Archive for the ‘Hospice’ Category
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
No brand will have the power of a real connection if it is solely based on internal values, desires, and points of view. In fact, it is critical to have the ability to see your hospice brand outside of your own view. Building a brand that will move the target must begin with focusing on the consumer not the service or your company’s objectives. This is what we call an ‘outside in’ perspective.
And it comes from in depth research, target analysis and an understanding of human nature. And when it comes to hospice, it means understanding the psychological purchase price of hospice care – a phrase Anoroc’s penned after our years of studying the hospice decision cycle. But there is a flip side. Beyond building a brand that moves targets you must build a branding program that turns employees into brand advocates. They are a powerful representation of your brand; they are your brand in living technicolor.
Through the past two decades we’ve worked with numerous companies to refresh, reinvent and revitalize their hospice brands. During the rebranding process a large part of our consideration is focused on internal audiences. From leadership teams drilled down to admission nurses, secretaries and CNAs, they have been a part of empowering the brand refresh by understanding its meaning, being vested in its promise and believing in their role to affect its power. To us, they are a critical audience as critical as the in home gate keeper, the case manager and the physician.
Recently back from a brand rollout in San Diego, where we had the opportunity to present a brand refresh to an audience of close to 500+ employees, never before had the power of internal brand force ever seemed more powerful. Firstly, our client is an agency dream, incredible to work with, a true partner in creating something remarkable. So imagine the brand rollout complete with a theater size screen, swag bags, balloons and a leadership team vested in empowering their employees.
Cue the applause, cue the cheers, cue the employees testifying that the brand reflects who they are, what is in their hearts and their own life story. Cue a company with a vested team of brand advocates talking about their company at the coffee shop, in line at the grocery store, and on the church pew.
Imagine their accountant walking up to me after the presentation and saying. “I always thought I was only the accountant, but now I know I’m much more and even what I do really matters. I’m the brand too!” So as you consider taking a look at your brand and moving to a direction that will speak to a new generation of consumers, consumers more defined in making choice, in researching options, in dictating their own end of life care, don’t forget who is setting next to them at Starbucks.
Anoroc creates hospice communication strategies that engage consumers and referring publics turning them into active hospice advocates and positioning hospice providers as the provider of choice. Learn more at www.redefininghospice.com
Tags: great hospice marketing ideas, hospice marketing agencies, hospice marketing companies, hospice marketing ideas, how to market hospice, marketing hospice, marketinghospice.com
Posted in Decision Cycle, Hospice, Marketing, Purchase Intent, anoroc health | View Comments
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
You don’t have to work with Anoroc very long to find out this is one fun bunch, wound tight. You release that spring and you’ll never know what you’ll get. Crazy wacked out design ideas, or words flowing from the copywriters that send most of us to our dictionaries. Mostly what jumps forth is energy.
That’s what we bring to our hospice clients. Energy, tons of it, plenty to share with everybody! We share the energy with our clients and look for opportunities to extend this energy through the organization to each employee as they roll out the re-vitalized brand. Rebranding and logo redesign can be very personal to employees so it’s our job to create enthusiasm and success with your internal market.
My top 10 ways to a successful rebranding:
10. Organization wide involvement. Get them involved early in the process.
9. Find out their insights on the current brand, where it’s going, what it really means to your employees.
8. Get the CEO and Key Stakeholder’s backing to ward off the potential “de-railers”.
7. Don’t jump straight to the pretty external stuff. It’s not a shallow cosmetic exercise. It’s the company’s public perception. It’s a change in thought and work processes.
6. Make your employees feel they are #1. Keep them involved, achieve commitment. After all they are #1. Right?
5. No surprises unless they are good for all involved. You don’t like surprises. The CEO doesn’t like surprises. And the Board of Directors sure don’t like surprises.
4. Be honest.
3. Create a process to track success.
2. Create positive buzz.
And the #1 way to a successful rebranding is………………………………………….
A Celebratory Launch Party (with an explanation of the meaning of the new brand, messaging, logo, colors, mission statement and values of the company).
Tags: anoroc health, Hospice, hospice and social media, hospice marketing, hospice marketing companies, hospice social media, marketing hospice
Posted in Anoroc, Brand Value, Healthcare, Hospice, anoroc health | View Comments
Sunday, August 15th, 2010
I am sitting here with a great cup of coffee (Alex’s home brew, among his many talents he is a great coffee roaster), the dogs are milling around and it’s a beautiful sunny day. I can see the top of my Art Deco record player, yes the kind you have to crank, a couple of 78s are scattered about, “All Shook Up”, “Blueberry Hill” and “My Blue Heaven.” We played them Saturday night after arriving home from celebrating a dear friend’s 40th. He began as a client of Anoroc, but they often become life long friends. Life feels good.
