Southwest Airlines works hard to differentiate itself from other airlines, using campaigns that establish a we’re-on-your-side approach to consumers that often seems absent with other carriers. From sporting analogies to faux courtroom scenes to the simple billboard message I see on my way to the airport, it’s a smart message that conjures up many positive images in three short words.

We don’t represent airlines. We work with B2B healthcare companies of all sizes that are developing exciting products and services to enable seismic changes in the way the healthcare system operates. And these companies face tough challenges in communicating their message to their audience. Why?

No billboards. B2B healthcare companies do a limited amount of advertising, so the chance of a potential buyer seeing a key message on the way to the airport is about zero. Advertising is expensive, and unless you can be assured you’re reaching your target market at an acceptable cost, it often doesn’t make sense. A better use of ad dollars is on websites, industry sponsorships, and targeted outreach.

No pain points. Innovators often need to educate the market that their product category actually exists and will solve a problem they have–even though they don’t know it. To pick a simple message as powerful as “no change fees,” healthcare companies would have to use messages like “healthy is better” or “don’t make patients wait” or “reduce IT costs” but you can see that it’s just not the same.  Pain points in B2B healthcare are complex, nuanced, and evolving.

No key outlets. Karl Rove gets his op-ed picked up by the Wall Street Journal every day because the general consumer is impacted by the subjects he’s discussing. But a B2B healthcare company isn’t so fortunate. Unless the outlet’s readership would be interested in the story, it’s not going to get picked up. And tools that health systems or payers use to improve operational efficiency aren’t making it onto the Today Show. The solution is to establish a wide variety of outlets that are read by the target audience, and execute a comprehensive plan to get covered in them. Then develop messaging that reaches the widest audience.

No awareness. Companies often tell us “everyone knows us.” Research always shows otherwise. Brand awareness for B2B healthcare companies is lower than you’d think. And if you’re audience IS aware of you, are you sure your latest product and service innovations fall under that awareness umbrella? Consumers know about cars because they already drive one, and are bombarded with ads to encourage them to buy a different one. Consumers know Mitt Romney because he blankets the airwaves with ads and his communication strategy is to be on national news every day. B2B healthcare companies don’t have that opportunity. Awareness comes from PR, social media, thought leadership, direct sales, trade shows, speaking engagements, and word of mouth resulting from exemplary execution.

No audience. The real target audience for B2B healthcare is small. If you sell to payers, you can do a 1,000 piece direct mail and you’re all done. In order to get your target market to see your message over and over again until it’s second nature, you have to be very diligent, creative, and careful. You don’t want to take the AOL approach from the 90s and send them a new CD every 20 minutes. A comprehensive, integrated PR and marketing strategy will enable your company to reach even the micro-est of audiences effectively and profitably.

We don’t know airlines. We know B2B healthcare.  And I’m pleased to say we will NOT charge you change fees when you switch to our agency from the one you may be currently using.

It’s probably an occupational hazard, but I’m often overly critical of television ads. Recently, though, I’ve had to tip my hat to Kia and its “Sandman” commercials. The car company has done an extraordinary job, I think, in slicing and dicing a single concept to keep the audience’s attention time after time.

The extended version of the “dream car” ad presents a relatively detailed story. The Sandman visits a husband and wife separately during the night, showering each with sparkly dream dust. The woman slips into a pastoral scene, complete with rainbows, green fields and a hunk on a white horse. The man, on the other hand, dreams of a 2012 Kia Optima on a racetrack with barely-dressed supermodel Adriana Lima wielding the checkered flag. Motley Crue and a bevy of bikini clad spectators cheer him on. Eventually, the man drives the Kia off the track and breaks into pastoral scene, where his wife abandons the hunk and rejoins him.

I’ve found how Kia has presented shortened versions of the ad just as intriguing. Both feature the husband’s dreams and are shown frequently during prime evening viewing hours. In one, the Sandman doses the man with only a light sprinkle of dream dust, and viewers see a version featuring Lima and the racetrack, but none of the other additives. The other features the Sandman tripping and dumping the entire load of dream dust on the man—and we see a version that includes Motley Crue and the beautiful bystanders.

