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Strengthen Your Health Care Brand During Your Digital Transformation

Posted on by Sara Gaviser Leslie

Room for Digital Transformation for Health Care Brands

You’ve probably had a friend tell you about her amazing physician. But did you ever hear anyone brag about their health insurer? Unlikely.

Overall, individuals are pretty happy about the quality of care. What they complain about is customer service. According to the Advisory Board, the top patient complaints include: communication (53%), long wait times (35%), medical practice staff (12%), and billing (2%).

Fortunately, powerful organizations—companies who see shortcomings in today’s system—recognize the room for improvement. The triumvirate of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase say they want to disrupt healthcare and we all eagerly await their solution.

Of course, the existing system operates at a disadvantage to the growing cohort of startups. These companies have no legacy technology baggage and are digital-first. Fitbit, Apple, and Omada Health offer individuals new ways to manage their overall fitness and health. Others focus on corporations and companies—the major healthcare payers – that watch the costs of care for their employees rise exponentially. For example, Collective Health helps self-insured companies manage their healthcare investment and support operations. Another, Lyra, helps companies and their employees connect directly to mental health providers.

Don’t Wait Around for Transformation, Start Strengthening Your Brand Now

Not all health care companies have the luxury of starting with an all digital approach. In fact, the biggest, most important players don’t. It’s why traditional healthcare providers, insurance companies, hospitals, and clinics are all in the midst of a digital transformation. This doesn’t mean, though, that they—or you—should wait until after a transformation is complete before you start making changes to your brand.

Take the opportunity to strengthen your brand so your customers are still there when you make that transformation a reality. Here’s how.

1. Make the Process Feel Good

A great place to start when looking to build a better process is to think about how you want to make people feel. Maybe your customers now feel frustrated? Unconfident? Even anxious? How can you make them feel optimistic? Even calm and confident?

The midst of a transition is the perfect time to start thinking about this. Focus on building a more frictionless process and making quick changes across the board that make for a more positive experience.

Ask questions like: How can we make it easier for customers to access the information they need? How can we better understand how they can prevent illness? Get in touch with a doctor or nurse when they need? Or even pay a bill more quickly and easily? Can we communicate with less complicated, more human language? Can we better train our people to act with empathy and patience?

It’s these small changes that will help build the frictionless experience people now demand from the brands they pledge loyalty to. And making the experience feel good can sustain your brand and ensure you keep your customers while you’re in the midst of a digital transformation. They’ll be committed to you, and delighted when you do transform.

2. Behave Consistently

It’s great when a health care brand says they “care about their patients”. But when a customer calls and has to go through multitudes of layers just to get a terse answer to their question and can’t even understand the coverage they signed up for months before, the brand loses credibility.

So while you’re in this transition, ask yourself what promises you make your customers. Are you living up to those? How can you better behave at every touchpoint? How can you really act like you care?

People don’t want the health care brands they buy into to be unpredictable. And businesses in the middle of change tend to let all rules go to the wayside. Just because you’re in the middle of digital disruption, doesn’t mean you don’t need guidelines for the present. Behave in line with your core values and make sure your behavior at every touchpoint lives up to what you promise the people you want by your side when you do transform.

3. Employees – Activate Small Wins

As your company invests in cutting-edge technology, dedicates time and resources to innovation, and prepares itself for a digital transformation, it’s integral that employees know and understand what’s important right now.

Leaving employees behind for a future state that is yet to come is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. When you are clear and transparent with employees about what they should be focusing in on and why, they can activate small wins.

It’s easy to think that change comes in one fell swoop. But small, incremental changes can make worlds of difference—especially in struggling industries with low trust, low convenience, and low brand loyalty. Employees are the people who are going to build that trust, leverage that convenience, and help build loyalty. Look to them and communicate with them about what matters.

There’s Always Need for Improvement

Health care is ripe for disruption because people want something more. Whether it’s a frictionless experience, a more empathetic brand, or a clearer and easier way forward, you can start delivering people what they want while you’re in the midst of a digital transformation. Ask yourself what should happen while you wait. What can you do to make improvements today?

Consider how you can better behave, better connect, and better build meaning with the people most important to your business. And dedicate time, energy, and resources to making those changes. Small changes can bring big rewards. By focusing on what you can change now, you’ll be more ready for digital disruption later—with a better process, a better way of communication, a better strategy, and better people behind you.

If you need help creating and implementing strategic change, please reach out.

Other posts you may enjoy on the subject are Digital Health: A Future With Millennials, and Why Digital Health Brands Need a B2B2C Strategy

Emotive Brand is a brand strategy and design agency in Oakland, California.

