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1. MarketingSherpa: Combine PR, Branding, and Lead-Gen to Market Through the Recession: 6 Steps
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Combine PR, Branding, and Lead-Gen to Market
Job Seekers Through the Recession: 6 Steps
Free Reports
Email to a Colleague Post a Comment Permanent Link Print Version
Podcasts
Free Newsletters Chart of the Week
MEMBERSHIP New every Tuesday
Members-Only Home
SUMMARY: Marketing budgets are often the first to get cut
Membership Tour
when a recession hits. But if you’re marketing high-end
Group Discounts
products with long sales cycles, pulling back during the
FAQS: downturn can put you behind the pack when the economy
About Sherpa turns around and buyers are ready to spend again.
Speaker Services
Testimonials See how a health care IT marketer bucked the urge to hold
Partnered Research back and instead launched a coordinated PR, branding and
Vendors we use lead-generation campaign. Using well-placed thought-
Affiliates leadership articles, direct mail, and targeted emails Want To Speak At a
Your Privacy customized for each prospects' very specific pain point, Sherpa Summit?
they’re filling their pipeline with warm leads at a time when
others are holding back.... Email Summit 2010
(Submissions close
Need help? Have a
7/24)
suggestion? Comment? CHALLENGE
Matt Barker, Director Marketing, TeleHealth Services, knew 2009 was
going to be a difficult year. His company sells interactive television and
Report Bestsellers
patient education systems for hospitals, and industry reports said that IT
spending by health care companies was down. Newly Revised! 2009-10
B2B Marketing
At the same time, he felt that cutting marketing during the recession Benchmark Report
could put his company at a disadvantage when the economy turned Just Released! Best
around. With sales cycles of up to 6 months, he needed to keep potential Practices in Email
buyers aware of his products even if they didn’t have a budget in place Marketing Handbook
right now.
First Edition. Social
Media Marketing & PR
"Health care IT spending is down, and we’ve got a fairly high-end
Benchmark Guide
product, but what do we do to really make sure we’re out in
marketplace, still take what we can out of marketplace, increase our First Edition. Marketing
market share, and establish our brand?" with Video Report
(Online, TV, and Mobile)
CAMPAIGN Newly Revised! 2009
Email Marketing
Barker and his team adopted a strategy they call "canopy marketing," Benchmark Guide
that, like the canopy in a jungle, has several layers with different
Top 5 Bestsellers
functions. The top layer, like the canopy’s leaves, provides broad brand
coverage, while the lowest level -- targeted lead generation campaigns - New Job Listings 1. 2009-10 B2B
- occupies the roots and ground level. Marketing
28 New Marketing Jobs
Benchmark Report
They applied that strategy to a multi-channel marketing campaign for 4 Seek New Jobs 2. 2009 Social Media
one of the company’s patient education products, the TIGR Education How to post a job listing Marketing & PR
System. The plan included: Benchmark Guide
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31301[7/9/2009 4:58:35 PM]
2. MarketingSherpa: Combine PR, Branding, and Lead-Gen to Market Through the Recession: 6 Steps
Sherpa's List of Best Job
- A PR effort to establish his company as a thought leader 3. Email Marketing
Sites
- A multi-channel branding campaign Handbook
- Targeted email and sales team follow-up to generate warm leads Sherpa's List of Best
4. Marketing with
Headhunter & Recruiter
Video Report
Here are six steps they took to put their canopy marketing strategy into Sites
5. Email Marketing
action: Benchmark Guide
'09
Weekly Book Giveaway
Step #1. Enlist sales team to record recent sales
Enter to Win: 'The See All Bestsellers
Barker and his team needed a clear accounting of where their products Mobile Marketing
were making a difference in the marketplace. That information would Handbook'
help them create a PR strategy.
They established a "win form" for the sales team, which recorded recent Awards
deals, the pain-points hospitals were experiencing, and how the
MarketingSherpa's Viral
company’s products alleviated those pains.
