCabe, Jen's Posterous

What Part of Give Us Our Damn Data Do You Not Understand by Dave deBronkart at e-patients.net

ePatient 2009: Voice of the Patient by  Kerri Morrone Sparling, at sixuntilme.com

A Patient's Perspective: Day Two of FDA Public Hearing (#FDASM) by DC Patient

Advice to a Cancer Patient Facing News He Didn't Want and Don't Let the Median Scare You To Death by Dave deBronkart, The New Life of ePatient Dave blog, Dave deBronkart

The Pew/Health Internet FAQ by Susannah Fox at e-patients.net (Leads Health Research and Internet Strategy for Pew Internet and American Life Project)

The Social Life of Health Information by Susannah Fox, Pew Internet and American Life Project

What Pharma Can learn from Communities' Opinions by Andrew Spong STweM

The Role of Physician Trust and Communication in Filling New Prescriptions by Kevin Kruse, Kru Research

Best eBooks and White Papers (free)

Best Learning Actions for Pharma and Healthcare Marketers in 2010? Reflections by 12 Sage Bloggers and Thought leaders, Editor Ellen Hoenig AdvanceMarketWoRx

Overcoming Our Social Challenges: Getting Started with Social Media in Biotech by Shwen Gwee

A Bright Future for Digital, a Dimmer One for Pharma by Len Starnes, Bayer Schering Pharma

Pharma and Healthcare Social Media Principles by Jonathan Richman Dose of Digital blog, Bridge Worldwide

Social Media: What's In It for Pharma? A Digitas Health Social Media POV by Sarah Larcker

Getting Started with Social Networking by Steve Woodruff of Impactiviti blog and consultancy

Pharma Twitterama: Exploring the Use of Twitter in Pharma and Healthcare by Shwen Gwee at Med 2.0 blog

WEGO Health Webinar: Twitter Power Tools for Health Activists by Shwen Gwee at Med 2.0 blog

140 Healthcare Uses for Twitter  by Phil Baumann

Social Media and Pharma: Is their value? By Richard Meyer

Monitoring Adverse Events in Social Media for Pharma's Biggest Brands: Hopeless Task or Simple Project? Mini-white paper, Jonathan Richman Dose of Digital

An Edelman Report: Insights and Recommendations in the Wake of the FDA Social Media Hearings, The Health Engagement blog

Considering Neuroscience to Improve Consumer Communications- FDA Advisory Committee Meeting by Ellen Hoenig, AdvanceMarketWorx Notes from the Back of the Book blog

ePatient White Paper by ePatient Scholars team, ePatient.net (2007- but still including this classic!)

Best Wikis

#FDASM by Fabio Gratton of Ignite Health

Pharma and Healthcare Social Media Wiki by Jonathan Richman at Dose of Digital

Hospital Social Networking List by Ed Bennett

 

 

Best Learning Actions for Healthcare Marketers in 2010? (free eBook)

Inspired by Alvin Toffler's quote: "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn," we asked 12 leading bloggers and healthcare thought leaders to share their reflections: what would they recommend as top learning strategies for Pharma and Healthcare marketers in 2010?

Overall, there were six themes that contributors brought to life:

1)  e-Patients are at the center and critical to learning and design;
2)  Authenticity isn't a ‘nice to do', it's a ‘must' (and you won't be the one who decides whether you've succeeded);
3)  Don't' get distracted by ‘bells and whistles'-remember the basics and keep your brand core strong;
4)  New marketing challenges require new ROI thinking...the ROI of connection, authenticity and compassion;
5)  The marketing cycle of life is going through unprecedented change requiring all marketers and communications people to unlearn much-the movement from paid marketing to earned marketing requires a different mindset and skills; and
6)  Effective marketing and engagement will require new kinds of leadership skills.

Or as Steve Woodruff would say, "it's a holiday grab-bag of nuggets from the wise travelers--some myrrh, some gold, some SEO, some patient communities--stick your hand in and grab some goodies!"

