senior care 2.0: your guide to marketing senior services

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Introduction: Senior Care 2.0:

From the ivory tower position, where I have tried tolower it for 40 years or so, I have experienced thedifficulty of preparing “practice oriented administrators”to move out into senior care responsibility positions.College education at its base is an education in abstractthinking. Programs in applied gerontology or programsthat focus upon administrative skills use the internship

experience to prepare our student to actually function ina facility.

As any one knows who operates a program, it is difficultnot lose prespective in any dynamic organization or

program. Day to day stresses of internal and externalforces do not allow the administrator to have a "retreat"

every year to take stack on the progress of one'sorganization.

What is needed is a volume that one can be picked up periodically. Brune, Daehn, Graham and Sperr, allexperience administrators, have put together anentertaining and an easy read. This volume allows the

busy director to set back for 30 minutes to reflect on hisor her activities of the week or month and perhaps adjustdirection.

They deal with such classes issues as mission, producinga quality services, research needs and pitfalls, overloads,

benchmarks, marketing, return on investment and how tokeep quality personnel. Not in great detail which it thevolume strength. Remember this presentation isdesigned to keep you engaged. How? By learning how



Your Guide to Marketing Senior Services

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experienced leaders of senior service things abouttypical issue faced by all administrators.

What is of added importance in this volume? Theauthors all come from a deep moral value base. Theyunderstand the debate about bad capitalism vs goodcapitalism, or why Bill Gates is pushing for a new formof capitalism.They point to the urgent need to rethink all business

practices and more specifically in health and socialservice institutions.

For these authors, a major challenge facing our planet asit warms and fails to create more eguity, is ethic

behavior and the corruption of human souls and dailyliving. Heath care corruption in medical care delivery,

hospice care, home care renal care programs, insuranceindustry are all but examples that this volume addresses.

These authors’s know that the "bottom line" does not tellthe complete story for any society or for any

professional administrator who is also person of faith.

Dr. Stan Ingman, Director – Center for Public andCommunity Service, University of North Texas



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Foreword

Michael Daehn - The Marketing GuyYou are not only reading a book but undergoinga unique experiment in writing and education. Asa marketing professor I felt the 500-pagetextbooks had lots of data; but not much down-to-earth and practical information about

marketing. I decided to develop a simple-to-use book

based on seven foundational principles for being asuccessful marketer. The result was my first book, “TheSeven Keys to Marketing Genius.”

Over the next year, I was approached by somechurches and Christian institutions for marketing help. Inresponse I developed my second book, “Marketing the

Church.” Since the basic principles of marketing stillapplied, I added sections on how churches could applythe marketing information to their unique situation.

Kendall Brune (see “Senior Living Guru”) sawthis application and realized that there is a need for Health Care and Senior Living facilities as well. We metand discussed putting together a dream team of Health

and Senior Living professionals to add their expertise,examples, and case studies of how they have appliedthese marketing principles in their careers.

Working together we have developed a powerfuland necessary tool for anyone entering this field or looking to get a leg up on the competition. I’m sure youwill learn a lot from reading the insights of my co-

authors. I know I have.




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Dr. Kendall Brune - Senior Living Guru

It is frightening to contemplate writing your first book. I would rather tackle the development of a$50 million dollar retirement community than

put pen to paper. However, after Michaelapproached me about or tricked me into,

considering this project. I finally thought, “Why not?” Ihave spent the past 20-years developing new healthcareand retirement communities, turning around poorly run

operations, and shutting down older communities inorder to breathe new life into new healthcarecommunities. I have been on projects for both non-profitand for-profit organizations.

In most cases I have found that employees want to dothe right thing, and that they just need some gentle

direction. Michael challenged me to this task in thisfashion: “If I am a faith-based group that owns a facilityfacing financial viability, how can you help?” Iimmediately think of my “A” team. They are

professionals on whom I can count to get the job done.We all have them! Team members always change,depending on the challenges facing the community. For

marketing and product positioning in the senior healthcare community, Wes Sperr and Michael Grahamare part of my A Team.

It is my hope that this book will provide readers withsome fundamental principles in marketing their facility.In all of my turnarounds, I have found gaps in the

marketing plan if there was one present. To have theseseven basic “Key Principles” developed will positionyour community on a pattern of recovery and growth.



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Throughout each chapter we will share our successesand horror stories of healthcare facility life. I hope anoutcome of this book will be the creation of a blog(weblog, or online journal) to stimulate more sharing of stories. Our times in the pits of facility life seem solonely. It is nice to know that others have been there andnot only survived but thrived!

All facilities have life cycles in the marketing process. This is mostly due to the changing of personnel

and/or ownership of your facility. So the seven keys, or chapters, may be extremely developed or not at all. Your number one job is to assess the facility’s knowledge anddevelopment in each area. Create a “Marketing CarePlan” for your facility. In healthcare, we are great atdeveloping a multi-discipline approach to caring for afrail person. Your facility might be very frail and soon

die if you don’t take action. Use your gift of assessmentto analyze the problems and develop some solutions.

Good luck and happy learning!

Wes Sperr - The Professor

When it comes to communicating a certain product advantage to or for seniors, the first

thing to overcome is the stigma “why should I buy something I really do not want, but may still

require.” The second hurdle to overcome is the perception problem that these items or services are for “seniors” or “old people” (a category of which I amdefinitely not a member, regardless of my actualchronological age). The third concern is the difficulty of

marketing a service or product to someone who may not be the direct end user, such as, a daughter seeking a




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long-term care bed for a parent or a friend or a third party seeking a similar housing situation.

In past years, many long-term care providers sold on the basis of need. They spent minimal effort and money to package the service, product or program because a need- based positioning approach still filled the beds or soldthe product. Little consideration was made for theniceties of customer satisfaction or life cycle of consumer purchasing behaviors. The senior customershad high turnover rates and were not discriminatory

purchasers; on the contrary, they had sacrificed their whole lives and this particular purchase, medical or living experience was just another stepping stone on the

pathway of life.

Thankfully, those days are past and senior choices nowabound. The Baby Boomer generation, known for itshigh expectations, individualistic caterings and historictrend-setting, have now entered a new market niche; thatof senior service purchasers. As owners, administrators,marketing directors and product providers, we need to

present a clear, concise, and compelling message that

reinforces the desires and values of a dramaticallydifferent clientele base.

Those who respond successfully to this immensechallenge will find the new era very rewarding. Thosewho remain in the past will find that their services,

products and situations will no longer be necessary. Our

purpose in this writing is to encourage thoughtfulexcellence, distinctive product choices, andcommunication that not only addresses the facts of asituation or product, but also speaks to the heart and



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emotions of both the decision maker and the end user.When this standard is reached, the specific merits of any

product or service rises above the competition and becomes the benchmark by which all similar products or services are judged.

Mike Graham - Health Marketing Maestro

For the past 15-years, I have seen many changes in thelong-term care industry. When it comes to marketing for

assisted living, retirement or nursing homes, thelong-term care industry has struggled to find itsniche. If you are going to be successful inmarketing, then you need a book that will takeyou on this journey. This journey will provide

you with a map, tools and all the necessary equipment tosucceed. Michael Daehn has assembled a team of

experts that includes owners, administrators andmarketing professionals who have dug the trenches andweathered many storms in the ever-so-volatile healthcareindustry.

For years, I have been asked by those entering thefield if there was a book, a guide, to lay the foundationfor marketing long-term care facilities. Many

newcomers get frustrated because what works in someindustries doesn’t seem to fit the long-term careindustry. They overlook the solid principles of customer service, positioning and sales. They make the fatalmistake of not planning. Instead newcomers oftenshadow their competition and try to stay one step aheadof them. Instead of establishing a pricing strategy that

works for the customers, newcomers often continue tooperate “in the box” and wonder why their revenuenever increases. Many others operate from the “strategy




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of the month club” to see what new programs they canmodify for their residents and families. Yes, there arethose that still believe that purchasing a state-of-the-art

bird aviary will increase their census. What happened?Where did things go off course? Where is the planning?

Social workers, activity directors, and therapistshave all been thrust into the marketing role by ownersand administrators to sustain the “optimum occupancy.”

Marketing has been confused with public relations andthe essence of planning and strategizing has gone by thewayside. Administrators and managers have created ateam of people who march out to hospitals bearing giftsof cookies, mugs and pens. They call this marketing. Notonly does this not produce results, but it gets awfulcrowded on that hospital floor with all the competitors.

What is missing in all this?I never thought I would be involved in creating a

book that outlines the simple principles in marketing.The Seven Keys to Marketing Genius will take youthrough a step-by-step journey into the minds of healthcare professionals. It includes proven techniques,strategies and ideas that will guide you step by step

along the way. Marketing professionals are thirsting for a back-to-basics course that clearly defines the role of marketing and creates a workable strategy to achievesuccess. This book is a must-read for anybody thinkingof marketing in the healthcare industry.



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Introduction

So you want to be a marketing genius? It is not as

difficult as some say, and you are well on your waysince you are reading this book. “The Seven Keys toMarketing Genius,” is certain to increase your marketingIQ whether you are a seasoned professional or a

beginner. There are more approaches to marketing thanChristian churches have denominations. In the case of churches, each denomination holds certain principlesand beliefs in common; that is what makes themChristian. In the same way, there are certain principlesthat are always involved in the process of marketing.This book will lay the foundation for sound marketingstrategy, while at the same time challenging commonassumptions. It can be fun to take a rebellious approach,

but you have to know the rules before you can break them. So keep reading.Many marketing books jump right into the

promotion process, with detailed instructions on how to broadcast the marketing message. The problem with thatapproach is that if you are sending out the wrongmessage, it will not only be ineffective but also be

counterproductive. That is why this book begins withcreating a sound strategy upon which to base the

promotion process.Because what you are communicating is so

important, this book starts with defining the messagethat you are going to broadcast. Key 1: Find Your

Advantage outlines a process for determining what

advantage your product has over the competition.Having an advantage is core to competing today.However, without the right team in place to promote the




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message, long-term success is doubtful. Key 2: DefineYour Purpose helps you set a direction for your company and your product. Once you know where thecompany is going, Key 3: Create an Image describes the

process of communicating an identity and brand to thetarget audience. The nuts and bolts process of getting themessage across to consumers is laid out in Key 4:

Implement Promotions. Key 5: Build Relationships tellsyou how to sustain long-term success and establish

protected relationships with customers. To gauge theeffectiveness of your marketing efforts, you must use Key 6: Gather Feedback. Since our world is in constantflux, it is necessary to use Key 7: Adjust to Changes inorder to remain competitive in the marketplace.

I hope this book will give you a grasp of the big picture and define a format for thinking about the

marketing process. Once you understand the form, Ihope you are bold enough to demonstrate your freedomto customize, tweak and bend the rules to suit your

purposes. What you do with the information is moreimportant than remembering a list of facts. As Einsteinsaid, “Imagination is greater than memory.” “The Seven

Keys to Marketing Genius” is a springboard to

increasing your marketing IQ. These concepts areintended to provide fertile soil in your mind in hopes thatyour own unique ideas will germinate and grow into thenext marketing revolution.



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Key 1: Find Your Advantage

All marketing focuses on communicating tocustomers the advantage of your product over thecompetition. To compete in the marketplace, you mustfind what your company or organization offers better

than the competition. What unique competitiveadvantage do you offer? What are the distinctivecompetencies that separate you from the pack? AStrength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT)analysis will help you find your advantage.

Kendall

Every facility or community that I was called upon toconsult or operate had a unique product. If you have

been in the long-term care business for long, youknow what I mean. I have worked for more than19 facilities (on purpose if you can imaginethat!) and every one had a different personality.Oh yes, there were some similarities, but the

residents, their families and the communities they servedmorphed them into something unique.




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The first challenge is to engage this uniqueness and seeif it can be marketed. Sometimes it hasn’t any advantageand really does the major problem need to be stoppedand redirected immediately. Remember, I said that I wasa turnaround administrator, so this was always my firstorder of business.

Many of you have heard about the “EdenAlternative™” program that received nationalrecognition for its progressive care for the elderly. I hadthe fortune of being part of the research team at theUniversity of Missouri to publish Dr. William Thomas’work in a book sponsored by “Project Life.” Dr.Thomas was a medical director at a healthcare facility inrural New York. He hated going to the nursing home tosee his patients. It wasn’t his patients that bothered him

but rather the gloomy living environment. Fortunately,his wife was the speech therapist in one particular facility and wanted to experiment with how residentsverbally responded in the presence of animals. Theresidents loved their new animal friends. The rest ishistory. The point is that this facility was no differentthan the hundreds of thousands of nursing homes out

there, except that it found a new niche. Families began toflock to this facility, no pun intended, to get on thewaiting list. The staff didn’t change, but the environmentdid. The new “Eden™” culture changed the staff’s

behavior over time.

I visited Dr. Thomas in New York twice to see his

work firsthand and it amazed me so much that I wascertified as an “Eden Alternative™” Administrator,empowered to change the industry. What I found out



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was that animals, plants or children are viewed muchdifferently in every facility. That’s because “culturally”every facility is part of a larger community. Facilitiesnaturally become a close unit of similar people.However, we are not identical. Our residents might havesimilar ages or genders, but they are part of a web of lifetied to the outside world.

Look around your facility. Does it reflect thelifestyles of the greater community? Are the residents

blending in comfortably or are they uncomfortable intheir surroundings? I remember one operator whoremodeled every facility in the same fashion. When Iwent to their home, it looked just like our facilities. Theonly problem was that we struggled with census in everyfacility. The only facility that was doing well was the

one in the owner’s community, which reflected their history and taste. Spend some time with your residentsand their immediate families to see what values theyshare with your facility. It will be an eye- openingexperience! A word of advice, though. Don’t make toomany promises if the list of changes is too long. Mostfamilies are feeling guilty enough placing their loved

one in your facility, so be prepared for complaints.

The “Town Hall Meeting” forum is a good time touse the SWOT analysis. Place the residents and their family’s comments on a wipe board in the SWOTquadrants. These meetings must be facilitated by anoutsider in order to move them along. Your strengths

will surface quickly in this setting. They can’t become“gripe” sessions for one family. Those issues should bedealt with an administrator or director of nursing.




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Take those strengths and creatively script talking pointsfor your tours and marketing presentations to familiesand referring professionals. You will be selling thestrengths of the facility as developed by your customers.

Nothing is easier to sell!

In my educational experience, this type of SWOT process assisted in creating a “Value Chain” analysis. Itis briefly described below.

Every stakeholder (someone who has an interestor stake in the care provided) has an expectation of care.However, their knowledge, values, backgrounds andcommunication styles are all different. As marketing

professionals, you have to unlock or decipher the

cultural language or community value systems to break the code. Each time you drill into the customer’s values,you move closer to a product that is hard to replicatewith some other provider.

As you develop your value-driven, code-breakingtalents, I hope you will come across some “Aha’s.”

These are the true marketing pearls that take your facility into the niche that is hard to duplicate. For example I once turned around a facility in a rural

FacilityExpectations

FamilyExpectations

ResidentExpectations



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community. I had successfully introduced the Edenconcepts of self staffing, animals and plant life into arural farming community facility. It was natural fit for this small and well connected facility. Unfortunately,the facility was suffering from poor management andmany federal deficiencies. When I took over the facilityit was on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for poor care. As we introduced the “Eden Alternative™”

principles, through Town Hall meetings, I found that

many of my families had competed in state fair and 4-Hcompetitions.First Aha:

The residents and families embraced Eden and off we ran together. Five weeks later, the federal and statesuveyors commented that the differences in resident lifewere amazing and the deficiencies were removed. And

yes, we made it into St. Louis Post-Dispatch again. Thistime, however, we were on the back page and theheadlines read, “ Facility in Trouble Now Goes to the

Dogs!” Not exactly what I wanted to say…but it gaveus our community pride and niche!

Second Aha:

I was convinced that since “Eden Alternative TM”had worked at a rural nursing home, it would work evenmore in a larger LTC community. So much for thinking!Fortunately, I kept the Town Hall model of pulling outinformation from my immediate community and thenfrom the community at large. I was gatheringinformation for my SWOT analysis but implementing

programs before I knew my community. This newgroup of residents and families was from a universitycommunity and not interested in the care of animals.




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After I tried to push them into their laps a resident took atoy stuffed dog, tied a rope around its neck, and hang itfrom my door knob. That was a pretty strong message!What this community of residents represented was manycivic and business leaders trapped within failing bodies.They wanted to still have a voice within their “larger”community. So we set out to define how our facilitycould meet this need and build a niche for our marketing.

First, the residents wanted to elect alderman torepresent each hallway. Then they elected a mayor andcity administrator. An agenda was set and the “ResidentCouncil” was to be a body that reported lifestyle issuesto their elected officials. These residents (and families)were empowered to fight for their voice. The first rule of

business was to develop some by-laws, community

organization and then community connectivity. Now, Idon’t know about you, but my degree in healthcareadministration never prepared me to run a citygovernment. What happened next was amazing. Theelected officials (residents) wrote a letter to the cityofficials and invited them to talk to our new communitygovernment! The city mayor responded and the

residents were EMPOWERED!!! Now, how does this translate into a marketing niche?Third Aha:

I received a call one day at this facility from agentleman whose mother was in the hospital with a

broken hip. He was a city development officer for a

major western city. He had called the city chamber andcommunity development folks for a referral. He wassurprised at their response. All of them said how“dynamic” this facility was in its approach to resident



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care. He called and asked what kind of program we wererunning. Who was our consultant? And, how did we getthis kind of response in only six months of operation?Oh yeah, we were filled in 96 days (120 beds).

He traveled out to our town to personally admithis mother to our facility. We weren’t the fanciest placein town, but it was lively. This is the best type of marketing at any facility. Get the stakeholders to boastabout your facility. Remember, people have a hard time

judging the medical care we provide. They can easily judge how we meet their caring values and personaldynamics.

Wes Senior adult consumers live in a dichotomy of wanting

things to get better, while still remaining thesame, at least as they envision it. Senior care

product and service providers need to identifywith their consumers and declare if they are

creating an advantage through; doing the same thing better, doing the same thing as it’s remembered,

doing the same thing more conveniently, or doing something radical by fulfilling unmet needs

that have always been a problem, have never beenaddressed, or maybe even by presentingsomething new that expands their horizons.

A level of success can be achieved by finding and

exploiting your particular niche. A product or service provider need not try to be all things to all people because that will merely dilute any perceived advantagethey may have. A focused approach on a handful of




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specific distinctions will help both the consumer and thestaff to realize the specific advantage you may have over your competitors. It will help clarify the message youwant to communicate.

This is born out by those facilities that identifywith a specific denomination, university or hospital for their client base. Life is good as long as the parentorganization’s reputation and membership volume issufficient to support the facility. Those county- or community-based facilities that have more of ageographic draw must make a careful choice to appeal tothe local neighborhood or else create a new “distinctiveniche” that would draw from a much broader spectrumand result in the facility becoming a “destinationlocation.” The facility then will drive people to go

beyond their normal geographic purchasing circle.

Among those distinctions may be: The availability of inpatient or outpatient

rehabilitation therapy center services, The availability of private rooms within the facility, A higher level of nursing hours per patient for hands-

on care, The use of more RN’s on the floor for all shifts An increase in safety through the use of special

lifting devices, The ability, through special training or equipment, to

care for certain types of patients, e.g., Alzheimer’s, bariatric, wound center, or other special need

patients, The acceptance of special types of payment sources

like VA, Medicare and Medicaid,



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The special recreational and activity opportunitiesavailable at your facility,

The statistical significance of a quicker return-to-home and the expected possibility of remaining athome after completing a prescribed therapy regimenat the facility,

The affiliation of the nursing or assisted livingfacility with a larger senior housing campus,

The close proximity of your facility to other services

or enrichment opportunities, The spaciousness of your facility units, The length of continuous service to the community or

heritage of the facility, The perceived strength of contracting with a

reputable management company.

There are times when our distinctives are readilyapparent. Other times, it may take creative packaging toachieve an advantage among a field of equals. It is up tothe facility to set the stage. An individual consumer of senior products and services is usually embarking intonew territory and needs help in discerning the proper

choices for their specific situation.

SWOT (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunity/Threats)

When I suggest organizations perform a SWOTanalysis, they usually confuse me with the exterminator.However, the SWOT analysis process is not about

swatting insects but about finding the advantage of anorganization or a particular product. SWOT is anacronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.




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A SWOT analysis is best performed before goingto market with a product or developing a new businessenterprise. If there is no competitive advantage then it isnot likely the company will be sustainable. Many of today’s most successful companies had every piece of strategy written on paper before laying a single brick. Itis better to see on paper whether a business is viable

before investing valuable time, money and other resources.

Generally, companies start off in a haphazardfashion and get to a point where they decide to get moreorganized. They hire a consultant who recommendsgoing through the process of a SWOT analysis. There ismuch more at risk for these existing organizations. Whatif they discover they have no real competitive advantagein the market? For these organizations, a SWOT

analysis can be a nerve-wracking experience because somuch is at stake. Should they close up shop and go homeif they don’t find a competitive advantage? Maybe. Or they might decide to shift their strategy to one better suited to their skills. The good news is that manydiscover, or rediscover, why they have been able tocompete to date. The SWOT analysis helps them regain

their focus and concentrate on their core competencies.For those new to the SWOT analysis, a good

exercise is to perform a personal analysis to determineyour individual strengths, weaknesses, opportunities andthreats. If you are starting a new company, it is useful toanalyze an organization with which you are extremely

familiar. This helps you become comfortable with the process.

As you can see, a SWOT analysis can be done onmany levels. A SWOT analysis may be performed for an



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individual, organization or corporation. Certainly, whenconsidering a new product launch, you should use this

process for the product itself. In this section I amreferring to creating a SWOT analysis for anorganization.

SWOT your competition with a marketing strategy based on your competitive advantage

Implementing a SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis can be done on many levels. Inmy role as a university professor, I have my students

perform a personal SWOT in order to get a grasp on theconcept. They list their individual strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and threats. I then take them through the process for their school as a whole. I ask for input fromthe whole class and write their answers on thewhiteboard. In organizations that have differentdepartments, I advise having each department perform aSWOT, as well as a SWOT for the whole organization.

When creating a SWOT, it is best to get all thestakeholders into a room and create the SWOT together on a whiteboard. For larger organizations when this isnot possible, distribute questionnaires to all thestakeholders. Gather the information and create ananalysis based on their feedback. A combinationapproach involves giving questionnaires to all

stakeholders and then getting team leaders and managersinto a room to create a final version based on feedback from the managers and the other stakeholders’ input.




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To begin the SWOT analysis, gather informationfrom as many stakeholders of the company as possible.Stakeholders are any persons who have an interest inseeing the company succeed. This includes owners,managers, employees, partners and key customers. Onceyou have identified the stakeholders, present each with aSWOT questionnaire. Next, we condense all their inputinto a master analysis.

The SWOT analysis begins by having

stakeholders list the strengths of the organization. Theseare internal elements that are positives for theorganization. Things like products, people, and corporateculture are all strengths. Being first to market with a

product, having a well-trained staff, and organizationalalignment with mission are all strengths.

Next, dig deep and honestly consider the

weaknesses of the company. Even the strongestorganization has weaknesses. It is better to be aware of these weaknesses and address them in the proper manner; otherwise they will fester in the backgrounduntil they eventually take over and destroy the positives.Weaknesses are internal elements that are negatives for the organization. Weaknesses can be people, products

and corporate culture. Being last to market, a poorlytrained staff and organizational misalignment are allweaknesses. Have participants write as manyweaknesses as possible, but try to get at least five before

proceeding.Typically companies have two extremes when

completing this portion. Either the participants are naïveand over-positive, or pessimistic and negative. Neither isconducive to a productive analysis. Every company hasa weak flank; it is best to understand vulnerabilities and



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take necessary precautions. On the other hand, do notallow this to become a gripe session where everydisgruntled member of the company can complain. Makesure to bring forth realistic and useful information thatcan help the corporation create an action plan to succeedin the future.

The next letter of SWOT stands for the O inopportunity, but we will come back to these at the endand skip to the threats for now. Threats are external and

negative environmental factors beyond the control of thecompany. The word threat connotes fear, as well itshould, because these external elements have the

potential to kill your company. Competition, changingconsumer tastes, and copies of your product by othersare all examples of a threat. Be honest: what threatensthe livelihood of your company?

Talk of weaknesses and threats can leave youfeeling deflated. Now is the time to turn that frownupside down and look at the many opportunities affordedthe company. Opportunities are positives that can resultfrom being proactive, capitalizing on the listed element.Go back to the list of strengths, weaknesses, and threatsand decide how each can be a positive opportunity. This

is an easy task for the strengths but is more difficult withthe weaknesses and threats, so you will have to becreative. For example, how can lack of training be anopportunity? The company can train its people the

proper way without their having to loose a great deal of historical information.




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SWOT Analyzing Inside the Outdoors

When I was contacted by Inside the Outdoors to

do some marketing consulting, the first thing we did was perform a SWOT analysis. Inside the Outdoors is awonderful program affiliated with the Orange CountyDepartment of Education that provides school-agechildren with hands-on environmental educationexperiences. The organization comprises three programs.The Outdoor Science School program places students in

a camp setting for a week to get them immersed in anenvironmental learning experience. The Field Program

provides field trips to local harbors, beaches and parks.This allowed students to participate in an outdoor classroom for the day. The Traveling Naturalists

program takes the outdoors to the students by bringing avan full of animals to local schools for assemblies.

I met with the leaders of the individual programsto create a SWOT for the whole organization. They weregiven the SWOT form to fill out before the meeting.There was some difficulty and confusion during the

process around whether their answers should concernInside the Outdoors as a whole, or their individual

programs. We decided to create a SWOT for the wholeof Inside the Outdoors because the marketing plan thatwas being created was for the organization as a whole. Irecommended that it would be beneficial for the various

programs within Inside the Outdoors (and I recommendthe same for any organization with subprograms or departments) to create a SWOT and a marketing plan for

each of the programs at a later date. One of the side benefits of the process was that the leaders felt as if theywere all a part of the same team for the first time. Theyrealized that their resources, goals and identity were



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interdependent on the other programs. Inside theOutdoors had so many strengths that choosing a

particular one to promote was difficult. In the end, wedecided the hands-on approach to education was their distinct competitive advantage.

Competitive Advantage

What sets your company apart? What areas are

unique and cannot be easily copied? This is a crucialdiscovery for organizations. Your competitive advantageis what sets you apart and makes up the message that is

broadcast through the integrated marketingcommunication process. This is where the rubber meetsthe road. You should come to one of three conclusions:

1. There are things about the company that are

unique and not easily duplicated, and are better than the competition.

2. The company is just like their competition, no- better, no-worse.

3. The company is worse than the competition.Take a deep breath and go back to the list of

strengths on the SWOT analysis to determine what itemsare distinctive to the company. When determining thecompetitive advantage of the company, I caution you toavoid basing it on a supposedly unique product. It isvery difficult to have a sustained competitive advantage

based on a product in our modern technological age. Inthe past, a technological innovation on a product could

give a company the advantage for decades becauseothers were not able to copy the product easily. Todaysuccessful products can be, and often are, copied in amatter of weeks if not days. Many software applications




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are copied (though not necessarily legally) almostimmediately. For these reasons, it is very difficult, if notimpossible, to hold a competitive advantage based ontechnology or a technologically superior product. For these reasons there has been a shift to the intangibleelements of customer service and other value-addedcomponents dominating the marketplace. Competitiveadvantages today are usually based on service,reputation and longevity.