This sounds like a personal diary entry, but it actually spurred from working this morning. It’s Saturday but that’s OK. I was reviewing two different concepts, each from a different Anoroc designer we’re preparing for an up coming client meeting. I love branding enough to give up my Saturday morning for it. But somehow these concepts struck such a deep cord with me I had to stop and write about it. I am actually delaying shoe shopping so if you know me, you know something must have struck deeply.
Casey’s concept moves from iconic images to photos. There is the very record player I had as a child, the kind that sits in a case you can close. It has a handle on top making it easy to take to a friend’s house for a sleep over. I played “Bang Goes Old Betsy” on it ‘til I wore it out. My dad bought both the record and the record player for me. He loved the song too. Rachel’s leads with an aged black and white photo of a young couple in a paddleboat, they are looking over their shoulders smiling at whom ever was holding the camera. There are old faded photos in an album I keep a bookcase in my family room just like it. It is of my aunt and uncle when they were young.
The concepts are for a Hospice agency. It’s hard to market hospice, there are a lot of complexities in the decision cycle. Anoroc has been researching and marketing hospice for close to two decades, tons of hospice decision cycle focus groups, secondary research, analyzing obstacles to choosing hospice care, so on. But when you can distil it down to a memory of falling in love on the lake and a little girl’s favorite record, obstacles can tumble into dust. As always, it’s about insight.
“Human nature hasn’t changed for a billion years. It won’t even vary in the next billion years. Only the superficial things have changed. It is fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with unchanging man – what compulsions drive him, what instincts dominate his every action, even though his language too often camouflages what really motivates him. For if you know these things about a man, you can touch him at the core of his being. One thing is unchangingly sure. The creative man with an insight into human nature, with the artistry to touch and move people, will succeed. Without them he will fail,” Bill Bernbach.
I am proud of our 20-something designers and their artistry that touched me this morning. Even though it will inevitably result in a longing for the Louboutins left behind.
Tags: anoroc health, healthcare social media, Hospice, hospice marketing, hospice social media, marketing hospice, redefining hospice
Posted in Anoroc, Decision Cycle, Healthcare, Hospice, Marketing, anoroc health | View Comments
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
Kudos to the Mayo Clinic. The Mayo Clinic last week announced the creation of a Center for Social Media. The goal of the center according to the Mayo Clinic press release is ‘to accelerate effective application of social media tools throughout Mayo Clinic and to spur broader and deeper engagement in social media by hospitals, medical professionals and patients to improve health globally.”
“Mayo Clinic believes individuals have the right and responsibility to advocate for their own health, and that it is our responsibility to help them use social media tools to get the best information, connect with providers and with each other, and inspire healthy choices,” explains Mayo Clinic president and CEO John Noseworthy, M.D. “Through this center we intend to lead the health care community in applying these revolutionary tools to spread knowledge and encourage collaboration among providers, improving health care quality everywhere.”
The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, a first-of-its-kind social media center focused on health care, builds on Mayo Clinic’s leadership among health care providers in adopting social media tools, which began with podcasting in 2005. Mayo Clinic has the most popular medical provider channel on YouTube and more than 60,000 “followers” on Twitter, as well as an active Facebook page with well over 20,000 connections. With its News Blog, Podcast Blog and Sharing Mayo Clinic, a blog that enables patients and employees to tell their Mayo Clinic stories, Mayo has been a pioneer in hospital blogging. MayoClinic.com, Mayo’s consumer health information site, also hosts a dozen blogs on topics ranging from Alzheimer’s to The Mayo Clinic Diet.
Mayo has also used social media tools for internal communications, beginning in 2008 with a blog to promote employee conversations relating to the organization’s strategic plan, and including innovative use of video and a hybrid “insider” newsletter/blog. This employee engagement contributes to Mayo Clinic being recognized among Fortune magazine’s “Best Places to Work.”
The center will accelerate adoption of social media for health-related purposes, starting at Mayo and then within health care more broadly. Through this work, Mayo Clinic looks to help improve health literacy, health care delivery and population health worldwide. And now with their newest push into social media, they can take it even further.
Tags: anoroc health, healthcare and social media, healthcare social media, hospice and social media, hospice social media, mayo clinic, raleigh social media
Posted in Brand Value, Customer Loyalty, Healthcare, Hospice, Social Media Influence, Social Networking | View Comments
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
Last week Marilynn Marchione of the Associate Press wrote a story aptly titled: Americans Are Treated, And Overtreated, To Death.