Brand Is the Best Foundation for Growth

Posted on by Chris Ames

Emotive Brand Experts #6: Kelly Morgan

Continuing our Emotive Brand Experts series, we’re interviewing past and present Emotive Brand clients to discover what they do better than anybody else — and how that expertise can be used to embolden your brand today.

Kelly Morgan is Head of Marketing at Lyra, a startup that’s transforming behavioral healthcare. We’ve been working with Kelly to rebrand Lyra, and they just launched their new brand last week. In addition, they’ve secured their next series of funding! Kelly spoke with us to discuss key learnings from the rebranding process.

What was the catalyst for the rebrand?

When I joined the company, I was overseeing designers, communication teams, and marketing assets. It became very challenging to do all that without real brand guidelines. Of course, we had some things, but not the mature and robust set of design tools you need when you go to market. We were inventing everything from scratch. We had a core that we loved, but the look itself wasn’t that modern and it didn’t reflect what Lyra is all about.

When you think about what we’re trying to do, we’re bringing technology to a space that is somewhat tech-averse and not that sophisticated in terms of modern convenience and simplicity. We felt as though our look didn’t accurately reflect that we’re a high-tech and a visual company. As I dug in further with other stakeholders and the management team, it became clear that there was a real appetitive for this. Not just a new visual identity, but for equipping our team with the right tools – messaging, positioning, a unified elevator pitch, and a cohesive way to describe what we do as a business.

What were some early successes in the process?

I found myself a great executive sponsor. We developed a solid business case not only for “Why?” but for “Why now?” We’re a relatively young company, and before we start investing, it’s great to have a solid foundation to build on. These things are easier when you’re smaller. It’s not as disruptive or confusing to the market. The overall timing was a big part of making that case. Having an executive sponsor can help garner alignment internally when people are having a hard time seeing the bigger picture. Change is hard. It’s difficult to imagine how it’s all going to come together when you’re only seeing pieces at a time. It’s challenging to understand the impact of those decisions when you’re so comfortable with something you already have.

What would you describe as the biggest challenge of a rebrand?

I think it comes down to educating your team on what brand really is. You hear those hallway conversations of, “Oh, new logo, new colors,” but it’s so much more than that. This is something that’s going to align with your business strategy and make it easier for you to sell, to communicate, to stand out – brand is everything. That misunderstanding can manifest itself in different ways throughout the course of the project.  It could mean that someone is not investing enough time in reviewing something until it’s already live on a website. A rebrand involves soft skills — feelings, emotions, perceptions. Everyone has a different function in the organization and so it’s sometimes hard for people to see why the brand will matter to their piece of the business. A rebrand also has a fair amount of feelings and emotions, something that not everyone easily connects to in how they approach work. It took me a while to understand how important it was to get everyone aligned, but more so, how much time I needed to dedicate to education, understanding different perspectives, and gaining consensus. It could mean someone not investing enough time in reviewing something until it’s already live on a website.

A personal challenge for us was that we don’t have a team of in-house designers or Creative Directors. Representing Lyra in the rebrand discussions, I found my own limitations and wished that we had someone who had a visual design background. That’s where the value of bringing in an outside agency comes in. Contractors and freelancers can get you pretty far, but an agency has the talent and insight you’re missing. Plus, they can see the life of the brand over time and evolve and implement everything seamlessly.

To make things even more interesting, you are also in the process of changing offices during this rebrand. How is that going?

It’s true! We’re moving in June and building out a new workspace tailored to our employees. I think it will make a great impression and help employees feel even more tied to our mission and our values. To carry the brand to the employee experience, we will have vinyl decals of our mission statement, powerful testimonials from people whom we’ve helped, and wall art that showcases our creative marketing campaigns, monitors displaying business analytics and KPIs.

You only just launched your new look last week, but have you noticed any behavior change as a result?

It is early, but next week is the HLTH Future of Healthcare conference in Las Vegas, which will be the first real test of our brand. Needless to say, we’re super excited. Our new brand makes us look more polished and mature, but still has that fun, vibrant startup feeling. It brings us much more confidence in delivering our elevator pitch, as well as unifying the marketing and sales teams together around the same story.

What key advice would you give to other companies about to embark on a rebrand?

Well, the first real challenge is, “How do you evaluate an agency?” The best advice I got was that I needed to directly meet the people I would be working with. That sounds obvious, but many agencies have a great portfolio – impressive customer list and endless examples of nice looking things – but often that’s the sales team or some top-level Creative Director. You need to understand the difference between who is selling you and who you are going to be working with. You must meet the project managers, the copywriters, the people who are going to bring this thing to life for you.