First to Market

Being first to market with a new product can provide a sustainable competitive advantage whenmarketed properly. This may sound like a contradictionto the paragraph above, but it is not. Being first to

market with a product can establish the image of the brand in the mind of consumers ( Key 3). Thecompetitive advantage is the identification of thecompany as the originator of the product and not the

product itself. Rollerblade was the first inline skatecompany and is synonymous with the product. All other inline skates are copies of Rollerblades in the minds of

consumers.By being first to market, a company has the

opportunity to establish itself as the originator and to paint all competitors as copycats with inferior products.They also have the ability to be the first to createrelationships with customers ( Key 5). If you are first tomarket, concentrate on establishing a brand image ( Key

3) and building relationships with customers ( Key 5). Donot promote that no one else has anything like your

product because tomorrow there will be a copy.




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about 12 tire stores within a five-mile radius of myhouse. I am going to go to a retail location where all myneeds are met, including my need for civility andcourteousness from the sales staff.

No Advantage

If you find no unique strength(s) for your company or product then there is no competitiveadvantage. If this is true in your case, I recommend you

do not spend any more time, money or other resources indevelopment. Either find a way to differentiate or findanother way to make a living. Fortunately there is theability to add value through great service and by creatingand sustaining relationships with customers ( Key 5).

If this is true, why are there so many companies

out there that are doing the exact same thing as their competition yet continue to exist? Some companieshave found a way to communicate a unique market

position to their customers, even if it is only a matter of perception. Some have great relationships with existingcustomers and are subsisting on their patronage. For others, it is just a matter of time until a shake-out

narrows the field and puts them out of business, aswitnessed by the demise of thousands of mediocreInternet companies in 2000.

To use scientific terms, “only the strong survive,”so a thinning of the herd will take place sooner or later.Science also teaches us that only one species at a timecan occupy a particular niche. The same is true in

business. If you do not have a competitive advantagethen you will not survive.



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Mike

Restaurants do a great job of identifying their products.Many of them have mastered the art of customer service.

Hotels have long been into customer service, butnow many of them are scrambling to findanother advantage. Why has it taken hospitalsand nursing homes so long to discover that goodcustomer service will enhance any product? The

process is simple but we tend to overcomplicate the

training and never get the desired results. I recentlystayed in an averaged-price hotel. Upon my arrival to theroom, there was a message blinking on the phone. I wasamazed that somehow someone had already tracked medown and left a message. When I played the message, itwas the manager welcoming me to the hotel andexplaining all the benefits of the hotel. He also stated

that if I needed anything, just look for the bald headedman walking around the hotel. Wow, that’s customer service.

I remember selling retirement condos for a small chain.The current reality was nine vacant condos, and theowners wanted them sold quickly. There was a couple

who wanted to relocate rather quickly and was veryinterested in one of the condos. They wanted to make

sure that everything was ready for them when theymoved into their unit. I spent hours building trust and overcoming objections but could not get them to finalizethe deal. It occurred to me that they needed additional

service to make their move. I had spent so much time

with them that they gave me a list of things for the condoto purchase. Because I listened to their needs they

entrusted me with their credit card to purchase many of




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the items. I went as far as having a refrigerator delivered and an ice maker installed. The coupleliterally moved into a situation where they did not haveto do anything to feel at home. Good customer service!

You bet! I sold all nine condos in six months.

Customer service is such an intangible product thatmany facilities overlook the concept. It takes countlesshours of teaching and training, good solid leadership anda commitment from management to provide an ongoing

program. When done right, this can give you the mustneeded edge to trump your fiercest competitor.

Only One

Do not panic if you find only one unique strengththat can be considered a competitive advantage. Be

thankful you have one at all. Many find through this process that they have none. There is the threat of thecompetition catching up to you when you only have onearea of expertise, but marketing a company or product isactually simplified by having one dominant advantageinstead of trying to communicate multiple messages atthe same time.

Some companies find that they began bycapitalizing on a unique strength but have since strayedaway from their original competitive advantage. Thisloss of focus on their core will catch up with thecompany. Companies cannot keep their position in themarket without maintaining a competitive advantage,even if they are able to survive for a time on the returns

from earlier success.In one case I facilitated a SWOT analysis for a

private university. The school is located in the heavily



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populated Orange County area of Southern California.We determined that one of the distinct strengths theschool had over the competition was the location of thecampus on a beautiful green hill away from thecongestion of the surrounding cities. Comparableschools in the area were located in the middle of busystreets and intersections. Few others had the sameamount of green space as this university. For thecompetition to copy the advantage of this university,

they would have to purchase and tear down neighboringcommercial areas and turn them into grassy knolls. Thisis a difficult if not impossible proposition for them,which makes this feature a distinct competitiveadvantage for the university. Right now the university isin the process of developing much of the green spaceand putting up new buildings. While the university has

other strengths and advantages, I am curious to see howthis will affect their ability to compete in the future

because they are removing one of their onlyirreplaceable and irreproducible competitive advantages.

Mike

In order to identify a product or service in your facility,

you must first look at your USP or “unique selling principle.” Every facility has one or can create a process to identify it. Simply put, this is whatmakes your facility different from thecompetitions. It could be transportation, customer

service or any other product. Before we go any further we need to look at the products that relate to the long-

term care industry. The long-term care industry has three basic products: Nursing Homes, Assisted Living andRetirement Centers. The nursing home product is based




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on medical and nursing care. There is also a hugeemphasis on rehabilitation. Assisted living requires someassistance with the activities of daily living. Retirementis unrestricted independent care. For us to be successfulin the industry, we need to sell only one product at atime. The one mistake most people make is lumping allthe products together in an advertisement or brochureand then wonder why they have no results. Think aboutit: not one person comes to your facility needing all three

of these products.

Inside these products are sub-products to sell.Housekeeping, Nutrition, Activities, Transportation;these are all products that, when enhanced, candifferentiate you from your competition. How, where,and why it is different will give you the competitive

edge. Let’s look at an example.

I was working with a rural facility that told me theydidn’t have any unique products in their facility. Theybasically were convinced that they were no different

from their competition—the basic services were the same. Once we sat down as a group, we determined that

they provided transportation for residents who needed dialysis. Their closest competitor used their van only for activities. What was created was a transportation

service for residents to and from the dialysis center. It

made it easier for the hospital to refer patients becauseit was exactly what they needed to facilitate thedischarge.

Once you complete your analysis and identify your USP,you can create a 90-day vision map to help youaccomplish your goals. I have spent many hours working



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with facilities on moving this process of planningforward by creating a mapping system. This processrequires the cooperation of management to bringtogether all the department heads, to look at the currentreality of the situation, and then to map out a plan toreach the desired goal. It may look something like this:

The results from your satisfaction surveys just cameback and have shown that satisfaction levels are far below expectations. The surveys state that families and residents are not satisfied with the food, and it has beenreported that the staff is rude and not attentive to the

residents’ needs. The current reality is a 75 percent overall satisfaction. The goal is to have a 90 percent

satisfaction survey in 90- days. In a group setting, eachdepartment head is required to come up with three

things to improve overall satisfaction. If there are 10department heads, you now have thirty ideas to developa plan to improve customer service. You will be amazed

at the enthusiasm this will create from your leaders. Younow have a 90-day vision map to improve overall

satisfaction. This can work with any product that needsimprovement.

Perceived Value and the Quality Myth

Many people try to compete on either price or quality. Their advertising touts their product as the low

price leader or the best quality available. These are bothambiguous descriptions that have little rational value. It

is not wise to base your marketing message on either of these. Price, as we will discuss later in the text, is not acompetitive advantage because it can be copied easilyand almost immediately. Your competition need only




34

match your price and your perceived price advantagewill vanish.

Why wouldn’t quality be a competitiveadvantage? The reason is that quality is relative,subjective and determined by the consumer. Ask fivefriends what constitutes quality, and they will usuallygive you different answers. What you are promoting asquality may not mean the same thing to your customer.

Wes

Because much of senior marketing is based onhealthcare needs and much of our healthexperience is based upon individual definitions or reality of health, perceptions can sometimes bemore critical than reality.Statements overheard include:

“Don’t tell me I’m not in pain; it still hurts!”

“You obviously have insufficient staff. I’ve beenwaiting for hours since I pushed my call button”

“This food is the worst I’ve ever eaten!” “I know I selected that entrée, but it doesn’t look

or smell good to me now.” “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to take care of

myself again, so why should I even try.” “My family and friends never visit me. I might as

well be dead.” “I couldn’t possibly live in a place like this. It’s

too small, or it’s too full of old people.” “I’m not old enough to be in a place like this.”

Merely responding to a stated need or perception mayimprove customer satisfaction levels and might improvemarket share. How much better is it to anticipate in



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advance perceived needs and desires, and then meetthose needs before they even become issues? Some of the best hotels use focus groups and staff training toidentify distinctions. They then communicate to thecustomer how they anticipated and either met their needs, or presented several options from which thecustomer can choose to meet their own expectations.A facility or community that meets the perceived needsand provides a variety of choices will likely separate

itself from the roster of good choices and become thebest choice.

Learn From Coca- Cola TM

In the 1980’s Coca-Cola TM was winning the colawars. They were dominating Pepsi TM in sales and things

looked good. The new CEO of Coke wanted to gofurther. What bothered him was that Pepsi consistently beat Coke TM in blind taste tests. The CEO reasoned thatthis was because Pepsi TM had a better quality product. Ithink he was right. If tests of what people prefer basedon how the cola tastes is a measure of quality, Pepsi was

better. The CEO decided to do something to improve the

quality of his product. His answer was New Coke, whichwas a copy of the sweeter, less carbonated taste of Pepsi

TM .The result was a tremendous backlash from the

Coke faithful. Consumers were disgusted with Coke for changing the recipe they had loved for years. Cases of old Coke were being auctioned like fine vintage wine.

The CEO wisely gave in and brought back the oldformula as Classic Coke TM . New Coke seems to havedisappeared since then, and all that is available is Classic




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Coke TM , now called just Coke again. This illustrates the point that New Coke was better in physical quality, as proven by taste tests, than Classic Coke, but ClassicCoke was perceived as being the original and thereforeof higher quality. Quality is in the mind of the consumer.

Define Quality

The word quality is used so much in the

marketplace that it no longer has significant meaning.Everyone claims that they are high quality. Pleaseunderstand I am not saying that an inadequate productwill work. Your product must live up to the promises itmakes. If you say your product kills athlete’s foot, your

product needs to deliver. Besides the threat of potentiallawsuits, people will catch on to the validity, or lack

thereof, of your claims. A problem occurs whencompanies say they provide quality without definingwhat they mean. It is generally assumed by consumersthat you are making the best product you can.

I usually come across this problem whendeveloping mission statements with businesses. Iworked with a restaurant that wanted to make “providing

quality” part of their mission. Sounds nice, but how doyou really provide quality? I pressed for answers andfound they meant “treating customers and co-workerswith respect in a clean and family-orientedenvironment.” These specific descriptions of quality areeasier to measure and to communicate to customers.



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Quality Pattern

While individual definitions of quality differ,

there is a pattern to buyer behavior. In general, whatever is the leader in a category is perceived as being of quality. In other words, whatever sells the most isusually seen as being the real thing or the name brand.Others are seen as imitations or copies, and therefore asnot as good as the original. Even if the products are

identical in every other way, imitators are perceived ashaving less quality.




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Tagline

The tagline is a distillation of the competitiveadvantage into a single word or sentence. The taglinewill appear on every piece of promotional andorganizational communications material. For the taglineto be effective, it must reinforce the unique competitiveadvantage of the company. A simple and easy toremember tagline is best. Try to use literary tools like

rhyming and alliteration. It is also helpful if the taglineclarifies the purpose of the business when the name doesnot clearly do so. The purpose is to get the company’scompetitive advantage stuck in the heads of customers.The more complex and convoluted the tagline, the lesslikely this will happen.

Many taglines do nothing to clarify the advantage

of the company. Nike TM says to “Just Do It.” Just dowhat? And what does this have to do with their advantage? Why is this company a better choice for meas a consumer than their competitors? The answer to allthese questions is “I don’t know.” I don’t think theycould tell me why they are better if I asked the CEOhimself, probably because they have not gone through

the SWOT process. That’s great if you have a fewhundred million dollars a year to spend on advertising tokeep your company in the mind of the consumer, butmost companies don’t have such resources. Nike TM is amajor market force today, but they are weak on this

point of promoting their competitive advantage. A savvy

marketer could give a competitor a way to overtake theshoe giant and give Nike TM a run for its money (punintended).



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Get Your Hands on Nature

In the case of the Inside the Outdoors SWOTanalysis, we discovered that the distinct strength of the

program is the unique hands-on science education thattakes place in the various programs. After taking theorganization through the SWOT analysis andrecognizing this advantage, we determined a goodtagline would be “Get Your Hands on Nature.” It is

simple, easy to remember, and captures the essence of the program. Another positive is that this is not atypically passive tagline, but one that calls for action.

What and Why

Completing the SWOT analysis provides an

organization with an assessment of the potential for success. It is best to do all of this on paper beforeinvesting time or money. Smart new companies todayhave everything planned on paper before a single brick is laid. The SWOT analysis illuminates the competitiveadvantage of the organization, which provides a basis for

all marketing activities. Once you have discovered your advantage or the “what,” you must now determine your purpose or the “why” of the organization by definingyour purpose.




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Key 2: Define Your Purpose

Why are you in business? What are you trying toachieve? How will you measure your success? Answering these questions is vital to defining your purpose and Key 2

will help you get started.

Mission

The overarching purpose of an organization isdescribed in its mission statement. The mission is the

most important strategic element of any organization. Itis also one of the most overlooked and misunderstood. Amission statement defines the “raison d’être” of thecompany. The mission gives purpose and meaning todaily activities. A mission statement is to a company as athesis is to an essay. Neither makes sense without a clear statement as to what is to be accomplished. In a well-

written essay, every sentence supports the thesis. Thethesis of this book is that there are seven keys tomarketing success. Every sentence is written in support



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of this thesis. In the same way, every activity of acompany should be in concert with the missionstatement. The mission clearly defines for allstakeholders what the company is striving to achieve.

The mission is a filter for every decision made,from banal details to watershed movements. “Does thisfulfill the mission?” should be the question everyoneasks when making decisions that affect the organization.Some mission statements are several pages long, while

others are just a word. Here are some helpful guidelinesfor creating a mission statement:

• Make it memorable. It may be great, but if peoplecan’t remember it, the words are useless. In mostcases, brevity is more effective than complexity.

• Make it relevant. If it does not connect with the

various stakeholders of the organization, peoplewill likely ignore it.

• Make it theirs. You must get input from as many people as possible or they will not buy into themission. Remember this axiom: “involvementequals commitment.”

I recommend that people create a personal missionstatement for themselves before going through the

process of helping to create one for their organization for two reasons. First, people then have a better understanding of the process and the value of creating amission. Second, they will be able to determine whether their personal values are in alignment with those of theorganization.




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Mike

Unless your mission is established by a

corporation or past company philosophy, understandingwhat the long-term care industry is all about can be quite confusing. So much of it is defined bythe negative images that are portrayed in themedia and by the public. Here are few examplesto drive home my point. On Dec 3, 1992, the

front page of the Wall Street Journal read: “Older people

do anything to avoid life in a Nursing Home.” Some 20-years ago, groups were calling nursing homeswarehouses and dumping grounds for the dying. In theUnited States today, 30 percent would rather die thanend up in a nursing home. More than 3,000 patientssuffering from diseases ranging from acute respiratory toadvanced lung cancer responded to a UCLA School of

Medicine survey. Thirty percent said they would rather die than go to a nursing home, and 26 percent said theywere unwilling to go. The rest said they would consider going or didn’t know. How do you market a product thatcomes with so much negativity?

While there are many good things that can happenin a nursing home, negativity still has a hold. How canyou define your positive mission statement in such anegative environment? I have read many missionstatements; some were good, some were not so good.Many of them stated the same theme of “providingquality care in a home-like setting” or were backed bythe corporate philosophy. When describing your mission

or philosophy of care, pay close attention to how youdescribe the environment, innovative programs, andwhat it is you are trying to promote. Here is an example:



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Our skilled and compassionate staff ”enable”residents to use abilities and strengths to engage in dailyactivities that reflect their individuality, whilemaintaining the highest degree of independence, dignity,

and safety. We develop and maintain a strong partnership with families, offering support and personalized care every step of the way.

Notice how their philosophy is described. In order to get the general public to notice what we are doing, we

have to carefully convey it. That’s our mission.

Positive Story:Remember the line from the movie “Cool Hand

Luke: ‘What we have here is a failure to communicate.”One huge problem in the long-term care industry is thatit has failed to communicate the positive things that

happen in a nursing home. I just read an article about a patient who was in a coma for 15 years. His brain justregenerated over time and this person is now moving hisarms and speaking. For the past 15 years he has been ina nursing home receiving care and therapy. Only oncewas the name of the facility mentioned in the article. Thearticle was front page news in a very prominent

metropolitan paper. Will the nursing home follow upwith some positive public relations in the next fewweeks? Only time will tell.

Kendall

It is a natural process for most healthcare

professionals to have a personal missionstatement or philosophy of care. What seldomoccurs is the measure of that philosophy againstthe companies’ mission statement, or the degree




44

to which that mission or philosophy of care isimplemented. One of my greatest experiences inhealthcare came from working with our home health

branch office. We had developed Total QualityManagement (TQM) Process Improvement Teams (PIT).Our first task was to understand how the healthcaresystem’s “mission” was supported by field healthcare

providers. We first discovered that none of the homecare staff had ever read the hospital’s mission statement.

Second, it really didn’t relate to their line of business.The mission statement was centered on acute, in-hospital patients.

Our first goal as a group was to write personalmission statements. The second was to write a missionstatement for the business unit Home Health. It was amajor challenge for the staff to see how their job

function fit into the hospital mission. The true successcame from the hospital leadership valuing and realizingthat “true healthcare delivery” came from our community focus (beyond the walls of our building) andnot the day-to-day on-site operations of the hospital.

Backwards CreationA great tool for creating a mission statement is to

start at the end and work backwards. What do you wantto accomplish? What do you want people to say aboutthe organization 50 years from now? In seminars, I have

people create a personal mission statement. To visualizethe future, I have participants pretend they are at their

own funeral. I ask these questions:• Who is present?



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• Are there loved ones, family, co-workers,friends, teachers, coaches, and/or children?

• What is each one saying about your life?

• Do you like what they are saying about whatyou accomplished with your life?

• If you could choose, what kind of things wouldyou want them to say about you?

In doing this exercise over the years, I havediscovered a similarity in people’s responses. Typically,

people want to be remembered as being kind andfriendly and contributing to society. I ask, “How many

people said they would want their loved ones toremember them for the cool car they drove?” I havenever had anyone raise his or her hand. I also ask, “Howmany of you have kindness as a current concern?” Most

people do raise their hands. There is an inconsistency

between what most people value and what they are busy pursuing. The same principle is true of organizations.

Based on the responses to these questions, people areusually able to formulate what is most important tothem. When they stop and reflect, they can see whether they are currently living their lives in a way that will get

them to the point where people will say about them whatthey want them to say. The mission statement defineswhat the person or organization values and the standardsthey pursue. To create powerful mission statements seethe Seven Keys Companion Guide. Accomplishing themission is dependent upon setting and reaching goals.



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Are your goals clearly identified?

Review, Reevaluate and Revise

While the mission is the guiding force, it is still a

work in process. If you have done the hard work of creating a mission statement, it will come to mindwhenever making decisions. The mission should bereviewed, reevaluated, and revised at least twice a year.You should evaluate how well the organization isfulfilling the mission. If it is aligned with the missionyou can feel confident that you are on the right path. If

not, then you will need either to refocus the energies of the organization or to revamp the mission statement tomore closely fit with the true values of the organization.




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I wrote my personal mission statement, then reevaluatedand rewrote it several times. I still review it frequently

but have not revised my mission for several years. I havechanged my behavior several times by reviewing mymission and realizing when I get off track.

Wes

I recently worked with a church organization of 50 churches who felt compelled 50 years ago to set aside

ground in a great location for a future retirementcommunity. I was told a retirement communityhad been their dream and yet for fifty years theyhad used the ground as a campground, then ascommunity recreational ball fields and

eventually, just as office space and for occasional churchhayrides, small conferences, and baptisms.

This organization said their mission-minded goalwas to build a retirement community, but their actionsover the years said their true goal was probablycommunity outreach and church planting. They finallydecided to sell the ground to a group to build aretirement community and chose to take the proceeds of the sale to build more churches in the area.

A mission statement needs to be revisitedoccasionally to verify the actions of the organization. If there is a disconnect, then either the mission statementneeds to be modified, or the actions need to be changed.This church organization reaffirmed that their primarymission statement was to be focused on external

outreach to the community at large, versus having aninternal focus on their immediate membership. Theyfound that selling the property allowed them to meettheir primary mission while still providing an



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opportunity for meeting the retirement dreams, desires,and needs of their membership that may not haveotherwise been realized.

Kendall The review process of a company’s mission statement

will become more aligned with the company if there is an open and honest dialogue. The review

process must occur frequently at first. The staff

will be making mistakes and questioningeverything. In one instance, the housekeeping

staff questioned whether they needed to take out thetrash twice a day. This seemed like a valid questionwhen the staff shared that the cost savings would amountto $45,000 per year in labor and supply costs! I wasreally interested in how this change was going to bringthe housekeeping staff into the mission value system of the skilled facility.

Trash pick-up was the result of a housekeepingdirectors’ anger at a mess left in a residents room, so

both shifts had to empty trash throughout the 300-bedcommunity. This led to numerous years of waste anddissatisfaction among staff members. A change wasimplemented and the staff was empowered to work toward a better department alignment with thecommunity’s mission statement. They also created anickname: “Trash Busters.”

Discovering Mission

Writing a mission statement is often more a matterof discovering a mission than creating one. In the




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illustration of the funeral, most people have an idea in theback of their minds of how they would want to beremembered. Many people have never taken the time tocontemplate what is really important to them, and oftenonce they do, they see that their values do not align withhow they are living their lives. The most important thingsto them, like family and relationships, usually get put onthe back burner due to pressing concerns such as financesand daily routines. Creating a mission puts life into contextand helps to determine not only what is truly importantbut also whether or not you are on the path toaccomplishing what’s important.

KendallWhat I began to share in earlier sections is trulythe “staff’s discovery of mission.” The staff

tends to know intuitively what the healthcarefacility’s mission is all about. How they play arole in making up the mission is where it all gets a littleconfusing. My son has started working for a retirementcommunity close to our home. He has grown up innursing homes and retirement communities all of hislife. Literally! We started an intergenerational daycare

with a retirement facility in the late 1980’s. However,this is his first paid job in a facility. It changed his

perception of everything in the facility. Two staff members didn’t show up to serve dinner to the residents.My son was upset! Haven’t we all been there? Howdoes this test our mission? What can we communicateto our “lead staff” to place mission in front of “work function.”



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Quality PeopleIt is often more difficult to do this as an individual

than for an organization or product. It takes a great dealof introspection and personal discipline. I recommendhaving people on your team who are capable of thinkingat this level; they will likely perform better and provide agreater overall contribution to the organization. When I

present this exercise in seminars, I find a great deal of resistance. I think the reason is that people feeluncomfortable with how out of alignment they are withtheir own values and mission in life. The reason I

perform this in traditional business settings is because itlays the foundation for understanding the mission andalignment of the overall organization.

I have participated in 19 turnaround situations inthe skilled nursing facility environment. Our goal may

be trying to expect great things out of average folks. Idon’t want you to take this negatively, but just think about all the great sports teams that come to mind. For me, it is when the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl,under the leadership of quarterback Kurt Warner. CoachDick Vermeil led his young giants of average playersinto a mighty TEAM that beat the odds. Quality peopleare out there as mediocre employees; they are waiting to

be aligned with a mission.

Alignment

I was trying to park my truck and I banged into acurb pretty hard. For the next few weeks, until I got itrepaired, whenever I took my hands off the wheel, my




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car would veer to the left. My truck had becomemisaligned. Have you ever driven a vehicle that is out of alignment? When you drive down the road, you have tohang on to the wheel with both hands or the car willswerve into the next lane. If the car is out of alignmentenough, it can actually try to pull you right intooncoming traffic, with disastrous consequences. As badas that sounds, imagine a car with wheels pointed indifferent directions, some going forward, some in

reverse. How far do you think a car like that wouldtravel? (See Figure 2.1.)

Figure 2.1: Misaligned Vehicle

Obviously a car this far out of alignment wouldnot get you to your desired destination. The same is true

for organizations that are out of alignment. In everyorganization people have an agenda. People have anunderstanding of why they are there and what they aresupposed to be doing. Sometimes their understanding iscorrect and at other times they are way off base. Evenwhen members of the organization are not sure whatthey are supposed to do, they still come to their jobs witha perception of what they think they should accomplisheach day. This is just as true for the president and CEOas it is for the guy sweeping cigarette butts in the



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parking lot. Where each fits into the makeup of theorganization is demonstrated in Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2: Sample Company

You can substitute the titles in your company for

those in the illustration. For the organization to functionefficiently, every level must be headed in the samedirection. In reality, different levels do not typically headin the same direction. Everyone does what seems right inhis or her own eyes. Without an overriding purpose thateveryone is aware of and buys into, people will drift off in their own directions as seen in Figure 2.3.




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Figure 2.3: Company Misalignment

It is not altogether uncommon to find companiesthat look like the one in Figure 2.3. In fact, unless theleadership is intentional about alignment, it is more

likely to observe misalignment than alignment. You cansee how different levels are working directly against theothers. Sometimes this is intentional when you havedisgruntled employees disobeying company policies or,even worse, sabotaging the progress of others out of

jealousy or bitterness. It is difficult for a company tomake much progress when everyone is doing his or her own thing.

So how does a company become aligned?Everyone must understand and buy into an overriding




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How many CAT scan or MRI machines are necessary?Just because you can do something does not necessarilymean you should do it. Will your actions improve thescope of services, choices, options, or value available tothe prospective client? If not, your “mission” may beonly one of accumulation, power-brokering or drivingthe competition out of business. Admittedly, somecompetition needs to be driven out of business due to

poor quality issues. All these may be achievable short-

term goals, but they will not provide the impetus for long-range, value-based, heart-launching reasons for being that answer the age-old question, “Is there not acause?”

Individual Missions

Everyone has a purpose for his or her life that he or

she pursues. Some people work for money while others want to contribute something meaningful to society.Sometimes their mission is conscious, but often it is not.Regardless of their awareness level, if the mission of individual members and the mission of the company donot align, there will be major problems. You will see thesame results as putting a wheel on a car that drives only

sideways: the car will not function properly. For thisreason, members must have an alignment of their personalmissions with that of the company.



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Figure 2.5 Alignment of the Company’s Mission with PersonalMission

This is where hiring practices become important.First, the organization must be able to articulate its

mission. Next, interview questions must be asked todetermine whether a prospective employee would addmomentum to accomplishing the mission or be a driving force in a different direction.

Kendall

I see the creation of individual mission statements ascentral to understanding how each of us fits intothe organization. The illustration above of the car alignment makes perfect sense to me. When Iwas a certified auto body mechanic, vehicle

alignment was centered in the success of our auto repair.

All points of the body, frame, and suspension must bealigned for proper functioning. You would never think of driving a car down the road with one tire turned inanother direction. Why then would we tolerate an




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employee heading off down his own path of self-fulfillment?

Career Counseling

What do you do about the company’s currentmembers who have a conflicting mission? They should becounseled to get on board or to seek work elsewhere. Notonly do they hold back the company, but they are not

going to be happy working for a company whose purposeconflicts with their own. The sooner they move on, thebetter for both parties.

