sxsw lessons for hd 3 23 2012

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What I Learned at SXSW That Can Help Us

3.23.2012

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Best of SXSW

• The Future of Digital Health• Content Marketing• Free or Paid Content?• Syndicating Content• Your Brand in the Digital World• Social Media and ROI• Video: Best Practices• Blogs: Best Practices

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The Future of Digital Health

The emerging and rapidly growing digital industry is poised to forever transform the healthcare industry

Consider these 7 facts:

1 As employers shift the cost of healthcare to consumers, 1 in 4 people are having trouble paying their healthcare bills, including the average yearly $2,000 health insurance deductible.

2 This shift, which has been particularly evident within the last five years, has created an even greater opportunity to provide “guided” – and validated -- health information on the web, mobile, email, blogs, and social media.

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Digital Health Cont.

3. As healthcare costs continue to rise -- and extend beyond the reach of many -- cost-effective alternative health solutions will become more necessary, appealing, and sought after.

4. Highly credible and relevant health information will become the most potent pathway between the consumer and providers of alternative health advice, guidance, and solutions.

5. The immediate and long-term goal: To encourage people 50 to 80 to focus on prevention and minimize their reliance as much as possible on healthcare practitioners and traditional healthcare remedies.

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6. Younger generations are the denizens of the digital age. The average 24-year-old spends more time in a week on Facebook than he/she will with their doctor over 20 years’ time. As they age and their healthcare needs grow, they will expect to access information on any and all digital platforms immediately.

7. Doctors, previously reticent about providing healthcare information via the web, are now embracing digital platforms to reach more patients remotely. They’re joining communities like Interactive Health Network http://healthtap.com (provides free online and mobile answers from 10,000 thousand doctors).

Say they: “We’re changing the way people find health information online and interact with their physicians.”

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http://healthtap.com/


So, as this “interactive health movement” takes off, these 3 elements will define the digital health space:1. Access for all to the most trusted, reliable healthcare information 2. Access to the best doctors and their advice -- without losing sight of care and compassion 3.“Personalized” information, which Healthy Directions already knows, will become the norm (via assessment tools and other types of interactivity), so its even more relevant to the consumer.

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Future of Digital Health

What does this changing landscape mean for HD?

1.The company must perfect its ability to project its doctors credibly to its target audiences.

2.The company must stay abreast of developments in the ever-changing Internet, particularly those it can use to advantage in marketing doctors and their products (i.e. more discerning search engines, interactive tools that enable visitors to tailor their interaction with sites (again, something we’re already moving on).

3.The company must leverage and syndicate its content so its accessible to all.

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Content Marketing

Technology is shifting the power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are in control.” -- Rupert Murdoch

Fact: Consumers today engage with an average of 5-10 pieces of content before making a purchasing decision. They want to say: “Oh, these guys are legit, and now I’m ready to pull the trigger.”

And how does that trigger get pulled?• It’s all about the content. To be a leading expert in your field today, and to

get and retain online customers, you must create consistent, valuable, and compelling content that’s as good as or better than anything else in the industry.

• That content must be authentic and credible. It’s important to realize that non-media brands like Healthy Directions are competing with traditional media for attention and retention.

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Content Marketing Cont.

The 3-legged “success” stool

Research shows that the biggest content- marketing challenge for B2B marketers is developing ongoing content that truly engages and compels customers and prospects.

So then, what’s the best way to overcome that challenge?

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Content Marketing Cont.

1. Know your niche: Where can you be the leading expert in the world for your specific buyers? It’s better to narrow your focus and then broaden out once you dominate your niche. Vertical is in; horizontal is out. The content team at Healthy Directions has set up its content in just this way.

2. Know your audience: Who are you writing for? The biggest failures occur when you go too broad with your content. Rule of thumb: If your content extends beyond your niche, you’re doing something wrong.

3. Know your metrics: To assess the true value of your content and tailor it to your customers’ needs and desires accordingly, metrics (shares, lead gen, conversion to sale, etc.) are critical.

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Free Content or Paid Content?

Once you create all of that consistent, valuable, and compelling content, how much then should be free, and how much of it should you charge for?

In other words, how far should you “open the kimono?”

And the answer to this oft-asked question is...

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…Open your kimono all the way. 100% of your digital content should be free!

Here’s why:• Through your content, you develop attention, then

interest, then action. It’s all about brand engagement.

• Remember -- contrary to what some believe -- a prospect doesn’t read one blog post or article and buy on the spot. They consume 5-10 pieces of content before making a purchasing decision.

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• Yes, you may feel like you’re giving away your secrets, but having a grocery list doesn’t make anyone a chef!

• Those customers who take your advice and never buy – they aren’t the customers you want anyway. You need to show your expertise and insights so existing and potential consumers recognize your value.

The bottom line: The more accessible/convenient (FREE) your content, the more value it has for consumers; consumers in turn will be more likely to provide info about themselves, and to share your content if you make it easy for them.

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Free Content or Paid?

The Content Marketing Institute (CMI): Case in Point

CMI, which sells consulting services, offers all of its content for free to generate interest in its consulting practice. Since launching its site in May 2010, CMI claims:

Nearly 100,000 unique monthly visitors More than 70 active contributors, producing two posts per day

around “how-to” content marketing, and content-marketing news “Dozens” of qualified in-bound leads, six of them recently from

Fortune 500 companies Companies come to their site ready to buy their services Their sales cycle has dropped, in some cases, to just a few days

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Bottom Line: Smart Companies Are:

Asking: “How do we get our content into the hands of our customers and future prospects?”

Understanding that giving away their knowledge leads to substantially more opportunities to generate revenue.

Appreciating that content marketing is the ultimate “informational annuity”.