Marketing Hall of Fame
2008: Top 10
The win form was a one-page Word document that asked sales
Campaigns & Results
representatives to record:
Data
o Name of client
o Contacts at hospital Sherpa's 2008 Email
o Products they chose Awards Gallery: Results-
o Specific pain points Driven Creative You Can
o How the client envisions our products remedying pains Swipe From
Each time a sales representative closed a deal, they emailed a completed
win form to Barker’s team to form the basis of a new press release (see Latest Article
Step #2). May 5, 2009
New Chart: How
"It started off slowly, but once they started seeing their name in lights, Accurately Can You
so to speak, it really caught on, and the sales team enjoyed it." Gauge the ROI of Social
Media Tactics?
Step #2. Send press releases documenting recent sales
Barker’s team used win forms to write press releases highlighting the
company’s recent sales. The press releases described the product they
chose, the challenges the hospital was facing, and featured quotes from
the customer describing why they chose TeleHealth services.
Barker’s team distributed press releases through newswire services, such
as PR Newswire, but also used Google Alerts to find relevant health care
industry trade publications.
- When an article on subjects like "health care IT" appeared in their alert,
the team went to the publication’s website to find contact information for
an editor.
- They added that editor’s name and address to their list of media outlets
for press release distribution.
- They also gave press releases to the sales team to use for sales
support.
"If a prospect says, ‘This is my pain, do you have any other customers
like that?’ they have a press release to hand back to new prospect
showing exactly the same pain, and how we can help."
Step #3. Write thought-leadership articles and land executive
interviews in trade publications
Getting customer sign-off on a press release can be a slow process in the
health care industry. For example, it took Barker and his team about six
months to get one press release approved by a hospital customer.
As a result, the team needed additional media coverage to fill in the gaps
between press releases.
During the process of collecting win forms and creating press releases,
the team noticed several common pains among clients. Based on those
common pains, they wrote a series of articles that described how the
company’s products addressed major hospital concerns, such as:
- The current nursing shortage, and how the TIGR system automates
certain tasks and frees nurses to focus on patient care.
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31301[7/9/2009 4:58:35 PM]
3. MarketingSherpa: Combine PR, Branding, and Lead-Gen to Market Through the Recession: 6 Steps
- How patient information systems can improve patient satisfaction
scores, which play a role in a hospital’s accreditation process.
Barker pitched these bylined articles to publications in his media
database. He also offered company executives as interview subjects on
patient education or health care IT topics.
"When the economy does turn around, in most cases in the health care
setting, a hospital is going to get three bids regardless," says Barker.
"You’re not going to be the only player in the game, so by establishing
your thought leadership, prospects will see you as a leader in that
space."
Step #4. High-level branding campaign
With the PR effort well underway, the team launched a branding
campaign for the TIGR Education System. The campaign used online and
print advertisements in trade publications, alongside direct mail pieces,
to provide a broad overview of the product’s features and benefits.
- The campaign’s theme focused on three key pain-points identified from
recent sales:
o Improving the patient experience
o Improving patient education
o Improving patient outcomes, such as reduced readmission rate
- The team initially targeted its online ads and direct mail pieces at key
decision makers and influencers in the health care buying committee,
including:
o Chief Nursing Officers
o VPs of patient care services
o Patient educators
After the first mailing, they expanded that focus to include additional
members of the committee, including:
o CIOs
o Patient safety and quality management personnel
o Compliance officers
- They created three direct mail pieces designed to resemble tools that
nurses and other hospital personnel used every day, such as:
o A nurse’s clipboard
o A patient’s file
o A prescription pad
- The first mailer was sent to about 8,000 people at 6,000 hospitals. By
the second mailer, when they expanded target audience, that number
grew to about 15,000 people.
- Direct mail pieces were sent about one to two-months apart, to
coincide with the time that a corresponding ad was running in trade
publications or online.
- Because the mail copy was focused on product features and benefits,
the call-to-action was minimized. They provided an 800 number and
customized email address, and urged prospects to contact the company
to learn more about the TIGR system.