Kendall My best senior manager shared with me after the first

department crisis: “How are we going to avoidthis problem in the future?” I was ready to takea thrashing. That statement took the wind rightout of all my arguments. He shared that this

mistake cost the hospital around $20,000, so he thoughtspending $20,000 on my education was about right.

Needless to say, I was more attentive to planning details

in the future. This administrator also wouldn’t allow meto just fire an individual. He had the philosophy of “let’s

prepare him/her for their next job, or make themattractive for the next employer.” I remember thinkinghow odd this type of management was at the time. But ithas been the key to slowing down the high turnover ratesin healthcare facilities.



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See The Principle

There is another layer to the alignment picture. To be successful at any level, a mission must align with principles. Principles are universal truths or laws, suchas gravity. If you walk off a cliff, what happens? Yougo straight down and make a splat. It does not matter whether or not you believe in gravity; the principleexists and you will live (or die) by the consequences.

In the same way, there are principles involved in

marketing. The more you understand these principlesand align to them, the greater the likelihood for success. As a university professor, I typically demonstrate

this concept by having my students make paper airplanesat their desks. I then have them aim their creations at aparticular target and send them flying. A chorus of gigglesoccurs as a flood of paper airplanes crosses the room.

Usually only one or two come close to the objective.Planes thrown forward fly sideways, do loop-to- loops, ortake a nosedive right into the floor. I ask my students

whether they think they could make a better airplane if they were well-versed in the principles of flight. Do they think a pilot or an aircraft engineer could design a betterairplane? Invariably, the answer comes back, “Yes, of

course.”Understanding gravity, acceleration, lift, thrust,

velocity, and the other principles of flight helps aircraftdesigners make better flying aircraft. The more thedesigner’s craft is in harmony with these principles, themore likely the plane is to fly. In other words, their

mission of creating an aircraft must be in alignment withthe basic principles of flight in order to be successful.Likewise, the marketer who understands the basic




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principles of marketing, or the seven keys to marketinggenius, is more likely to be successful.

Figure 2.6 Alignment of Mission and Principles

To harness the power of alignment, every level must be inharmony. All your circles must be parallel and all yourarrows must be pointing in the same direction.

Figure 2.7 Alignment of Personal & Company’s Mission and

Principles



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Mike

In an industry that has some of the highestturnover rates, it is difficult to hire people who are

aligned with the company’s mission. Companiesare getting smarter. They realize the importanceof hiring winners and the cost of hiring losers. Iwas recently involved in an interview with asocial worker, and we were describing her job

duties. She was quick to point out all the organizations

that she was involved in and how great an advocate shewas for the elderly. The administrator got smart andasked her how she would handle a situation with afamily if the resident choice was to withhold artificialmeans for nutrition. What he really wanted to know was,as a social worker, what was her personal missionstatement and would it align with the facilities?

I know of another individual who wasinterviewing with a pharmaceutical company. Thecompany’s biggest selling drug was one of the mostabused narcotics in the country. This individual had ahistory in his family of medication abuse and addictions.When it came time for the manager to describe some of the products he would be selling, it was clear that his

personal mission would not align with the company’s. Itwas easy for him to move on to another job. If that

person had accepted the job, you can see how the valuesand chemistry would not match up.

Synergy

One plus one equals three or more. In the world of math, that does not add up correctly. When it comes to

people, it is called synergy. Synergy is people coming




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together to accomplish more than they could doindividually. Sports teams talk about the chemistry of ateam being important. There have been many teams thatdid not look like much on paper, but who, together, wereable to win championships. In construction, a single

block of wood that is one-by-one inch thick could holdup 10 pounds of weight. Two single blocks of woodstacked together would logically hold up 20 pounds of weight, but instead can hold up 100 pounds of weight.

The two blocks together can do exponentially more thanthey could do alone.

These are examples of synergy. Alignment withinorganizations creates powerful synergy. When everyoneis working together for a common purpose and going inthe same direction, they can become virtually

unstoppable. This momentum will carry over into themarketing process, particularly in the area of promotion( Key 4).

WesHistorically, the best operational reason for a

facility action has always been voiced as one

that is “doing something for or with theresident in mind.” In other words, the resident becomes the operational, tangible thrust for why certain decisions are made. As more

positive individual resident/staff interactions occur andare reinforced or celebrated, the more these actions

become an ingrained part of your organization. These

actions spawn similar actions and are then recognized asthe new norm for your community by the families andthe public in general. This norm then becomes your



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reputation which becomes a very marketable asset. Asan organization, it is best to have a broad support basefor both determining the mission statement and thenallowing it to be played out in concrete actions. Missionstatements crafted in a boardroom rarely have any“wheels.” One that is developed with input at the grass-roots level has a strong chance of becoming your reputation in the community.

Vision

Though the terms mission and vision are typicallyused interchangeably, there is value in defining them asdifferent tools. While the mission is a snapshot of howthe current day-to-day activities of the organization look,the vision is a future-oriented picture of where the

company is going. The mission and vision must be inharmony with one another, but they are distinct. Thevision is more of a stretch of the imagination, a best-casescenario of what the company can look like; it definesthe destiny of the organization.

Another important aspect of the vision is that it isvisual. It should be an actual physical picture. Usually

this will coincide with the distinct competitive advantageof the organization and the logo but not necessarily.People need a picture they can visualize ( Key 3). Tocreate a vision for your company, see the Seven KeysCompanion Guide.

Conflicting MissionsWhat happens when the members of an

organization do not agree on a mission? Conflict. Theconflict will be resolved eventually by everyone’s




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agreeing on a common mission, by individuals leavingthe organization, or by the dissolution of theorganization itself.

I did a mission-building workshop for a small andgrowing company I worked for called XCOM. I had thedifferent members work through their personal missionsand what they felt the company’s purpose should be. It

became apparent that one of the owners, Betty, had anopinion of why we were working together that was very

different from that of one of the other owners and mostof the employees. Betty felt the main purpose of XCOMwas to make a profit. Her partner and most of theemployees were there to build a legacy and a companythat would be respected. I was at a bit of a loss at thetime because I had not expected this to happen. Therewas no way to agree on a mission for the company in the

hour we had set aside for this meeting. I recommendedthat we think some more, that I would take everyone’sideas and create a draft to e-mail around for approval.My draft, which was a compromise of the conflictingmissions, was rejected by Betty and the other employeeswho had their own preferred versions.

Needless to say, I was never able to create a

concrete mission for XCOM. I also watched theseconflicting values play out during my time there. Bettyand the other owner and employees had petty argumentsand did not get along. I could see that the root problemof most of these arguments had to do with a differentview of why the company existed. Betty was viewed as a

penny-pincher who cared only about money. Bettyviewed the others as being irresponsible with companyresources. Who was right? I think they both were rightin a way. It is irrelevant who was right or wrong; the



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point is that they would always have a difficult timeworking together because they were going in differentdirections.

One of our brightest employees who had beenvocal in the mission-building workshop just picked upand left one day. He was there to create a uniquecompany and leave a legacy; this was in conflict with theway Betty was trying to run things.

Because my role with the company was also not

clearly defined, I was moved around to differentdepartments a couple of times and finally was made themarketing director. I had a big problem because I did notknow what I was trying to market. I could not get a clear answer on what exactly our business was and who mytarget market was. Definitions of what we were trying todo changed from day-to-day and week-to-week. This is

understandable because some days we were trying to build an identity as an innovative company, and the nextday we were talking about jumping into a popular market and doing the same things as our competition tomake some quick cash. The company did not have amission, and the personal missions of the stakeholderswere grossly misaligned.

I had a few ideas for marketing promotions, butthe lack of a definitive purpose and a commitment frommanagement to allocate finances meant they were never implemented. I sat at my desk and listened to the ownersfeud about what the company was trying to do. I tried tothink of something productive to do with my time, but

had no real purpose to pursue. I felt guilty taking a paycheck, so I advised my boss to lay me off and use meas a consultant if he wanted to do any marketing in thefuture. A couple of months later, citing a lack in sales, I




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was taken up on my offer and laid off. Betty and theother owner never did get along. The fighting grew morefurious and finally the ownership disbanded.

Could creating a mission statement have savedthis situation? Probably not, but it could have savedsome aggravation. The inability to agree on the purposeof XCOM and create a mission was a clear indication of what was to come. From the beginning, they should haveeither come to a consensus or decided to part ways. This

would have saved time, money, and heartache.

Natural Alignment

Not all organizations struggle with alignment.Some great companies have neither gathered all their

people in a room to draw a bunch of circles on the boardnor had mission-statement writing marathons. However,to be successful, they did have an implicit and tacitunderstanding of these common elements. They may nothave verbally defined their purpose, but they acted witha common purpose in mind. If your organization has notcreated a mission statement, it should do so right away.If your organization has diverging missions for each

department and is totally out of alignment, this processwill provide a platform for discussion and get you all onthe same path. If you have been acting within a common

purpose already, then the process will be simple. Havinga defined purpose provides a way of attracting andretaining like-minded employees, members andcustomers.



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Kendall

I have always found a natural alignment with thenursing staff and the true mission of the facility.The problems usually occur within the area of

people dynamics. In assessing individualmission statements, it is a good idea to evaluate

personality profiles. Individual personality

profiles will allow the manager to understand personalityconflicts between staff members. I have observedresidents caught in the middle of personal conflicts

between staff members. The resident looks like they arewatching a tennis match with verbal volleys going back and forth. Natural alignment must begin at the individualassessment phase. All of this takes time! Don’t rush into

it. If you are facing high turnover, take the time to assessthe situation. It takes creative minds to break a poor hiring scenario. We must stop eating our young (newrecruits) if staffing by need can ever be accomplished.As healthcare mangers we are driven by our staffingrequirements.

I once went into a facility that was experiencing511 percent turnover! There wasn’t a natural alignmentto the facility’s mission because staff never lasted longenough to learn what the facility was all about. The first

process improvement committee was the “HumanResource Team.” Our team focused on ways to

recognize our staff and add value to their work-life. Theold Golden Rule was modified to be “Do unto our staff as we would have them do unto our residents!”




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Long-Term Focus

The story about conflicting missions should

illustrate the necessity of having a definitive purpose for any activity, corporation or organization. To go throughthe above exercises can be exhausting. Even thoseorganizations that see the value of defining their purposehave difficulty putting in the effort and resources to dothis kind of planning. There are scores of organizationsthat ignore these strategic tools and still survive. The

question is, what kind of organization do you want to be? Do you want to have a short-term focus and beovertaken by a better-organized competitor down theroad? Do you want to provide a workplace that allows

people to participate in the strategic process and findfulfillment in their work? Do you care about attractingand retaining quality employees?

If you want to market your product or companyfor the long-term and create a protected relationship

between members, employees and consumers, you needto put in the effort ( Key 5). You must invest time andenergy into creating and/or defining a strategic plan for the company. Doing so will provide a firm foundation

for enduring success. Once you have defined the “what”and the “why” of a company, it is time to startcommunicating this identity to customers.

KendallI have been employed by for-profit (FP) and not-

for-profit (NFP) healthcare organizations. Both

are margin-minded. Both fail and have successin communicating mission to staff members. The NFP communities have a definite advantage incommunicating mission because a mission (or,



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unmet need) led to the business operation. The NFP’sare usually raising money through development efforts,so pushing their need to a greater audience is critical andat the forefront of their mind. Your mission statementsmust have a future position, or your audience willdisappear.

Having a clear mission statement that can becommunicated by your front-line staff is critical to themorale and self-esteem of your community. Push this

task to number one as a marketing professional.




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Key 3: Create an Image

The purpose of advertising is to promote imageand awareness. Before you can implement promotions( Key 4), you must create an image. An image is both aconcept and a physical, visual representation. I am notan artist, nor do I pretend to be one. While I understandthe importance of creating a unique and powerful image,

I have not been blessed with the ability to create visualimages. Therefore, this section provides an analysis of proper strategy, not artistic instruction. If you do not possess the artistic skills yourself, I recommend you hiresomeone skilled in graphic arts to help you turn your strategic image into a physical, visual reality.




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the healthcare and housing services provided to a clientis a variety of many separate experiences andimpressions that make up a whole summary conclusion.The other interesting phenomenon is that this particular environment holds few concrete, unshakable truisms.My experience has shown that confidence and brandloyalty can be fleeting when you are dealing with howyou are feeling or how an organization is responding toyour perceived needs versus merely suggested desires. I

believe the intensity and the emotional focus of both theindividuals and the involved family members and the perception of how individuals in the organizationrespond is what fine tunes the established public image.

Mike Image: What do we want to portray? As we discussed

previously, we have to do a better job creating a positive image in such a negative environment.The best thing the long-term care industry coulddo is develop a public relations (PR) campaigndesigned to highlight all the positive things that

happen in nursing homes. Think of the “Got Milk?” campaign that was popular in the past few years. If eachnursing home in Missouri (where there are 517 facilities)would put up $100 to $500 to a public relationscampaign rather than on yellow pages advertising, local

papers could cover more postive stories about localhomes and more mature adult aid services. Additionally,most individuals go to a nursing home based on word-

of-mouth or hospital referral ( Key 6 ).



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Visual Orientation

How many times have you heard a friend say amovie was stupid, but you should see it anyway becausethe special effects were great? This is an example of looks being more important than content. There have

been several movies that weren’t good movies, but hadgreat special effects and therefore set box office records.On the other hand, there are great films that are notwidely seen because they do not have enough visual

appeal. I have a friend who will not watch black andwhite movies because he finds it too great a distraction.Society in general is becoming increasingly

visually oriented. In their book 13th Gen, authors NeilHowe and Bill Strauss describe how Generation X (alsoknown as 13th Gen) grew up with color televisions andvideo games and therefore seeks visual stimulation.

Previous generations like Generation Y continue to beenamored with the visual. Some have criticized the trendof form’s becoming more important than function andlooks more important than content. While we may notthink this is a positive direction, the implications areclear: to compete today, you must have the right look. Itis not enough to have a good product; you must also be

able to attract the attention of the audience. The look should enhance the image of the product whilemaintaining alignment with the mission ( Key 2) and

promoting the competitive advantages of theorganization ( Key 1).

LogoThe logo is a visual representation of the

organization or the product. The logo must be used to




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reinforce the competitive advantage of the organizationand tie into the vision of the company. A good portion of any target market is going to respond to either the logoor a combination of the logo with other marketingelements. Besides being visual, logos also have theadvantage of being global. Billions of people around theworld understand the NikeTM swoosh. Unlike with namesor fancy fonts, no translation is necessary. I cannotoverstress the importance of the logo in modern

marketing communications.

Wes The graphic image of a healthcare company needs to be

very concrete and link familiar, everydayimages that have brought comfort,encouragement and hope to the client. Using

that basic premise brings to mind severalgeneral and specific healthcare and senior housing images: stethoscopes, nursing and physician

personnel shadow outlines, front doors or door knockerswith “Welcome” written on the front, butterflies, birds,houses, friendship, handshakes, and hugs to name a few.

Most of these have a carefully crafted emotional elementin addition to being recognizable images, symbols, or subliminal actions.

Kendall Logos are extremely important and names of

communities are important. The first picture

that is marketed to the public creates a lastingimpression on the customer. Does the image portray a healthy visual, or an older lady, a

wheelchair client, or someone walking between parallel



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bars?Surely we have more to make a lasting impression

than a set of bars in our communities. My favorite adcampaign centered on “Chicken soup, it is good for thesoul!” The campaign was centered on our short-staymarket. The public didn’t need to process what our message was trying to communicate. A mother’s goodmedicine included chicken soup for an ailing familymember. Another advertising campaign focused on

residents feeding the birds and animals at our facility.Here again, the marketing campaign communicated along tradition of how people care for and nurture livingthings in the environment. One resident felt that bycaring for something, she was able to give back, freeherself from her physical limitations.

Both communicated a caring, holistic environment

without showing the nursing staff delivering medicalcare.

Colors and Style

The use of proper colors is sometimes overlooked.Certain colors evoke certain emotions. Pink is probablynot a good uniform color for police officers. Careful

consideration should be made about what colorsappropriately express the image you are trying toconvey. I suggest getting assistance from a professionalartist who understands the use of color and style whencreating an image for the organization.

Wes

When dealing with seniors there are some additional physiological considerations for logo and brochure color and type styles. Because seniors typically experience




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some visual impairment crisp, wider graphicswith sharp, distinct color choices are important.Keep your marketing materials free from boldcontrasting colors. The use of true primarycolors, and avoiding pastels or same color

variations will help maintain the attention of seniors. Anindustry term for this area is for everything to be “senior friendly,” including the above contracts as well as theoverall size of the typeface. Check out the brochures of

national organizations such as AARPSM

are delivering tothe public.

Anthropomorphic Brands

Key 5: Build Relationships details the crucialnature of creating a connection with consumers. Peopleare more likely to feel connected to a person than to aninanimate object. For this reason many smart companieshave created a personality to represent their product.There are three typical ways to connect the product to a

personality:

Connecting to a Person - The brand is attachedto a person, typically the founder, such as FordMotorsTM which was named for Henry Ford, or Dell ComputersTM named after Michael Dell.Connecting to a Personality - WhileMicrosoftTM is not a personal name, most

people connect the company to its founder, BillGates. In the case of DisneyTM, the personality

has shifted from Walt Disney to MichaelEisner.Creating a Character - Mr. WhippleRM wascreated to represent a sometimes embarrassing



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product, toilet tissue, while the DoughboyRM isa giggling little character for PillsburyTM.

By creating a personality, companies providesomeone that people can relate to on a personal level.Images that connote personality do better in themarketplace than impersonal or generic brands.

Consistency

To reinforce and promote an image, the organizationmust use its logo and tagline at every opportunity. Allmarketing materials should look the same, feel the sameand share the same style. In other words, to achievesynergy, all marketing communications should be inalignment with one another ( Key 2).

Mike In my experience as a marketing director, I have

witnessed a lot of confusion in companies thathave multiple facilities. There is no consistencyin their brochures or marketing materials. Thereis total confusion in their products, and they missthe key point that brands them together. Why not

use one brochure that represents each facility?When creating a brochure, avoid the trap that manyamateurs fall victim to: the Jargon Trap. Those of us thathave been around healthcare for a period of time knowwhat I mean. We tend to fill our brochures withhealthcare lingo that the average consumer can’tunderstand. Give a clear explanation of the procedure or

service that you offer in your brochure. When Iimplement customer service training in a facility, Ialways try to emphasize this point. I talk about the




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interview process with the family meetings, explainingthat their mom would get a registered therapist (physical,occupational or speech) in a certified Part A bed, if theyqualified financially and if not, they could apply for theTitle 19 Medicaid program. WOW! Talk aboutconfusion. In fact, if you understand what I was justtalking about, you understand the jargon.

JAAIDK

What in the world is JAAIDK? It’s just another acronym I don’t know. I am amazed at how start-upcompanies that are establishing their identity try to useacronyms. They reason that many of the most successfulcompanies use acronyms. What they don’t consider isthe millions or billions of dollars spent by those

companies to establish an identity before they wereknown by their initials. Most organizations are not in a position to spend that kind of money to get their namesrecognized.

I recently purchased a game calledACRONYMITY. It is a trivia game with over 5,000acronyms as questions. You are given the letters and

have to come up with what they represent. A categoryand hint are also given because many acronyms stand for more than one thing. (For example, in marketing, theterm CRM stands for both customer relationshipmanagement and cause-related marketing.) Trying tocommunicate with acronyms can be very confusing,especially for customers. Do yourself a favor and use aname people can remember.



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UMG

I was trying to explain this concept to a friendwho was starting a new graphic design company. Hecreated a great logo with the letters UMG. Do you knowwhat UMG stands for? Neither does anyone else. Heexplained to me how many big companies are known bytheir initials and use them as a logo. I explained thatthose companies had spent millions of dollars to get intothe minds of their customers before being known by

initials. This gentleman is a graphic artist, so I alsoexplained that I would expect an artist to be able tocreate a logo that represented his company better thanthese three letters. He told me the way he designed thethree letters was unique and would be enough to garner attention from his target audience. However, becauseadvertising is aimed at creating image and awareness for

new customers, by definition, people targeted would not be familiar with the company nor the acronym. If UMGis one day a household name for graphic arts, I will eatmy words (but he still will have spent unnecessarymillions before people could identify the company).

SBGI worked for a company called SBG (I am using

the acronym here for anonymity). I was in charge of marketing and had just finished the beta version of thewebsite. One of the partners of the company, after spending many hours and dollars on design, told me toleave the company logo off the website. He explained

that he did not think the logo was a good match for thecompany.




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I can understand his not liking the logo. What I donot understand is why he did not say anything before wehad printed letterhead, business cards, and now a websitewith that logo. He told me that many companies do nothave a logo and picked up a magazine to show me all thecompanies that just had their name with no logo. Thereare many companies without a logo that just write their

brand name in a font. A name written in its own uniqueand often copyrighted font is a great branding tool. This

is not the same as having a logo. When creating a visual presence and establishing a relationship, you should useall the branding tools available. A unique font and a logoare a minimal necessity.

I told my boss that I respected his view. I felt itwas my duty as the marketing director to point out theadvantages of having a logo on the site, but that I would

respect his wishes. When it came time to launch thewebsite, I did not have the heart to leave off the logo,

particularly when the rest of the company loved the logo.I decided to leave the logo on the site. I was laid off afew weeks later—just a coincidence I’m sure.

The Numbers GameWould you like a V, 500 or 505 today? Not sure

what I am talking about? These are the names of different personal digital assistants (PDA) made byPalmTM. I have worked in retail sales since I was ateenager. I had the opportunity to sell Palms for a while.It was difficult for me as the salesperson to keep it all

straight, and the customers were very confused by all thenumbers. It is easier for people to remember names thanto remember numbers (another reason to attach products



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to a personality). Eventually Palm came out with a newline of products. The high-end PDA was called theTungsten T, and the low-end PDA was called the Zire. Iwas excited that Palm had learned from its mistake andnow was using names that people could remember. Butthen Palm added the Tungsten C, the Tungsten W, andthe Zire 71. If you are wondering what the 71 meant,nobody seems to know. These PDAs were all different

prices with different features. This is even more

confusing than just using numbers. At least in the past,each Palm had its own number; now different Palms hadthe same name too.

Do not name your product a number. Numbers arenot attractive and do not have the ability to buildrelationships with people like actual names can ( Key 5).Here is another tip: do not mix numbers and letters. Ever

notice that it is harder to remember your license thanyour phone number? That is because our brains aremade to handle either numbers or letters. Mixing the twoonly adds confusion. Stay away from names likeMarketing4U. Besides being confusing and causing

problems when creating a web address, they do not look professional.

Marriage

The label reads “New Betty Crocker TM chocolatecake mix with real Hershey’sTM Chocolate Syrup.” A

popular trend is to partner with other companies or organizations to promote a product, but is this a good

idea for the two companies?There are pros and cons to these types of

partnerships. On the plus side, they can gain the synergy




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of combining the recognition of both companies. Thosewho do not know or trust Betty Crocker may be sold

because they love Hershey’s. Each company gainsaccess to the prestige and clientele of its partner.

Minuses occur when people do not buy the product because of the partner. Those who do not likeHershey’s (this does not include me—I love Hershey’s)will probably choose an alternate cake mix. When you

partner with another company, you give up control of

your most important asset: your brand image. If for somereason the reputation of your partner is disparaged withyour name attached, this has a negative impact on your image as well.

The best way to understand partnerships is to look at a marriage. In the right circumstances, a marriage is a

beautiful thing. It represents two coming together as one

to do greater things than they could alone. Just as inmarriage, the two should be independent and cometogether for mutual benefit, not because they are needyand are worthless alone. Breaking a partnership or violating the trust can end in a nasty, costly divorce. Soif you decide to partner, choose wisely because it is agreat commitment with risk involved.

MikeDeveloping strategic partnerships is one of the best ways to market your facility or product. On severaloccasions, I have worked with a home healthagencies, or hospice companies, to market my facility. What tends to happen is you buildconfidence with your customer in offering an

additional service that your partners offer. There is asymbiotic relationship, and it can benefit both parties



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tremendously. Buyer beware! Make sure you choose areputable partner that will enhance your image and notdamage it. It happens to the best of us.

I remember working at a non-for-profit facility ina large metropolitan area. They wanted to increase thecensus in the rehab unit that was located inside thefacility. The rehab unit had struggled because it wasassociated with the long- term care side of the nursingfacility. Individuals did not want to rehab in the same

area where most of the nursing home patients were.There was confusion with the products being offered andthe community perception was that “we were just anursing home.” As the marketing director, I workedhard convincing management to create a distinct unit andto change the name to brand the rehab product with thecommunity. A few months later the unit was renamed

and a separate logo was created to market the rehab unit.We created a brand-new brochure highlighting a

prominent physician in the community to promote our product. The physician’s picture appeared in the brochure and the unit was a tremendous success. To thisday, it is still recognized as one of the premier skilled

rehab centers in the area.Promises, Promises

Brands are promises. The image presented byyour brand promises to deliver on the commitmentsmade by your marketing communications withconsumers. Break your promises, or don’t deliver on

what you say you can do, and your image will betarnished. Live up to, or better yet, exceed expectations,and your relationship with customers will grow stronger.




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Meeting time and convenience needs is a major benefit to most consumers. For this reason, many brand promises are based on providing more time or convenience. More important, brands themselves meettime and convenience needs. When you look at an aisleof toothpaste boxes, you do not know which one will

best meet your needs. If you see Brand X which youknow and trust that says “whitens teeth better,” you cansave time by grabbing that box of toothpaste and moving

to the next item on your shopping list. But if there is a plain label brand that says it also will whiten teeth, doyou try it? How do you know you can trust this

product? You can take time to compare the labels andingredients with the name brand. The only way you willknow for sure is to take it home and try it. There is risk involved and potentially a lot of wasted time. It is safer,

quicker and more convenient to use the brand youalready know and trust.

Recently people have become more willing to trynon-branded items. Over time, there has been anincreased acceptance of non-branded items. However this is usually done at the expense of the brandsthemselves. Non-branded items or brands distributed

under the retailer’s name are often placed right next tothe branded products on the shelves to gain credibility.

Do you remember the introduction of non-brandeditems to the supermarket? I remember a whole aisle of “generic” items packaged in plain black and whitelabels. You could buy a six-pack of white cans that had

scrolled across the front in black letters “beer.” Ienjoyed a large bag labeled simply “jellybeans” that haddifferent sized jellybeans cast off from some candyfactory as imperfect. If you are not old enough to



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remember the generic aisle, you might wonder where itwent. Those items are still in the store, but the grocerswisely changed their strategy. Stores today have their own house brand names that usually include in the titleSelect, Choice, Premium or President.

Technically these products are no longer non- branded or generic. They carry the brand image of thestore and rely on the trust the consumer has with the

particular retailer. The reason for the shift is that plain

generic products did not sell as well as those with atleast a nominal amount of branding from carrying thename of the store. Brands are important because they arethe guarantee and promise of the brand maker that the

product is what it says it is.

Wes

A healthcare organization delivers both a tangible and anintangible product. Did the patient/client get better and return home quicker, with fullrecovery potential and with no relapse? Wasthis done with direct assistance from attentive

personnel, or was it accomplished in spite of anywarm, comforting, encouraging staff involvement?

Therapists are often disliked during the recovery process because they initiate some pain, but after the results arein, they often receive thank-you notes. I bring this up

because painful memories and/or the feeling of emotional slights are often remembered far beyond thememory of an actual event. This makes it especiallydifficult to recover from a perceived “break-of-promise”

accusation. It’s much better to have your promisesreinforced by caring staff that provide a direct link toclient well-being and, personal positive results. A caring




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involved staff can be invaluable when dealing with theoccasional service mishap and the sharing of a badmedical diagnosis.