The second challenge is rallying your own internal team, and that’s the part that often goes to the wayside. In that whole project planning phase, you need to carve out time to get internal feedback, but also to keep enthusiasm up throughout the entire process. We had an internal kickoff with a catered lunch, which served as a great opportunity to explain what brand really means to the company. I wanted everyone to understand what it was, why it mattered, and how they are a part of it.

This isn’t just a logo. When you’re at a cocktail party, when you send an email out, it’s all an expression of the brand. This isn’t just a marketing thing, this is about behavior. Of course, the first question anyone will ask will be about swag, but those little delighters are important, too! It takes a lot of effort and energy to do a rebrand, and the success of the whole thing can come down to enthusiasm. There is bound to be friction and bumps along the way. If management sees that their employees are excited, they will hold up their end of the bargain.

What’s next?

Having completed the brand project, the exciting thing now is how poised we are to refocus on our growth strategy. We’re in such a good position to move forward. Not only did we launch a new brand, but we launched it on a new website, on a new platform, with all sorts of robust marketing tools built in. We’re ready for whatever comes next.

Emotive Brand is a brand strategy and design agency based in Oakland.

Digital Health: A Future With Millennials

Posted on by Saja Chodosh

Digital Health

At Emotive Brand, our work with purpose-led healthcare companies has expanded our vision of how digital health can change people’s relationship with how they manage their health. Today, most patients, across all generations, still depend on long-established ways of connecting with healthcare providers. According to Salesforce’s report, “2015 State of the Connected Patient”, 76% of people call to set up appointments, 62% rely on a doctor to keep track of personal health data, and 40% review the data with their physician in person. However, this is changing rapidly and the future of health looks different.

Infusing technology into healthcare management is revolutionizing the healthcare industry in new and valuable ways. From downloading the latest health-tracking app to taking out loans to get through medical school to going on social media to express their frustration with the state of healthcare as a whole, millennials are deeply engaged in their health management and their needs are center of change in the digital health industry. According to Salesforce’s report, around 70% of millennials want to increase the use of mobile devices, apps, wearables, 3D printing, telehealth, and other cutting edge devices to streamline and improve the way they interact and manage their health.

We’ve learned the phrase “digital health” means different things to different people, and this post focuses on what it means to millennials. As a millennial myself, I am interested in the impact of digital health on doctor-patient relationships. How do, or might, advances in digital health change the relationships we have with our doctors? And, as a result, where do millennials see the future of digital health heading?

I reached out to my peers and what rang true for them was this: Across the U.S., millennials believe that by putting more focus on the individual patient’s needs and feelings, digital healthcare technology can make healthcare more personalized, empathetic, streamlined, and meaningful.

The following are the additional top-line findings I gathered from the responses I received.

1.Millennials value digital health because it helps them better manage their health, making millennials feel more connected to their personal well-being.

Millennials consider digital health to be a system of platforms, devices, and technologies that have become integrated into the way we manage, digest, and interact with our health. Commonly cited examples of digital health include health tracking devices like FitBit, self-diagnosing websites like WebMD, doctor communication platforms likened to , and apps that make it easier to make appointments, order medication, store individual health data, and recommend preventative health measures. It means convenient communication with doctors, streamlined healthcare, personalized information and counsel, and individualized and private health tracking. These technologies help keep us connected with the information and the experts essential to managing our personal health.

2. Millennials have different and sometimes non-existent relationships with their doctors, but they believe digital health has the potential to change that.

Because millennials are switching cities, jobs, and budgets more than any other generation, going to the same doctor year after year is rare and oftentimes unsustainable. In fact, according to Salesforce’s report, millennials are the least likely of the generations to have a permanent physician, and are generally frustrated with filling out repetitive forms, the time wasted waiting in sterile doctor’s offices, and muddling through the murky waters of choosing a suitable health insurance plan. Oftentimes, being busy or not wanting to deal with the hassle of going to a doctor leaves millennials skipping check-ups, self-diagnosing illnesses, frequenting urgent care, or calling their family’s doctor to address their needs.

But digital health offers a potential solution. Millennials are interested in a world where they can text their doctor or Skype with their physical therapist. They wonder why making an appointment isn’t as easy as sending money over Venmo. They marvel at the possibility of swiping a card containing all their health data (like a credit card) at the doctor’s office. They search for apps to help them find the best doctors in the vicinity with reviews from their peers. Millennials ask, “What if, instead of spending that hour waiting to see the doctor,  we went out for a run?” Overall, millennials crave connectivity without having to go through the hassle of trying to connect, and they believe advances in digital health can make such connections  more reliable, accessible, and valuable.