My heartfelt appreciation to the 12 contributors-yet another example of the power of the community.

• Phil Baumann, Phil Baumann online blog, CareVocate Interactive Media Solutions
• Wendy Blackburn, ePharma Rx blog, Intouch Solutions
• Adam Cohen, A Thousand Cuts blog, Rosetta Interactive
• Dave deBronkart, The New Life of e-Patient Dave blog, Society for Participatory Medicine
  
• Angela Dunn, Odom Lewis blog, Executive Search Specialists in Healthcare Marketing/Medical Education
• Susannah Fox, Health Research for Pew Internet & American Life Project
• Fard Johnmar, Path of the Blue Eye Project, Envision Consultancy
• John Mack, Pharma Marketing blog, Editor-in-chief of Pharma Marketing News
  
• Jonathan Richman, Dose of Digital blog, Bridge Worldwide
• Marsha Shenk, Thriving Enterprise blog, The Bestwork People
• Andrew Spong, STweM blog and Consultancy, UK
• Steve Woodruff, Impactiviti blog and Consultancy

If you enjoy this eBook, feel free to blog it, tweet it or email it. (But please don't change it)...We also hope that you meet some new 'friends' to learn with in 2010. Lastly, we welcome feedback below or on slide share.

Download PDF;  also available on slideshare  (see below) and scribd

The Gift of Learning for Pharma and Healthcare Marketers In 2010 (free eBook)

View more presentations from Ellen Hoenig Carlson - Advance MarketWoRx.

May you and yours enjoy a rich and rejuvenating holiday season. We look forward to more learning and collaboration in 2010!


credits: eBook production: Courtney Justice, The Cournell Group

 

2010 Outlook: 10 Ways to Win With Patients and Improve DTC Efforts

[Full article: 2010 Outlook: Doom and Gloom For DTC? 10 Points for Winning with Patients, published in DTC Perspectives, December 2009]

Despite many gloomy predictions for DTC advertising and the pharma industry overall, there's never been a better time for marketers to forward their brands and consumers' lives with new thinking about what constitutes patient marketing in the 21st Century (DTC 21).  Ten prescriptions can help improve focus and strengthen DTC efforts in 2010.  Important media and technology trends are also "musts" to actively consider for those who want to bump impact and value.

1. Adopt an updated definition for DTC that considers the full picture of how consumers will interpret and interact with a brand TODAY. This calls for attention beyond "big bang" marketing spends, and begs for identifying meaningful levers to drive education and growth. DTC is no longer just an awareness or acquisition vehicle to move "eyeballs" through a linear marketing funnel; it's every influence and touch needed to bring new information and education, help convert, instill loyalty and inspire advocacy.
   
2. Consider "long-tail" marketing; don't be afraid to focus on smaller targets that matter. Long tail marketing has the potential to treat consumers as individuals with unique interests and needs.
   
3. Go to your consumer--surround them where they get their facts, learn, and socialize.  Today's consumer is not looking for your marketing messages.  Study after study points to both the growth of the Internet, and the fact that consumers and e-patients get their information from multiple sources. (The Social Life of Health Information - PEW Internet and American Life Project) Depending on your target, this suggests a mix of relevant touches and begs for the right combination of off line and on line media and social media tactics.
   
4. Move beyond selling to engaging and providing meaningful marketing and value. Look for new ways to extend patient value, and support a more positive customer experience along each and every touch point. This also means giving consumers and e-patients what they are looking for and not just your "brand sell". Engagement requires looking at each patient as a unique human being who, by the way, would "rather not e your customer" (After all, who wants to have a chronic condition and take medication for the trust of their life, whether it be your rand or a competitors?). Think hard how you might provide relevant value real-time, every time. To improve engagement, 6 C's are crucial:  1) Content that is based on meaningful insights and provides context; 2) Customization via new ways to personalize treatment, process or support; 3) Conversation is encouraged for better service, learning and sharing: 4) Confidence is built with trust and transparency; 5) Community Connectedness - directly or indirectly- create your own, or better yet, tap into an existing one; and 6) Consistent Commitment is demonstrated to your customer base--no one shot deals here.
5. Consumer power is a fact of life requiring brands and companies to walk and talk "patient-centered" -- consumers are finely tuned to what's valuable and authentic. Ask yourself one simple question over and over:  Will this bring meaningful value to our patients?
   