A Word

Keep it short and sweet. Consumers are inundatedwith a plethora of messages daily. Simple easy toremember the messages, are better. Companies should

be able to describe themselves in a few words or, better yet, a single word. Much more than a sentence is notusually going to be remembered by the customer anyway. Think of the brands that have taken over theidentity of a product:

• KleenexTM

• Ping Pong TM

• Band-Aid TM

• RollerbladeTM

• Roto-Rooter TM

Most people don’t even know that these are brandnames because they have come to represent the itemitself. This is the goal of any brand marketer. Going

directly counter to the strategy of a word standing for your product is the practice of line extension.

Wes For your healthcare and senior housing communications,

consider using these key words:choice, client control, security, well-being,

wellness, home-like, client centered,independent, assistive, catered living.



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Kendall Eden Alternative ™ has become a brand name for any

program that involves animals and plants. Muchlike someone who says “Could I have aKleenexTM?” when really what they wanted was atissue. Retirement communities would get a dogand say that they were an Eden ™ facility to gain

a marketing advantage in the community. Be careful asyou adopt a specific image to your facility.

Even Eden™ can look different in differentcommunities. Survey your residents, staff, families andgreater community to understand your product.

Avoid the Line Extension Trap1

If you follow the prevailing logic of most modern

companies, you will inevitably fall into this trap. Lineextension is using an existing brand name or image andextending it to new products. Sounds like a good idea,right? Why not use the equity of your known brand todraw attention to a new product? The reason is that youtend to confuse customers as to what your brand means,and in the long run this strategy decreases overall market

share.For example, in 1978 7-UP TM was the lemon lime

Uncola with a 5.7 percent share of the soda beveragemarket. Trying to capitalize on this significant marketshare, they created 7-UP Gold TM , Cherry 7-UP TM , andassorted diet versions. Logic would dictate that with agreater product offering they would have gained a

1 Ries, Al. Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It. ©1996 HarperCollinsPublishing, New York, NY. I highly recommend reading this book for a thoroughexplanation of line extension and the power of focusing a brand.




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greater share of the market. On the contrary, their sales plummeted to 4.2 percent. Line extensions confusecustomers.

Why do so many companies use line extensions if they tend to fail? I’m not really sure why they continueto ignore the data, but here are some possible reasons:

• They don’t do their homework . If companiestook the time to investigate the lack of successof line extensions by other brands andcompanies, they might think better of the idea.

• Ego. They feel so successful with their current brand they think they can carry the momentumto the next item by slapping their name on thelabel. They also don’t think the seven keys tomarketing apply to them.

• Copycats. Everyone else has line extensions sothey reason that it is the proper strategy, nottaking into account the number of linecontractions that frequently occur.

• Appearance of success. An insidious feature of this trap is that line extension usually hasinitial success. Consumers are usually curious

about the new product with a familiar nameand will try the new item initially, but long-term sales plummet. Some line extensions

become market leaders, further muddling theargument. But in those cases, it is usually

because their direct competitors are also using

line extensions such as Diet Coke versus DietPepsi.

• Appearance of growth. Most executives are paid to come up with ideas on how to grow the




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new Mountain Dew Code RedTM is another confusingmoniker; why didn’t they just come up with a newname? But even a giant like CokeTM does not learn fromits own success and follows with Lemon Coke. Each

product needs its own image and word associated with it.If you feel you have significant market share where youare and you need to expand into new markets, co-

branding is the better route. Proctor and GambleTM has built an empire on co-branded products.

Narrow Your Focus

The 20th century taught businesses the power of specialization. Line extensions go against this theory bytrying to make one brand all things to all people. As thesaying goes “jack of all trades, master of none.” Peoplemay not realize it at a conscious level, but they docategorize and choose brands known for a particular specialty. For this reason, marketers must narrow thefocus of their product. The brands that stick in the brainare those that have a narrow, sharp and focused tip. The

broader the description and lines of a brand, the lesslikely it is to pierce the consumer’s psyche. It is helpful

to picture the brand as an actual object penetrating the brain tissue of the intended receiver. Imagine thecustomer standing in front of you with the top of his or her skull sawed off. The squishy gleaming brain matter is sitting exposed before you. If you are using a broad,expansive tool, it will not get past the gray matter. Bycreating a narrow, focused point, the brand is able to

puncture the brain tissue. I know this is a grotesqueillustration, but I bet I got it to stick in your brain.



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Kendall Bottom line, in healthcare, you can’t be everything to

everyone. This is harder to do when you areserving a faith or rural community. Thecommunity that you are serving may not haveother options for care available. What comes tomy mind is a small rural facility where I was

serving as the administrator. We were the only nursingfacility in town (only healthcare facility in the county).

We would have local kids stop by the facility to ask thenurses to remove stitches, dress wounds, and coordinatecare for physicians who were two hours from our town.Did we send these folks away? No, because we were a

part of the local community. We communicated this to alarger hospital system and had the blessing to attract anurse practitioner to this community and raise the image

of our facility to the whole county. You might be in asimilar facility and community.




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Does your marketing stick in people’s heads?

Greatest Asset

The greatest single asset of your company or organization is your image also called brand or brandimage. Why is this so important? Customers and

partners relate to you based on how they perceive your reputation, behavior and corporate personality. The same

principle holds true of individuals. We trust people whoare trustworthy, treat us with respect and keep their word. The image of the organization must be in harmonywith the purpose ( Key 2) and consistently promote thecompetitive advantage ( Key 1) that gives a rationale for choosing your company over the competition.

Please realize that you cannot fake an image.Eventually your true self will be revealed to customers.You can spend billions of dollars promoting the greatservice you provide, but if salespeople treat your



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customers rudely, that money is wasted. Make sure youunderstand your advantage ( Key 1) and that your wholecompany is in alignment with a purpose ( Key 2) before

promoting an image. Your image can be taken from youor destroyed by your own actions. Once you have madethe investment to create an image, protect it at all costs

because it is your greatest asset.

Mike

Many other facilities have taken the idea of branding onestep further and partnered with the community.They choose a particular interest, create

popularity in the community, and before long thecommunity will become a marketing arm for thefacility. I know of a local family-owned nursing

home chain that has perfected this. They started out

with a small Fourth of July fireworks display. Over theyears, they kept expanding the display to involve thecommunity, and now people go to the facility just to seethe display. When someone mentions this facility, theyimmediately relate it to the firework display. Not onlydid they do a great job branding their facility, they nowhave one of the better firework displays in the area.

That’s “SMART MARKETING.”

Indecent Exposure

Many people think any kind of exposure must begood. They say, “Look at the attention that company gotfrom doing that wild publicity stunt.” Not all publicity is

good, as we will discuss in Key 4: Promotion. A publicrelations department helps to ensure that your public

perception is positive. If you gain exposure for your




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product, make sure it is for the right reasons and issending the message you want to send about your brandimage. While many feel it is important to “just get your name out there,” I disagree. You want your name to bewell known for the right reasons. Though Hitler, Stalin,and Charles Manson are well known and publicized,they are not exactly popular fellows. The word for suchexposure is infamy.

Kendall It is always hard to overcome a negative public relationsissue. I have stepped into too many facilities that need to

turn around their negative image. Believe me, itisn’t a cake walk. You might be asking yourself.“How do you turn around a negative public imagein a nursing home?” It is a common issue in

many facilities or communities. The best offenseis a good defense. Manage your image daily. Always be

working toward best practices in your communities.

Mission, Vision, and Values are KEY to success. Simplecommunication to the staff, with a simple message and

be faithful to the community.



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Sound Strategy

If you have done the hard work of finding your advantage ( Key 1) and defining your purpose ( Key 2),you should not have much difficulty in creating animage ( Key 3). The image is an expression of what thecompany is about. The important thing to remember isthat you must stay focused and clearly communicate aconcise message to the target audience. Now that youhave a sound strategy, it is time to use promotion to

communicate your message to the marketplace.




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Key 4: Implement Promotions

Promotion is the nuts and bolts of the marketing process. The promotion element is what most consumerssee and think of when you mention marketing. Beforewe tackle the promotion process, there are a few points

to consider first.

Ideal Customer

Who is your dream customer? If you are selling ahair growth product, the ideal customer is likely to be

bald, or balding and have a disposable income to spendon your product. When thinking of the ideal customers,try to envision them as actual persons standing beforeyou. Where do they live? What kind of lifestyle do theyenjoy? Determine as many traits as possible that



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characterize your ideal customers. Are they male or female? What is their age? Their income level? Thesedemographic questions help you target your marketmore accurately. Be as specific as possible, because themore demographics you find for your ideal customers,the better equipped you are to meet their needs. Idealcustomers will become advocates for your product, asdiscussed in Key 5: Building Relationships. The goal isto discover the ideal customers, then meet their needs

better than the competition by using your competitiveadvantage(s) ( Key 2).

Mike Over the years, many nursing homes have relied oncapturing every possible patient through the hospital

system. As the competition grew, the promotion

of their facility was nothing more than a new penor brochure to stay in touch with the referralsource. But were they really marketing to thedecision maker? Who is the decision maker in a

nursing department?When I do most of my training with the

admissions department in many facilities, I have them

spend some time tracking and trending their referrals tosee where most of their business is coming from. Wegather the prospect’s name, physician, family and so on.As it turns out, the real decision maker is the family.Statistics show it usually is the daughter or spouse. Most

people will also tell you that they choose a facility basedon location, although the level of care offered is just as

important. If you want to effectively market your facility, you have to know where to direct your advertising dollars. This also applies to what type of




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patient you want to attract to your facility. You will mostdefinitely market differently if you want Medicarereferrals compared to private paying individuals.Knowing your customer is essential to SMART

MARKETING.

Wes Demographic profiling in senior marketing is a

key element in validating potential success.Senior housing lenders usually require ademographic study sometimes by anindependent auditing firm. These studies,

depending on the complexity, can range from $12,000 to$50,000. Their reason to consider such a study is thathealthcare and senior housing choices are usually madewithin a conscious geographic circle of consideration.

Those geographic circles are usually a three-, five-,seven- and 10-mile radius from the property site. A ruralsetting or one that features a specific church,denomination, structure, or other unique drawing cardlike a military, sports or climate distinction can manytimes influence a longer move. People, however,generally like to stay in their immediate neighborhoods

or town with the built-in familiar support structures of friends, family and church considerations.




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For example, if I were to start my own shoecompany, I would be facing plenty of competition sincethe shoe market is already saturated by big companieswith big marketing dollars to spend. My only hopewould be to focus on one piece of the market. If Idesigned a shoe for tennis only, and called it theRacquet, I could go after the tennis portion of themarket. The big- name companies make all kinds of shoes, as well as clothing and other sporting goods. By

focusing specifically on the needs of tennis players, Icould attract the attention of that segment of the market.The big guys can’t compete because they have alreadymarketed themselves as making shoes for all sorts of athletes. Use their line extension against them. The bestthey can do is co-brand and come into the tennis marketsegment under a new name, but you have the powerful

advantage of being there first.I play hockey, so I will use an example of what I

have seen happening in the hockey equipment market.The majority of the hockey market comprisesconservative players with a love for tradition. The bignames in hockey equipment have been around for generations. In the 1980’s a new company called ItechTM

designed a plastic face shield for helmets. This is a greatname since their product was a new technology that

protects the eyes. Hockey players accepted Itech TM because it was a new product focused on an area that hadlittle, if any, special attention paid to it previously. Itechwas the first face shield on the market and gained a

positive reputation. Years later ItechTM

started makingsticks, gloves, and helmets. They lost their identity as aface shield. What does a pair of gloves have to do witheye technology? The name no longer matches the




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tools to better care for the family member at home bygiving them feedback from this assessment. Themarketing genius behind this program was that, if theywere satisfied, they would choose our facility againwhen the time arose. That is product marketing and if done right, it can have an immediate impact on your census and revenue.

Wes

Healthcare is a niche market and facility programs, scope of service, insurance carrier choices, and levels of care determine whichstriated marketing choice will be the main focusfor consideration. The facility type that most

closely epitomizes a full scope of service is a ContinuingCare Retirement Community (CCRC). Those types of

communities will have independent housing in villasand/or apartments with on-site available assisted andskilled licensed services and possible home healthservices to help maintain residents longer within their apartment setting.

The Four PsMost descriptions of marketing include the four

Ps, which are product, price, place and promotion. Someadd a fifth P that stands for packaging (which can just aseasily be covered as part of the P of product). Othershave six or seven P’s. Rest assured the following four-Papproach provides a suitable explanation of marketing. If

you want to understand marketing, you have a firmfoundation if you can remember these four simple Psand what they signify.



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Product

The product is the item or items provided by thecompany for the consumer. Products are both tangibleand intangible. Products may be physical items or aservice provided. Many physical products also havesome value-added service that accompanies the deliveryof the physical item. Packaging is important because it is

part of the product itself. Many people judge a book byits cover, so make sure you do not skimp on the

packaging.

Price

Any economics student can tell you that price is amatter of supply and demand. The market will bear acertain price point and settle into equilibrium. This is notvery helpful when trying to determine the price for anew product. Price is a very confusing area of marketingfor many people. This is probably because price is oneof the most misused and abused marketing tools.Traditionally, there are three ways to set the price for a

product: Competitive Parity - The practice of charging the

same price or average price of the competition. Standard Markup – The practice of always adding

the same percentage markup to the cost of products(e.g., cost plus 50 percent).

Zero-Based Pricing – The practice of receiving a

small margin per item with a high volume of sales.

The problem with all three of these methods isthey do not take into account the customer’s perceived




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value of the product. Let’s assume I am going to sellhats. The hats cost me $10 to make so I decide to sellthem for $15. What if the people buying my hats onlythink they are worth five dollars? I am in big trouble. Icannot afford to sell hats for less than they cost me tomake, but if that is the perceived value to my customersI will not sell any at $15. On the other hand, what if customers love my hats and would actually be willing to

pay $20 per hat? I am cheating myself out of five

dollars per hat. So how do you know what people will pay? Do the research before going to market. Either hirea market research firm or do it yourself if you are on a

budget. If people are willing to pay less than your cost to produce the hats, you will be avoiding disaster byknowing this information ahead of time. If people arewilling to pay more than your perception of a fair price,

you can be even more successful than you imagined.Your price must be based on the perceived value

to the customer. Price is a double-edged sword, andmany companies find themselves falling into the trap of competing on price. Price is not a competitive advantage

by definition because it can be copied easily andimmediately by the competition. Price wars with the

competition hurt everyone. Customers will be happy atfirst because they will get better deals, but bedisappointed in the long-term when prices go back up or their favorite company goes out of business. Price warsdestroy the perceived value of the product in themarketplace. Even if your company wins the price war

by undercutting the competition, customers will feelcheated when prices return to normal levels.I went to McDonald’sTM to get my thirty-nine-cent

hamburger the other day, and to my dismay what had



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been 39 cents the previous six months is now all of asudden 79 cents. I felt cheated, but if they had not been39 cents the week before when I bought them, I wouldnot have felt that paying 79 cents was a big deal. Likemillions and millions of other people, I have been goingto McDonald’sTM since I was a child. A few years agothey panicked and jumped into the price wars with their competition. This was a mistake. By creating their own“value menu,” they started looking like everyone else.

There is now nothing special about going there becausethey are just like their copycat competition. I just heardon the radio that McDonald’sTM is closing almost 200hundred locations. It does not sound like the low pricestrategy is working.

Low price is not a valid competitive advantage,yet companies spend millions of dollars saying they are

the low price leaders. Low price has no distinguishingcharacteristic about it, particularly when everyone issaying the same thing. Companies are also telling their customers to shop based on price. Therefore, if their competition has a lower price, they should go to them.Let me repeat, companies are paying for advertising thattells their customers not to be loyal, but to shop based on

low price! Besides encouraging a price war and creatingdisloyalty, this violates Key 5: Building Relationships.By telling people who the lowest price is the bestcriterion for choosing a product, companies arediscouraging customer loyalty based on reputation or quality of service. This practice is so prevalent that it is

no wonder many people are confused about the proper place of price in a marketing plan. The good news is thatafter reading this, you now know better than your competition.




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Mike One of the hardest things for most facilities toovercome is the pricing strategies in their

buildings. To understand this we must first look at what our customers are looking for. Each oneof the products in a facility, Alzheimer’s care,orthopedic rooms, respite, etc., all have a basic

ingredient that the customer expects. The basiccomponents of any facility are a room, nursing care,

staff, services, and so on. There is an expected productvalue that each customer wants when they come to your facility.

They expect to have certain services, qualifiedstaff to meet their needs, and a staff that is accessible if any issues occur. In this competitive environment, howcan a facility increase their perceived value of the

product? One of the simplest ideas is to create a productthat gives the customer a choice and adds intrinsic valueto the product.

One of the best examples of this can be found inthe automobile industry. They have become experts atcreating packages to add perceived value to their

product. This can also be done in the long-term care

industry. Whether nursing home or assisted living, youcan offer your customers’ choices in accommodations bycreating an amenities package that will add value andalso offer choice in prices. I once created a deluxe semi-

private suite by adding amenities to the deluxe room andsold it for $50 to $75 more than the standard semi-

private suite. The family toured each room and chose thehigher-priced room based on perceived value. This is anexcellent way to create a pricing strategy for your facility and continue to add services for your customers.




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with the passing on of the World War II generation.Time will tell.

Place

Ask what are the most important attributes thatcontribute to business success, and many will saylocation, location and location. Where your businessresides is indeed an important consideration. Opening anair conditioner store would likely be more successful in

Arizona than in Alaska.Place also deals with distribution and logistics, a

world unknown to most consumers. They don’t questionhow the milk got to the dairy aisle; they just pick up acarton and move on to the next item on their list. Thesteps involved in getting milk from a cow’s udder inKansas to a pasteurized, homogenized, vitamin A&Dfortified skim milk carton in a Safeway store in Oregonare fairly complicated. Each step in the distribution

process is an opportunity for enterprising individuals tomake a profit, and/or for manufacturers to keep costslow. Often it is more cost-effective for manufacturers tofocus on their competencies and to allow distributors to

capitalize on their specialized abilities of distribution.The Internet revolution turned the traditionaldistribution model on its head. The question for mostretailers today is whether to be a brick-and-mortar or aclick-and-mortar store. Brick-and-mortar is a traditional

physical location where consumers can visit a buildingto purchase products. Click-and-mortar is a name given

to Internet businesses which parodies the brick-and-mortar description. Companies expanding either onlineor to physical locations should avoid the line extension



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trap by giving each location its own identity. TheInternet site should have a different name than the

physical store and vice versa.Al and Laura Ries, in their book The 11

Immutable Laws of Internet Branding, call Law #1 the Law of Either/Or .2 Your business should be either online or at a physical location, not both (at least notwith the same name and branding). They also give sometips on determining the best choice for your product:

• Is the brand tangible or intangible? TheInternet tends to be a medium for tangible products and a business for intangible products(banks, stocks, insurance, etc.).

• Is the brand fashionable or not? Fashionable products (like clothing) tend touse the Internet as a medium, while non-

fashionable products (like computers) tend touse it as a business. For clothes, how do youknow if it will fit, what it will look like, andwill it be comfortable?

2 Ries, Al and Laura. The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding. © 2000HarperCollins New York, NY. Another great book from Al Ries written with his daughterLaura.




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• Is the product available in thousands of

variations? If yes, then the Internet tends to be a better choice, because it is difficult for aretail store to house thousands of products.Half of the customers leave retail storeswithout making a purchase because the item isnot in stock. You should narrow your productline in retail, or you will lose customers whocannot find the model they want in stock. If

you use the Internet, then a wide selection is acompetitive advantage.

• Is low price a significant factor in the

brand’s purchase? If yes, then the Internettends to be a business. The ability to check many prices quickly is making the Internet a

price-sensitive medium. This makes it difficult

to make money with the Internet as a business.

• Are shipping costs a significant factor

compared to the purchase price? If so, thenthe Internet tends to be a medium. Self-servicehas taken over the marketplace because it ismore economical.

The Rieses recommend using the Internet as partof the overall integrated marketing communicationsstrategy regardless of product. If the Internet site is notthe business itself, then the Internet should still be usedas a medium to promote the physical locations. TheInternet is a powerful IMC (integrated marketingcommunications) tool that is here to stay. We will cover

the use of the Internet and interactive tools more in depthin the next section on promotion.



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Wes In healthcare and senior housing the place

where the service is provided helps to reinforcethat people made the right decision to do businesswith you.

is it easily accessible, centralized to their world, does it have a décor and amenity presentation

compatible with their values,

have enough room for their belongings, have available space for entertaining friends, have enough programming to keep them engaged,

and Is it already filled with former neighbors and

friends?Some larger organizations have chosen to build

repeat architectural buildings for branding purposes.Examples are SunriseTM, Holiday HouseTM, or CapitalSenior LivingTM. Others choose to build buildings andamenities specifically tailored to the one site based ontopography, amenity access (golf course, water feature,rural, city, or suburban locations), and resident choice

profiling based on targeted focus group analysis.

Kendall

It is hard to sell a fancy facility to a farmingcommunity. In any instance, it doesn’t matter if you’re in a corporate cookie-cutter facility, or aunique privately held facility, your reflectionand bond to the community is critical. Don’t

minimize your residents’ community history or identity.




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Promotion

Promotions are what most consumers relate towhen discussing the marketing process. Promotioninvolves carefully blending various elements of marketing communications to work in harmony with oneanother, enhancing, complementing and synergizing intoa dynamic interactive message with the target audience.When done correctly, integrated marketingcommunications or IMC tools become the culminating

force which brings your marketing efforts to fruition. If you have done the hard work and laid the proper foundation by Defining Your Purpose (Key 1), Finding

your Advantage (Key 2), and Creating an Image (Key 3), then you are more than ready to Implement Promotions(Key 4).

Many companies don’t put in the effort to form

their strategy first; instead they jump right into promotions. But what are they promoting? What is their purpose? What is their value proposition (competitiveadvantage) to the customer? What image are they tryingto project? It makes sense to understand Keys 1, 2 and 3

before trying to tackle the promotion of Key 4.Think of each of the following methods:

advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct marketing, and Internet/interactive as tools in your IMCtoolbox. Like my dad used to say, “Don’t use ascrewdriver when you need a hammer.” Always pick theright tool for the job. At the same time, IMC tools work together; hence the term integrated . An engine and four

tires will not get you far, but put them together with theright parts and you have a speedy Ferrari. So use asmany appropriate tools as possible to generate a



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synergistic marketing promotions campaign. Thefollowing descriptions are in no particular order.

IMC TOOL #1 ADVERTISING

What is advertising?

Advertising is defined as paying a fee to createimage and awareness. Effective advertising is aimed atnew potential customers and always promotes the

distinct competitive advantages of the organization.Sounds simple, right?

Forms of Advertising

There are the three main forms of advertising.Print advertising consists of magazines, newspapers,

journals, brochures, flyers, etc. Broadcast advertising isfound on radio, television, film, and other formats. Thenthere are various forms of interactive advertisingincluding word of mouth, mobile ads on automobiles, T-shirts, Internet sites, etc.

Kendall When I was a graduate student in healthcare

administration, it was considered unethical toadvertise your care. You couldn’t say you werebetter or smarter than the hospital or nursing home across town. Only the chiropractorsadvertised for patients. Not that DC’s (Doctors

of Chiropractic) were wrong to advertise for patients, butthe medical doctors (MD’s) thought ethically it was wrong

to advertise for patients. Your physician was the center of knowledge and as such, what was best for your hospital.




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This is all changed in our modern society. I havefriends whose kids have gone to eight different schoolsfrom Pre-K to the 12th grade. Many of our friends havemultiple doctors, directed by their health plans. The tie tothe family physician of the past is hard to find in today’s

world. It does still exist in rural America, but it can’t beconsidered a norm anymore.

Spend some time identifying your community’scharacter and how it relates to the community at large.

Communities all have personalities and population groupsthat they serve. My favorite method to understanding whoyou are at a facility level is using focus groups. You canalways find out what people think of your operation; justask them.

WesIn healthcare and senior housing I would propose

a fourth form of advertising. Although some mayconsider it a subset of interactive advertising, I would

suggest that activity- or event-based advertisingis a great way to entice new customers to your facility, while reinforcing value to your existing

residents or database referral sources. A goodinitial contact decision was made and you will

remain on their choice list to consider as their needs progress. Mike spoke earlier about the Fourth of Julyfacility and its reputation for this activity. The goal is toretain goodwill and maintain top-of- mind awareness.



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Current Customers

Have you noticed how consumers receive

advertising for products they already purchase? Howfrequently do you view or hear advertising for a productyou currently use? This is a violation of the true purposeof advertising: to create image and awareness. You arealready aware of the product, and you must have afavorable view of its image because you are purchasingit. Building on current relationships with customers ( Key

5) is very important, but advertising is not the proper tool. If people are already customers, then advertisersshould already know who they are. Advertising tocurrent customers is not necessary and besides beingwasteful, can in some cases be counterproductive.

I sometimes receive advertising material fromcompanies of which I am already a loyal customer. In

some ways, I am offended that they do not know who Iam. It’s like calling your mother on the phone and givingher a detailed explanation of who you are as though shedoes not already know. She would think there wassomething wrong with you. Advertising is aimed solelyat potential customers, while current customers should

receive targeted communications that acknowledge their unique relationship with the company.Don’t overlook the importance of the term

potential . By potential I mean someone who wouldactually purchase the product. The majority of peopleare not ever going to buy your product no matter howmuch advertising you do to them, so why spend your

finances trying?




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Mike

If there is one thing that I learned early on in mycareer, it is the principle of positioning. All healthcare

facilities find themselves trapped in a verycompetitive and volatile environment. Onemistake or blunder can send a facility into a

public relations nightmare. The key is to knowyour strengths and market them in some form of

the media. I’ll never forget the confidence I had in

marketing my first facility. I did a beautiful tour, foundout their needs, and told the family that we have the bestnursing facility in town. I encouraged them to tour thefacility down the street (even gave them the name) to seewhy our facility was the best choice. I remember thenext week waiting for the family to come back only tofind out that they had chosen the facility down the street.

Here are my Six Pearls of Positioning. Never steer your customer toward your

competition; they just might like the competitionmore.

Always sell your strengths about your facility, andavoid bringing up the weaknesses.

To increase your sales advantage, always market

and sell the differences between you and your competition.

Give the customer facts about your services notfluff. They can spot a sales pitch.

Avoid insider healthcare jargon. Speak withconfidence but don’t overwhelm your customer

with your knowledge. Be genuine. Know the needs and wants of your customer before you begin selling.



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These are basic principles that somehow get lost in theday-to-day operations of marketing. You will spendthousands of dollars on advertising the wrong ideas if you don’t understand these principles. If your advertising resembles the competitions, then you havefailed to communicate the differences that make youspecial and unique.

Hitting the Target

Television commercials are the most widelyrecognized form of advertising. When I ask mymarketing students on the first day of class for anexample of marketing, they usually talk about televisioncommercials. Usually their favorite commercials are

beer commercials (remember, these are college

students). Budweiser TM

and Bud LightTM

have some of the funniest commercials. Many people have seen thesecommercials and will even imitate the characters. I oftenask my students to raise their hands if they have seen a

particular Budweiser TM commercial and if they like itand/or think it is funny. Almost all of the students raisetheir hands. Then I ask them, “How many of you drink

this beer?” In all of my classes only a few, if any, raisetheir hands. Do they not drink beer? No, they just drink different beer from the ones advertised by Anheuser-BuschTM. This leads to a discussion about targeting new

potential customers.Most of the people who see these commercials are

not, and will not ever be, customers for Anheuser-BuschTM, so who cares what they think? There is noreturn on the advertiser’s investment for these studentsto see the commercial. The advertiser is paying to reach




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this audience who does not buy the product; thereforethere is no return on investment for this audience.