3. Millennials believe that the digital health technologies that focus on personalization hold tremendous value.

Oftentimes, the frustration of health insurance and healthcare providers can leave millennials feeling out of control and discouraged with the system. Conversely, devices that encourage reaching goals and keeping on track make millennials feel like they play an active role in their health. Digital healthcare that gives this sense of control is of great value to millennials. Millennials want digital health to integrate seamlessly into their lives. They want technologies to feel like they were made for them.

As a result, digital health brands that focus on the consumer have a real opportunity to resonate within the millennial market. Millennials are downloading health-tracking apps at rapid rates and searching carefully for the best healthcare suited to their personal needs and lifestyles. In short, millennials care about health. They care about our health and want doctors, insurers, products, and technologies that feel like they care, too. Many also want to be doctors, others work for insurance companies, or aspire to create new technologies that encourage this level of empathy, attention, and care. Because there are so many layers in the healthcare consumer experience, there is a huge opportunity for digital health brands to make an impact by making sure every touchpoint feels focused on the consumer.

4. The future of healthcare hinges on digital technologies, coupled with an empathetic approach.

Millennials see digital health as a way of moving healthcare forward. The industry is full of opportunity and potential. And healthcare technology encourages collaboration amidst the often disparate parts of the healthcare industry. It puts a needed focus on preventative health, enabling individuals to be more proactive about their health. Many millennials believe that the future is a world where all health information will be digitally stored and safely accessible. Data will be in real-time, with constant collection, analysis, and recommendations.

However, some millennials worry that the shift to digital health could mean that personalized healthcare becomes even more dehumanized. This is why so many millennials believe that companies, hospitals, and insurers alike need to restore focus on the person. Empathy is the key here, and millennials believe that successful healthcare is empathetic healthcare. If digital health is used to create, encourage, and manage empathetic healthcare, we will move towards the future in the right way. Brands that innovate with empathy in mind will gain the respect and loyalty of millennials – moving healthcare forward by putting patient care front and center.

This is the sixth installment of “Meaningful Millennials,” our ongoing series where we interview millennials on a variety of subjects that are top of mind for us in the studio.

If you are interested in contributing to next month’s discussion and you are a millennial, please email me at [email protected].

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco branding agency.

What’s the Right Wellness Program for Your Brand?

Posted on by Paige Lansing Valle

The New Rules of Wellness Programs

The EEOC recently issued new rules for employer wellness programs that have made a big splash in the media. With all the recent buzz around wellness, we began thinking about the overall value of these programs and how to build programs, as Obama hopes, that benefit employers and employees alike.

What are the best practices for businesses as they incorporate wellness programs into their benefits packages? How can employers encourage wellness, while simultaneously respecting and protecting individual’s personal privacy and making sure employees never feel discriminated against based on wellness?

Shifting Expectations

In today’s ever-competitive market, employee wellness programs are expected. As a result, businesses everywhere are working to create workplace environments that foster wellness and actually work – benefiting both employees and employers. At their best, these programs can help employees deal with stressful situations, increase productivity, lower overall healthcare costs, increase happiness, and improve long-term health.

The wellness industry is booming. Experts have predicted that health and wellness is the next trillion-dollar industry. Innovative health, fitness, and happiness startups are everywhere. With this influx of health technologies, like wearables and digital health apps that give instant access to health information, people are paying more attention to how they eat, move, work, and feel. And corporate companies everywhere are transforming workplace wellness.

The problem is that wellness as an offering is a tricky business proposition. Wellness means something different to every individual, so an employee wellness program can’t be everything to everyone. It can’t be boiled down to a new health gadget or a one-size-fits-all benefit. Traditional models no longer cut it. In fact, the old models that focused only on physical health and punished employees never produced the benefits employers hoped for.

So how can your business design a wellness program that benefits employers and employees?

Instead of focusing on creating the perfect, optimized system of punishments and rewards meant to cut employer costs, create a wellness program that is:

