Category: Life Sciences

Customer Experience Motivational Signs

Posted on | by siteadmin | Leave a Comment on Customer Experience Motivational Signs

Teleflex is a global provider of medical devices and technologies, which is committed to promoting superior customer experience through its internal “Exceptional Everyday” campaign and an annual “CX Week” event.

For the 2019 event, held at the corporate headquarters in Morrisville, NC, Signal developed a set of promotional materials that included office signage and posters, elevator wraps, LED screen graphics, and email and PowerPoint templates. To extend the reach of Teleflex CX Week beyond the home office, we also supplied asset files to the end-to-end facility in Maple Grove, MN, which employs teams in R&D, engineering, manufacturing, distribution, and sales & marketing.

The goal was to celebrate the importance of the customer experience in two different aspects: from a culture perspective with internal customers, and from a revenue perspective with external customers. The connecting principle is affirming to employees that “what you do matters” in saving the lives of patients.

New Research on Memorable Infographics

Posted on | by mporter | Leave a Comment on New Research on Memorable Infographics

You only have a few short moments to capture a potential customer’s attention. And an infographic – a visual representation of data or information – is a great way to swiftly convey your message. Infographics can showcase thought leadership, highlight differentiators, influence employees, and even help you “own” a particular space or therapeutic area. These popular, shareable visuals are clearly an important communication tool. But with them popping up everywhere, what makes an infographic stand out?

New research shows that our minds unconsciously receive a surprising amount of visual detail in just an instant. So an infographic’s memorability can enhance its effectiveness. The recent article “The Secrets of a Memorable Infographic” looks at this connection, based on the more than 2,000 images that made up the largest scale visualization study to date. Below is a summary of the article’s key points.

What makes an infographic memorable – or not?

  • Recognize it and remember it. Many infographics contain “human recognizable objects” that we see in everyday life – photos, body parts, icons, animals, or foods. With good reason, because these images make for the most memorable visualizations.
  • Colorful is better. Researchers found that infographics using more than six colors were more memorable than those with few colors or those in black and white.
  • We like to see a lot going on. Visual density or “clutter” is often frowned upon, but done right it can actually boost memorability. Complex infographics showed an advantage over more minimalist visuals. And rounded shapes were an added bonus, increasing memorability.
  • Bar charts are a no-go. Surprisingly, basic bar charts and graphs suffer from overexposure. We have a hard time distinguishing one bar chart from another.

Are there other infographics keys to success?

Memorability can be a powerful edge, but still an infographic is only as good as the data and strategy behind it. As with any other marketing communication, Signal recommends that it should be based on:

  • Good planning
  • Thoughtful strategy
  • A solid understanding of your audience
  • Strong, aligned, approved messaging
  • And accurate, meaningful data and information.

With these things covered, we find that an infographic serves as a great piece of snackable content: bite-sized and designed for easy consumption!

Creating memorable infographics that are aligned with your strategy may mean the difference between your communication moving customers to action – or getting lost in the fray. Content marketing expert Joe Chernov tells how he was so impressed with an infographic on which fish are safe to eat that he carried it in his wallet, consulting it at restaurants. Now that’s an effective infographic!

Please ask questions and share stories in the comments section. And if you’d like to learn even more about content marketing, see our Life Sciences Marketing portal page for case studies and other content specifically written for marketing professionals in your industry.

Life Sciences Marketing: Mobile and Tablet Applications

Posted on | by ricky | Leave a Comment on Life Sciences Marketing: Mobile and Tablet Applications

In a September 2013 AYTM Market Research survey, 26.4 percent of respondents reported using health-related apps. More than two-thirds of this group believed the apps had a significant impact on their health. And consulting firm Accenture recently found that nearly one in four direct sales force interactions have been replaced with digital interactions for targeting doctors, providers, payers and patients.

Apps are already widespread in our personal lives, used for everything from entertainment and travel to shopping and sharing. The statistics show that now more than ever, mobile and tablet apps are also critical to an effective marketing strategy. Apps can increase visibility among target audiences and drive brand engagement. The right apps even let you be interactive, share rich media, provide 3D product imagery and capture lead information that integrates with your CRM.

To app or not to app?

We recommend that you think about apps like any other marketing tool. To be effective, an app must support your business strategy – and either influence target audiences or support your internal teams.