While no advertising can be perfectly targeted, themore targeted, the better. When unintended viewers arereceiving your message, you are wasting money. Evenworse, if they do not like the advertising, that is, think itis funny, you might be creating antagonists out of

potential future customers. The more targeted themessage, the more effective, the less expensive, and the

greater the return on investment. We will go more indepth into this concept in Key 5 when we look at theMarketing Funnel.

Accountability

So if mass advertising is so ineffective, why do

people do it? First of all, they obviously have not readthis book and are misinformed. Most people do whatthey see others doing, or what has worked in the past.There is also an entire industry based on “the bigger andmore creative the better” ideology. Advertisingexecutives give each other awards for creating uniqueadvertisements. Unfortunately I see a lack of

accountability in the current system. Bottom line, it doesnot matter how good the production quality is for anadvertisement; what matters is whether people buy the

product. It is a good strategy to use high standards for creating advertising slicks, but it has to be a means to theend, the end being when consumers understand themessage and buy the product. Some of the worst-

produced advertisements (infomercials) are stillsuccessful because they sell the product.



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Nissan TM

A few years ago NissanTM ran a series of ads with

an old man standing in a field. The camera would flyaround and then circle around his face. What did the adsmean? What were they trying to say? What advantageswere they trying to promote? No one really knows, butthe ads were creative. When I spoke with an employee atthe Nissan offices, she said she had no idea what the adsmeant, nor did anyone else in her office. They were

confused and did not really like the campaign.Eventually, NissanTM changed the campaign, but whatexactly they were trying to communicate will remain amystery. Are you willing to spend millions of dollars tocreate a “cool” ad that no one understands?

RaisinsOh, those adorable California RaisinsTM, dancing

across the table! Can you hear them singing, “I heard itthrough the grapevine”? Who did not love those darlingclaymation creatures of the 1980’s? They were so

popular they even had their own Saturday morningcartoon. And you would think that the sales of CaliforniaRaisinsTM must have been prosperous during this time,

but you would be wrong. Sales of California RaisinsTM actually declined during the campaign. This provesthere’s a big difference between entertainment andselling the product.

Got Sales?

Arguably, one of the best-known advertisingcampaigns of all time is the series of “Got Milk?”




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commercials. I love these commercials; they arehysterical. But as you can probably guess, they have notto date improved milk sales. In fact, they are consideredsuccessful because milk sales stopped declining for awhile. Maybe I have high standards, but I expect acampaign to improve sales, not keep them stagnant.

ROI

The criterion for success must be the ROI, returnon investment (i.e., people buying the product), not

people liking the advertisements. I believe advertisingagencies have tended to avoid being specific aboutreturns for two reasons. One, they don’t really knowhow effective they are because they do not have systemsin place to truly measure effectiveness. Second, they

know there is a lot of waste and they do not want todiscourage their clients. That’s why advertising talksabout making impressions on viewers. If this is the case,

just say “I don’t do impressions,” and ask for sales to bemade instead.

Typically, sales are the measure of success, but asany statistics student will tell you, correlation is not

necessarily causation; there are other interveningvariables. In English this means that just because salesincreased does not mean that the advertising (ads) wasthe cause; it could have been something else. For example, if you run a radio ad for hot dog buns on theFourth of July and sales spike for that weekend, it is notnecessarily because of the ad, but because more peopleare barbecuing for the holiday.

In fact, if you are not measuring effectiveness,you could be running counterproductive ads. What if



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more people would have bought your hot dug buns, butthey did not like the ads so they bought another brand, or ate hamburgers? You could deduce from the spike insales that the ad had been effective, when in fact youcould have sold more with better ads, or no ad at all. If you are not measuring properly, you will waste moneyand, worse yet, you could be paying to cause damage toyour image.

Internet Bubble

In the late 1990’s the Internet was riding high asthe vital component of the information revolution.Internet company founders were getting rich overnight.Investors were pouring billions into what appeared to bethe next big thing. By 2000 there seemed to be trouble,

and many Internet companies started to go out of business.A major reason the Internet bubble burst is that

people were basing their business model on the sellingof advertising on their sites. The remarkable advantageof the Internet, as we will discuss further below, is that itis measurable. The Internet does not try to guess how

many people look at a site, or click on a banner ad, or purchase a product from a banner ad for that matter; itcan actually measure all of those things in real time andreal numbers instantaneously. This is a Copernicanrevolution in terms of advertising. It was also the deathof many of the businesses based on selling Internetadvertising. They were still trying to sell based onimpressions, but such fantasies are not needed nor tolerated in the Internet world.




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Linkage

So if advertisers seem to be unaccountable for

results, what is the answer? This is a complex problem,and if you can figure out an effective answer, you will berich. It is impossible to completely measure alladvertising, but some methods are better than others. Ihave already mentioned the capabilities of the Internet toevaluate sales. If you need hard numbers, the Internet isa tremendous tool.

For other advertising methods, use some kind of linkage that can be tracked. If you send coupons toconsumers, place a code on them so you can track whichones were redeemed and by whom. If you do a televisioncommercial, add a web address or telephone number onthe screen. Place the same information in other media,such as magazines. When consumers log into the site or

call, ask them how they heard about the company. If most of your inquiries are coming from the magazine ad,then you can ditch the television commercial and itscosts.

All your advertising should provide some kind of linkage that provides you feedback about its

effectiveness. Without this data, it is difficult to justifyadvertising costs. This information is also vital increating more targeted advertising and buildingrelationships with current customers ( Key 5).

How do your promotions link you to your customers?



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Inward-Focused Jargon

Many companies fall into the trap of inward-focused jargon. That’s why we see so many acronyms.They expect people to know, or want to figure out, whatXYZ means. You may have noticed I used the initialsROI above but was sure to immediately explain themeaning. I hate to bruise corporate egos, but I have totell them that most people don’t really care what their acronym means. Using terminology that makes sense to

you but not to new potential customers in advertising iscounterproductive. Marketing, and advertising in particular, is about communication. The more clear andsimple messages are better. Instead of trying to be cool,

just try to be understood. If you can do it in a cool way,that’s even better but cool without understanding is justa waste of money.




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No, it’s all about your customers

Brown?

UPSTM started a campaign where they asked,“What can Brown do for you?” Since I am interested inmarketing, I asked, “Who is Brown?” and started

investigating. I wrongly assumed that Brown must be thename of their new package-tracking software. I spokewith a UPSTM representative who told me Brown was thenickname for UPSTM given to it by the employees. So theanswer to the mystery of what Brown stands for, andwhy they are spending millions of dollars on advertising,is that it means UPSTM. Do you see anything wrong with

this picture? If not, start rereading this section from thetop.



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Why spend so much money to advertise a secondname for the same company? They have already spentmillions to distinguish their three-letter initialism of aname in our minds; now they want to throw more cash atan extra name? Why spend so much money to confuse

people? This is a sign that UPSTM has become inward-focused. They are more concerned with having fun withan inside joke of a nickname than in reaching their customers.

Alternatives

Good advertising promotes image and awarenessof the distinct competitive advantage(s) of the product to

potential new customers. There is a world of difference between advertisements based on sound marketing

principles and those produced for the amusement of thecreators. With all the potential dangers and expense of advertising, is there a better alternative? Yes there is;read on…

Mike The purpose of marketing is to increase revenue.

Most nursing facilities have forgotten the basic truth,“You have to spend money to make money.” Ihad the opportunity to work with one of the bestlong-term consultants in the country. GeorgeMolloy taught the sound principle of crafting anadvertisement that targets the family members

and care-givers. I soon learned that whatever product I

wanted to market in my building, I could effectivelyadvertise to increase revenue. Here is a prime example.




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One of the quickest ways to generate private payrevenue in a facility is to go after the “respite” stays or short-term stays that give the families a break. Wecrafted an advertisement, ran it in a local newspaper withthe title “What happens to Mom when you go away onvacation.” The title alone was enough to generate calls.We advertised a program called the Vacation Plan for Caregivers. This advertisement, which we mixed with afew others, generated so much interest that our inquiries

doubled in one month and our private pay censusincreased by 40 percent. Yes, advertising does work.Spend some time researching what you want to sell anddon’t bunch all your services together.

IMC TOOL #2 PUBLIC RELATIONS/PUBLICITY

Free Advertising?

What if I told you that you could receive freeadvertising that would be more effective than any youcould possibly purchase, would you take it? Welcome to

the world of public relations and publicity. PR or publicity is non-paid coverage by the media. Smartand/or thrifty organizations use the media to their advantage. The advantages of using PR and publicity tosend marketing messages is that it is free and that it ismore credible to the recipients, since it is assumed to be

provided by an objective source. The disadvantage is

that there is little or no control over what is reported, anda negative or distorted marketing message can bereported.



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Wes I have regularly challenged my marketing and

activity staff to coordinate positive publicity for thefacility. By regularly submitting press releasesand photos for activity events within the facility,and also outreach programs to the outsidecommunity, we come across as an engaged,

interesting, active community. By also occasionally

submitting human interest stories on our residents andsometimes linking them with the testimonialadvertisements we had purchased in the newspaper, wefound that our call traffic increased as prospectsreconnected with old friends and also sought to be a partof a vibrant community. Every community has arepository of history in the lives of its residents. A well-

crafted memory lane story will resonate with like-minded prospects. I think that is why “ReminiscenceMagazine” has a great following. People like to bereminded of good memories and accomplishments andfeel they are still a valuable contributor to society andtheir circle of friends. This tactic has always been asuccessful approach at my facilities.

Sewn of the Same Cloth

What’s the difference between public relations(PR) and publicity? That depends on who you ask. Idistinguish the two by separating them into proactiveand reactive forms of the same process. Publicity is

actively seeking media attention or offering a particular message to news and community organizations. Publicrelations is handling and/or spinning public perceptions



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IMC TOOL #3 SALES PROMOTION

Promoting Sales

Sales promotion is a good way to break into amarket by providing a motivator for new customers to try your product. Sales promotion is usually confused with

personal selling because the term sales is used. While they work well when used together, they are very differenttechniques. Personal selling is the process of interaction

between the seller and the consumer while salespromotion is the use of specific incentives or rewards toinduce trial of a product.

Inducing Trial

Sales promotions typically offer a discount,

rebate, or reward for trying a new product, thus reducingthe perceived risk for new clients to try a product. For example, if I can buy the new Brand X toothpaste for half price with a coupon, then theoretically I havereduced the risk of trial by 50 percent. The idea is thatonce the clients try the product, they will be sufficientlyimpressed to continue to purchase the product at the

regular price. You are demonstrating faith in your own product by providing incentives to the consumer.

Types of Sales Promotion

There are many types of sales promotions. Mostof what we see is on the consumer side, but the majority

of sales promotions are given to wholesalers andsalespeople for selling a product. Most consumers arefamiliar with coupons, a popular form of sales




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promotion. Some others include buy one get one free;free-with-purchase packs; bonus-size packages; in-storespecials and sales; contests; loyalty programs; as well assweepstakes and rebates. A powerful way to buildrelationships and often meet your potential customers isthrough special events.

Most salespeople work on some kind of commission where they receive a percentage of whatthey sell. They also receive all sorts of promotional

items, such as T-shirts, key chains, and coffee mugs withthe sponsoring company’s name emblazoned on thefront. These giveaways to salespeople are commonlycalled perks. Many times sales of individual productswill also provide salespeople with an additional rewardcalled a sales performance incentive fund (SPIF). So ashoe salesman may make a two percent commission on

every pair of shoes sold, but he also may make an extrafive dollars when he sells a pair of Nikes.

Buyer Beware

Sales promotions given to salespeople can cause

problems for consumers and retailers. If you haveunscrupulous or untrained salespeople, they are likely tosell a customer a product that he or she does not need sothat they can make a SPIF. Many retailers stoppedproviding incentives because they had too many problems

with salespeople pressuring customers to buy items withincentives, which led to declining sales. When purchasing products, I will ask the salesperson whether theirrecommendation is based on using the product and/or if they get a commission.



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I have been in retail sales for many years and havenever sold an item because I got a SPIF, but it wastempting. I liked to sell the item with a SPIF because Imade more money but it was not worth my integrity. This

was not always the case with my co-workers. I worked forthe national nutrition store GNC TM, where we received nocommission but did get a SPIF on certain items. Onecustomer returned a product my coworker sold herbecause she had trouble sleeping when she used it. My coworker told her we were out of the product she askedfor (which was a lie) and that this one would do the samething (which was also a lie). He also did not tell her thatthe guarana in the product is a form of potent caffeine,even though she said would be taking it before bedtime.

What did he recieve for compromising his integrity by lying to a customer and disrupting her life by keeping her

up all night? He received $2.Manufacturers, to boost sales of their products,

often use SPIFs. They are usually effective, but they mustbe done carefully and given to trustworthy persons. In themeantime, be wary if a salesperson is a little too excitedabout a product, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Events are Your FriendHaving special events are an excellent way to move

closer to your prospects and start to build relationships( Key 5 ). Depending on the setting you have the opportunity to come face to face with the people who are looking atyour product.

When working with a local college I recommendeda series of events the school could use to get to know theirtarget market. Choosing a college is not typically an




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impulse decision, so having prospects visit the campus andfeel at home is key. The school can take advantage of itsbeautiful campus and energetic students to makeconnections with prospects before they graduate fromhigh school. By creating special events on campus likesports clinics, concerts and retreat weekends, the studentsbecome familiar with the campus and its people.

Imagine the eighth grade student who goes to thecampus for a baseball clinic taught by current college

students each spring. By the time they are a junior they have spent time on the campus for four years and havefriendships with current students. When they are deciding

where to go for school, and possibly leave family andfriends, the school has a leg up on the competition.

Should you charge for these events? Absolutely. Theprice may not be monetary, but you must get contactinformation and build a strong database of the people whoare attending your events. They are your pre-qualifiedleads; they already know who you are and have expressedan interest in your product.



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Rethinking Rebates

Those advertisements in the paper have some great

prices, but then you read the fine print and it says, “afterrebate.” Why do companies use rebates? When I ask most people this question, they say it is because a lot of people will not send in the rebate form and themanufacturer keeps the money. Does this sound like agood strategy? It is not wise to have people angry withyou because they missed a rebate deadline, or to think you

are manipulating them out of their deserved cash. This isthe opposite of building relationships ( Key 5 ) withcustomers.

Rebates tend to confuse people and, by their nature,are manipulative. They say the price is one amount, butyou pay another. You have to cut off this code, copy thatreceipt, jump through a hoop, and do it all by a deadline.

Do you really want people associating this unpleasantexperience with your company? If you can afford therebate, a better alternative is to lower the price, or offer ashort-term promotion. I hate filling out rebate forms, so Ibeg manufacturers, for the sake of humanity and my personal sanity, please stop the rebate confusion.




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No one wants to fill out rebate forms

Linking Sales Promotions

It is important that sales promotion activities areused in conjunction with advertising and publicrelations/publicity activities. So if you are going to

promote a sweepstakes, place the details in anadvertisement. Let’s say you are giving away a dream vacation. You could place an ad in a magazine with asweepstakes entry form. The form should be coded so youknow the magazine and the date and can track theeffectiveness of the advertisement. The consumer isexposed to two IMC TM tools at the same time, which

provides synergy. Promotions should also link to theproduct when possible. If you sell pasta, you could giveaway a trip to Italy; that also reinforces the authenticnature of your product. IMC TM tools work best when



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linked to each other; they also provide the manufacturerthe ability to track consumer information.

Turn It Off

Sales promotions should be used for only a limitedtime and should be turned off quickly. Always have anexpiration date—the shorter, the better. Long-termexpirations diminish urgency for consumers. Often they

will set the offer aside and forget about it until it is toolate.

Another reason to limit their duration is thatextended or continual sales promotion activities lead to adevaluation of the product in the eyes of clients. If there isalways a coupon available for half off, they will not ever

want to pay full price. The goal is to get customers to use

the product and then to pay the regular market price.Unlimited sales promotion for an item is not really salespromotion; it is a lowering of the price, which is not agood idea. As we discussed earlier, using price as amarketing tool is a trap because it could lead to a price

war.

No War

Excess sales promotions by one company usually lead to retaliation by competitors. Each side continues tolower the perceived value of its product until both are introuble. Consumers are usually happy but, in the long

term, price wars affect everyone. If one of the companiesgoes out of business, then people lose their jobs. In othercases, one company outlasts the competition and is able totake over the market. They then raise their prices higher




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than they were at the start. I’m for a free market economy and I believe that the market corrects itself, so you havethe freedom to lower prices and use sales promotions asmuch as you desire, but smart businesses will differentiateaway from price.

Don’t Send Coupons to Customers

If you have read this section so far, then it should

be obvious why this is a bad idea; but just in case I’llreiterate the reason. Coupons (and sales promotions)should be used to induce trial. Since current customershave already tried the product, there is no need to inducetrial.

Retaining CustomersIn the advertising section, I warn not to send

advertising to current customers but to send them targetedcustomized communications. Customer retention andloyalty programs are a way to show gratitude, promotecontinued use of the product, and encourage customers tobe advocates to family and friends. Frequent shopper

cards, premiums, and thank-you letters are a few ways toexpress appreciation and build relationships ( Key 5 ) withcurrent customers.

Firing Customers

A big complaint I hear about using salespromotions is that people do not use the product withoutthe incentive. My parents own an Italian restaurant. My father tried running some coupons in the direct mail pack,



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but he was not happy with the response. He says the only people who used them were paying in pennies and looking for more deals. They also did not return later to make full-price purchases.

The first problem is poor targeting. The wrong people got the promotion. This is another reason youshould not run promotions indefinitely. If ideal customers

who enjoy the food had received the coupon, they wouldhave tried it and then returned to pay full price.

If you do get customers that are not ideal, or worseyet, are anti-customers, fire them. These are not the kindof people with whom you are trying to do business. They

will only look for bargains and try to take from you. They will not build a positive reciprocal relationship with you( Key 5 ). Fire them.

Cause-Related Marketing

A very effective sales promotion strategy is the useof cause-related marketing in which organizations create orpartner with other charitable organizations or causes.

When teaching my Sales Promotion course I highly recommend: Brand Spirit.3 Cause-related marketing is a

great concept, because it is a win-win/win-win for thecompany, its employees, the charity and consumers.

The company wins because they have an increase inthe perceived value of the product due to a contribution tocharity. They are better able to differentiate themselvesfrom competitors. The employees of the company winbecause they are helping to contribute to society through

their efforts. It can be difficult to find meaning in your

3 Brand Spirit : How Cause-Related Marketing Builds Brands by Hamish Pringle & Marjorie Thompson




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work, particularly if you are making mundane consumerproducts. On the other hand, if your company contributesto a good cause, it brings meaning and purpose to youractivities. Obviously this is a win for the charity since they are receiving needed funds. Lastly, cause-related marketing is a win for the consumers because they are helping a

worthy cause with their otherwise ambiguous consumerpurchases.

When possible you should match the cause to the

product. There are two ways to go about cause-relatedmarketing campaigns. Either start your own or partner

with an existing philanthropy. We spoke of the pros andcons of partnering earlier, and the same principles apply here. For those who have the resources, creating their owncharity or foundation is a wise choice because they wholly-own the entity and its image.

So if you wanted to promote your new dog foodFluffy Time , you could start the Fluffy Time Foundation to rescue fluffy dogs. Portions of the sales from Fluffy

Time Dog Food go to support the foundation. Thefoundation directly correlates to the product andreinforces a positive image in the consumer’s mind. The

foundation is a great way to achieve free publicity. Thepublic would perceive you as a caring company, thusincreasing your perceived value. Besides differentiating yourself from the competition, studies have shown thatpeople are willing to pay a premium to purchase productsthat help a cause. The employees of the company can feelgood about helping these fluffy little creatures to live a

long and healthy life. The Fluffy Time Foundation receivesfunding to help our fluffy friends in need. Consumers canbuy your product with a smile, knowing they are helping others.



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Sincere Causes

If the above sounds like crass commercialism, it

could sound the same way to consumers. That’s why causes must be sincere. If the company and its employeesare not truly behind the cause, then the campaign couldbackfire. Many people have been critical of the plethora of products that have partnered with various breast cancercharities. They have been questioned whether they aretrying to help women or sell products.

I believe this is especially the case when companiesare asking consumers to mail in yogurt lids andadmonishing them to “help lick breast cancer.” In my mind, there are a lot of things wrong with this tagline, butI will let you use your imagination as to why. Filling out arebate form is bad, but mailing in sticky lids is even worse.

There are few things more difficult to send in than ayogurt lid. If you do cause-related marketing, do it for theright reasons and with sincerity, or it will have a negativeimpact on your image.

Old Cause, New Tricks

There has been more cause-related marketing lately,but is this a new idea? Cause-related marketing has beengoing on for the last century, but it is increasing today.

When modern marketing began in the Western countries,the population was living on a subsistence level.

Advertising promoted the value of products and went intotechnical details of what the item could do for the

customer. In the late sixties there was a cultural andfinancial shift. People had more money and they were tiredof the same old advertising. People were also disillusioned

with materialism, so ads started to emphasize the




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emotional. Perfume ads talked about how the scent madeyou feel like a woman, not how big the bottle was.

Today we are living in one of the most prosperoustimes in history. People have also realized consumerproducts cannot provide for emotional needs no matterhow appealing the advertising. At the same time there is alack of community. People, especially prosperous people,like to give to society. Since there is a distrust and lack of participation in traditional institutions like churches, many

people do not have an outlet to give to their communities.Consumer products come to the rescue. Cause-relatedmarketing meets additional time and convenience needs of consumers by letting them have their Duncan Hines cakemix and contribute to charity too.

For psychology buffs, I will point out that thispattern correlates with psychologist Abraham Maslow’sHierarchy of Needs model. Consumers used to be justscraping to survive; advertising appealed to their baseneeds of survival. Next there was advancement to the nextlevel of emotional needs. Finally today, we are at thepinnacle of the hierarchy: self-actualization, fulfillment by giving to others.

Use Them for Good, Not Evil

Sales promotions are a powerful tool. When doneright, they can be very effective. When misused, they can bring disaster. Many times the success or failure of sales promotion is dependent upon the salespeople.




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On the Front Line

Ask any general how battles are won and lost, and

they will tell you the frontline soldier makes the difference.Even in this modern age of computers and unmanneddrones on the battlefield, it is still the humans running themachines that make the difference. In marketing, thesalesperson is the one on the front lines and who makesthe difference to marketing success.

Wes I think sometimes the most effective sales

reinforcement tool available is a well-trained, pleasant,responsive staff. Yes, a salesperson is anessential ingredient, but I think more sales arewon through the efforts of housekeepers, dietaryworkers, receptionists, and maintenance staff.

Clients and their families make decisiontransitions very easily between the thoughts of, “If theytake this much pride and care and attention to the

building, food and landscaping and telephone contacts,then they will take equal or better pride and care of myloved one.”

I like to have staff and their families identifyclosely with the facility. Showing pride of affiliation andrecognizing their personal accomplishments publiclyreinforces that, as staff, they made a great decision tocome to the facility. They, in turn, share that pride, trustand confidence with their community.

One way we train all staff to help when our sales

team is touring prospective clients, is to have them prepared to share how their specific job and efforts makea personal difference in the life of the residents.



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A housekeeper may say: “Hi! My name is ___________. I’ve been here at _________ for nineyears. I’m here on this floor or this hallway to see thatyour mother lives in a clean and safe environment, freefrom infections. I also am here to see that her clothes areclean and neat and available for her to use. Let me knowif there is anything else I can do to help.”

A dietary aide may say: “Hi! My name is _____________. I’m here to provide choices and a goodmeal experience for your mother and, of course, for anyguests that she may have. Let me know if there issomething special she really likes. We also try torecognize each resident on their birthdays with a specialdessert treat, even though there may be special dietaryconsiderations. I hope I’ll get a chance to share my

gooey lemon butter cake with you.”A nurse’s aide may say: “Hi! My name is ______________. I’m here to encourage your mother to be as independent as possible and yet help her withthings when she may need it. Your name is veryfamiliar. My sister, I think, had you as her teacher in theseventh grade. We’ve lived in the town our whole life.

It’s great to be able to help those now who had such agood influence on my life.”

An activity coordinator may say: “Hi! My nameis ______________. I’m in charge of good times andcelebrating life here at _____________. We have allkinds of arts and crafts and entertainment coming to thefacility. I heard your mother was an elementary school

teacher. We also have a story hour session with the daycare center each Wednesday. We’d love to have your




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mother help with the reading or to hold one of the smallchildren on her lap during the story hour.”

Each staff member, through their comments,reinforces the core mission, vision, and values and

beliefs of the organization and personalizes it for therelationships they may have with residents. Prospectiveresidents and family decision-makers respond well tothis approach because it speaks to the heart of the matter and brings the staff members individually into the

extended family unit of the resident. A person doesmuch more for “family members” than they will ever dofor strangers.

Kendall

I experienced this recently with a family member calling me for advice in placing their father. I referred

them to Mike’s current rehab facility. For the firsttime, the insurance company redirected their careto another facility. The family felt confused andconcerned because they wanted to take my advice,

but felt the insurance company had more knowledge.Interestingly enough, both facilities were providers withthe insurance company. The true strategic partner here

was the physician directing care to a facility with whichhe/she was more comfortable. The facility was hurting itself with poor communication to the physicians regarding care.



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The face of your company to your customers is your frontlinesales and customer service people regardless of how much youspend on promotions

The Weakest Link

Poor personal selling tends to be a weak link formany companies. You can do all the advertising andpromotion in the world, but it will not matter if yourpotential customers and customers are not treated well by the salespeople. This is called providing good customer

service. The term is a misnomer for many businesses; infact a consumer advocate has labeled these the “customerno-service departments” of companies. Often thepromotions can create expectations that the sales staff arenot prepared to meet.

When I worked for the nutrition store GNC TM, they did extensive advertising. They ran numerous television

ads and had several beautiful full-color ads in all theexercise magazines. They had to be spending severalmillion dollars per year on these ads. At the store level, we




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were paid minimum wage with no commission, but we didreceive occasional SPIFs (see definition above). I knew nothing about vitamins and health products when Istarted, and was looking forward to learning about themon the job. GNC TM did have a training program, but in my case I received no training from my manager. I like tolearn new things on my own so I was motivated to learnabout all of the health products. I studied the books in thestore and read all the labels on the packaging. I would ask customers questions such as “What are you using thisproduct for? Is it working well for you? Have you tried theGNC TM brand?” I was able to get into the minds of my customers. I learned a great deal of good information by surveying people on what worked and what did not. I alsotried all the popular products to see what worked for me. I

was then able to make recommendations to customers

based on personal experience.I did a good job at GNC TM and the customers liked

me. I was praised for selling the most “gold cards” (afrequent customer discount card) on a regular basis. I was

very knowledgeable about the product because I waspersonally motivated to learn. On the other hand, I had acoworker who had been there before I started but knew

very little about the product, did not like health foods, didnot interact with customers, and sold items that would gethim a SPIF even if it was not a good match for thecustomer. If you owned this store, which employee wouldyou rather have wait on your customers? As a customer,

which of us would you prefer to wait on you? While Ienjoyed working at GNC TM, I had to leave to get a better

paying job.