Step #5. Mid-level lead generation campaign
After launching the branding campaign, the team began a more targeted,
lead-generation effort that involved email and telephone follow-ups from
the sales team.
They narrowed their list of 6,000 targeted hospitals to 1,500 top
organizations, based on:
o Sales team input about their most desired potential accounts
o Institutions with a high private pay rate, as opposed to high Medicare
payment rate, which were more likely to have cash on hand for
investments
o Likelihood of having a need and budget for new IT investments, such
as hospitals expanding or building new facilities
Then, they created an email message to encourage prospects to arrange
meetings with a sales representative:
- The first email provided an introduction to the TIGR system, placing the
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31301[7/9/2009 4:58:35 PM]
4. MarketingSherpa: Combine PR, Branding, and Lead-Gen to Market Through the Recession: 6 Steps
value of patient education systems in the context of the current health
care market and offering bullet points on the system’s primary benefits.
- The message included a stronger call-to-action, inviting prospects to
contact a sales representative at their direct telephone number.
- They also included a link to a recently published trade article on the
value of improving patient outcomes, which was generated by their PR
campaign.
Sales representatives were instructed to follow-up by phone with
prospects one week after receiving the email.
- Prospects who did not respond to the follow-up call received a
reminder email one week later.
- Prospects who still had not responded received a second follow-up call
another week later.
- They staggered initial mailings to groups of prospects on a weekly
basis. For example, each sales representative sent the introductory email
to the first 10 accounts on their list. The next week, when they began
placing follow-up calls to the first group, they also delivered an
introductory email to prospects 11-20 on their list, and so on.
Step #6. Targeted lead-generation with customized message
The team designed a third email campaign for prospects who did not
respond to the mid-level lead generation campaign. This message was
customized for each prospect, based on data about their specific
institution:
- The team based its message on hospital scores reported by the Joint
Commission on core measures, which provides information on
institutions’ performance in key areas, such as treatment of heart failure
and patient satisfaction ratings.
- Looking closely at this data, the team identified areas of improvement
that could raise a hospital’s score, such as delivering smoking cessation
assistance to patients with heart disease.
- They wrote what Barker calls "more aggressively worded" emails that
targeted the institution’s primary pain point, such as:
o Raising satisfaction scores by empowering patients
o Improving patient outcomes with smoking cessation
Members of the sales team delivered this email roughly two weeks after
their final contact with prospects during the mid-level lead generation
campaign. As with that campaign, the email was followed with a phone
call a week later.
RESULTS
Although the final phase of the lead-generation campaign is still ongoing,
the response so far makes Barker confident that they made the right
decision to market through the recession.
"It’s actually going very well at this point. I knew it was going to take
multiple touches from all the levels to produce results," says Barker.
- The strategy has already generated 20 warm leads for the sales team,
which Barker defines as institutions that are actively looking for a system
and have a budget in place.
- They have another 30-35 leads in the pipeline that are being warmed
with further details about the product’s benefits and value.
- One of those warm leads is "about 70%-75%" through the sales
process and is likely to close. That one deal alone would pay for all three
of the branding and lead-generation campaigns.
"Our budget for 2010 is coming up in a couple months, and it would be
nice to be able to say, ‘We spent this amount of money, and we’ve
already had 100% ROI, and we’ve got this, this, and this in the pipeline,"
says Barker. "It’s going to make [the budgeting process] that much
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31301[7/9/2009 4:58:35 PM]
5. MarketingSherpa: Combine PR, Branding, and Lead-Gen to Market Through the Recession: 6 Steps
easier."
As expected, the response rate to email campaigns has improved as the
message has become more customized and targeted.
o The TIGR introductory email with the link to the published article
generated a 12.5% open rate
o The customized email highlighting an institution’s specific pain point
has generated an average 15% open rate
o Conversion rates for the two emails follow a similar track, with the
customized email delivering a higher conversion rate
The team’s PR campaign was also a success. All seven of the articles
Barker’s team has written have been picked up by a trade publication.
And by developing their own press releases and thought-leadership
articles in-house, they’ve been able to minimize the use of an external
PR agency, saving 60% in their PR budget.