Take a look at your existing content, processes and tools to see whether mobile and tablet apps make sense. These questions can get you started:

  • Do you have existing content (such as white papers) that could be optimized and shared on e-readers and tablets?
  • What type of interactions does marketing have with sales? Can an app serve as a “bridge” between these groups?
  • How does the sales team obtain the marketing materials and support they need to be successful? Can they use a tablet for ease of use on the go?
  • Could user experience be improved if an existing marketing tool was mobile ready?
  • How do you interact with your target audiences today? Can the interaction be transformed or optimized with an app?

An app for every audience

Signal has a track record of helping clients make a splash with apps. Here are some of our ideas for life sciences audiences and the potential benefits.

Patients

  • Improved medication adherence: Apps can be an extension of your existing patient-support initiatives. They allow you to share information on the benefits of taking the medication as prescribed. Additionally, daily reminders can help safeguard against missed doses, as can automatic refill reminders.
  • Education on the go: Provide easy access to support resources, forums and online communities via mobile app.
  • Better healthcare outcomes: Get patients engaged in improving their lifestyle using mobile games that also drive “stickiness.”

Prospects

  • Showcasing expertise: Give prospects interactive apps to showcase industry expertise, market differentiators and the caliber of your staff. For example, build an interactive map that pinpoints clinical trial sites across the globe or identifies where your consultants have successfully submitted regulatory applications and product registrations.
  • Highlighting thought leadership: A mobile strategy also can bolster thought leadership campaigns. Give prospects access to “mini portfolios” of content specifically designed for mobile devices such as white papers, blogs posts, recorded webinars, videos and news articles. Or optimize white papers for e-readers so they can be easily downloaded from sites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
  • Education 24-7: Apps can share your user guides, training videos and provide an interactive product catalog with a selection tool to help prospects identify what they need.

Sales staff

  • Instant access: Use mobile sales apps to provide the sales team with instant access to collateral materials, up-to-date presentations and other built-in support tools. Tablets applications have been instrumental in helping several Signal clients streamline their sales process and even shrink the sales cycle.

I hope this post has been helpful as you think about adding apps to your marketing strategy. Please feel free to ask questions or share thoughts in the comments section.

Want to learn more about the changing marketing landscape? Check out the rest of Signal’s new educational series, Life Sciences Marketing: Insights for Positive Outcomes in 2014.

New Marketing Frontier in Life Sciences: Our Upcoming Educational Blog Series

Posted on | by pstephens | Leave a Comment on New Marketing Frontier in Life Sciences: Our Upcoming Educational Blog Series

A recent AdWeek article titled “Welcome to the New Face of Big Pharma” examined how factors such as the Affordable Care Act are broadening the role of marketing to encompass “services, education, disease awareness and prevention.”

I agree with its premise that marketing will no longer simply be product centric. For pharmaceutical and medical device companies, marketing (especially for chronic diseases) will touch upon patient-support initiatives with the goal of changing patient behavior and ultimately driving positive outcomes.

For Contract Research Organizations and other service providers, marketing will drive lead generation and nurturing efforts by showcasing thought leadership and highlighting key differentiators in services such as patient recruitment and clinical trial monitoring.

New strategies and tactics will be needed to reach these aggressive marketing goals including the creation of personalized treatment communications and educational content. Successful multi-channel campaign components will include mobile applications, interactive web tools and portals as well as integrated social media efforts.

For the last few years, Signal has been successfully implementing these strategies on behalf of pharma, medical device and CRO clients. I guess our clients are the “early adopters,” which is great!

As a result, we felt compelled to share our expertise and knowledge in an upcoming content series that will communicate best practices, practical tips and what questions you need to ask to be successful.

The series, entitled Life Sciences Marketing: Insights for Positive Outcomes in 2014, is ideal for anyone in life sciences looking to add innovative new tactics to their 2014 marketing plans – tactics that provide ROI and help meet your business goals.

Topics will include:

  • Mobile and tablet applications
  • Web tools, portals and microsites
  • Leveraging data in marketing (infographics and eBooks)
  • Content marketing (lead generation and nurturing)
  • Marketing automation and analytics

Are there any subjects you’d like to see covered? If so, please email our life sciences team.