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MikeEarly on, I learned that in order to be an effective

salesperson, you have to be excited, motivated, and willing to go above and beyond in customer service. If you do all of these things, opportunities will alwayscome your way. I’ll never forget a part-time job Ihad selling Christmas trees. Of course it was easy to be excited because of the Christmas season;

however, the below- freezing temperatures did make ithard sometimes to be motivated. Nonetheless, I went outof my way to exude great customer service and at the endof one day a customer came back to the lot. He stated heowned a company and was looking for good salespeople.He liked my attitude and especially was impressed with my customer service. Needless to say, I was offered a job andthen had my first big-league sales job. I always try to

remember this when I am training a new salesperson andtry to teach them about customer service. You just neverknow where it may lead you.

Bright Flight

Bright flight is the process of all the smart peopleleaving a business. Typically, this happens because the

smartest and most talented people realize when a businessis not run well or they are not being compensatedadequately. If you want to attract and retain quality people,you must pay them what they are worth. Bear in mind thatstudies have shown money is not the primary motivatorfor most people. Employees are willing to receive less pay for pleasant working conditions. Pay is a motivator, but

how employees are treated is also a big factor in theirdedication to a company. It is probably cheaper to treatpeople with respect than to pay them enough that they will

work at a job they do not like. You must either pay your




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people well or treat them right. You are better off doing both.

Training PaysStudies have shown that the average return on

investment for training is 20 to one. That means for every dollar you invest in your employees you should see a $20return in productivity. That’s a tremendous return notfound in most places in the business world. Training helps

businesses to attract and retain quality people. Quality candidates are attracted to companies with good training programs. When hiring people, you have three alternatives.First, hire someone and train him or her to do the job well.Second, hire someone who already knows how to do thejob. The problem with this choice is that it is much moreexpensive to hire someone who already knows how to do

the job. Third, pray for a miracle because without training or experience, it will have to be a miracle for your new person to succeed. Train your people.

Kendall

While working with a faith-based facility with a long history of average care, we wanted to know how much ourturnover really cost the facility. The turnover rate at this

facility was around 125 percent, so it was asignificant task to measure. What we discovered

was astounding! Every new employee hired costapproximately $1,894! We applied this to the 123

new employees hired for that year and WOW, that was

$232,962! The management team was at a loss for words!No one could say that we didn’t have a budget for training our staff. We just had to change our attitude about how we

were going to spend our time.



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If you want more of the green stuff, invest in training

Five Factors for Personal Selling Success

First, let salespeople try the product. If yourproduct is as good as you think, they will becomeadvocates for the product ( Key 5 ). Second, train them inthe product. Knowledgeable salespeople are confident and

will help establish a positive relationship with customers( Key 5 ). They are less likely to make mistakes and tend tobe more satisfied with their job. Third, provide a pleasantenvironment. The best people look for and stay in good

working environments. Fourth, pay salespeople well.Proper financial compensation is another way to keep and

attract quality people. Last but not least, get feedback fromyour salespeople ( Key 6 ). They will feel valued and you willcull priceless information.




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IMC TOOL #5 DIRECT MARKETING

Go Direct

Direct marketing is a customized message for aspecific target audience. Some information is alreadyknown about this audience to whom relevant targetedadvertising materials are sent. To be effective, researchhas to be done about prospective customers beforesending these materials.

Wes Direct marketing has been a benchmark of thesenior housing market strategy for a number of years.Area market penetration rates (demographic targetingtask) demands that the facility unit count be based onfive- to six percent. This leads to a direct mail campaign

program which counts a two to three percent return

response rate as being a successful campaign,even though it usually takes a three-tieredcontact to get a response. Senior retirementmarketers like this approach because it is target-

focused on pre-qualified potential candidates and isrelatively cheap for the results. A facility is able to fine-tune the profile characteristics as desired. Usually a three

to seven profile benchmark criterion is adequate to get asufficient listing group.

The value of this program is only as good as the purchased lists; not all lists are equal. Lists, by their verynature, are time-sensitive and need to be purged andupdated. People regularly move and die; or financial or

health circumstances may later disqualify the potential prospect.The key goal of a direct mail piece is to get a

response, then a visit for a tour, and then either a



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validation of interest or a secondary referral of someonewho may be interested. One of the best list campaigns Iever did at a facility was to solicit 250 existing residentsto offer up their address books and contacts in exchangefor a free month of rent should one of their contactsmove into the community. They were pre-qualified andalready linked to the community through their friendshipwith our resident. We extended our circle of interest for minimal cost because we paid only for results.

Get the Facts

Several companies sell marketing lists that containnames of people who fit a particular demographic. Thesecan be useful in some cases, but you are still reliant onthe quality of research provided by an outside source.The best way to find information is to get it yourself.Most organizations already have a relationship withcurrent customers and should be implementing tools to

better serve them. You can provide a valuable service toyour customers by offering them products of use tothem. You can also annoy them into the arms of competitors with useless, ceaseless, irrelevant marketing.

Gain feedback ( Key 6 ) from customers then adjust your marketing messages ( Key 7 ) to make your offeringsrelevant and build a better relationship ( Key 5).

Your best recipients for direct marketing are those people who are pre-qualified or self-qualified. Thismeans they have already expressed an interest in your type of product either directly to your company or

through a third-party source. Many people out therewould welcome your advertising because they are in themarket for your product. The process of getting pre-




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approval for the sending of marketing materials is called permission marketing.

Join the Club

I lived in Southern California during the Card Clubboom of the 1990’s. Most of the major grocery storechains had their own clubs that provided discounts toholders of their store’s club card. On one level, I thought it

was a little silly because I was not really a member of aclub. I knew I just got the sale price on items that a few years before had been available without a card. On theother hand, I was studying marketing in college andthought it was a great idea for stores to get to know theircustomers better. They had my name, address, phone, andage, and knew how often I shopped and exactly what Ipurchased. This is an incredible amount of information tohave about your customer.

I kept waiting for the stores to send me a coupon totry a new chocolate chip cookie. They could tell from my purchases that I was an ideal customer for chocolate chipcookies. I never received that coupon, nor any othercustomized marketing materials. Why not? Why would

they not use all the information I was freely providing them? My guess is they had too much information and didnot know what to do with it. Or perhaps they never saw the value of the information and just thought I would buy more because I thought I was in a special club. I felt they

were wasting my time by filling out a form and carrying around a stupid plastic card. Why go to all the trouble if

they were not going to follow up and solidify therelationship with customized offerings and marketing messages?



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All but one of the area chains gave up on the cards. They started running promotions telling how they haddone away with the cards. Another store advertised how you never needed a club card in their store in the firstplace.

A few of the chains changed hands, and that is when things got really confusing. I went to a large grocery store on the weekend and needed my card; I went back during the week for something I forgot and they had

changed the name of the store. All of a sudden, thecashiers were laughing and assuring me I did not need acard anymore when I checked out my groceries. About a

week later, I went to the same store and I needed my cardagain because the store had changed ownership again (if this seems strange, remember it was California whereanything is possible).

Confused? So was I. I do not mention the names of the stores because I honestly cannot remember which was

which. I still go to that store, but I am not sure what thename is anymore. I hope you understand by reading thisbook that confusing the customer, especially about yourbrand name, is bad. Marketing is about communication,directly helping people to understand and not be confused.

The card clubs were not limited to grocery stores.Drugstores, gas stations and pet stores are among theother retail locations offering club discounts. While thereare still many companies that continue to use these cards,and I hold a few of them, I have yet to see a personalizedmarketing message from any of them. This is a waste of

valuable data about customers (Key 6) and a missedopportunity to strengthen relationships (Key 5).




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Catalogs

I have seen some good examples of direct

marketing from catalogs. I used to receive a catalog fromFranklinCovey TM, the company that sells time managementplanners. I purchased a set of calendar pages by mail order,and the next year I received a catalog about two monthsbefore my pages expired. The catalog had my name on it

with a personalized message that said something like,“Michael, your pages will be expiring in October, and we

have some great new products to choose from. YourMonarch size products are available on page 22.” I was very impressed.

I felt good that they knew who I was and weregiving me information to make my life easier. They wereactually meeting my time and convenience needs instead of giving me more unsolicited advertising to sift through or

throw in the trash. I am sad to say that I no longer getthose personalized catalogs. I started getting about onenon-personalized catalog a month from them that I usually threw away because there were too many. I was also nothappy that all of sudden they did not know who I wasanymore. I had slipped back into the anonymity of themass market. Now, for some reason, I do not get any catalogs from them at all.

My marketing professor was a big fan of a running store in San Diego that sent him personalized catalogs.

While in the store, they measured and tested his foot. They were able to determine what kind of runner he was and hisunique pronation (the angle of the foot striking the

ground). They smartly entered his information into theirdatabase and would send him personalized catalogs. Theirmessage said something like, “Hello Nick, it has been sixmonths since you bought your Reebok TM running shoes.



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Based on your running style, you probably will need toreplace them soon. Turn to page 17 to see some suitablereplacements.” This is a great use of collected data tofocus marketing efforts (Key 6) and to build relationships

with customers (Key 5).

Dear ________,

Before you get too excited about personalization,realize that it must be used correctly. When I receive

marketing pieces with my name on them from companiesI have never heard from, I am not flattered but fearful. Ithink, “How did they get my name and what do they wantfrom me?” Anything that says “Dear Micheal Dahane”goes straight in the trash. And if someone calls and cannotpronounce my name, I know the call will be short. Fakefriendliness does not build relationships (Key 5), it prohibits

them.Knowing that names can sometimes get on lists for

unsolicited material, I have used pseudonyms. When Isigned up for a free muscle magazine I used the nameMichael Steel Daehn. That way anything I receive with thename Steel shows me who sold my name. Besides, it is funto see a muscle magazine come with the name Michael

Steel Daehn printed on the front. If you want to test acompany, use its name as your own. So if I sign up for the

ACME catalog, I would put Michael ACME as my name. Anytime I get unsolicited mail for Michael ACME, I know ACME is the culprit.




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Direct Mail

Thankfully, my mailbox is only a few short steps

from the dumpster. I walk over and throw away handfulsof advertising and handfuls of the advertisers’ cash. Therate of return on direct mail has been steadily plummeting over the years, and response rates remain only a fraction of a percent. If that does not frighten you, then perhaps the

widely circulating e-mail encouraging people to mailadvertising back in the postage-paid envelopes might get

your attention. Of course, this wastes even more of theadvertisers’ money, but the point is that people are notonly irresponsive to unsolicited mail, but becoming hostileas well. Unless you have data that shows your mail piece isof value to the recipient, you should invest your money inanother tool.

If you do use direct mail, make sure it is tailored to

the needs of the recipient like the catalog example above. Terminix had a successful direct mail campaign that sentnotices to homes in the path of an infestation of termites.In this scenario Terminix was providing useful informationabout a potential problem and offering a solution. This

was not mass advertising since they only sent the pieces tothose homes that were in danger.

E-Mail

E-mail has tremendous advantages. The same costsare not involved since you do not have to pay printing andpostage fees as with direct mail. The best situation is when

people are able to sign up for your e-mail list from your website. This is permission-based marketing that has beenproven to work wonders.



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I love the St. Louis Blues hockey team. I regularly receive e-mails from the Blues Hotwire that provides mebreaking stories about the Blues. The team also informsme of jersey sales and ticket prices. Do I mind getting thiskind of advertising? No, as a fan and a customer with astrong relationship with the team, I welcome this kind of information.

Many teams and companies have used e-maileffectively in this manner. “Spammer” is the worst thing

you can be labeled in the e-mail realm. “Spam” is a termcoined for unwanted and unsolicited e-mail. To avoid this,always provide a way for recipients to remove themselvesfrom the e-mail list and do not send unsolicited e-mail.

Telemarketing

While writing this I just got a phone call from theSouthwestern Bell TM phone company for Mr. Agrusa, thename of my father-in-law. I explained he does not livehere, and the caller asked if I was the phone decisionmaker. I wisely said “No, my wife is” and the caller said“thanks anyway” and hung up. I wonder how muchmoney Southwestern Bell TM wasted to interrupt me while

writing this wonderful book? Well, at least it gave me agreat illustration.

Actually, that phone call was rather distracting so Idecided to take a break and did not continue writing thisuntil the next day. As I got back into the groove andstarting writing again, guess who called? Southwestern

Bell TM

called asking for Mr. Agrusa again. Their marketing is beginning to feel a little more like harassment. In fact,consumer groups are trying to make such calls illegal. Tohelp consumers, there is now a device called the



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their income. It is becoming an increasingly popularpractice for one of the parents to stay home with children,and this business model provides a way to earn income

without driving to an office to work. Look for thisindustry to continue to grow over the next decade. If youare marketing a new product, especially one that correlatesto home use, this could be the best channel to use.

Saturation?

I sometimes tell my students that direct marketing isoversaturated. There is too much of what passes for directmarketing such as mailings, e-mail and telemarketing.However, since most of these efforts are not based onknowledge about the prospect, they are actually anotherform of mass marketing. True direct marketing has

knowledge about the recipients and provides relevantcustomized information they will likely embrace. People

welcome marketing material that meets their time andconvenience needs and makes life easier. What is needed ismore genuine direct marketing, and less of what passes fordirect marketing, but is actually a nuisance.

IMC TOOL #6 INTERNET/INTERACTIVE

World Wide Wonder

I began working for an Internet development firmin the summer of 2000. I did not know it at the time, butthe bubble was already bursting. The Internet provided a

tremendous boost to the economy as it revolutionized theway business is performed. Many of the companiesfounded were based on shaky business models.




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Traditional business plans provide a way to generaterevenue—which many Internet companies did notconsider. The demise of many of these companies wasonly a matter of time, and when the time came for theshakeout, many disappeared. What did not disappear isthe power of the Internet to influence the way business,and in particular marketing, will be implemented.

Wes

The regular use of Internet newsletters,information linkages, and web pages for facilities is stillunder evaluation. It's amazing how many residents findsome past connection with the other residents. The pre-resident Internet contact could help link the two

prospects together and assist in making the sale.Many facilities have a posted web page;

however, most use it for online employmentapplications or Mapquest TM capability for familymembers. Some have expanded its use to include

resident mail boxes to encourage out-of-state familycommunications. This medium intuitively seems moresuited to use by the non-senior population. The potentialcustomer/contact tracking capability is huge and may

prove to be the best way to garner sales in healthcare inthe future. Today, however, the personal face-to-face or direct referral source still reigns supreme.



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KendallInternet utilization is just starting to pique interest

in retirement communities. Recently, I built a retirementcommunity associated with a university andmedical school in Kirksville, Missouri. Theresidents attracted to the community weredefinitely in the active adult community mind-

set. Residents demanded this community be wireless andtied to the university system. It wasn’t an option!

Residents had cameras attached to their computersand talked via Internet connections to grandchildrenaround the country. The amount of banking andinvesting done via computers was amazing to me aswell. This is a new senior! Are you ready?

“Custom”er A key feature of the Internet is the ability to

provide interactivity with content. I have gone on adnauseam in this book about creating a customized messagefor prospects and customers. The Internet provides ameans for marketers to provide customizable content.Consumers can pick and choose not only what they view

but how they view it. Once they have taken the time tocustomize content, they will not likely change to acompetitor. The customized content builds a relationshipbetween the company and the customer (Key 5).

I was invited by a friend to join a hockey fantasy league on Yahoo TM! a few years ago. The league was freeexcept for providing some personal information in order

to register. I discovered that Yahoo TM! also provided memy own personal start page on the Internet. There was alink to my fantasy team and whatever other content I

wanted. I could put news headlines, comics, team scores,




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maps, and all sorts of other useful tools all in one place. Yahoo! allowed me to choose what items I wanted to haveon my start page, a choice of colors, and how theinformation is laid out on the page. I discovered later thatthis same service is provided by my ISP (Internet serviceprovider), Earthlink TM. I had already spent the time tocustomize my Yahoo! Page, so I did not bother with theEarthlink TM page. Since Yahoo TM! was the first to establishand then customize this relationship, I did not want tochange. Yahoo! was able to reinforce and protect theirrelationship with me from competitors. I still use the

Yahoo! Page, and they receive revenue from advertising posted on their site. Since I am in the hockey fantasy league, I see ads targeted at hockey fans. Eventually, Ibecame disenchanted with Earthlink TM and decided toswitch to Yahoo TM! as my Internet service provider. I

already had a great relationship with them before I was acustomer.

The important thing to remember is that peopleexpect interactivity on websites. Several companies did notdo well trying to provide video or written content thatoffered neither customization nor interactivity. Radio,television, and print media are still available for

communicating information and are well suited for mostpurposes. It is easier to watch television lying on the couchthan to boot a streaming video on my PC while sitting atmy desk. On the other hand, if I want to see a particularhighlight, I can find a copy on the Internet and play it ondemand. Some cable companies, sensing their vulnerability to Internet competition, are developing some interactivity

into their offerings through digital menus and video ondemand.



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Hit Me

The second key feature of the Internet is the ability

to track activity. Because the movements of viewersaround the site can all be recorded and tracked, there is aplethora of data not provided by any other IMC tool. Mostpeople think a “hit” on a website means that someone

visited the site. Actually any time your cursor moves over alink on a site it is counted as a hit.

There are a few key metrics focused on by Internet

marketers. They know what kind of software you are using to browse the Internet. Companies can tell how you foundthe site, whether through a search engine or a link andsometimes, more important, marketers see where youexited the site. I often will leave a site if I do not like orunderstand the design of a particular page. I know that Iam sending a message to the company that there is a

problem with that page for me.

Just as with the club card data, there is almost toomuch information available to Internet marketers. Thereare several programs available to help companies makesense of Internet data. Collecting all this information isfutile if it is not used to customize the experience and

build stronger relationships (Key 5).

Sticky

A site is sticky if people stay on it and/or return ona regular basis. Usually this requires providinginformation, entertainment, or services for viewers. Tomake a site sticky, make sure you add and update

relevant content frequently. I set Yahoo! as my start page and view it several times a day. I have a lot of



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of the animations are commercials for the company. If the person is already on your site and ready to buy, whydo you need to show them a commercial?

Check Please

In many cases Internet users want to find relevantinformation and make a purchase as quickly as possible, so

why make them wait? Mystery meat navigation givesunwanted challenges to customers trying to find theinformation they need. Flash presentations are equivalentto going to the cash register at Target and they say, “Wait.Before you buy anything from us, watch our commercialabout why you should shop at Target.” Faster computersmay make the slow loading of web pages with Flashobsolete, but you should always allow your customers to

make purchases as fast as possible by giving them quick access to the checkout.

Win-Win

The Internet is a win-win situation in many cases.The Internet should be a key component for most

modern businesses. It provides a place for prospects andcustomers to gain customized information about thecompany for less money than traditional printing andmailing costs. Customers can access information,catalogs, and forms on their own. You do not have toship as many brochures since many people will just readthe information or print it themselves. Many customers

will also provide their own data entry. They prefer to goto a website and fill in their information, which saves onthe cost of the company’s paying staff for the same task.




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DISCus

Another interactive marketing device is the CD-

ROM. Unless you live in a cave, you have probablyreceived many of these from AOLTM. Place the CD inyour computer and it provides you with informationabout the product and a link to their website. The AOLdisc also has software that allows you to use their service.

Other companies have used CDs to send slideshows

and music presentations of their product to prospects. Aninnovative company created business cards with contactinformation printed on the front and a playable CD on theother side. I like the idea of these cards, but they are costly to produce and should be used only with targetedcustomers who can benefit from the information. In mostcases, it makes more sense to invest in a quality website

and put your web address on your paper business card.

Here to Stay

Internet and interactive communication is here tostay. You should be using this tool as either the primarymeans of distribution or as a complement to your other

marketing communications. If you need further helpwith creating a web presence, I recommend contactingmy good friends at Nexdesign Studios; check out their website at www.nexdesignstudios.org. (Yes, I am anadvocate for their product [ Key 5].)



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The Importance of Synergy

1+1=11This equation is impossible in the world of math,

but not in the world of synergy. Synergy occurs whenthe sum is greater than the individual parts. A one-by-one- inch square of wood can support 50 pounds of

pressure, but two one-by-one inch squares side by side

can support 500 hundred pounds of pressure. Workingtogether they can do much more than they can do alone.People often refer to sports teams as having

chemistry. The players may not look great on paper asindividuals, but together they form a team capable of winning a championship. Another example is theChristian Church as the representation of Christ’s body

on the planet. The Church is made up of frail, failinghuman beings, yet together, and with Christ as the head,it is the most powerful force on the planet. The same istrue of marketing communications. The more thecommunications tools are integrated, the more synergyoccurs and the more powerful the promotion. Thus thetitle integrated marketing communications.




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Bees and honeycomb - sweet examples of synergy in action.

Golden Ticket

If you are a child of the 1970’s like me, youremember a magical place made of chocolate rivers,candied flora, and mushrooms with marshmallow filling. I

am speaking of the inside of Willy Wonka’s TM chocolatefactory, from the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory .I show this film to my marketing students to demonstratethe powerful synergy of the Wonka TM marketing promotion. Five golden tickets are placed randomly in

Wonka TM bars. Wonka TM throws the whole world into afrenzy looking for the coveted tickets. The news mediacovers the process, reporting on the finding of tickets.One girl’s father has his factory of workers opening 100’sof boxes of Wonka TM bars looking for a winner.



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In this film, chocolatiere Willy Wonka isimplementing a powerful and popular sales promotion. Heknows his target audience of chocolate consumers wouldlove nothing more than to see inside his secret chocolatefactory. He gets free publicity from the news-hungry media

who cover every second of the campaign. Wonka does nothave to pay for advertising; the news media does it forhim. A powerful synergy is created between the twoelements of sales promotion and publicity that sellsthousands of Wonka TM bars.

Congruency Provides Synergy

Linking the various tools together into a cohesive,collaborative package provides synergy. Each tool must

provide a consistent look and feel. If printed

advertisements use a dog and the color orange with anArial font, then the brochures, coupons, letterhead,website and every other marketing communications toolmust have the same elements. This repetition andconsistency help people to remember and identify your

brand.Have you ever noticed that the color of traffic

signs is significant? Warning signs are usually yellow or orange, street signs are usually green, and stop signs arered. Imagine if traffic signs were all different colors.Some warning signs were blue, some streets signs wereyellow, and some stop signs were green. What if everycity picked its own color of stop sign? Depending on thecity you were in, the sign might be purple, blue or pink.You might recognize the octagon shape, but in thisalternate universe, the shapes are all different too. Thesigns would be more difficult to identify quickly.




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Thankfully, for safety’s sake this is not the case.But what happens when people are marketing their

brands? Sometimes their logo is blue, sometimes green.Sometimes it has a circle around it, sometimes a square.All of these factors make it more difficult for consumersto identify the brand and, unlike in traffic, most peopledo not have much motivation to care. Companies shouldask if there is consistency in the look of their website, intheir print material and on television. Inconsistency

confuses and distracts people.Colors and shapes are rather simple things to keepconsistent, but what about the message? Are differentclaims being made on the radio than in newspaper ads?Are you touting your product as a high-end commoditythat is hard to obtain and then printing coupons in theSunday circular? Do you feature all men in some

advertising and all women in other ads? Pick a look andfeel, and implement it consistently across all marketingcommunications.

No matter what style you choose, always makesure you are promoting your competitive advantage ( Key1). While that advantage is likely to stay the same over time, individual campaigns promoting the advantage can

and should change over time lest they become stale.Keep the same message of promoting the advantage, but

present fresh perspectives and rephrase the message inmodern contexts over time. When you update variouscampaigns, make sure to update them over all the

platforms you are using.



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Multiple Elements Provide Synergy

The more tools you integrate and synergize, the

more powerful the results. Hearing me lecture on this, amarketing student of mine at Concordia University, ChrisBowen, put together an excellent marketing plan using multiple tools. He was a baseball player and was familiar

with the bat market. He chose to promote Rawlings TM bats. His idea was to have a traveling van bring Rawlings TM equipment to parks, retail locations, and schools. This gave

customers a chance to try out the equipment beforepurchasing (sales promotion). He advertised the dates inlocal newspapers and on radio stations (advertising). Dates

were also available on the Rawlings TM website(Internet/interactive). Every event promoted tobaccoawareness and encouraged children not to use tobacco(sales promotion/cause-related marketing). The van also

visited local schools with the message of tobaccoawareness amongst students (PR/publicity.) Local newsstations and community organizations were contacted andencouraged to cover the events based on the tobacco-awareness activities (PR/publicity).

Notice the consistency and synergy created by allthese elements. They build, promote, and support oneanother. All of these promotional tools could beimplemented for much less than most commercialtelevision spots. The tools are targeted at likely users andthe return on investment will be excellent. Needless to say,Chris received an “A” in my marketing class.

You do not have to use all the marketing

communications tools for every campaign. You shouldalways avoid paying for advertising if possible. Some toolsare not a good match for every situation. Typically themore tools you are able to implement effectively, the more




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powerful your message becomes. Ultimately the goal is toeffectively communicate with customers in order to buildrelationships.

Kendall

The greatest challenge for healthcareadministrators is federal and state economicinterventions. The government has theresponsibility to protect citizens from pricefixing. The economics of healthcare are reallyskewed due to the inelasticity of demand. For

example, if a diabetic is insulin dependent, he needs themedication regardless of the price. Vendors could, in anopen market society, control supply and charge whatever they want.

The other layer of complication and regulationcomes from the insurance industry. Most of the UnitedStates has a third-party insurance carrier that insulatesconsumers from the true price of consumable goods. Sowe have unlimited demand, and someone else paying the

bill. It is easy to understand why the government steps into help.

The retirement industry will rapidly have tochange their product line paradigms to serve the “BabyBoom” generation. These independent and active adultcommunities have money and are knowledgeableconsumers. We have to understand market positioningand pricing strategies to deliver consumer-driven

products. If you are happy with the government as your payor source, then keep your old business models. It will be hard, but necessary for our industry to change andcommunicate that change in this area.



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Key 5: Build Relationships

First Date

I did not kiss my wife on our first date because Ifelt it was inappropriate. I did not really know her yet,

but I respected her as a person. Things worked out andwe got married two years later. Many times marketerstry to jump into a committed relationship without takingthe time to court and woo their prospect. Building

relationships is a process.Like dating, some techniques for meeting people

and building relationships work better than others. If Iwere targeting a Bible-believing conservative girl, Iwould attend the church social instead of a strip club.For our first date, I would take her flowers and candy. Iwould wear my best cologne and nicest suit. I would not

likely talk about our wedding and children on the firstdate. If all went well, I would try for a second date.Hopefully, down the road, our relationship would grow




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into something lasting. If we did get married, I wouldstill need to do things to cultivate the relationship. Iwould treat her differently as my wife, and there would

be new mutual expectations. If I ignored her or treatedher as if I did not know her, then she would be offendedand maybe even end the marriage. Though some peopleare able to have a good relationship with former spousesor girlfriends, there is typically a great deal of bitternesswhen the relationship ends.

This is an imperfect analogy to the relationship between companies and consumers, but there are somestriking parallels. You must provide something special toget the attention of new customers, and be on your best

behavior. Once the customer is committed, he or sheshould be treated like a valued partner, not a stranger.You need to keep doing the little things to let the

customer know you care and are still committed. If youshould alienate a customer, it is worse than never having

been with him or her in the first place. Most people willtell everyone they know about their bad experience andwhy they no longer use your product. In the marketingscenario, it is not better to have sold and lost than never to have sold at all.