6. Keep your brand's strategic core strong and grounded, despite the onslaught of messages and tactics, and the speed with which they require action.  A strong core requires a compelling and relevant brand promise that focuses every strategy and tactic so they're synergistic and supportive. The payoff is staying on message by protecting the brand from chasing every new, cool digital and new media tactic coming your way.
   
7. Insist on elegant solutions that do more with less. Smaller budgets don't negate innovation and may have just the opposite effect in spurring new thinking.
8. Don't overlook the details. While they may seem small and trivial, find out which are important to patients and their families.  This can help instill better ROI efficiencies.
9. Refresh brand metrics and measurement to drive current brand objectives and initiatives. Think beyond traditional reach and frequency measures and try to ensure a flow of metrics and measurement from beginning to end of the patient "buying process" for maximum learning.
   
10. Be the best listeners in you category. Listen with vigilance, and act on learning across the organization. Listening, and what you do with your learning, is the responsibility of the entire organization.  Be sure that each 'tweet" or customer learning gets mapped back to a rightful "owner' in the organization.

In 2010, important media, social platforms and technology trends can't be neglected. Below are some helpful questions to ask as media and technology continue to quickly change (yes...an understatement!):

Pharma: Are you ready for 2010?  Despite continued budget tightening and generic growth, and open areas such as health  reform and  FDA social media and web guidelines, it's going to be a big year for those willing to step up and experiment with new ways of marketing and 'not marketing'...What do you think?

 

Other Suggested Reading:

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson. Wikipedia's summary of long tail here.

Pharma: Are Current DTC Ads Meaningful? The Next Evolution of Marketing My Book review.

The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with your Customers by Marketing with Meaning by Bob Gilbreath, Bridge Worldwide

Susannah Fox, PEW Research Center: The Social Life off Health Information, Twitter and Status Updated, Fall 2009

Pharma: Is Your Brand Patient Centered? 5 Critical Success Factors by Ellen Hoenig, MedAd News, November, 2009

I love You More Than My Dog: 5 Decisions that Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty In Good Times and Bad  by J. Bliss

Strong Brand Core: More Core Than Ever? 

Pharma: Is Your Marketing Designed to Engage and Educate or Sell? My book review of Listen First Sell Later by Bob Poole

Pharma: Do You Elegantly Use What You Have? My book review of In Pursuit of Elegance by Matthew E May

Photo Credit:  Courtney Justice/The Cournell Group

Pharma Marketers: No Product Is An Island

Recently, I spent a productive day working with a smart group of consumer agency partners to integrate and finalize 2010 Marketing Plans for a Pharma brand we all support. 

Our conversation centered around the brand promise and the patient experience throughout the decision and treatment journey: from awareness and consideration, through conversion, adherence and advocacy or brand champion. We discussed the impact of different triggers and barriers, or where we might lose consumers (leaky buckets), which targets should be high priorities and why, and how the patient journey is no longer linear. (You may also want to read The New Marketing Funnel by Adam Cohen at A Thousand Cuts.) 

All the stuff you might expect a consumer team to collaborate and consider...Sounds good... EXCEPT... the work represented only the consumer team-- or one of the brand's customers.

No Product is an Island...

If a product is more than the product-- the cohesive, integrated set of experiences along the 'buying process' or 'treatment pathway', how do we make all of our core strategies and tactics work together seamlessly?

It takes some systems thinking.