Useful links related to this article:
Creative Samples from TeleHealth Services’ branding and lead gen
campaigns
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/cs/TeleHealth/index.html
PR Newswire
http://www.prnewswire.com/
Google Alerts
http://www.google.com/alerts
The Joint Commission
http://www.jointcommission.org/
TeleHealth Services
http://www.telehealth.com/
Email to a Colleague Post a Comment Permanent Link RSS
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See Also:
Direct mail & fax marketing
Integrated campaigns
Email newsletters & sales alerts
Email marketing
Email newsletters & sales alerts
Email list growth & maintenance
Email Design & Delivery
Rented lists & ezine ads
Alternatives: RSS feeds, desktop applications, wireless
Health marketing
Direct mail & fax marketing
Sales lead generation
Marketing with white papers and/or webinars
Marketing at trade shows
Direct mail & fax marketing
Telemarketing
Business technology marketing
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http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31301[7/9/2009 4:58:35 PM]
![MarketingSherpa: Combine PR, Branding, and Lead-Gen to Market Through the Recession: 6 Steps
Member Login: Email: Password:
Contact Us Lost Password?
Browse by
Home SherpaStore
Topic/Brand
Open Access Members-Only Home Free Reports
Search:
Upcoming Events
powered by
Omniture
6th Annual B2B
Marketing Summit '09,
San Francisco or
INTERACT:
Boston--Save $300 till
Free Newsletters
7/14
Book Giveaway
Post a Job
Post Creative Social Media for PR +
Marketing Virtual Event
BROWSE:
- 7/21 1-4 p.m. CT
New Headlines
Topics
MarketingSherpa's Email
SherpaBlog
Marketing Essentials 101
Summits
One-Day Course - 6
Workshops
Cities
Training
Certification
Benchmark Guides MarketingExperiments
Jul 09, 2009
Toolkits Training Tour '09:
Brands Named CASE STUDY #CS2069: Landing Page
Optimization
People Named
Job Listings
Combine PR, Branding, and Lead-Gen to Market
Job Seekers Through the Recession: 6 Steps
Free Reports
Email to a Colleague Post a Comment Permanent Link Print Version
Podcasts
Free Newsletters Chart of the Week
MEMBERSHIP New every Tuesday
Members-Only Home
SUMMARY: Marketing budgets are often the first to get cut
Membership Tour
when a recession hits. But if you’re marketing high-end
Group Discounts
products with long sales cycles, pulling back during the
FAQS: downturn can put you behind the pack when the economy
About Sherpa turns around and buyers are ready to spend again.
Speaker Services
Testimonials See how a health care IT marketer bucked the urge to hold
Partnered Research back and instead launched a coordinated PR, branding and
Vendors we use lead-generation campaign. Using well-placed thought-
Affiliates leadership articles, direct mail, and targeted emails Want To Speak At a
Your Privacy customized for each prospects' very specific pain point, Sherpa Summit?
they’re filling their pipeline with warm leads at a time when
others are holding back.... Email Summit 2010
(Submissions close
Need help? Have a
7/24)
suggestion? Comment? CHALLENGE
Matt Barker, Director Marketing, TeleHealth Services, knew 2009 was
going to be a difficult year. His company sells interactive television and
Report Bestsellers
patient education systems for hospitals, and industry reports said that IT
spending by health care companies was down. Newly Revised! 2009-10
B2B Marketing
At the same time, he felt that cutting marketing during the recession Benchmark Report
could put his company at a disadvantage when the economy turned Just Released! Best
around. With sales cycles of up to 6 months, he needed to keep potential Practices in Email
buyers aware of his products even if they didn’t have a budget in place Marketing Handbook
right now.