What makes it interesting, though, is that when the commercial comes on, you don’t know which version you’re going to see—until the Sandman performs his duty. I’m definitely not the target viewer for this ad and I tend to channel surf during commercials, but I can’t force myself to click the remote until I’ve seen which version is going to be shown.

And that’s the secret to a successful ad. Most of us get tired of TV ads long before the campaign runs its course. We leave the room, change the channel or zone out after we’ve seen them a few times. But Kia is using an identifiable and entertaining story line, and has been able to preserve an element of surprise even months after the campaign was introduced.

It definitely keeps this prospective customer watching.

(For the record, I also thought the Kia Soul “Party Rock” hamster commercials were hilarious, too!)

Having worked both in business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) communications settings, it’s evident many factors differentiate the two, but a lot of the guiding principles remain the same. For example, B2B in its definition requires a 100 percent complete understanding of a product or service, which in our industry is often rather complex. Whereas it’s often easier to describe a consumer product because of the personal connection. How do you sell potato chips? Taste them, describe them. How do you generate leads for your B2B client? Not quite as simple…

B2B requires relationship building at a higher and greater level, whereas B2C can often focus on quick, point-to-purchase decisions requiring less strategizing and more overt creativity. The underlying foundation for both is the same: targeting decision makers with an end goal to inform and influence action.

The following are a few important aspects of B2C communications to keep top-of-mind while entrenched in the B2B world:

1. Public Relations. Public relations in a B2B setting in its definition requires an extraordinary amount of knowledge both of your product set and also of the broader industry issues and trends. There’s less opportunity to not have the facts just right with a trade journalist, who usually also has a mastery of the subject. But don’t forget to take a look at some of the tactics B2C uses in your own strategy, such as an emphasis on creativity and tying in to trends outside of your industry, recent events and other opportunities. We’re all consumers exposed to the same issues every day beyond our jobs. With this in mind, it’s imperative to look at story ideas from the consumer perspective when moving beyond the trades to pitch at a local, regional, or national level. On the other hand, when looking at pitching to trade publications, a top level healthcare IT executive is still reading the news about the presidential debates, and if there’s a creative and smart way to tie in your story with news that affects us all, you’ll likely stand out from the crowd of other pitches.
2. Lead generation. The majority of B2B companies will say the most important part of their marketing initiatives focuses on lead generation. In B2B, companies have a tendency to lean on the conservative side when it comes down to the look and feel of their brands, and for good reason. With a subject matter so serious, there is concern about striking the right chord in a fiercely competitive environment. But there are plenty of ways to think outside the box and be bold with your brand while maintaining the strategic aspect of lead generation. For example, don’t be afraid to experiment with colors in marketing collateral that may be an unexpected choice for the industry. Again, keeping in mind the many aspects of the consumers’ lives that we are trying to reach is key to effective lead generation.
3. Social media. This is a facet of marketing that can easily get overlooked in a B2B environment, simply because many businesses working in this realm are still getting familiar with how social media initiatives can help reach their goals, and the jury is still out on how to measure results. It’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest news and trends being discussed—on Twitter, for example—no matter what the space. In fact, numerous trade editors and reporters sometimes go to Twitter first when in need of a story idea or source. As smart marketers we should use social media as another resource to form and maintain a relationship with media contacts at the very least. Just as trends get started among consumers talking about pop culture, food and the musical festival down the road on Twitter or Facebook, trends are also seen among people discussing niche markets like healthcare. And we should always be on the lookout for ways our clients can “come to the rescue” from a relevant thought leadership perspective when these opportunities arise.

At the core of these observations lies the one major point that both B2C and B2B marketing specialists must keep in mind: if you always “stay one step ahead of your brand” and remember to infuse smart strategies to take your company outside the box, you’ll be on your way to successfully meeting communications and lead generation goals in 2012.