The first line read: The doctors finally let Rosaria Vandenberg go home.
This is a pretty personal issue here at Anoroc, because it is a story we hear too often and it is why we crusade so passionately for our hospice clients. No family should have to experience what the Vandenberg’s experienced:
‘The doctors finally let Rosaria Vandenberg go home.
For the first time in months, she was able to touch her 2-year-old daughter who had been afraid of the tubes and machines in the hospital. The little girl climbed up onto her mother’s bed, surrounded by family photos, toys and the comfort of home. They shared one last tender moment together before Vandenberg slipped back into unconsciousness.
Vandenberg, 32, died the next day.’
Marchione’s story echoes so well what our clients preach every day- have the conversation about end of life care. Make choices now, while you still can.
“That precious time at home could have come sooner if the family had known how to talk about alternatives to aggressive treatment,” said Vandenberg’s sister-in-law, Alexandra Drane.
Instead, Vandenberg, a pharmacist in Franklin, Mass., had endured two surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation for an incurable brain tumor before she died in July 2004.
Too often we find ourselves sitting around the boardroom tables with our hospice clients talking about the patients ‘we lost’, patients that came to hospice too late. Sure our health division, Anoroc Health, is a strategic marketing company who works to make our hospice clients category leaders. But in all reality it is beyond that for us and it is beyond that for our clients. It is also about educating families that there is a choice in end of life. There is an alternative to aggressive treatment for incurable, terminal illness. I am happy Rosaria got to touch daughter once more, but we want the Rosarias of this world to have more, much more.
Tags: advance directives, choices in end of life, dying in America, end of life care, end of life care planning, Hospice, talking about end of life care
Posted in Anoroc, Healthcare, Hospice | View Comments
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
There is a great article in the New York Times that starts by stating: For many people, social networks are a place for idle chatter about what they made for dinner or sharing cute pictures of their pets. But for people living with chronic diseases or disabilities, they play a more vital role.
Their article refers to recent research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the California HealthCare Foundation. Several people have sent me this research including my insightful colleague @SocMediaRckStr.
The report states “People fighting chronic illnesses are less likely than others to have Internet access, but once online they are more likely to blog or participate in online discussions about health problems.
“People living with chronic disease who go online are finding resources that are more useful than the rest of the population,” said Susannah Fox, associate director of digital strategy at Pew and author of the report. Not surprisingly, according to Pew, Internet users with chronic illnesses are more likely than healthy people to use the Web to look for information on specific diseases, drugs, health insurance, alternative or experimental treatments and depression, anxiety or stress.
The New Times article claims that for the chronically ill, the social aspects of the Web take on heightened importance. Particularly if they are homebound, they also look to the Web for their social lives, discussing topics unrelated to their illnesses. Some schedule times to eat dinner or watch a movie while chatting online. Sites like HealthCentral, PatientsLikeMe, Inspire, CureTogether and Alliance Health Networks have become lifelines. Inspire alone has 156,979 members who have written 1,170,120 posts about the health issues that are important to them.
The numbers in the Pew Internet and American Life Projects are interesting. And if you read my blogs, pretty reflective of the social media strategy Anoroc helps our health care clients create. But sometimes numbers seem hollow when you really discover who is on the end of them. So there I was checking out these sites and being the hospice advocate and social media pusher I am, I searched ‘hospice’. That’s where I found a women I’ll call Meg. Meg is a hospice patient. Brave, honest, and loud about her journey. “Uh, Oh I am Dying Soon,’ She posts, “Every now and then it hits. It hit tonight, big time. I wanted to call someone, but who do you call to say something like that? Who would understand how this realization can just suddenly flood over me … all denial is gone and the raw truth is there.” But Meg received 93 replies to her post. Women like her in their caps, covering the effects of chemo, screaming out their support, their understanding and love through their keyboards. I like to believe that because of social media and sites like these, Meg’s desire to ‘call’ someone was answered.
“How could anyone stay depressed when she has this site and this “family” to step in whenever needed and say all the perfect things to get me past my pity party?! Surf Girl, I’ll work on that list! I just love all of you, and this is going to be a good day, as I enjoy each moment of it. No screaming today 
I feel as though a group of best friends has come over to my house and held my hand – I feel good,” Love, Meg. And that, my friends is the real power of social media.