  1. Flexible: Since every individual is different, the program needs to be able to adapt to different circumstances and changes. A rigid program feels…just that, rigid. Flexibility gives employees the power to shape their own program,  knowing what works for them. And punishing employees does not work. Instead, work to build a program that is accommodating. An employee’s needs will change, and your program needs to have the pliancy to change with them. This kind of flexibility encourages improvement in a more long-term, sustainable manner.
  2. Adaptable: Healthcare has changed drastically in the last decade. Now, 20% of smartphone owners have at least one health-app on their phone. 40% of millennials own a wearable device. Nutrition and exercise are perceived as top influences on health and wellness, and routine healthcare is getting pushed aside by many, especially younger generations. Across the board, people are more concerned with ideas like work-life balance and they worry about stress levels and time spent sitting behind the screen. Trends in wellness will only continue to advance, and companies that embrace these trends and build a workplace geared towards an up-to-date conception of wellness will thrive.
  3. Tailored to the Individual: More and more, people want and expect wellness programs that feel like they were made specifically for them. Empathy plays a large role here. Be human. Make sure your program treats each individual as an individual. By recognizing differences and working to customize programs so they work best for each person, your program and the people within it will flourish. Just as everyone has different work styles, everyone has different wellness styles. Take the steps needed to understand the wellness styles of each individual employee so that you can make your program work for everyone.
  4. A Feedback System: In order to create a flexible, adaptable, and tailored program, you need a feedback loop. Build in consultations, check-ins, goal-creating meetings, or any means by which important questions from employees can be discussed with them. Ask: What do you need? How is this program working for you? What can we do better? How can we help you get the most out of this program? In addition, set up a system for measuring the effectiveness of your program on a higher level. Decide what wellness measurements are important and align with your values, be it productivity, happiness, sick days, etc., and track these measurements so you can see where your program is working and where it is not.

Aligning your wellness program to your brand

If you place your focus on the individual person and their needs, your wellness program will help recruit and retain top employees. Your company will build a program that fosters a culture of wellness in an empathetic way. And happy, productive, healthy, and motivated employees who feel supported by your program will help your business thrive. In the end, your employees’ wellness matters to the success of your business. So make sure your employer brand incorporates a wellness program that is flexible, adaptable, customizable, and open to feedback. And when you do, your brand, your business, and your employees will thrive.

Emotive Brand is San Francisco branding agency.

 

Why Digital Health Brands Need a B2B2C Strategy

Posted on by Paige Lansing Valle

B2B Digital Health Brands

Healthcare brands can never be too sensitive, too thoughtful, or too careful. B2B digital health brands need a brand strategy that addresses the needs and challenges of real people with real health challenges. It’s important to remember that no matter what your company offers, in B2B there’s still a person at the end of the line, not a faceless entity. As consumers have more and more information about healthcare through mobile applications and online resources, the demand for people-centric health brands is becoming stronger by the minute. A B2B2C strategy will make your brand more relevant and meaningful to both the businesses you sell to and the people who ultimately benefit from your product or service.

Build a Persona Map.

Before embarking on any business or brand strategy shift, it’s important to really know who your key audiences are and to be able to prioritize them. Whether you are targeting payers, providers, employers, or consumers, building a persona map helps ensure your brand is relevant to those that are most important to your success. Identify the needs, pain points, motivations, and expectations of the people you need to reach. Although your brand may sell to businesses, there’s a Benefits Manager, a Chief Medical Officer, a VP of Population Health, or Vendor Evaluator you’ll need to create a relationship with in order to be successful. By personifying your target audiences, you might find that their needs aren’t all together that different from those of consumers. Your key audience is likely looking for an effective healthcare solution that’s affordable and easy to use, just like the rest of us. After all, we’re all just people at the end of the day.

You Can’t Be Everything to Everyone.

In digital health, your business clients need to understand both your B2C and B2B value proposition. The business messages need to include things that they care about: return on investment, data capabilities, cloud services, trends, and insights. On the other hand, consumers care more about, and are more focused on the end goal of living a healthier life. Your brand can’t be everything to everyone. A B2B2C brand strategy enables the brand to express its narrative to all audiences in the most appropriate ways.  It uses brand-level messages to speak to the big picture aspirations of people. Meanwhile, your B2B messages become more effective when focused on the product or service offering that your sales team can take to market.

Shift Your Brand Strategy Toward People.

Targeting your brand-level messages on the needs, motivations, and aspirations of people means connecting your brand narrative and visual identity to those people as well. A B2B strategy that focuses on actual people is inherently more meaningful because it empathizes with their real healthcare challenges. B2B brands with a B2B2C strategy create a strong emotional impact and, in turn, are more relevant to the people with the most influence: consumers.

And You’ll Create Value for Businesses AND Consumers.

Remember, in healthcare it’s consumers who call the shots. Whether your organization is offering a digital health software platform, a medical device, healthcare data, an app, or wearable device, it needs to connect with real people. Adapting a B2B2C brand strategy will impact your business by making emotive connections to both the businesses you sell to and the individuals who ultimately choose to use it. By shifting your B2B strategy toward people, you will create a more emotive brand that businesses will latch on to.

Emotive Brand is interested in talking with digital health brands about developing more meaningful brand strategies. If you would like to learn more about our work and experience, contact us here.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco brand strategy firm.