Aloft Group Blog

Never Fear ICD-10 Man is Here!

Faster than a speeding deadline! More powerful than government regulations! Able to leap complex implementation issues in a single bound! "Look out in the lobby! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ICD-10 man!"

ICD-10 Man, strange visitor from another planet, who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal ICD-10 consultants. ICD-10 Man, who can change the course of tight deadlines, bend ICD-10 codes in his bare hands; and who, disguised as a mild-mannered HIT Consultant for a great ICD-10 vendor, fights a never ending battle for on time, on budget ICD-10 implementations. And now, another episode in the exciting Adventures of ICD-10 Man…

The 3 Common Digital Archetypes

I recently read a great article titled “Brand Strategy and Jung’s Archetypes,” which talked about Carl Jung’s concept of 12 Common Archetypes and how Jungian theory has been applied to post World War II branding and advertising. In Jung’s concept, there are twelve basic types that symbolize basic human motivations. Most of us are made up of several with one being the more dominant. I apologize to all of you Jungian’s out there for the brief description of such a complex topic but I’m trying to keep this post to fewer than 1000 words. Anyway the article and 4 espressos got me thinking of a theory I

Agencies need to find ways not to be cut out by brands!

I read an interesting article entitled '5 Ways Brands Are Cutting Out Agencies' and it got me thinking. All 5 Ways were compelling, and certainly relevant, however, one got my attention more than the others.

The notion of 'Service-driven content creators' - or 3rd party media platforms that are now creating content for their advertisers/brands, as opposed to their agencies. Why aren't more agencies doing this for their clients?

We've been developing international brand strategies for years that deliver 'thought leader' content for our clients in healthcare, publishing, technology, etc. Then we help them pump it out through a variety of marketing channels. This content acts as lead generation tools for their sales teams and drives value for their entire business organization.

Bring business/sales value to your brand clients and they won't want to cut you out!

Dustin

Another reason to clean up your brand strategy - M&A up 21%

According to an article in FierceHealthFinance, healthcare industry mergers & acquisitions were up 21% in 2012. The healthcare IT sector is showing particular promise for growth due to various business, financial and strategic factors.

With these numbers in mind, clarifying your brand strategy and positioning is a necessity to assure not getting left behind. Is your brand strategy aligned with business strategy, particularly in the areas of operations, business development and sales?

Healthcare provider brands - physician groups and hospitals/ health systems - are consolidating at a quicker pace, now more than ever, to achieve better financial and business efficiencies. They need to make their sure their newly 'consolidated' brands are focused in order to compete.

Similarly healthcare vendors selling IT, equipment and consulting into the these providers need to differentiate themselves from the fierce competition as a result of everyone jumping into this growing space. By necessity, providers are rethinking their technology strategies - if your brand provides solutions to them, you better position your brand to take advantage of the opportunity!

Dustin

Confidently Deliver Value and Win More Pitches

A recent E3 Agency Network meeting in Boston, hosted by Aloft Group, included an afternoon workshop on competitive pitch strategy presented by Brent Hodgins, Managing Partner of Mirren Business Development and a Harvard CMO Roundtable presenter. The session focused on ways to make pitches more client-centric in order to convert more business.

With a background working for some of the nation’s top advertising agencies, including Wieden + Kennedy, TBWA\Chiat\Day and Leo Burnett, Brent has practical experience being on the agency pitch side of the table. But after working with hundreds of CEOs and senior management teams at companies across the country, Brent also has an understanding of what businesses are looking for in an agency partner, and how agencies can better position themselves to focus on a potential client’s needs during the pitch process. His presentation was energetic and full of keen insights as well as astute “ah-ha” moments.

Brent pointed out that agencies need to “understand our market and what they want, and how they want a pitch to go." He discussed trends on what's important to clients, what influences their decisions on agency selection, and the elements to be included in presentations/pitches

A key piece of advice Brent offered was that agencies should "sell value not services."  He said agencies need to avoid looking the same if they want to win the client. He also said agencies need to "get a backbone" – be more confident! Good advice!

For more information about Brent Hodgins and Mirren Business Development, visit: www.mirren.org

Dustin, Aloft

Shari, E3 Network

Strong Brand is a Must in Volatile, Uncertain Economic Times

Many organizations are apt to scale back time and resources spent on core brand strengthening and alignment with business objectives when faced with volatile and uncertain economic times. However, from our experience, we believe these are times to double down on more clearly defining your brand positioning (visual ID and messaging) to ensure alignment with and to successfully meet business growth objectives.