When innovative, fresh ideas explode on the scene, it’s inevitable that copycats will be trailing only a half-step behind. Sometimes, this is a good thing, producing a variety of similar goods and services at a range of prices.

However, sometimes, this is a bad thing.

Take, for example, the fantastic Old Spice, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” campaign engineered by advertising giant Wieden + Kennedy. This campaign took the world by storm during Super Bowl XLIV and is arguably one of the most successful ad campaigns in recent memory. After its debut, Old Spice sales jumped to a high of 107 percent, traffic to oldspice.com increased by 300 percent and the video garnered nearly 40 million YouTube views in 12 months.

Cue the look-a-likes.

Dairy Queen launched a campaign in which a singular man with an allusive tone of voice asserts that the company goes the distance to please its customers. In one ad, he stresses that Dairy Queen not only brings the consumer delicious edible wares, but also kitten-filled bubbles. Sound familiar? Maybe that’s because you remember Old Spice’s romantic puppy surprise.

Edge Shave Gel, not wanting to be left out, also has an ad featuring a smooth-talking man navigating through scrolling scenery with that same, telling, allusive tone.

Even Pledge is getting in on some residual action, only this time, with an accent.

Imitation is rumored to be the sincerest form of flattery, but it does little to help the imitator’s cause. Watching the Dairy Queen, Edge and Pledge commercials, I am not thinking about ice-cream treats, the scourge of the five-o’clock shadow or cleaning my bookshelves – I am thinking about Old Spice. Even though these companies are not competitors, in this imitation, they diverted their consumer’s attention away from their product – the cardinal sin of advertising.

When creating an ad campaign for your company, be original. Of course you can pull minor, successful elements from other campaigns, but avoid obvious imitation at all costs. If your target audience sees and believes that you have copied another campaign, at best, they could be distracted. At worst, they could think less of you – as a brand, company or vendor – for it.

Over the past few weeks, much of the country has been directly or indirectly affected by the tornadoes that have torn through cities such as Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Joplin, Mo. Towns have been devastated by the damage, and the storms have left many residents with nothing. Though no one can be fully prepared for the magnitude of storms like these or the damage they create, there are precautions that can be taken to be kept as safe as possible.  Companies and organizations can learn a few lessons from and be reminded of the importance of a crisis communications plan from these recent storms. Learning how other companies and organizations handle crisis situations can also be very helpful.

While the cities affected by the tornadoes and strong storms may not have been able to fully prepare for what was coming, many were prepared to seek shelter and listen to weather advisories. Most Florida residents, who brace for hurricanes each year, have become quite good at preparing for storms.  These residents, who take many precautions, serve as a good example for a company when creating a crisis communications plan.

1. Listen to the warnings: Hurricanes are fairly easy for meteorologists to predict because of the weather patterns they follow. The same applies to certain communication storms such as the resignation of an executive, bad press in the local newspaper, negative comments on a Facebook page, or misinterpreted advertising.  All companies have faced similar problems before, and many have done so very successfully. Take time to learn about crisis communication best practices when developing your own plan.
2. Secure your home: Take necessary precautions to ensure your company is as safe as possible. Homes with strong foundations and boarded-up windows usually survive better than those without. Different types of companies have to safeguard against different things. For instance, healthcare and technology companies must safeguard data to avoid crisis situations . Make sure your organization takes time to establish a plan so no one is caught off-guard in the event of a crisis.
3. Stock up on essentials: When a storm is eminent, most people go to the store to buy food and essentials—just in case. Don’t wait until a crisis has occurred to begin developing a plan. Create a list of media contacts you might need to contact after a crisis; decide how your company is going to respond to a negative Tweet; determine who the company spokesperson will be; have training sessions so everyone knows what to do.
4. Leave if necessary: If the crisis has created so much buzz that your company cannot handle it, consider stepping out of the spotlight for a little while. Many experts thought BP should have followed this advice in the midst of the oil spill crisis.  Another option is to reconsider the direction of your communication. When a hurricane is threatening, residents leave their homes, and roads are rerouted to be most efficient. Crisis communications requires attention and message redirecting, as we’ve discussed before.
5. Develop a plan: This is the most important step. Many hurricane preparedness sites suggest creating a family plan so everyone knows what to do if a storm is coming. Where will you meet? What will you pack? Who will you contact? The same applies for a company. Who will speak about an accident at a manufacturing plant? Who will respond to a negative newspaper article? How should employees interact in the local community in response to a crisis?