First Edition. Social
Media Marketing & PR
"Health care IT spending is down, and we’ve got a fairly high-end
Benchmark Guide
product, but what do we do to really make sure we’re out in
marketplace, still take what we can out of marketplace, increase our First Edition. Marketing
market share, and establish our brand?" with Video Report
(Online, TV, and Mobile)
CAMPAIGN Newly Revised! 2009
Email Marketing
Barker and his team adopted a strategy they call "canopy marketing," Benchmark Guide
that, like the canopy in a jungle, has several layers with different
Top 5 Bestsellers
functions. The top layer, like the canopy’s leaves, provides broad brand
coverage, while the lowest level -- targeted lead generation campaigns - New Job Listings 1. 2009-10 B2B
- occupies the roots and ground level. Marketing
28 New Marketing Jobs
Benchmark Report
They applied that strategy to a multi-channel marketing campaign for 4 Seek New Jobs 2. 2009 Social Media
one of the company’s patient education products, the TIGR Education How to post a job listing Marketing & PR
System. The plan included: Benchmark Guide
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31301[7/9/2009 4:58:35 PM]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/tigrcampaignarticle-124810067331-phpapp01/85/tigr-campaign-article-1-320.jpg)
![MarketingSherpa: Combine PR, Branding, and Lead-Gen to Market Through the Recession: 6 Steps
Sherpa's List of Best Job
- A PR effort to establish his company as a thought leader 3. Email Marketing
Sites
- A multi-channel branding campaign Handbook
- Targeted email and sales team follow-up to generate warm leads Sherpa's List of Best
4. Marketing with
Headhunter & Recruiter
Video Report
Here are six steps they took to put their canopy marketing strategy into Sites
5. Email Marketing
action: Benchmark Guide
'09
Weekly Book Giveaway
Step #1. Enlist sales team to record recent sales
Enter to Win: 'The See All Bestsellers
Barker and his team needed a clear accounting of where their products Mobile Marketing
were making a difference in the marketplace. That information would Handbook'
help them create a PR strategy.
They established a "win form" for the sales team, which recorded recent Awards
deals, the pain-points hospitals were experiencing, and how the
MarketingSherpa's Viral
company’s products alleviated those pains.
Marketing Hall of Fame
2008: Top 10
The win form was a one-page Word document that asked sales
Campaigns & Results
representatives to record:
Data
o Name of client
o Contacts at hospital Sherpa's 2008 Email
o Products they chose Awards Gallery: Results-
o Specific pain points Driven Creative You Can
o How the client envisions our products remedying pains Swipe From
Each time a sales representative closed a deal, they emailed a completed
win form to Barker’s team to form the basis of a new press release (see Latest Article
Step #2). May 5, 2009
New Chart: How
"It started off slowly, but once they started seeing their name in lights, Accurately Can You
so to speak, it really caught on, and the sales team enjoyed it." Gauge the ROI of Social
Media Tactics?
Step #2. Send press releases documenting recent sales
Barker’s team used win forms to write press releases highlighting the
company’s recent sales. The press releases described the product they
chose, the challenges the hospital was facing, and featured quotes from
the customer describing why they chose TeleHealth services.
Barker’s team distributed press releases through newswire services, such
as PR Newswire, but also used Google Alerts to find relevant health care
industry trade publications.
- When an article on subjects like "health care IT" appeared in their alert,
the team went to the publication’s website to find contact information for
an editor.
- They added that editor’s name and address to their list of media outlets
for press release distribution.
- They also gave press releases to the sales team to use for sales
support.
"If a prospect says, ‘This is my pain, do you have any other customers
like that?’ they have a press release to hand back to new prospect
showing exactly the same pain, and how we can help."
Step #3. Write thought-leadership articles and land executive
interviews in trade publications
Getting customer sign-off on a press release can be a slow process in the
health care industry. For example, it took Barker and his team about six
months to get one press release approved by a hospital customer.
As a result, the team needed additional media coverage to fill in the gaps
between press releases.
During the process of collecting win forms and creating press releases,
the team noticed several common pains among clients. Based on those
common pains, they wrote a series of articles that described how the
company’s products addressed major hospital concerns, such as:
- The current nursing shortage, and how the TIGR system automates
certain tasks and frees nurses to focus on patient care.
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31301[7/9/2009 4:58:35 PM]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)