Tags: healthcare socail media, hospice and social media, hospice social media, Social Media Influence
Posted in Healthcare, Hospice, Social Networking, Women | View Comments
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Again I am up on my soapbox. I know no one is surprised. Forgive me in advance. But I just read a blog post by a company who claims to be ‘experts’ in social media. The post was reviewing a Web site with what they claim is “an impressive amount of social media integration and with social media connectivity built into every page.” The site they were touting had the ‘now usual’ links to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the compulsory blog. Sorry – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and simply having a blog does not qualify as an impressive amount of social media interaction. Especially when these tools are one-way conversations mainly about the company, mainly a sales pitch, and void of strategy to meet end user’s needs, wants, desires, or concerns. In fact, it is difficult to tell whom the site is speaking to. This is not interaction. Let’s look deeper: the company’s Facebook page is full of typos, Discussions (tab) has no discussions but spends the real estate telling you how great the company is. There is no link to resources, no interaction and the posts are mostly again about the company. In addition, page set up is one Facebook offers for stores, not for brands or service providers. Their Twitter page attempts to give advice but there are no links for more in depth information and the posts are condescending. Nor does it ask: What are you concerned about? How can we help you? The Tweets are directed as one way communication. Blog topics are not centered around providing useful information and the blog is faceless offering no level of affinity between author and reader, who is writing this? Not to mention poor site design, unbalanced page layout, poor typography for the target, confusing copy, grammar and spelling mistakes… What put me up on the soapbox is not so much these common missteps in social media (companies sometimes are simply doing the best they can with limited resources, time and budgets). What made this SBM (soapbox moment) is a ‘social media’ company blogging the world that this is how it should be done while trying to sell you a one size fits all social media package for $2999.99
So world, let me tell you about a company who is doing it right. And it did not come in a shiny branded online community $2999.99 package but most assuredly was developed from strategy, end user research and knowledge. Check out Caregiver’s Corner, San Diego Hospice blog (http://sandiegocaregiversblog.com/). This is a lovely example of a resource strategy. The design is clean, the end user is directed immediately where to go by their self interest/need. The posts are personal and informative. The end of each post carries a short description of its author. Note the Twitter feed on the bottom right. Though some Tweets are about their organization (and a limited number should be) many lead the reader to more in depth info. They share useful information from other hospices, communicate with followers, and seek input on topics (what do you think about this). This is interaction.
Their Facebook page is equally well done. Here’s how they describe the page: We made this page to connect with all the families who have been a part of San Diego Hospice, to honor the people who support us & to talk with anyone who wants to know more about what we have to offer. And they’re right. Boxes house a long list of Useful Resources from caregiver resources, legal advice to networking opportunities. The posts are interactive and contain droves of useful information.
It took many words to get to my point but I am finally there. Impressive social media is not about the tools you have but how you use them. If you are in a service industry that provides healthcare, eldercare or personal care services your social media strategy should be focused on being a true resource, connecting with the gatekeeper, building affinity and establishing trust. Forget about ‘selling’ your services and instead start with these simple words: “If I was my target what would I want.” And if some vendor wants to sell you a package complete with a ‘strategy session’ – RUN FORREST RUN!
Tags: Anoroc, anoroc agency, eldercare providers and social media, healthcare and social media, healthcare social media, Hospice, hospice and social media, hospice marketing, hospice social media, raleigh advertising agencies, Raleigh design firms, raleigh social media, raleigh social media agencies, San Diego Hospice
Posted in Anoroc, Brand Value, Customer Loyalty, Healthcare, Hospice, Marketing, Purchase Intent, Social Media Influence, Social Networking | View Comments
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Beyond creating the strategy that determines what users will gain from engaging in social media platforms, is creating tone and voice. For social media platforms to be engaging to women in the caregiving cycle they must embody key characteristics.
Anoroc’s hospice research has determined much about this target. She will most likely see herself as a caretaker and nurturer and it is important to establish a tone that speaks to her with an understanding of this emotional perspective.
Women, in general, are more emotionally connected and therefore are likely to tune into emotional benefits over functional ones. They include emotions in their decision making as opposed to basing them only on rational elements. So don’t be afraid to give them a ‘feeling’ to show the emotion, the ‘what matters’ behind your brand. She will see hospice services as typical among all hospice providers – unless your hospice provides a unique service that makes her world function better – you better ensure your social media platform provides her with the emotional connection she is seeking.
Women also want a dialogue, not just a transaction. That means encouraging a two way conversation on your social media platforms vs solely spouting company news, successes, facts, or services. She really doesn’t care and if this is all you are doing you can wish her a fond farewell.
