Spicing It Up: Is the Old Spice Marketing Campaign Really Working?

By Kyle Blankenship on July 26, 2010

Great article from Eleftheria Parpis of AdWeek about the recent “Small Like A Man, Man” marketing campaign from Old Spice, which has been a pop-culture and social media hit.  The campaign, created by Wieden + Kennedy Advertising, revolves around the over-the-top masculinity portrayed by former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa.  Commercials and even a real-time social media event have helped boost Old Spice’s brand recognition and, more importantly, its overall sales.

In order to tap into the social-media market, Old Spice staged an event last week, which had Mustafa responding to questions from Twitter and blogs with commentary and personalized videos that after three days of production, ended with 186 customized messages for fans.  The response videos, which included messages to celebrities like Alyssa Milano and even a marriage proposal on behalf of a fan, received over 40 million views on YouTube, Facebook and other Internet sites.  The brand’s personal YouTube channel has received more than 94 million views, and Old Spice has gained 90,000 and 675,000 followers on Twitter and Facebook, respectively.    This campaign truly shows the power of viral marketing.

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Facebook Hits 500 Million Mark

By Kyle Blankenship on July 22, 2010

Facebook announced Wednesday (July 21) that the social media giant is now 500 million members strong, as the company continues to establish itself as an international communication tool.

Facebook says that, each month, more than 30 billion photographs, links and news articles are shared through the website, with members spending over 700 billion minutes there.   Pretty powerful stuff.

To celebrate the milestone, the Facebook team has put together a collection of stories showing the impact that Facebook has had on the lives of its users.

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eNewsletters: Connecting Practices and Patients

By Kyle Blankenship on May 17, 2010

Many practices are searching for different ways to reach out to patients, and eNewsletter marketing is one of the most cost-effective, beneficial ways for organizations to connect their target markets.

eNewsletters:

  1. Are delivered directly to the e-mail inboxes of patients, referral partners, vendors, etc.
  2. Draw attention and build loyalty for your practice
  3. Drive traffic to your website
  4. Keep patients informed on practice and industry news
  5. Allow patients to quickly forward your content on to others
  6. Easy to measure analytics (opens, click-throughs)

Overall, eNewsletters are an essential part of any practice marketing strategy.  Not only will you be providing content for your audience, but you can also use eNewsletters to promote your practice’s social media outlets or any other marketing platforms that your practice may be using.  Just be sure to maintain a consistent message throughout your mediums!

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Conquering Google with Phyzoom, Part 1: What Are Backlinks?

By Kyle Blankenship on May 7, 2010

Many clients ask us, “How can I get on the first page of Google?”  One way that the search engine determines page rank for any particular search is through backlinks.

Backlinks are links to a particular website from other sites on the Internet.  They serve as votes of confidence for your website, which shows search engines like Google that you are an authority for that particular word phrase.

For example, let’s say you are an orthopedic practice, and you have some general information about your specialty on your website.  Patient X runs across your site, and decides that he would like to share your content with his friends.  While typing up a new blog post, Patient X writes, “For more information on orthopedics, click here.”  He hyperlinks “click here,” giving your practice a backlink, but the problem is that your vote of confidence will be for searches with the phrase “click here.”  Instead, Patient X needs to hyperlink the words “information on orthopedics,” which will help your site’s ranking when that phrase is typed into a search engine.

The more link text backlinks that you have, the more points that your site has for that keyword phrase.

Check in next week for Part 2 of Phyzoom’s Conquering Google series, where we will go over various ways to increase the number of backlinks to your site.

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Twitter, Facebook…Groupon? New Social Network Making Its Way into the Discussion

By Kyle Blankenship on April 27, 2010

With Groupon recently announcing its net worth to officially be over the $1 billion mark, the social buying site has now stepped into elite company as one of the few web 2.0 startups to reach the monetary level.  The others:  Facebook and Twitter.

What exactly is a Groupon?  Groupon, based in Chicago, works with local businesses in various cities (53 to be exact) to feature a unique product or service at an unbeatable discount (normally at least 50% off the actual price).  Each Groupon is only available for a 24 hour period, and once a certain amount of Groupons have been sold, then the deal is on.  If the minimum amount is not met, then the deal is dead.  It is a simple concept that is drawing astounding results.  So far, the company has sold over 4.3 million Groupons.

In addition to fine dining, products and other services, many healthcare groups are beginning to jump on the healthcare bandwagon.  Most notably, dentists, dermatologists and chiropractors have been featured in recent Groupon deals around the country.  From a marketing perspective, Groupons could be a great way to introduce customers to your practice at a reduced cost.  If the patient is happy with his or her service, then you may even be able to retain those Groupon customers on a long-term basis.

Physicians, what are your thoughts on this Groupon concept?  Will it help,  hurt or have no impact on the healthcare industry?  Does it have the staying power of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn?

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