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Realizing that if people are already talking about them online in the “right” places, they don’t need as much original content as those who aren’t yet invited to the party.

Acknowledging that if you want to be shared and talked about in social media, you need amazing content to make your social media go. Content is fire. Social media is gasoline!

Syndicating Content

Key Take-aways•Get your content out for free in the right channels while bypassing under-performing channels. •Syndicated content is the best way to not only differentiate yourself, but to advertise your brand and attract new users. •You can double your site traffic by putting your content on other sites.•Be sure to load your content with links to take full advantage of the opportunity to send traffic back to your site.

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As they re-define and reinvent themselves in the digital space, brands need to do these 6 things to succeed:

1.Put your customer first -- always and your brand second -- always

2.Have a clear understanding of what your brand stands for and ask yourself how people will use your brand. If you say: “Our audience would love this, then that’s your answer.”

Your Brand in the Digital World

3. Find ways to become both informative and entertaining as the web moves/evolves to a feed-based system

4. Identify the influencers who love, love, love your brand and ask them to advertise for you (via video, short-form TV, etc). Give them a chance to tell your story. People who like your brand will promote it and protect it.

5. Associate your brand with “big activity” on YouTube, whether it’s fitness, wellness, or weight-loss categories.

6. Place your brand in relationship to excellent content.

Your Brand in the Digital World

Measuring Social Media

Social media if done well builds trust; if done really well, it builds true trust, and trust

brings an advantage to the bottom line.

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Many companies are struggling to determine the ROI of social media, but industry leaders strongly agree that’s the wrong way to think about social media. Rather, the platform should be viewed first and foremost as an opportunity to:

• Increase brand awareness• Drive leads in the pipeline• Drive traffic to the site• Reduce customer service cost• Improve customer satisfaction• Improve customer retention and loyalty• And ultimately increase sales

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Many companies are struggling to determine the ROI of social media, but industry leaders strongly agree that’s the wrong way to think about social media. Rather, the platform should be viewed first and foremost as an opportunity to:

• Increase brand awareness• Drive leads in the pipeline• Drive traffic to the site• Reduce customer service cost• Improve customer satisfaction• Improve customer retention and loyalty• And ultimately increase sales

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When it comes to social media, the word on the street is:

Tell, don’t sell• Inspire your customers to become fit• Tell them something thing they need to

know

This will change the relevance of your brand on social media

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What’s the problem with trying to establish an ROI when it comes to social media?• You need to understand why people

use social media in the first place.• Sorry to say, it’s not because they

want to know more about your brand or products.

• They login and post to social media for 2 reasons only:

Rule No. 1: It’s not about your brand, it’s all about me! It’s about me being appreciated – me feeling supported.


And those 2 reasons are:

1.They want to know if someone wants to be their friend (love me, support me, need me)

2.They want to express themselves and to be heard

All too often, companies forget why people use social applications in the first place. Remember this: You need to make the connection, or you’ll face rejection!

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Video: Best Practices

No question, more companies are looking to video to help move the needle, and it’s working.

Bud Lite is a case in point: In its 2012 online Super Bowl campaign, Bud asked customers via video why they’re passionate about Bud Lite. The campaign was hugely successful. It yielded:•480,000 consumer engagements (views, comments)•92,000 shares•2 minutes on average viewing time•And 25,000 influencers shared the video 1,000 times

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• Yes! Your customers on video can be one of your biggest brand influencers. The truth is, people want to hear from people like them.

• It’s far better to have your customers advertise your brand, than to have the brand “talking at” the customer.

• Start with a concept that has an affinity with your brand.

Bottom line: Video testimonials can promote your brand and also reduce brand skepticism because they feel and sound authentic. So let your customers do the talking.

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Video: Best PracticesCase Study: The Shoedazzle Effect

•Shoedazzle is a great testament to the effectiveness of customer video testimonials. Its customers absolutely love the brand and what it stands for.•The average Shoedazzle viewer watches a whopping 10.4 customer testimonials at one time, versus 10 seconds on average of video at one time.•The testimonials generate more than 85,000 engagements and more than1,000 sales a month.

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Case Study: The Marcus Sheridan Effect

Marcus owns River Pools and Spas in Virginia and is now a prominent and much sought-after marketing speaker and consultant. He also writes one of the most educational swimming pool blogs in the country, called “The Sales Lion”.

So what?

Marcus sells more fiberglass swimming pools than anyone in the country because he shares everything, including specifics on price. He absolutely dominates the search ranking. The same approach – baring all -- has worked in his marketing practice. He is one very wealthy young man.

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Blogs: Best Practices

The devil’s in the details, so say the folks who study our brains•The type of font in your blog can have a drastic impact on the blog’s performance.•If you want people to remember what they read, use a simple font. It’s tough for the brain to remember the message when it’s in fancy font. •When the font was simple, research showed that that there was 86 percent recall of the blog’s message.

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• Begin the blog in a classic newspaper style format, narrow and deep, and then widen the text across the page (55 characters per line is ideal).

• This small-to-wide approach triggers in our brains the apparent illusion that the blog is manageable to read.

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• Include a sound bite within the blog in a different font, against a backdrop color. This can lead to more re-tweets, in some cases increasing from 100 re-tweets to 800 re-tweets.

• The brain loves pop-out paradigms.

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Top Take-aways from SXSW

So bringing it all home: 7 Lessons for Digital Success:

• Know Your Audience, Target (Narrow) Your Content• Offer Your Content for Free – All of It• Syndicate Your Content -- for Free – in the right channels• Let Your Customers Sell Your Brand• Forget About Social Media and ROI• Leverage Video to Sell Your Brand• Refine Your Blog Appearance for Better Performance

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