Healthcare is obviously a hot topic these days. Too often, though most of us think about it from an individuals perspective and not the employers perspective. As a business owner, many options have to be weighed when making decisions about healthcare issues and how those issues affect my business, my staff — and as an employee — me.
I really appreciated a short video link I received from the Georgia Chamber of Commerce discussing issues affecting Georgia employers like:
stabilizing and improving the state’s trauma care network
opposing insurance mandates, which can drive up health care costs for employers by as much as 40 percent
providing all Georgians with access to accurate, timely information on the cost and quality of health care products
services reducing the ranks of uninsured and underinsured
Whether or not you agree with the Chamber’s positions, kudos to them for sharing the information in an informative way.
The Mission of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce: The Georgia Chamber of Commerce is the unified voice of the business community, aggressively advocating the business viewpoint in the shaping of public policy, encouraging ethical business practices and ensuring the state’s future as economically prosperous, educationally competitive and environmentally responsible. Visit the Chamber’s website.
And because we love to think, we’re thinking about “old” media versus “new” media. Which makes us curious: Which has been more effective for your organization?
We’ll be asking that question to higher-ed marketing professionals later this week — and next — while we’re attending the AMA’s Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education in Chicago. (By the way, if you’re also headed that way, please come by the exhibit area and say hello. We’ll be in Booth #14.)
To review the “official” poll results, come back here, to our blog, next week. (But you don’t have to wait for others to answer. Leave your thoughts and comments here. Which is working better for you?)
It’s taken as a given that Americans should improve their health. But what if everyone followed doctor’s orders and exercised regularly and stopped smoking, among other good habits?
A recent article HealthLeaders magazine (September 2008) posed that provocative question in an article titled “What if People Actually Start Taking Care of Themselves?”
According to the article, only 3 percent of Americans follow the four basis wellness goals:
● Don’t smoke
● Remain close to ideal body weight
● Exercise three times a week for 20 minutes
● Eat fruits and vegetables regularly
If only 9 percent of Ameicans did the above, there would be radical shifts in our wellness – and economic – landscapes.
First, individuals would benefit from better health. Also, employers would immediately see lower health care costs. (That alone might make our beloved Mastermind, Donna a bit happier!) But hospitals and health care providers might suffer. Healthier Americans would mean fewer facility admissions and fewer sickness-borne appointments.
The above culture-changing shift would mean big changes for hospitals - and hospital marketing.
A more preventative, health-maintenance approach would result in a large drop in admissions for bronchitis, upper respiratory problems, heart attacks and strokes, along with diabetes. Currently, those ailments are common – and profitable to treat.
So, a better health scenario might force hospitals to completely change from the current “episodic” (sickness-focused) model to a “wellness center” model.
It’s a change many say is long overdue. But it can only happen if everyone follows basic health guidelines – and doctor’s orders!
What are you doing to be promote wellness - and profits?
Pundits are predicting a massive turnout on November 4th, so here at Mindpower we’re encouraging our staff to vote early.
Polls in Georgia opened Monday, September 22 and individuals who are already registered to vote are eligible to cast their ballot most any time between now and Election Day.
Here in metro Atlanta, vote Monday through Friday, at the following locations:
If you don’t have early voting in your state, perhaps you can start thinking now about ways to make sure your entire staff does have an opportunity to “be heard” in November:
• A “free” day off.
• Shut down at lunchtime.
• Staggered hours?
• A prize or the person who leaves/returns the quickest.
Can you think of other ways to encourage participation? Holler back.
Looking at the Campus Visit Part 3: A Little Naming Goes a Long Way
In the last two posts on the campus visit, I’ve been hinting at my final suggestion: get rid of the “online visit” entirely. Or, at least don’t have a section with that title. This isn’t, of course, to say that you should slash and burn all references to your campus on your site. Instead, you should (as I suggested initially) think of your entire site as a “campus visit,” try to push students to make an actual visit, and use your digital media resources to highlight aspects of your institution that prospects can’t get otherwise.
Many prospective students go into the process of choosing a college with a checklist: look at the academics, find out about financial aid, see what the student life is like, etc. Nine times out of ten, visiting the campus finds a way onto that list. Labeling a particular section “online visit” or “virtual tour” provides an explicit alternative to the off-line or real-world tour for prospective students. With this alternate, prospects can check off their “campus tour” item without ever actually stepping foot on your campus.
Giving prospects the impression that they can (not to mention encouraging them to) actually visit your campus from hundreds or thousands of miles away is dangerous. There’s no substitute for a real-world visit and once they’ve checked off that “visit” box on their list, students are less likely to spend the time and money to visit, which leaves them with only their virtual impressions. Your site should, in addition to exemplifying your brand, push students to pay an offline life visit and not try to provide substitutes for the real thing.
Yup. Another social networking site is about to affect your world.
For years, we’re been trying to make college administrators realize (and embrace the fact) that you can’t edit or control what prospects and current students say, write, and perhaps now more important, show about your institution, so you’d better be “living your promise.”
