We're all guilty. And must do better.
/"I forgot my phone."
Simple. A message we should all heed.
Source: 37Signals
Intersecting marketing, media & health care
Jim Rattray is an award-winning creative professional who has worked extensively in health care, education, corporations and journalism and speaks to marketing and PR audiences on using new tools for public relations, marketing, branding and patient engagement.
It's a rare moment when all traffic — pedestrians and vehicles — just seem to disappear, especially in New York City.
Push yourself. Challenge yourself. Heck, challenge others.
Just do it.
This great new "Just Do It" video from Nike really resonates, even if I was the 1,471,404th person to have seen it!
The campaign behind it solidly embodies the "Just Do It" brand credo — push yourself to places you hadn't imagined you could go.
And the music is killer ("Future Starts Slow" by The Kills)!
Everyone likes to win something.
And even when you don't win, you probably like to play (think sweepstakes, PowerBall and trivia nights).
Now a new study from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation shows how contests can actually improve philanthropy — and expand your community.
Knight President & CEO Alberto Ibarguën says:
Contests are a wonderful device for engaging the imagination of communities.
Knight offers six lessons about how contests can boost your "community:"
But remember, as with everything, don't just do it to try something new — make sure it is part of a broad and well-considered strategy.
Knight's best advice:
Foundations shouldn’t undertake a contest as a lark or a just-for-the-heck-of-it enterprise. The most successful are embedded in existing program strategies. They are simply a different way to tackle a foundation’s key areas of focus.
Download and read the study: "Why Contests Improve Philanthropy: Six Lessons on Designing Public Prizes for Impact.”
In health care, your brand voice is your people — your patients, their families and your staff.
Your brand is what each of these groups say about your organization.
It's what patients tell others about how they were treated. It's what they whisper, good or bad, about what they witnessed your staff doing in their idle time.
And it's what your staff — doctors, nurses, caregivers and non-caregivers — say about the what it's like to work for you.
When you have built a strong organizational culture — one of inclusion, listening, transparency and compassion — then you have a strong brand story to tell.
An out-of-industry example comes from the Danish shipping company Maersk, which sheds light on how focusing on the voices of an organization can bring life and attention to a brand. Writing for AdPulp, David Burn notes:
It is safe to say, “brand voice” is no longer something best whipped up in an ad agency brainstorm. Rather, a real living brand voice — one with resonance and power — is an amalgamation of the human voices who work at the company.
In health care, those voices must include the patients and their families. They already tell stories about their experience — you want those stories to always be positive and enlightening.
Source: AdPulp
Jim Rattray is an award-winning creative professional who has worked extensively in health care, education, corporations and journalism and speaks to marketing and PR audiences on using new tools for public relations, marketing, branding and patient engagement.
The banner photo is of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park in California. It was taken at sunset from Glacier Point on October 1, 2012.
Follow my writing and that of others in the Patient Engagement arena on EngagingPatients.org.
Copyright © 2013 by Jim Rattray. All rights reserved. Contact Jim.