A case in point: Fast Company's article on Univeristy of California's re-branding initiative which led to the restoration of $848 million in funding – an initiative that definitively supported its business objectives of leveraging themselves as a hub for the area/regional research and technology start-up scene.

As an Accenture article recently proposed, '...volatility should be your friend'. Develop a business strategy that is flexible as markets rise and fall. Then, align your brand to support business needs and don't forget to measure marketing often as up-and-down cycles are shortening.

You'll come out ahead of the rest if you invest now!

Dustin

Health IT Initiatives Status Quo - Is Your Healthcare Brand Status Quo?

So we have our Presidential elections behind us here in the States. From what we are hearing and reading, federal health IT initiatives should relatively continue down the same path - take at look at Rock Health's post referencing an iHealthBeat article. In other words, our favorite industry terms and acronyms will live on – ARRA, ACOs, ACA, HITECH, Meaningful Use, etc...

But beyond the politics, what does this mean for your healthcare brand as you look forward into 2013? Will meaningful use dollars continue to be there to reimburse healthcare providers? Status quo presumably means yes, so the appetite for your brand's products and services will be there.

This also means that your competition will be there fighting for the same dollars. Does your brand positioning set you apart from them? Is your brand strategy aligned with your business strategy? Does everyone in your organization understand their role delivering on your objectives?

With low economic growth rates expected to continue, now is the time to make sure your brand and your marketing execution are clearly and consistently communicated...the going might be tough, so it'll be worth it.

Dustin

Call-to-action for Agencies and Brands - Collaborate Early Again!

We are proud and excited to share with you the most recent edition of our global marketing network's – E3 Network – Global Insights Magazine. This edition comes from one of our German sister agencies - Bernstein. Brands and agencies listen up!

The topic for this month focuses on the age-old adage, "The Early Bird Catches the Worm" - and the client and the opportunity. Proposed is the idea that international agencies and brands get the best collaboration results when they team up together in the very early stages of product, campaign development. Creativity and efficiencies are enhanced.

Several case studies with global brands – Karlsberg and Bayer - are presented to demonstrate the point.

Many conversations with brands tend to go straight to tactical execution or 'we need some sales collateral'. Let's step back and start the long term brand strategy discussion before we look at what can you do for me tomorrow...you'll be glad you did.

Get out early and ahead of the branding game!

Dustin

Breaking Your Brand Out of the Competitive Publishing Pack

We have many clients in the publishing space – in markets like healthcare, education, medical, science, etc. – that we do international branding work for. I was recently doing some research around a U.S. publishing thought leader piece and I invariably came across many blog posts on 2012 trends in the publishing space. Always interesting to look at what has come to fruition now that we are well into Q3 already.

One of the most interesting Top 10 Trends list came from a post from the CEO of one of our clients, Publishing Technology out of the UK (yes, I know, a shameless plug...shoot me). My favorite items included #9 Exploring New Markets, e.g. BRIC countries are big for all global brands as traditional markets are saturated, and #7 Online Discovery and User Experience – goes with out saying that going digitial means killer UX is necessary for everyone. There are other key one for sure, but those are some big ones in my mind.

The biggest trend we see is with international publishers integrating a 'brand goulash' of titles. Often, after years of acquisitions and mergers, publishing brands are left with a rather large portfolio of non-cohesive, non-integrated titles. The challenge therefore is how to build an umbrella brand that all of their portfolio titles/brands can roll up into effectively. No easy task - but one that must be executed properly to leverage future growth.

Have you seen any recent examples of publishers pulling this 'brand goulash' challenge off? Would love to hear about them!

Dustin

 

Appealing to the digital generation

It is important to keep up to date with what your consumers expectations are of modern brands. To effectively please consumers, brands are anticipated to be hassle-free in many ways. A website must include easy purchase and delivery options, as well as, an effective customer service team that can help with any problems that may arise. Consumers are also beginning to expect mobile purchases to make transactions while on the go. A consumer should be encouraged to interact with a brand at every opportunity possible to keep them feeling connected.

To keep a brand appealing meanwhile, it must build trust with its users. They must interact with them on a personal level and encourage their users to speak out. Consumers trust consumers. Consumers that become dedicated to brands through blogs are some of the most effective advertising. What’s even more effective is having the blog within a brand website allowing consumers to post feedback as it is more motivating.

Finally a brand must react to the consumer. As consumers are able to offer feedback to the brand, they must believe that they can affect a brand with their interactions. A brand that will work with its consumers can guarantee greater success in the future. It is also easy to know where to start when the brand has users recommending where to concentrate!

To learn more about exciting brand and digital trends in 2012 we suggest you check out the Branding Strategy Insider post.

Greg and Dustin