Kendall

Many of us in long-term care administration do agreat job relating to our resident families.However, we do poorly sharing our knowledge inthe greater community. The Seven Keys toMarketing Genius hits on a basic principle of

relationship building with our immediate caregivers. These aren’t necessarily the case-managers, or social workers with the hospitals, but rather the



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churches, synagogues, community senior centers, malls,social clubs, and high schools—and the list continues.

One activity director who worked for me was thegreatest at pulling our facility into the middle of everycommunity project available. We were involved in the 4-H club, KIWANIS, Rotary, Cattleman’s Association,Athletic Association, and the local Chamber of Commerce. How did he get such a list of involvedagencies? It was through his resident interviewing

process. He simply asked the residents how they livedtheir lives and what community activities they had beeninvolved in in the past. We had a waiting list for roomsin both the skilled and assisted living units.

Mike

The key to any successful marketing program is in

the building of relationships. This is no different in thelong-term care industry. In fact, it is probablymore important than ever with limited budgets,government funding cuts, and constant scrutiny

by state surveyors. Because of the lack of resources available in most marketing

departments, they can not rely on high-dollar advertising

or high-tech marketing. Instead, building relationships inthe community is key, and can be the one tool that putsyou over the top. One-to-one marketing to physiciansand case managers will create a loyal customer as longas you believe in what you are selling.

I remember marketing for a small start-up homehealthcare company in the mid 1990’s. We did not have

many resources and invested most up-front in the hiringof staff. I felt lucky to be armed with business cards anda brochure to try and grow this business. The one thing




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we did have was an affiliation with a nursing home and adecent reputation for delivering care. I knew I needed toget out and build some relationships if I had any chanceat all of succeeding. When talking to doctors, I hadsomething they wanted, a pool of patients for them tosee in the nursing home. My strategy was to find amedical director who would give me patients for myhome healthcare company. In turn, I could offer themthe opportunity to pick up new patients in the facility.

Creating a “win-win strategy” for both providers. After several cold calls to physicians, I found my doctor and built a trusting relationship that was beneficial to bothsides. He became one of my top referring physicians andeventually a personal friend.

Too Personal

Have you ever been on a date with someone whotells you his or her whole life story with its deepestdarkest secrets, and wants to hear yours before you leavethe parking lot for the date? It gives you the creeps and

brings up your defenses instead of lowering them.Sometimes too much information can be a bad

thing, and marketers cross the line. Getting mail from astranger who pretends to know my name and provides alaundry list of past purchases invites fear not familiarity.Privacy is a dearly held privilege in our country andshould be respected. Do not try to gain trust by usingartificial marketing data. Use information to invite

prospects into a relationship and earn their trust with

superior products and services.



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Multipliers

The process of dissatisfied customers disparaging

your reputation is called a negative multiplier . Acustomer is not happy with your product, so he or shetells two friends, and they tell two friends, and they telltwo friends, and so on. I am sure you can figure out thatthe counterpart, a positive multiplier , is the goal. Whenyou truly satisfy your customer, he or she is likely notonly to remain a customer but to advise others to become

customers also.

Wes Along the way I had the privilege of leading a

facility in the Minneapolis area. One of the things wedecided to do was to pinpoint the physical homeaddress on a map of those who responded to our

letters and phone calls with a certain colored push pin. We changed it to a different color

when they chose to contract with us. It was an amazingrevelation to watch the power of positive word-of-mouthand sales efforts being multiplied. You could watch our marketing efforts march down certain streets in specific

prime areas and identify key similar areas where weshould focus our efforts. It was one of the most powerfulgraphic representations I have encountered for bothfocusing and celebrating our marketing efforts.

Kendall We have all experienced the ‘nag’etive

family member! Constantly unhappy about thecare their mother or father is receiving. Myadvice is to keep these people close to you. I

know that the gut feeling is to run the other direction. As



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“w’suuuup?” It just kept spreading and multiplying, likea virus.

Fun with Funnels

A funnel is a good way to think of the marketing process. The top is very broad and consists of usingmass marketing techniques. Mass marketing includesitems like mass mailings, national advertising,

billboards, and airing commercials during the Super

Bowl. The marketing message is sent to a broadaudience with little or no discretion. Mass marketing isvery expensive, difficult to evaluate, and has a lowreturn on investment. Mass marketing is a stab in thedark, like trying to find needles in a haystack. The nextsection of the funnel narrows the target audience into

market segments. The communications still appeal to alarge audience, but they are at least targeted to a specificmarket segment by means of the chosen media.

Cat Fancy magazine, ESPNTM, and the OxygenTM website each target a specific segment of the market: catlovers, sports enthusiasts, and women, respectively.

Next, we narrow the target audience further into niche or

specialty markets. Harley DavidsonTM, BarbieTM, andMacintoshTM computers each appeal to a specialty areaof the market.

The bottom of the funnel is the customized or one-to-one area of the funnel. The consumer being on a first-name basis with the product or service provider oftencharacterizes these markets. Mike the mechanic, Bill the

barber, Doc Baker are all one-to-one relationships inwhich the customer and service provider know eachother personally. Through the use of technology and




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mass customization, these relationships can be availableon a wide scale such as in the case of the “My Yahoo!”

page.

Kendall Communication abilities via the Internet really are

just starting to have an impact on retirementcommunities. After we installed high speedInternet into my last community, a couple of theresidents signed up for SkypeTM. This serviceallowed the residents to dial their grandchildren

through the Internet and physically view them over thecomputer. I can’t tell you how much joy this provided.The grandkids were in college four states away andscheduled time to talk every week. We thought mail wasexciting in the past, but this takes the cake.



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ROI

ROI stands for return on investment. Every one of

the techniques in the funnel will gain customers. Thequestion is which technique will provide the greatest returnon investment. A Super Bowl ad is sure to create interestand generate new customers, but at what price? The sameamount of money spent at the bottom and targeteddirectly at ideal customers will produce a much greaterreturn on investment. Two benefits of targeting the

bottom of the funnel are the likelihood of a positiveresponse and the kinds of relationships that areestablished. Relationships on the bottom of the funnel aremore committed and not easily broken. One-to-onecustomers form the bedrock, the foundation, for any successful product line. These people are not likely tochange to a competitor due to the mutual commitment

they feel between themselves and the brand.Customers at the bottom of the funnel can and

should become your best marketing tool. They are positivemultipliers that spread the word to friends and family.

There are three levels of the one-to-one section: thecustomer, the referent, and the advocate. The customer

will continue to buy the product and not switch to thecompetition. The referent will continue to buy the productand will tell others about the product when asked (givereferrals). The advocate will continue to purchase theproduct, will actively promote the product, and willconvince others to buy it. The goal of every marketer is togain advocates for the product.




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To summarize, the top of the funnel is the mostexpensive with the least return on investment and theleast amount of consumer loyalty, while the bottom of the funnel is the least expensive with the greatest returnon investment and the greatest amount of consumer loyalty. Getting consumers to the bottom is the goal.Marketers should always be guiding their consumers tothe bottom of the funnel where the costs are less and therelationships are stronger.



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Figure 5.1 The Marketing Funnel4

Take it from the Top Why would anyone market to a mass audience at

the top of the funnel? There are three reasons marketerscome in from the top of the funnel: lack of education,

sloth, and lack of opportunity. The majority of peoplemarketing products do not know anything about themarketing funnel. If you know anyone who needs to be amore effective marketer, I urge you to advocate this book to him or her. Millions of dollars are spent because that isjust the way things have been done in the past or that is

what companies see from their competitors. If you want to

lead the market, then innovate instead of imitating.

4 2001 marketing enious




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On the other hand, some people are too lazy to work on building these types of relationships withcustomers. Often it is easier to pay for a televisioncommercial or a billboard than to figure out how toestablish one-to-one relationships with thousands of targetcustomers.

The final reason is lack of opportunity. Sometimes when marketing a new product, it is necessary to enter themarket from higher up in the funnel. If this is the case,

steer your customer relationships down the funnel asquickly as possible. For example, if you must enter themarket by means of a national newspaper advertisement,link the ad to a customizable website or some other toolthat allows the relationship to develop further and reducesthe need for future mass marketing efforts.

Word of Mouth

Many of my marketing students say they want to use“word of mouth” to market their product. They have theright idea—get people talking about and recommending the product—but is it that simple? Can I just say “I’ll use

word of mouth,” and it magically starts to occur? I say to

my students, “That’s a great idea. How are you going tocreate this phenomenon and what are people going to besaying?” It takes planning and strategy to get the ballrolling. Marketers have to provide the something for peopleto talk about. Though creating advocates takes hard work and commitment, if you follow the seven keys outlined inthis book you should have no trouble gaining them for

your product. You will have a product with a distinctadvantage (Key 1), and you will be clearly communicating that message (Key 5).



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Daehn’s Marketing Question

For any marketing decision, determine whether it

is the best use of funds by asking, “Will it gain themaximum exposure to the target audience that buildsrelationships while avoiding wasted expense?” If youare spending your own money, you do not want to wastemarketing dollars getting your message to the wrong

people. If you are spending someone else’s money, youhave the responsibility to use it to create lasting,

protected relationships with product advocates. Toachieve maximum success during the marketing process,continue to ask yourself the “Daehn question.”

Mike

I attended a healthcare conference in which a lotof vendors showcased their products and services. We

decided to set up a booth to market our facilitiesin Missouri. Our real purpose was to market tothe people who attended the conference for employment opportunities. We left with severalnames just by networking and building

relationships. Not only did we save on the cost of running expensive advertisements, but we built

relationships with prospective customers that will go along way.

That’s a Keeper

It is far less expensive to keep a customer than toget a new one. The best way to keep customers is to

provide good customer service. It also is the best way toincrease the return on investment. Many companiesmake the mistake of throwing dollars at the acquisition




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of new customers while ignoring current customers. Afew dollars spent on customer retention throughimproved customer service, customizedcommunications, and customer recognition programswill pay higher dividends than another mass marketingcampaign to gain new ones.

Mike

Who are your customers in a nursing home? Arethey your families, residents, clergy, staff, or physicians,

or perhaps your vendors? Actually, the correctanswer is that anyone who comes in contact withyour facility is considered your customer. Thereis a small group that is often ignored but can be a

powerful marketing tool in any organization. Thefamilies of your residents always have something

positive or negative to say about the care of their momor dad. If you do a good job developing a relationship inthe beginning, you can gain a testimonial that can be agreat marketing tool. I have often taken these and puttogether a nice binder to give out to prospective clients.

The hidden marketing tool that most facilitiesignore is their staff. Prepare and train your staff and

teach them good customer service skills. This alone cansell your facility. They will go out in the community andsing your praises if they feel they are treated fairly. But

beware, because of their vast network, they can also be aforce to be reckoned with if they feel the work environment is not good. As mentioned earlier, theinvestment in customer service can cost in the beginning

but pays off big in the future.



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Wireless and Clueless

Companies selling wireless phone service spendmillions to attain new customers. Besides theadvertising, they entice new prospects with free or discounted phones. These phones are sold below cost, sothe only way the company can break even is for the

purchaser to remain a long-term customer. But whathappens when the contract expires? If the currentcustomer wants to get a new phone, they have to change

companies or pay full price for a new one. There are noincentives to remain a customer or to renew the contract.Companies are more focused on spending money to getnew clients than to keep the ones they have.

How many companies spend millions on slick television commercials that drive people into stores?Once in the store, disaffected, underpaid, and under-

trained employees treat the customer like a second-classcitizen, while the advertised product is not what thecommercial claims or is unavailable. Marketers shouldspend less on wasteful mass marketing campaigns andmore on building relationships with customers at the

point of sale.DIRECTV TM took this to heart and made some

changes. They took some of their marketing dollars andused them to enhance their customer service process.They improved their main line of personalcommunication between themselves and their customers:the call center. DIRECTV TM gave incentives to their callcenter workers by offering more training, benefits, and

career advancement opportunities. The result was anincrease in client retention and the amount of moneyspent on subscriptions by callers. They also wonindustry awards for customer service and retention.




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Quid Pro Quo

Quid pro quo is a Latin term meaning “this for that.” In other words, you give me this and I will giveyou that; one hand washes the other. This is not wrong initself, but it often lacks the intangibles involved in mostrelationships. Building relationships with customerscomes from a transformational versus a transactional

perspective. Instead of each party getting what it wants

and leaving, each is concerned with benefiting itscounterpart. These interactions are often called win-winscenarios where each side benefits. Marketers need totreat their customers with respect and try to benefit them,not just take their money, if they are going to buildcommitted, protected relationships.

Wes

Because healthcare is a roster of niche markets, Ihave found a ready willingness among service providers,

to refer clients when they are unable to meet theresident’s needs, or if someone else would be a

better fit. Handled well, the referral will be

reciprocated by the other business when theyencounter a similar situation. A facility thatworks for the “best fit” for the resident will beappreciated and will get other family referrals in thefuture. This generous tactic is obviously a long-termstrategy investment, but these types of choices producethe solid reputation that will pay dividends.



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Piece of the Pie

To approach life with the view there is plenty to goaround is called the abundance mentality. This view holdsthat there is room in this world for everyone to prosper, andit is best to form cooperative, mutually beneficialrelationships with others. Those who do not comprehend or

believe in the benefits of interdependence often have ascarcity mentality. They think life is like a pie with only somuch to go around. If other people are prospering, there maynot be enough for them. They get upset at the success of

others because they think it means there is less chance for their own success. Lasting relationships with customersrequires an abundance mentality that strives for the bestsituation for the customer and the brand. Customers should

be viewed as lifetime partners not short-term sources of income. There is plenty of pie for everyone to share.

Plenty more where this came from!




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Wes Can a facility or community be successful if it

doesn’t own or control every aspect of its operation? Iused to think that way, but recently I realizedthat I cannot be the expert on everything. Thereis room for subcontractors, especially if thesubcontractor also brings along their positivereferral reputation, marketing expertise, and

advertising placement, cost structure, relationships, and

joint copy editing. Marketing a facility in addition todirect sales to residents and their families is also a business-to-business opportunity. Those contacts arewith people who also will have needs, and will broadenyour network as they prosper by providing variousservices to your facility.

KendallI can’t say enough about personal relationships. Iran into a family member of a resident who Itook care of more than 11 years ago. They wereglad to see me and wanted a reference to afacility for another family member. Strong

caring relationships last a lifetime!

Napster

For decades the record industry held atechnological chokehold on the distribution of musiccontent. Because they had exclusive control, recordexecutives decided to charge large sums of money for their product. While perfectly legal, this is not a good

way to build relationships with consumers. Ordinarycitizens had neither the technology to create their own



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access to popular music nor the organizational ability todefy the practices of the record companies.

With the World Wide Web that is no longer thecase. Napster devised a way for individuals to sharemusical content from peer to peer over the Internet. Notonly has new technology freed access to musicalcontent, but it has also provided a way for formerlydisconnected people to communicate, share and lobbyfor change of music industry practices. The sharing of

copyrighted musical content is illegal, but mostconsumers, feeling like they have been fleeced by therecord companies for years, justify their actions. Therecord companies charged exorbitant rates for musicalcontent through monopolistic practices for decades andthus angered their customers. Now these companies arescrambling to convince customers they should pay for

their music again. Good luck!Similar industries would be wise to learn this

lesson. Doctors and lawyers have used the samedistribution methods for generations. By limiting accessto information, these disciplines have been able tocharge high fees for their expert advice. Todayconsumers can find much of this information on the

Internet for free or at a fraction of the cost.I injured my foot and there was a great deal of

swelling. I called my doctor’s office several times tohave it looked at by a professional. While I was waitingfor someone to call me back from the office, I jumped onthe Internet website WebMD.com TM . In a few minutes I

had diagnosed the problem and was treating the injury.When the nurse called me back a few hours later and Idescribed the symptoms, she began to give me treatmentadvice. As she was telling me to elevate it and keep ice




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on it, etc., I started finishing her sentences for her. Sheasked, “How do you know what I am going to say?” Itold her that I had already looked up the problem on theInternet and was treating myself.

I am not recommending forgoing medicaltreatment for self-diagnosis, but it proves the point thatwe are not as reliant on these industries for informationas we used to be. Doctors, lawyers, and other purveyorsof information better adjust their practices and become

more consumer friendly, or they may wake up to findthemselves “Napster-ized” one day.

The Sherwin Marketing Matrix

My marketing professor, Nick Sherwin, developeda process for understanding relationship building with

customers. Sherwin classifies marketing tools intoabove-the-line, below-the-line, front-end, and back-end.Above-the-line tools like advertising and publicrelations/publicity are used before a relationship has

been established to create image and awareness. Below-the-line tools such as sales promotion, personal selling,and direct marketing are used after some type of

relationship has already been established. The front-endtools should be used at the beginning of the strategy andtransition to the back-end tools. Many companies usethese tools out of order or inappropriately.



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Figure 5.3: The Sherwin

Marketing Matrix

Keep Your Word

As discussed earlier, brands are promises. Everymarketing activity is communicating a promise the brandis making. Companies need to live up to and honor their

promises if they want to make and keep relationshipswith customers.

Humans Crave Relationship

What is the greatest punishment inflicted uponhardened criminals? Solitary confinement! The worstthing that can be done to a person is to remove him or her from interaction with other people.

The reason is that humans were created for relationships. I have had people tell me that in my

business decisions I take things too personally. I retortthat they do not take their business personally enough.Business transpires between individuals and groups of human beings. Trying to depersonalize the process

causes problems; it does not make things easier. Peopledesire to have a relationship with your brand and willfeel betrayed if you do not treat them with the dignityand respect required of human beings. Marketing is




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about the human communication process. To besuccessful you must treat people like people and notmachines.

Wes Healthcare and senior housing is a relationship-

based business. Often our staff becomes surrogate sonsand daughters or grandchildren to our residents.This is because they see them more than their own family members and share the small eventsof the day with them.

When marketing to a senior-age resident group,three to seven extensive contacts are not an unusualoccurrence. It takes that long for the relationship to beset up and confirmed. Then business can be conducted.In an era of high turnover, stability of staff in the facility

will pay huge dividends. A wait list-agreement candidatemay be a prospect for two to three years. They will stillfeel very reassured when the same person reunites withthem when they take the next step of considering a moveinto your community.

Kendall

We are in a people-to-people business.Relationships aren’t built overnight and neither arefacilities. Create a plan, even if your marketing

plan is only in a spiral notebook or three-ring binder. Get something on paper and discuss itwith all employees. Why is this important? You

will create a written contract with yourself. If it is

written, it is important . The saying is true, “what wemeasure is what we accomplish.”



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I assumed responsibility for a rural facility thatkept all of its information in spiral notebooks. Theadministrator was retiring after 27 years of service. Canyou imagine that! This facility was at 100 percentoccupancy and carried a waiting list. I thought to myself,“We are dead in the water” when I saw the binders.However, his notes were awesome! He had outlinedevery family and how they paid, who they were relatedto, when the family members visited, when they had

birthdays and anniversaries, and who had died! Whenwas the last time you had that information on your families? This was why he was the number one personthe community looked toward when someone needed anursing home.

Manipulation

If you read this book, I will give you a milliondollars! Not really, but I did get your attention. How doyou feel right now? Cheated? Humiliated? Indifferent?Welcome to the world of manipulation. It amazes mehow much people hate to be manipulated, yet, given theopportunity, think it will work well on others. I had astudent in class give a presentation of how he was going

to tweak his advertising copy to essentially trick peopleinto buying his product. I asked the class what theythought of his ideas and they thought it was a great idea.I then asked how many people would like to be trickedand would they continue to do business with a companylike this? They changed their opinion quickly. It isastounding how quickly people who would not like thesetechniques used on them adopt these manipulativestrategies when given the opportunity to do it tosomeone else.




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A sound marketing strategy does not need nor condone manipulation. To have long-term, lastingsuccess and strong relationships with customers, honestyis the best policy. To vary on the Golden Rule: Market to

others as you would have them market to you.

Personal Selling Revisited

Personal selling is crucial to relationshipdevelopment because most of the face-to-face interaction

between companies and their customers takes placeduring this process. I reiterate my admonition thatretailers would be wise to run a few less mass-marketedadvertisements and use the money to better train andcompensate their employees. People may come into thestore because of the advertising, but will only return if

they have a good experience and positive interactionwith employees. Otherwise there is little motivation notto shop at a competitor particularly if they have a better commercial.

Mike

I know this isn’t a book on selling. But I must

mention the fact that the difference between selling andmarketing is simple. Marketing means to promote your product by two types: informal promotion (word of mouth) or formal promotion(advertising). Selling can be defined as educatingand motivating a qualified customer to purchase

your product. Why do I mention this here? Companies

spend millions of dollars promoting their product only tofall short when it comes to selling. Personal sellingrequires developing the skills for listening and askingquestions.



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Have you ever been approached by a salespersonwho goes directly into their presentation without ever asking you what your needs are? It happens all the time.Great marketing demands great selling. Their successesare tied together. Promotion is essential to providingcustomers to sell to, and more customers mean more

promotions.

Go Blues!

The St. Louis Blues are the greatest hockey teamever. Sure, at the time of writing this they have not yet won a Stanley Cup championship, but they are still thebest. I am speaking as a fan of the team. I am truly anadvocate for the St. Louis Blues because I have beencultivating a relationship with them since before I wasborn (my mother went to Blues games while she was

pregnant with me). We all know people who are crazy about their favorite team. This is the kind of relationshipyou want to have with customers. Ken Blanchard andSheldon Bowles expound on this theme in their book Raving Fans TM , which is about providing revolutionary customer service. Successful marketers create raving fansfor their products.

Protect Your Investment

In today’s competitive marketplace, the best wayto ensure your investment is to establish relationshipswith customers. By building and cultivating theseconnections, you establish a protected relationship.People will continue to do business with you because

they know and trust you. Make yourself invaluable toyour customers, and they will likely be yours for life.



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Accountability

Feedback determines whether the marketing

efforts are worthwhile. I have spoken at length about theimportance of determining return on investment.Measurement provides a way to evaluate the value of marketing campaigns. From the results, you areequipped to make decisions about what is working andwhat is inefficient. If an advertising agency is unable toshow results proving the success of its activity, how do

you know that money is not better spent elsewhere?Feedback must provide accountability and justificationfor the use of various marketing communications.

Wes

I once worked for a company that hired an

advertising agency to promote the facility, raise awareness,and help fill empty beds and apartments. Thecompany presented a $100,000 campaign and thenrequested a similar expenditure after a four-monthexperience. When confronted with mediocreresults from the initial campaign, they sold the

company on the need to invest enough time and money to

achieve results. Upon reaching the second cycle withsimilar mediocre results, and being confronted with thepattern, they immediately became defensive and stated“their job was to generate traffic and not to produce sales.”

To me this advertising company wanted no accountability for the large expenditures made upon theirrecommendations and the creative efforts used to promote

the facility. Their contract was later dropped by theorganization when it was determined that the agency’s goal

was to generate large fees rather than achieve sales for theorganization.




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Mike

Many employees in companies suffer from the

same thing that the companies go through. People andcustomers contantly give them feedback, yet they don’t take the time to listen and make adjustments.How often do our friends and relatives give usfeedback about our life (some more than others)yet we fail to heed the warnings and make

corrections.

You go down the same path expecting something different to happen. This is called a rut and, like you, many facilities fall into the same trap. They continue to marketthe same way, provide the same service, and wonder why the census stays the same. The community and customersresponded to a survey describing their needs, but thefacility went another way.

Sound familiar? You bet it does. Listening to thefeedback of others is the key to keeping your marketing fresh and vibrant. Always plan for change and know thatthings will change. This is essential in the healthcare field.

Kendall

Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be,the negative light is pointed right at nursing homes. The

media loves a good story that is centered oncontroversy. Lawyers are just waiting for casesthat they can take to trial and make a name for themselves. So how do you prepare for such an

event? Simple: know every bit of public informationthat is out there. Create a list of key public issues thateveryone in the organization will know how to answer.Yes, I said everyone— down to the frontline staff.



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I cringe when I hear housekeeping staff telling afamily member, “Yes nursing is always short-staffed. Idon’t know how they do it!” Co-author Mike Graham isthe best marketing director when it comes to customer service training for frontline staff. Staff must know howto approach family members and residents in order toresolve issues. Rural homes seem to do this the best. It istheir community or family members that they’re takingcare of. It doesn’t matter if it is their job or not.

Take time to create a response page for all staff incase of an emergency. I have lived through four fires,two tornados, three power outages, two floods, andmany virus outbreaks. I really don’t think I’m a jinx! If you are in the business of healthcare, you too will runinto natural disasters and epidemic outbreaks. A well-thought-out communication plan will provide you with a

road map to responding to your market issues.

Benchmarks

When defining the purpose of the company, goalsare set and certain standards are to be achieved. Thesegoals or benchmarks provide a means for determining if the marketing process is on target. All feedback should

be measured against the established benchmarks of thecompany.

Wes Typical benchmarks for senior housing

markets are:

• Facility size is based on a 5 percentage-eligible household within a 10-

mile radius of the proposed facility.




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• Facility price point based on median homevalue of the target group, plus no more than 20

percent.

• Prospective resident asset level should be atleast double the facility endowment or condo

price.

• Prospective resident’s income should equate toat least two times the monthly service fee inorder to comfortably handle a cumulative 10

percent increase for 10 years. • Recognize that the average senior housing

prospective resident is an 82- to 84-year-oldfemale. Positioning a facility for couples intheir 70’s is noteworthy but will need to bespecial to be successful.

• It takes from seven to 10 contacts to get a

response from a prospect,

• It takes 100 prospects to get a visit,

• It takes 10 visits to get a contract,

• Out of three contracts, perhaps one or two willcancel before they move into the facility, or may need to enter the health center bed instead

of the apartment unit.

• The average, convinced, happy resident may bring five to eight friends as pre-qualified prospective residents, of which one or two alsomay move into the facility.

Kendall

Facilities today have benchmarks set byfederal and state regulatory agencies, so youdon’t have to look far to find out if your community measures up. Take time to know the



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numbers and baselines available to the consumer on amonthly or weekly basis. It is easier these days withautomated systems to keep up with resident careinformation. The key is to make sure your data is enteredcorrectly. Then know what it has to say! Take care to

protect yourself with resident knowledge and proper medical intervention.

Surveys

Surveys are a good way to gain feedback fromcurrent and potential customers. Most people wish theycould tell manufacturers what they want and how tomake it, but are never given the opportunity. Whenconstructing a survey, make sure it is easy to use and can

be completed with minimal effort on the part of the

participant. At the same time, make sure the survey will provide accurate, easily quantifiable results.

• Start easy - Ask for the easy information first.Start with name, address, and telephone number toget people warmed up, and then move on to thetough questions. I saw a church survey that hadformatted the layout of their survey in such a way

that the question “How much money do youmake?” was centered at the top of the first page.While I was excited to see the church using asurvey to improve the organization, I wasconcerned to see such a sensitive question

jumping off the page at first glance. This designcan cause respondents to not begin filling in thequestionnaire before they even get started.

• Avoid response setting - Response setting is the psychological pattern of grouping answers in a




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similar pattern. For example, if you ask tenquestions that all regard the performance of thecompany with one being “disagree strongly” and10 being “agree strongly”, some respondents will

just go down the list and check all high or lowresponses without reading the questions. To avoidthis occurrence, alter the questions. For example,make question one “The company does a good

job” and the second question “The company is not

doing a good job.” If they score a “10” on the firstquestion and you are getting honest responses,you should get a “one” on the second question.There should be at least one question where youreverse the positive and negative to determinewhether you are getting honest answers or therespondent is giving response-setting answers.