Unigo is a new website where current college students can tell the world what their school is really like with user-posted reviews, photos, and videos. The site positions itself as a place where high school students can visit a college (without actually visiting, of course) to get the real scoop. Where most anything goes.
Unlike printed “insider” guides, Unigo is truly unedited - although the folks at Unigo say “it is possible to have a contribution rejected.” But, according to a recent New York Times article, The Tell-All Campus Tour by Jonathan Dee, “the extent to which Unigo abides by this anything-goes principle is bracing. A student at Quinnipiac in Connecticut, for instance, writes approvingly in his review that it is still ‘a white school.’”
The Unigo staff response: “If that’s the kind of people that are going there, people need to know that.” (Note: I’m hopeful the Unigo staffers who respond in the future will become better grammarians.)
What are the implications of students posting items from your printed materials? Using your copyrighted photography? Will you stop them? What would happen if you do actually ask them stop posting college-owned materials? Is it time to hire a social networking manager? (Or is that an oxymoron?)
Are you concerned? Should you be? I’d love to hear what you think.
Looking at the Campus Visit Part 2: What’s Missing in the Offline Tour
Aside from confusing a Collegiate Gothic architecture exhibition with an actual campus tour, one of the main issues with virtual campus visits are their propensity towards technological overdose. As a part of the site that necessitates a lot of images, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and go overboard by adding slideshows, videos, 360 degree tours, talking avatars, Second Life recreations of the inside of the American Studies department, etc. Too often a lot of digital media becomes the focus rather than a supplement, providing a distraction from a lack of useful information.
The problem is that no matter how many pictures, videos, and digital recreations you include on a virtual tour, you’ll never come close to duplicating the experience of actually being on campus. As I mentioned in my last post, the campus tour actually serves as a vehicle to expose prospective students to your brand, not your architecture. With the objective of brand exposure, it would be better to take all that effort (not to mention money) and put it towards adding new and different media to the rest of your site, especially in higher traffic areas, so that your whole site reflects the brand of your campus.
One of the benefits of using digital media like video, audio, etc. online rests in the ability to show something rather than just tell about it. That “new media” implementation should involve showing off your brand and giving prospective students an idea about the experience of being at your institution at every possible opportunity, not just the designated campus visit area. Take the opportunity to use media to show what students are doing and how they interact with the campus and with each other. Putting short videos about student life, the character of a particular dorm, or various academic programs and departments can actually go where the offline visit can’t: inside the culture of a school.
Undoubtedly prospects get a “feel” about a college just by being on campus, but they also only see what’s right in front of them. Without shadowing a student or spending a night on campus, they can’t go inside the culture of the school and see what it’s really about. Using digital media allows you to give prospects a glimpse inside your campus beyond the tour, not provide a substitute for the real thing.
New Media includes an Oldie-but-Goodie Etch-A-Sketch
The American Bankers Association recently announced the 2008 Financial Marketing Award Winners at a ceremony in Denver. The annual competition recognizes “creative excellence” in financial services marketing and advertising. (The segment includes banks, S&Ls, insurance companies, brokerage and investment firms, and credit card companies.) As with most award ceremonies, entries are judged by by a panel of experts on such things as strategy, message and positioing and overall results.
This years’ BIG winner was a brand awareness campaign for Colarado’s KeyBank that began virally on MySpace. The campaign featured George Vlosich, famous Etch-A-Sketch artist, rendering a portrait of the Denver Nuggets’ very own Carmelo Anthony. If you aren’t yet one of more-than-a-million viewers, here’s your chance:
Here’s my dilemma: while I applaud KeyBank for using new media to generate name recognition and perhaps connect with the next generation of bank customers, the Millennials, what does an NBA star have to do with their brand? Is “the key, key, key to it all just being mellow?” Or, is this simply an attempt to use new media just because you can?
With a dedicated budget of up to 1% of annual revenues, Philip Newbold, CEO leads the first community hospital in the US with a dedicated innovation budget. Since implementing Newbold’s innovation initiative, reported related operating profits are as much as three times the hospital’s annual investment.
Very clearly stated on the hospital’s website, “everyone and everybody within Memorial is expected to participate fully in making innovation a core competency” with the goal to see outcomes in:
- Operational and Product Line and Customer Service Differentiation
- New business Start-Ups and New Revenue Sources
- New Innovations in the Community that Create Health and Improve the Quality of Life
Of particular interest to me, and perhaps the easiest for you to execute: Memorial’s Innovation Cafe.
Mr. Newbold converted a nearby out-of-business deli into a brainstorming venue. His staffers and even other business leaders can use the cafe, outside patio and innovation menu to boot, as a place to learn to innovate. While you probably don’t have the financial resources to buy a nearby restaurant, I’m betting there’s an unused room somewhere on your campus that could be made a little less boring - if you’re willing to be, well, a bit more innovative.
To read more about Memorial’s Innovation Cafe, see Joann S. Lublin’s article that appeared in the 9/2/008 edition of the Wall Street Journal.
Posted by Donna on November 27, 2008 8:20 am | permalink | one comment 
Posted by Jack on September 29, 2008 2:29 pm | 
Posted by Todd on September 23, 2008 7:00 am | 