A crisis communications plan acts much like a generator after a big storm. When there is no power, a generator helps restore power to some areas; a crisis communications plan helps restore reputation and raises awareness among the audience about a company or organization in the event it is needed. It is never too early to start preparing for a pop-up thunderstorm or a hurricane in the world of communications.

Thank you to everyone who attended our most recent webinar “What’s for launch? Using integrated communications strategies in your company” led by Brad Dodge. The webinar focused on strategies to help combat the biggest challenges for launching a new company or product in a B2B setting. Most organizations underestimate the resources, funding and time necessary to successfully create a sustainable messaging strategy to build brand awareness and identity for their new company or product.

The webinar presents twelve key areas to improve a company or product launch, which you can learn about by listening to the webinar after registering here. We hope you’ll join us for the next webinar on June 16 to learn about establishing credibility through an integrated communications campaign.

Thank you to everyone who attended Thursday’s webinar, “Where is Print Advertising Headed? MedTech Media Discusses the New Paradigm.” The webinar panelists Jack Beaudoin, co-founder and CEO of MedTech Media, and Danielle Hartley, SVP, publisher for MedTech Media, provided insights into how the landscape of print advertising is changing and offered strategic recommendations for print, digital and integrated communications programs.

Topics covered during the webinar included: using print as a brand building vehicle; new programs happening in the print world, such as QR codes; the effects of downward pricing pressure in print advertising; and how to launch an effective integrated program.

A recording of the webinar is available after registering here. We welcome your feedback, comments and questions for Jack, Danielle or Dodge Communications.

Join us for a free series of webinars starting Tuesday, May 24^th at 1 p.m. EDT,  to gain insight into key strategies for developing successful integrated communications programs. We’ll discuss solutions for creating a marketing and PR plan that will work together on every level to help your company capture emerging opportunities and address every challenge the market presents. Click here for more details and to register for the events.

Join us for a free webinar on Thursday, May 19 at 1 p.m. EDT, with Jack Beaudoin, CEO, and Danielle Hartley, SVP and publisher of MedTech Media. They’ll examine the changing landscape of print advertising and offer strategic recommendations for vendors making advertising buying decisions. Click here for more details and to register for the event.

Your average C-level executive probably still thinks that investing in a social media campaign constitutes thinking outside of the box. Though social media is extremely prevalent, even pervasive, in our everyday lives, it’s still tough to get the higher-ups to buy in. Concerns over ROI tend to add more questions than answers, and when a social media campaign does begin, it’s often very conservative.

 Several brands have shown, however, that if simply creating an online presence is thinking outside the box, then thinking further outside the box can really make waves. A couple years back, Burger King developed an app for Facebook that awarded a free Whopper to anyone who removed 10 of their friends. The catch? This act of defriending would be broadcast on the user’s newsfeed, so that the spurned parties were made well aware that they lost out to a burger. And just this week, Kraft announced its “Mac & Jinx” initiative, where if two people tweeted about mac & cheese at the same time, each would be sent a link. The first user to click the link would receive five free boxes of Kraft’s macaroni and cheese.

 This applies to the healthcare industry, too. While the opportunities may not seem as abundant as for large consumer brands, there is always a unique way to reach your audience. Whether it’s using Groupon to offer discounts to new patients or creating social networks that add an element of fun for diabetic children testing their glucose, the ideas are endless. Sometimes, just thinking outside of the box isn’t enough.