Research is proving that women are engaging in social media in droves – wonder why? Because women strive to establish links and connect through affinity. Since women seek commonality and look for similarity between themselves and the ‘speaker.’ Make sure your social media platforms are not a nameless, faceless entity. Many organizations newly embarking into social media are making this mistake – remember this online world is about connection, nobody wants to connect to a nameless ‘site monitor’.
Hospice agencies that we have taken down this emotionally supportive and resource driven path have seen an increase in census of 60% plus. Equate that with not only the potential to your bottom line but the potential of increasing the number of families given a better end of life experience. And to those of us who know how profoundly hospice can improve the quality of life for both patients and their families – that sounds pretty dang good.
Tags: Anoroc, healthcare social media, Hospice, hospice and social media, hospice marketing, hospice social media, raleigh social marketing, raleigh social media, raleigh social media agencies, raleigh social media companies, social influence marketing, women in social media
Posted in Anoroc, Brand Value, Customer Loyalty, Decision Cycle, Healthcare, Hospice, Marketing, Purchase Intent, Social Media Influence, Social Networking, Women | View Comments
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
As we said in Part One, to understand the potential positive impact that social media can have on those who are providing care to a loved one, we first need to truly understand the caregiver. To move the hospice gatekeeper through the decision cycle your social media platform must resonate with her on an emotional level and provide the resources she seeks.
So who is she? What does she want? She will likely be working at least part time and taking care of children. She sees herself as the ‘caregiver’ to the family. She is a nurturer both to herself and others but mainly to others. She is emotionally driven in her purchasing behavior and looks for benefits/outcomes rather than specifics. If she does not have direct experience with hospice she will have heard of hospice through the media. She will not have a complete picture of hospice most particularly in regards to pain control, symptom management and bereavement support.
Her psychological purchase prices (what she must overcome to choose hospice and ask for that referral early on in the caregiving cycle) include:
Am I giving up on a cure?
Am I abandoning hope?
Will my loved-one feel that I am not fighting for them?
Will the care be as nurturing and as compassionate as I would provide?
Will I have the support to really handle this?
Worry about opinions/feelings of other family members.
In the process of creating social media strategies for specific demographics we also need to determine the wants and needs of the on line community end-user. Our hospice research determined our caregiving female’s tangible wants and needs to be:
Information and resources
Knowledge – answers, understanding of benefits
Support
Helping hand in a relevant way
Quality of life for a loved-one
Options
Solutions
Quality of care – physical and emotional
Balance
Her intangible wants and needs include:
Connection
Rational replacement for guilt
Understanding and empathy
The most successful social media strategies that a hospice can engage in are ones that support this key demographic by enabling her to move beyond her psychological purchase price, and that meet both her tangible and intangible wants and needs. More to come on doing just that in part three.
Tags: Anoroc, anoroc agency, healthcare, healthcare social media, Hospice, hospice and social media, hospice marketing, hospice social media, north carolina social media agencies, raleigh social marketing companies, raleigh social media, raleigh social media companies, social marketing, women in social media
Posted in Anoroc, Brand Value, Customer Loyalty, Decision Cycle, Healthcare, Hospice, Purchase Intent, Social Media Influence, Social Networking, Women | View Comments
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
There is little doubt that hospice can profoundly improve the quality of life for those facing a life limiting illness. Yet there remains a large degree of misunderstanding, lack of knowledge concerning breadth of services and the struggle with late referrals. Can social media work to improve these barriers to care? I believe it can. Social media may be one of the best things that ever happened when talking hospice. I am not exaggerating, there is tremendous potential for hospice providers. The key is understanding how to use social media to engage hospice gatekeepers. There is a very real and specific strategy.
To understand the potential positive impact that social media can have on those who are providing care to a loved one, we first need to truly understand the caregiver. Note that positive impact equals referral request.
Here’s a little caregiving data: Out of the more than 50 million people who provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member during any given year, approximately 60% are women (this is your gatekeeper – get her and you can worry less about early referrals). On average she is 46 years old and caring for her widowed mother who does not live with her. She is married and employed.
For close to two decades Anoroc has been conducting research on hospice caregiving, specifically determining VALS (values, attitudes, lifestyles) and focusing on their wants/beliefs/healthcare buying habits and values. In Part Two we’ll share what we’ve learned about this 46 year old female.
Tags: Hospice, hospice and social media, hospice marketing, hospice social media, raleigh media agencies, raleigh social media, raleigh social media agencies, raleigh social media companies, social marketing, social media, social media and hospice organizations, women in social media
Posted in Anoroc, Customer Loyalty, Decision Cycle, Healthcare, Hospice, Marketing, Purchase Intent, Social Media Influence, Social Networking, Women | View Comments