• Use a quantifier - Quantifier is a big word for using numbers. To gain results that are easy touse, implement a quantifier into the responses. If you receive one 1,000 surveys, you will want to

be able to plot the results such as a 90 percentcustomer satisfaction rating and a 50 percentapproval rating of prices. If the responses are allfill-in-the-blank, there is no way to put a number on the amount of customer satisfaction without it

being a subjective, arbitrary number. By usingnumbers in the responses, you can quantify theresults and make fancy charts and graphs. Internetsurveys and Scantrons also make it easy to get the

data into a usable format quickly.

• Avoid limited responses - Give the respondentsroom to vary their opinions. If the customers feelthe service was above average they might give a



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70 percent, but they need the option to do so. If the scale is from one to three, then they will

probably give a two, which is 50 percent. If thescale is one to 10 they will probably give a seven,which is 70 percent. Using a scale of one to 10 is

better than using a scale of one to three because it provides more options and will gain more accurateresults.

• Allow for customization - Give respondents a

place to write their comments and give feedback.While this is more difficult to quantify, it can provide information you never thought to ask or explain why some scores are high or low.

• Keep it short - Most people do not enjoy fillingout surveys. Your first response motivator is tokeep the survey short and easy to complete.

• Enhance the relationship - Use the survey to provide useful information to the clients andstrengthen the relationship. Thank them for

partnering with you. Getting people involved andinterested in the company enhances commitment.

• Gain marketing information - Ask if there are

any projects you can help with and/or if theyknow anyone else who could benefit from your product.

• Provide a response motivator - How do you get people to fill out a survey? Most people, unlesshighly motivated by an extremely positive or negative experience, will not take the time to fill

out and/or return a survey. A response motivator must be attached to surveys to get a high

percentage of them returned. Companies must




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provide some product or service in exchange for acompleted survey.

When I began doing marketing consulting for agraphic designer, the first thing I suggested was creatinga survey. He already had a group of past and presentcustomers, and a survey was a good way to measure thedepth of the relationship and determine customer satisfaction. Some customers did business on a regular

basis, while others stopped talking to the designer after their first project. We sent a letter that announcedcelebrating five years in business and thanked thecustomer for being a client. The letter also said wewanted to hear from them so that we could better meettheir needs in the future. The graphic designer createdfive-year anniversary T-shirts and delivered them to his

customers. Because he had only a few customers, andmost of them were local, he delivered the surveys and T-shirts in person. When the survey process is donecorrectly, it greatly enhances the connection between thecustomer and the company (Key 5), especially when thecustomer sees his or her information put into action (Key7).

This is a proactive approach that asks for inputinstead of waiting for customers to call and complain or give compliments. The survey asked what we weredoing well and what we needed to work on improving. Italso asked the customers to rate their experience with thedesigner. Each question had a scale from one to 10 witha space to write comments for each question. There wasalso additional space provided for open feedback fromthe customer. We asked if the customer had any projectsthat we could assist with in the future. Finally, we asked



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if they knew anyone that could benefit from our services.By using this last question to ask for a referral we wereable to gauge the strength of our relationship with theclient and gain new business. The survey was a way tostrengthen our relationship with the customers (Key 5),let them know we recognized them, cared about their

business, and were taking steps to improve our servicesto them (Key 7).

Wes Surveys are great tools to raise initial interest in a

new facility and to position the new facility in the rightmarket. Operational surveys are good toevaluate services like dietary or housekeepingactivities and the ease of dealing with the frontoffice staff as well as general satisfaction with

the employees. Residents love being asked their opinions, but be sure to let them know the summaryresults and what you are going to do with the data toimprove or validate services.

Quality indicator satisfaction surveys are becoming more essential benchmarks for healthcareservices. As they become a more universal tool used by

Medicare and the Joint Commission to help rank facilities, along with inspection surveys, the prospectiveresidents and their families will use them to choose afacility to patronize.

Kendall

I have found that private cohort groups,volunteers and then larger Town Hall meetingswork well with retirement communities. Themore focused your question is, the more




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focused your group of respondents need to be. I alsorecommend that the Town Hall meetings be centered onan educational topic. In this way you are bringingsomething positive to the general community instead of

providing a gripe session for everyone to air out their dirty laundry.

Web Overload

We have already discussed the advantages of

using the Internet for its ability to track the activity of viewers. The problem is that you can gather so muchinformation that it is difficult to determine what isrelevant and what to do with the information. Severalsoftware programs are available that allow you to getthese statistics and put them into a usable format for analysis and presentation. I also recommend hiring aservice to advise your company on useful application of the information. Another option is to install an Internetmarketing department in the organization. The bottomline is that the Internet is a vital component in themodern marketing communications process, and thesmart companies will devote resources to leveraging its

use.

Kendall

I haven’t experienced web overload in our businessyet. In fact, many large privately held facilitiesaren’t even on the web. If you are one of theseoperators, or work for one of these operators,

get them on the web. The facility will reap agreat harvest from families, especially if the families liveout of town and would enjoy seeing activities in your facility.



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Personal Selling One More Time

This is the third time I implore you to valueemployees. Front-line salespeople and customer servicerepresentatives are the face of the company. Thisinteraction is reciprocal. Not only does the salespersoncommunicate the marketing message of the company tothe customer, but customers also directly relate their responses to the company representative.

I have had hundreds of interactions with

customers in my years as a salesman. Customers wouldchannel their complaints and compliments directly tome. I would often urge them to complete a response cardand submit it to headquarters, particularly if I agreedwith their comments. My fellow salespeople and I wouldsadly, yet honestly, explain that the company did notlisten to us, but they might listen to them if they took the

time to fill out a response card.Smart marketers use this valuable, timely, and

already paid-for resource for gathering information. Thisis a win-win-win for the company and a win-winsituation for the customer and salesperson. The companywins by gathering accurate data. The salespeople win

because they feel valued and as if they are making a

contribution. The company wins again because thesalespeople are more committed to a company that caresand listens to what they have to say. The customers win

because they are being heard and are getting the changesthey want. The company wins a third time because thecustomers are happier and more committed to a

continued relationship. Based on this reasoning, whywould any company not invest in gathering informationfrom its salespeople? Sadly, most companies do not



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turned off by poor service. It is a strange paradox that inan age when service is a buzzword and everyone in

business is talking about great customer service, goodcustomer service is such a rarity.

Wes

Staff training on customer services issues, alongwith open communication between management,

supervisors, and staff, and the setting of realisticfacility goals that are rewarded, can allcontribute to a facility environment where thestaff and even the residents have a vestedinterest in the success of the community.

I once had a facility that was part of a largecorporation that conducted a “quality of work life”survey to gauge the effectiveness of its facilities and

perhaps set some benchmarks for why some facilities performed better than others. I had arrived at the facilityabout four months after the survey was taken, but beforethe results were known. In the first months of my arrival,I found that the previous administrator had threehorrendous operational philosophies that he acted out: A lie is as good as the truth as long as you get

someone to believe you, Keep changing your mind; it will keep everyone

off balance and you firmly in control, and Never write anything down so it can’t be held

against you.

It was no wonder employee and resident morale was

at the corporate bottom rung with no trust and noresident referrals and high employee turnover with noreal stability. I also “discovered” that there were over




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forty open lawsuits against the facility. A year later, after much work on building trust, pride of accomplishment inthemselves and the facility, and being honest with theresidents and staff, the facility was in the top third of thecorporation and residents were once again referring their friends to the facility.

One way this was accomplished was to emphasizethat each time a contact was made with residents, family,friends, and even vendors, it should become a magic

moment—one that could become a savored memory of being treated special. If appropriate a follow-up callcould take a savored memory and multiply it into a“broadcast memory.” The first deals with an issue or question well and leaves the person with a sense of anemotional well-being. The second broadcast memory issuch an experience that they must tell someone about it.

Feedback Cards

For physical locations you should provide cardsfor your customers to be able to communicate with you.Allow them to leave the card with a salesperson or tomail it in to the company at their leisure. Make sure you

put a stamp on the card to encourage their sending it back. To avoid postage expenses, provide a web addresswhere customers can leave feedback. This will drivemore business traffic to your web site and value to your customer. A contact/feedback section should also be a

part of any web-based business.



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Wes

This time-proven method continues to be widelyused to help develop senior housing communities. The

ongoing interest is every bit as important as thedata gathered at the event, as well as the door

prizes and discounts offered to prospectiveclients should they tell a purchasing friend aboutthe community. Some communities even offer

the same discount prize to the friend as well.

Warrantees Warrantee cards have been used for a long time.

Besides adding value to the product for customers, warrantees are a tremendous way for marketers to gather

data about customers. Be careful not to make the responsecard too long, or few customers will take the time to returnit.




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Trading for Data

People are willing to provide marketinginformation in exchange for certain benefits. Mymarketing professor was fond of creating events or concerts that were almost free. The only charge for admission was filling out a response card. For example,he would stage a jazz music festival and get the namesand addresses from the attendees. The response cardswould ask if they were interested in receiving jazz music

information and offers from vendors. After the event hehad created a list of prequalified marketing prospects.Another way to trade for data is to have contests andgiveaways that reward respondents with gifts or thechance to win a large prize.

Many early Internet sites gave away free productsor information in exchange for registering with the site.

Be careful not to give away the store or to create aclimate where there is no possibility for paying for theexpense of gathering the data. Many early Internetcompanies went bankrupt before they could takeadvantage of all the information they had gathered.

Test MarketingTry your product in a test market before you fully

develop it. The results may help you determine whether you should double production or scrap the projectaltogether. If you are thinking of carrying a new productline, try it out in some test cases first. One retail store Iworked with tried a few bags from a company to seehow they would sell. The product was very popular andwe sold all the test models. The company worked out adeal and carried a large selection of the product from the



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vendor. In another case we carried another bag style thatfew if any people bought. We sent the rest of the testmodels back and said “No thanks.” If you have theability to test market, take advantage of the opportunity.

Market Development Groups

A few companies have seen success withdeveloping a test-marketing group among prospectivecustomers. Mercedes selected a group and asked themquestions about what type of sport utility vehicle theywould like to see in the future. To thank the participantsthey distributed hats, t-shirts, and key chains, and keptthem abreast of the development. Once the newautomobile became available, most of the participantswere dying to buy one. The automaker had developed astrong relationship with this group (Key 5) and was

creating the design based on the feedback gathered (Keys6 & 7).

Confidentiality

Unless your company is in the business of sellinginformation, do not sell or share your information with

other entities. If you want to destroy a relationship in ahurry, give your prospect’s name to others. This istantamount to adultery in the customer-to-companyrelationship. Promise confidentiality and keep your word. If you do intend to share the information, be sureyou have the permission of the customer first.



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success of focus groups, so I participated with someskepticism. At the end, we were taken to the boardroomto meet with the president of the company.

They listened to our answers, and before we left,they had implemented a new program based upon thefeedback we gave them. The success of this focus groupwas that immediate action was taken. I think so manytimes people fail to participate because they knownothing will change. Within two weeks, the new

program was initiated and is currently going strong.That’s taking the feedback and doing something with it.That’s called successful marketing .

Kendall Target focus groups have provided me with

significant emerging marketing strategies, but

you must choose wisely. Don’t just pick anyoneoff the street. For example, if you are caring for dementia residents, then put together a focus

group of family members, a local dementia professional,someone from the ministry, and any other volunteer whoworks with your residents.

Research PitfallsTwo dangers in the research process are over-

researching and overemphasizing results. There istremendous value in gaining feedback, but somecompanies are paralyzed by overanalyzing and thereforedo not act. They continue to gather information, but arenot sure what the data means or what to do with the data.

Some opportunities will be missed if they are notgrasped immediately. There comes a point in time whenmarketers must act on the best information available and




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use their judgment. There is always risk involved inmaking business decisions. That is why not everyone isin business, and those who take the risk are rewardedwith success or failure. Making some kind of move leadsto a better understanding of the situation.

For example, if I am not sure how to price myhockey sticks, I would do some initial research todetermine the price. The results range from $50 to $60dollars. Eventually, I am going to have to go with my

own decision. If I price the stick at $55 and sell veryfew, I will adjust the price down to $50; but if I never enter the market, I am not going to get the additionalinformation I need to adjust to changes (Key 7).

The second danger is overemphasizing research.People behave differently when being observed. Whenrespondents are asked questions on surveys, in focus

groups, or interviews, they tend to give favorableresponses. There is a big difference between whatcustomers say they will buy on a survey and what theyactually buy when strolling down the supermarket aisle.Market researchers have named the phenomenonHeisenberg’s Principle of Uncertainty after the greatatomic physicist.

Do your homework; get as much information as possible and then act. Once you have implemented a promotion, gain more feedback and adjust to changes(Key 7). You can never do enough research to know thatanything will work without a doubt. As in every other facet of life, marketing requires an element of faith.



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Wes

I agree with the term research paralysis. I’ve toldstaff for years, that like a sailboat, it’s easier to tack and

make a course correction if you are at leastmoving in some direction. If you are frozen,waiting to make a decision until all the facts arein, little will be accomplished and quite likely,the window of opportunity will close before

action is taken.

Faith Movement

Because I just used the faith term and this is adown-to-earth treatise on the science of marketing, allowme to elaborate. First of all, every decision we make is

based on an element of faith. Nothing in life is certain;

even science tells us that. I cannot prove beyond a doubtthat you are reading this book right now, and neither canyou. There are two kinds of faith: reasonable andunreasonable.

Reasonable faith is based on a certain amount of evidence and information while unreasonable faith is

based on little or no information. Unreasonable faith also

is the kind of faith that goes against the evidence. Here isan example to illustrate the point. Let us say I am goingto drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in my car. Ihave a large gas tank and should be able to make the tripon half a tank. If I have not filled my tank in a week andmy fuel gauge says empty and the little yellow light ison but I have faith I can make it to Las Vegas, then I am

acting on an unreasonable faith. If on the other hand, Igo to the gas station, put the nozzle in the tank, watchthe numbers roll on the pump, pay my $37 for gas, get in




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the car and see the needle go up to full and the yellowlight go off, then I am acting on a reasonable faith that Ican make it to Las Vegas. In either case, I am still actingon faith that I have enough gas to make it to Las Vegas,

but in the latter scenario my faith is based on reason andevidence.

The point of this philosophy lesson is tocommunicate that your marketing decisions should be

based on reason. You will never have the exhaustive

knowledge necessary to guarantee success. Someinformation may even be skewed by the methods used toobtain the results. Nevertheless, you must have someevidence upon which to base your decisions. This is thedifference between reasonable and unreasonablemarketing decisions. Get as much information as

possible and then use the information wisely to

implement changes.

Sooner or later you just have to jump in and see what

happens!



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Key 7: Adjust to Changes

Constant Change

There are only two constants in business: change

and people who think they are saying something profound when they tell you the only constant in business is change. Of course there is change, or I would be writing this book on a cave wall instead of a laptopPC. The difference in the past couple of decades is therate of change. Computers have greatly affected the waywe gather information and implement communication.

Advances in healthcare have extended the lives of modern people. Radio, television, and film haveincreased the scope of mass communication. Companiesmust consistently assess their position in the marketplaceand make necessary adjustments to remain competitive.




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Wes Years ago, when reading the history of the Marriott

Hotel Corporation TM, I was captured by the goal of thatorganization to anticipate the needs of itscustomers and to have a ready answer or solutionin the wings. Senior housing and healthcare

would do well to embrace that philosophy. Inthis environment, the “customer” or “reactor” to

a situation may be represented by many different people,each with a different perspective or need. Meeting those

various needs becomes more than a juggling act if the goalis to truly meet those needs. Expressed and actualunderlying needs may be totally out of sync and, asexpressed in this section, the rate of change also ismagnified.

I used to tell my healthcare administration studentsthat a successful administrator could keep several task ballsup in the air at one time and also could be interrupted toswitch gears to deal with a pressing issue and thenimmediately return to the prior task. Those qualities arestill important, but anticipation and futurist thinking alsohave a very important role. To merely get better and

quicker and more efficient at something that is no longerimportant to the market, will not benefit your situation.I’ve always liked the perception of being in first placecompared to other facility operations. I also knew that Ihad to continuously be better operationally, be moreresponsive to the needs of my customers, and anticipatetheir future needs better than the competition.

As the rate of change increases, those sources usedto help evaluate future needs and implementationstrategies will become more critical.



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Mike

If you have a fear of change or the unknown, then

healthcare is not the place to be. Nursing homes havechanged drastically, and they will continue to doso as people age. Our aging population isdriving the way we do business and, once again,those who listen to the feedback will be the oneswho succeed. As the Baby Boomers age, they

will demand more services and amenities and will notstand for a shower or bath once a week. They will wantcomputers and swimming pools. Online poker just mightreplace bingo. I recently spent some time with a

physician who told me that hospitals will become placesfor extreme medical care and nursing homes will need toadapt to providing the other types of care. You can see

this already happening in many facilities in the acuitythat they accept. As the saying goes, “Change or bechanged.”

KendallMarket pressure is coming on strong with the Boomer

generation. Boomers will not tolerate what has been a

product of the past, but will reinvent the chroniccare industry. We are already hearing some of theterminology being used in the market. Words like

Wellness, Resident Center Care, Mind/Body andSpirit, Naturopathic care, and Holistic Care are just a few of the phrases.

What does this mean to me? All you have to ask yourself is, “Is it easier, or harder to attract new residentsto my community?” If it is harder, take a look around.Residents in your area might be aging-in-place. Or simply,




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living in a “Naturally Occurring Retirement Community:”your town! Boomers are taking advantage of alternativehome-maker services, home health agencies, or some sortof parish nurse network. More and more communities arecomplaining that the new residents are coming to them“Quicker and Sicker!” This isn’t a new experience for thelong term care industry. We (long-term care community)just stuck our head in the sand and ignored the hoofbeatsthat were pounding the ground. Check out cities that areactively marketing seniors to retire to their community.

Type into Google: “Tyler, Texas.” This town is driving hard to recruit seniors to live and prosper within itscommunity.

No Change

Some things never change. Like islands floating ina river of uncertainty, there are truths that remain nomatter what occurs in the environment. These areuniversal principles that will continue despite anytechnological advances created by humans. These are theideals that the company’s mission statement is basedupon and the direction in which the company seeks to

align itself. The Seven Keys to Marketing Genius are principles that will continue as long as people are people. The details on how to apply some of these principles will change over time. Smart marketers gainfeedback (Key 6) and constantly adjust to changes inmarket conditions.



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No Laurels

You cannot rest on the laurels of past

achievement. To be successful in the long term, youmust continually evaluate (Key 6) and improve your marketing efforts. Past accomplishments will not assurefuture success. As Janet Jackson put it, “What have youdone for me lately?” Some companies fall into this trap

by creating line extensions. They try to play on thesuccess of a previous brand instead of doing the hard

work of applying these seven keys to a new product.There are no shortcuts, and past praise will not providefuture sales.

In hockey the best teams are disciplined and the players take short 40-50 second shifts. A professionalteam will have four lines of players who take turns onthe ice. In hockey a shift on the ice takes the energy of

sprinting a 100-yard dash. The best players giveeverything they have and use all of their energy. As acoach, I want my players to come to the bench tired

because that means they used everything on the ice.Each line skates their hardest and comes to the bench for a short rest.

In marketing you should either keep playing hardor go to the bench and have a seat. To go through themotions or coast around because you scored a goal lastweek will not cut it. Marketing requires all your energyand resources. If you do not put everything into your efforts or rely on yesterday’s victories, I guarantee youwill lose today.




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Wes The Good Old Days of marketing should be a

reflection of the testimonials your existing residentclients share with others. These should reflectconcrete examples of the responsiveness theyreceived to meet their personal needs. Themethods may vary, and the specific items maychange, but the perception of personal caring

and the emotional satisfaction at the end of the day willcarry on beyond the actual event and have positivemarketing impact for your community.

The Revisit and Revise Ad Infinitum Continuum

Implementing the seven keys is an ongoing process. Continue to revisit and revise these elements by

asking these questions:

• SWOT - Have there been changes in themarketplace? Is your competitive advantage stillunique? Are there ways to stay ahead of or hedgecompetitors? Are there internal or external threatson the horizon?

• Mission - If you have done the hard work of creating a mission statement, it will come to mindwhenever making decisions. The mission shouldalso be revisited and revised at least twice a year.Evaluate how well the organization is fulfillingthe mission. If it is aligned with the mission, youcan feel confident that you are on the right path. If

not, you will need to either refocus the energies of the organization or to revamp the mission



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statement to more closely fit with the true valuesof the organization.

• Goals - Are you on the path to meet or exceedyour goals? Are the goals still realistic? Whatnew goals should you be creating for the future?

• Alignment and Synergy - Is the company and product still in alignment with the mission? Withuniversal principles? Is there alignment andsynergy between the stated competitive

advantages ( Key 1), the purpose ( Key 2), theimage ( Key 3), the promotions ( Key 4), therelationships that are being established ( Key 5),the data that is being gathered (Key 6), and thechanges that are being made (Key 7)?

• Relationships - Are you establishing,maintaining, and affirming long-term, protected

relationships with customers and employees?

You should ask these and other questions over andover again on a regular basis. Once you are satisfiedwith the results, start over again.

Show Them the ResultsFew companies do a good job of gathering data,

and even fewer are good at implementing the necessarychanges. What is rarer still is the company that gainsfeedback ( Key 5), implements changes ( Key 6), andshows the customers the results of their feedback ( Key7). Imagine the feeling customers get when they see their

ideas implemented by a company. Can you imagine theaffinity they will have toward that company? This is a

powerful tool that not only gets the company on the




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same page as the customers but creates a powerfuldynamic relationship between the marketer and theconsumers.

Mike

Your results are in your customers. What you doand how you do it will be the difference between success

and failure. How you treat people will be thereason that Mrs. Jones decides to admit her mother to the other facility down the street. Howyour nurses communicate with the hospital

physicians will result in more referrals. Theservices you provide and the manner in which youdeliver them will be the foundation to your becoming the

premier provider of healthcare in your area. What willyou choose? I often use this poem in my customer

service training to drive the point of “servantleadership.” It’s called Remember Me? I’m the person who asks, “How long is the wait?”

You tell me ten minutes….but it gets very late. I’m the person who sees, the whole staff loiters,while my waitress does everything but take myorder.

I’m the person who says, “That’s not what I ordered….but it’s O.K. I’ll eat it anyway.

I’m the person who calls, to see if my lost itemwas found, and all I get is the run-around.

I’m the person who leaves with a slight frown,because the hostess is nowhere to be found.

I’m the person who should write a negative letter,

but feel it wouldn’t make anything better.



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Yes, you might say that I’m a good guy that understands that you kind of try. But, please read on and you will see, there is another side of me.

I’m the person who never comes back because of

something you lack. It amuses me to see you spending thousands of dollars on ads never ending, in an effort to get meback into your place, when you hardly evenremember my face.

In order to keep me as a guest I have but one simple little request….When I am here all you have to do is give me theSERVICE I’m entitled to.-Author Unknown

Involvement=Commitment Involvement equals commitment; this is true on

many levels and in many areas of life including themarketing process. Showing the implementation of feedback to consumers is so powerful because itintricately involves them with the product. Take theexample of MercedesTM who test- marketed the SUV. By

the time they were ready to manufacture the vehicle, thestudy group involved felt very committed to the projectand wanted to make a purchase. The whole marketing

process is about involving consumers with a product inhopes that they will begin a long-term commitment to itsuse (Key 5). Showing customers how you haveimplemented their feedback is a tremendous win-win

tool in this process.




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Conclusion

So you finished the book: congratulations. I hope

you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. Doyou feel smarter? Like a marketing genius? Youshould! You now know the importance of finding your advantage (Key 1) so that you have the edge to dominatethe market with your product. You understand why youmust define your purpose (Key 2) so your company andyour product can drive towards meeting the needs of customers. You are adept at creating an image (Key 3) that is consistently irresistible. You know the ins andouts of implementing promotions (Key 4) that have the

power of synergy. You are well-versed with how toeffectively build relationships (Key 5). You know howand why to gain feedback (Key 6) in order to effectively

evaluate your efforts and adjust to changes (Key 7).Congratulations, you are now a marketing genius.If you have a fairly good understanding of these sevenkeys you are way ahead of the competition, and mostmarketing and advertising professionals. I have onerequest, and that is for you to be an advocate for this

book. If this book was helpful to you, please recommend

it to a friend, relative, professor, or publisher. Iappreciate your partnership in increasing the marketingIQ of the world.

Wes

I am struck by an overarching lesson in this book:the need to establish, maintain and affirm long-

term protected relationships with customers andemployees. As society becomes ever more fluid inits loyalty to any brand, more fickle in its stated



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desires, and as the rate of change itself increases, thisgoal becomes even more difficult. How is this to beaccomplished and then maintained? In thinking aboutthis, I believe relationships are based upon more thanfacts. Couples, family members, and friends may havethe fact of a marriage, sibling connection, or interactiondue to job, church, home or social proximity. The facts,however, do not commission any intense loyalty or affirmation of positive long- term involvement with the

other person.People value your presence and go out of their way to interact or do business with you because of theemotional connection and feeling of well-being thatoccurs on a regular basis. Marketing is more than thecommunication of facts and the expounding of advantages of your product or service over other

choices. It is the connection of one human being toanother.

I have had successful marketers from a variety of educational backgrounds, but one common denominator seemed to be their ability to focus on the other individualand make them their center of their mutual universe.Once that connection was made and trust was

established, the advent of the sale itself was a minor andnatural event. In a time where everything is going faster and faster, the time investment in a caring relationship is

becoming more valued and may very well become thedistinguisher in a sustained, long-term marketingexperience.




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About the Authors

Michael Daehn

Michael’s passion is teaching others and empoweringthem to increase their ability to market. He has a BA,MA, and an MBA in Non-Profit Management. He is a

professor, author, consultant and speaker who hascreated his own online university calledMarketingenious University. He’s a hockey fanatic who

lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife and family.Find out more at www.marketingenious.com.

Dr. Kendall Brune

Kendall’s passion is creating life-long learning and inter-generational opportunities. He went to undergraduateschool at the University of Missouri-Columbia,

graduating with a BS in Healthcare Administration.Kendall then completed his MBA from William WoodsUniversity, with a concentration in HealthcareManagement, 1995. He received his professional Fellowfrom the American College of Healthcare Administratorsin 1998. He then completed his PhD in HealthcareAdministration in 2006 from Kennedy Western

University, and is currently working on his doctorate insocial gerontology from the University of North Texas.Kendall’s graduate studies has centered on the impact of “Religion/Spirituality as it Impacts the Functional Healthof the Elderly.” As a retirement community developer,he has been responsible for the project management of 19 congregate living communities with more than $250

million of healthcare construction management.Kendall, his wife and two children reside in St. Louis,Missouri.



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Wes Sperr

Wes is a 25-year healthcare administrator, consultantand former professor of the Washington UniversityHealthcare Administration program. He has an BS, MSin education from Bob Jones University. Wescompleted his MBA from Washington University in1993. He is a licensed nursing home administrator and aCertified Fellow in the American College of Health Care

Administrators. He is certified in Skilled NursingHomes and Assisted Living Administration. Whiledeveloping retirement communities, he has focused onhow to provide technology-based healthcare services tohomebound and assisted living senior residents. He is anentrepreneur who lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with hiswife and family.

Mike Graham

Mike holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology andPsycology. He has spen the past 15 years as a MarketingProfessional in the Long Term Care Industry. As a

licensed Nursing Home Administrator, he has beeninvolved in all aspexcts of operating facilities. Mike hasconsulted with many facilities and was instrumental indeveloping the first outside marketing team for nursinghomes in the St. Louis area. Mike is also involved in

personal coaching and has trained many groups on salesand customer service. He resides in St. Louis, MO, with

his wife and three children.




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