Systems thinking was the first of the five key disciplines that Peter Senge outlined in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990), and often referred to as the 'Cornerstone' of the Learning Organization. Systems thinking is a framework that is based on the belief that the component parts of a system can best be understood in the context of relationships with each other and with other systems, rather than in isolation. The only way to fully understand why a problem or element occurs and persists is to understand the part in relation to the whole. Systems thinking includes the expected things like recognizing patterns, connections, leverage points, feedback loops, but also the human qualities of judgment, foresight, and kindness.

Net, a systems approach focuses on interactions and transactions within and between systems, and is especially concerned with the way the functioning of the ecosystem can be influenced by human interventions.
 

Systems thinking is a huge 'opportunity' for many Pharma brands.

Typical of most pharma planning, brand marketing plans are done largely in customer silos (i.e. physician vs consumer vs managed markets) with little 'real' integration and collaboration. Often agency partners (or dare I use the ugly word vendors) are handed objectives and strategies and asked to provide tactics. Largely in isolation. The different tacts are submitted to the customer brand lead who pulls them together into 'one' customer presentation, which is then fed to the overall brand lead who pulls everything into 'one' brand presentation.  Often, even partners within the same customer discipline don't have the opportunity to collaborate and integrate with each other from the bottom up. Agency partners may also not learn about other tactics or initiatives that could have an impact on their program until well after they've submitted their own plans.  They may hear about the different initiatives in a Marketing Plan Presentation, but this is usually 'not the place' to raise questions or concerns...

This means that the ecology and interdependencies of the patient treatment pathway are not really planned holistically, but independently. Intellectually, of course, everyone knows that the parts must be integrated, but due to time or workload, it's rarely a focus or accomplished...

What would it take for brands to be so well integrated--within and across each customer silo-- that everything works together seamlessly?

Marketers should pay more attention to the concept of Holism: the concept that the whole has a reality independent and greater than the sum of its parts. The holistic marketing concept is based on development, design, and implementation of marketing programs, processes, and activities that recognize their breadth and interdependencies.

Holistic Marketing is marketing strategy which is developed by thinking about the business as a whole. When using a holistic marketing strategy, every aspect of the business must be carefully considered. The company must think about how a consumer will interact with its product, its website, its advertising materials; a Pharma company must think about all of the above as well as how the consumer will interact with their doctor, pharmacist, payor, and friends and family... How KOL's will interact with local doctors, how doctors and their patients will interact and so on....

Seven tenets to a Holistic Marketing and a Systems Ecology approach:

1. Look at the Big Picture and not just the details or the tactic that you are responsible for. This requires setting aside the time and openness to new ways of planning.

2. Everything is interconnected. When you make a change in one area, you also affect many other areas. Or if you're expecting one area to perform, what interdependencies can effect the success or not? In pharma, these interdependencies can span across media, tactics or customers. E.G., if you're expecting a web DTC program to generate additional NRx's, what is the interdependence on formulary? If formulary is an issue, what other customer initiatives can help apply positive pressure on formulary acceptance?

3. Every single product introduction or major tactic has "unintended consequences." Have you anticipated what these might be?

4. Systems thinking is vital to customer experience business results. Each touch is a customer marketing moment.

5. Consumers are often more holistic than brand managers; doctors more holistic than sales representatives. Managed Care companies more holistic than company representatives. Customers don't think in silos; they think about things from their own perspective and needs-- which may not always get down to a specific product or company...Consumers care about their health--not your facebook page or conversion email...

6. Holistic marketing considers four major components: relationship marketing - integrated marketing - internal marketing - and socially responsible marketing. These go beyond internal or customer silos.

7. Make the time and effort to map out or diagram your marketing eco-system with all key stakeholders. In any study of a marketing ecological system, an essential early procedure is to draw a diagram of the system of interest...diagrams can further the group's thinking and indicate system boundaries. Within these boundaries, series of components are isolated to represent the portion of the world in which the systems marketer is interested...If there are 'no connections across the system' boundaries with the surrounding systems environments, the systems are described as closed. Most marketing work, however, deals almost exclusively with opensystems. There are many different types of diagrams that can help marketers better understand the issues and opportunities from a big picture, holistic view. (Some examples of system dynamics)

How can we take a more holistic and interactive approach to planning so that the marketing system truly fits and supports the customer?... The customer experience is improved?...The customer interactions result in greater value and sales? While these concepts may not be new, how do we start looking holistically at the bigger picture and really working through the interconnections? Thoughts?

 

Also thanks to Nicole Johnson for introducing me to www.inspireux.com

Other blogs and books that may be of interest:

Holistic Marketing Explored

Systems Thinking is Vital to Customer Experience

Applying Systems Thinking to Six Sigma

Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows 

The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice Of The Learning Organization by Peter Senge

Pharma: Dip Your Toes and Other Tips From DTC Perspectives Conference

We're in the midst of conference-frenzy.  Last week I was able to attend day two of DTC Perspective's Fall Conference: Reform & Refocus  (For twitter followers: #dtcfall). Here are some of the key themes that I picked up:

• Dip-your-toes approach. This was said over and over about social media. Get started, and evolve as you learn and your company becomes more comfortable with the effort. (This is also a common theme in Digital Pharma's conference taking place this week. #digpharm)
• Remember your overall marketing strategy--Before you clarify objectives  for social media and start running with tactics...
• Give the team TIME. Initiating new social media programs took many more hours and resources than originally planned. And there is always the unexpected...
• The Internet is for marketing-not just advertising. This also requires a shift in mindset. (Bill Drummy of Heartbeat Digital)
• Technology is moving oh soooo fast-Mobile, video, ‘smart' advertising using behavioral data, gaming and of course social media are musts to be more than experimenting with in 2010.

During day two, two presentations stood out to me:

Hologic and Greater Than One: How Social Media Can Become Real in Healthcare.  Marnie Rosenberg, Partner, Greater Than One and Mary Pietrowski Director of Consumer and eMarketing of Hologic did a great job presenting four case studies, including a branded YouTube video. This is also where the infamous twitter tweet: "60% consumers don't care who sponsors health info- just want good info, community-value". (Turns out it's based on Infomedics Survey.) They also presented iCrossing data showing that of the online tools and websites, social media is used by 34% to locate healthcare information.

The On Demand Brand (book due out spring, 2010) by Rick Mathieson: Digital to Consumer-- The 5 Top Trends in 2010

1. Social Networking of course...Regarding video, Rick presented data saying that nearly 50% of US adults say online video is a key way they research DTC drugs. His suggestions for pharma: use Social Media more for event based marketing, keep it social and targeted.
2. Smart Advertising using behavioral data, but being careful not to target too well or to become invasive
3. Mobile, especially texting, apps and use of QR codes
4. Video Games For Health and Advergaming (See my blog covering 2009 Games For Health Conference and PharmExec article Video Games: Key To The Future of Healthcare?)
5. Augmented Reality. The rules: Entertain, Educate and Engage

Wrapping up the conference, there was a good panel discussion with Pharma Marketers and Industry experts on The Use of Online Video in DTC Marketing led by Raj Amin, CEO, HealthiNation. Monique Levy @monasante also reviewed some recent Manhattan Research data. One of the points she made was that 25% of consumers view video on product.com sites.

Overall, the discussion centered around the big opportunity of video and suggestions to optimize its use e.g.: keep it moving (no more than 2-3 minutes) and tell an interesting story with great content.  Saatchi Wellness talked to their successful rooster campaign and the move from unbranded to branded. Nike was also discussed as a great example of parceling out video info depending on a consumer's interest. They keep initial video short, but enable additional video watching for those who want more info etc.

Any other thoughts?  Overall, day two was a good day!