This post is part of a series that explores how Unlock Health makes great work easier.

Deciding to do something is the easiest part. From there, the hard work — some would say the fun work — begins. Three key things are necessary for success: insight, strategy, and commitment.

Insights aren’t just facts, they’re truths

Data scientist David McCandless said, “Data is just a clue to the end truth. It’s not the answer.” Data is raw material that, when put into context and viewed through the lens of experience and intuition, becomes interesting and actionable. And most importantly, meaningful to those receiving the message.

Here’s an example. People wear shoes – that’s a fact. It’s not particularly insightful though, and it doesn’t help sell one kind over another. However, an uptick in gym memberships could be insightful in relation to the potential increase in sales of athletic shoes.

To be effective marketers, we have to understand who the audience is, what they need, how they make decisions, how to track and optimize their actions, and how to connect with them across the journey.

You can’t manufacture a need, build your marketing efforts around it, and then expect your audience to modify their behaviors to come to you. Insights offer specific reference points for why we do or create something. They’re truths that resonate and open the door to more nuanced conversations.

Strategy turns insights into action

The connection between insight and strategy is captured beautifully in this quote from Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of Pepsico, “Innovation can come from anywhere, and the key to success is having the agility to capture those insights and turn them into action.”

Strategy is the data and insight-driven, goal-grounded north star that provides the foundation and framework for which all business, brand, and marketing decisions are made. It informs the definition of the brand and extends into how we connect with audiences across channels to drive engagement and ROI, and trust and loyalty.

When you’re setting your strategy, have clearly defined objectives and priorities, don’t just aim for volume or awareness. Get clear on who you’re talking to as individuals, employees, community members and patients. Determine where you’ll meet them that feels approachable and meaningful to them. Be sure you’re focusing on what’s in it for them, not just why you’re better than the competition. The key to motivating your audience is to show them how you’re personally relevant – use data and research to create targeted messaging that supports the brand and reflects the insight.

Unlock Health makes great work easier

All of our clients are in the healthcare space, and we’re passionate about being a great healthcare marketing partner. To do that, it’s imperative that we’re tuned in to what’s happening today and what’s on the horizon. We stay up to date with evolving healthcare policy and trending health and wellness issues impacting our clients, and people’s lives. We also continually expand our industry expertise, exploring nuances in service lines and audience segments.

Unlock’s BrandNEXT^® Strategy looks at the opportunities for each client from a 360-degree perspective. We divide our research into four quadrants that help us get to know your organization from every angle.

• Organizational: Your background, who you are and what you’ve done, your vision for the future and what makes your culture unique
• Industry: A 30,000-foot view that helps us anticipate policy changes and large, macro shifts in the culture and consumer behavior
• Market: How you measure up against competitors – for patient acquisition and recruitment – and what messages are in-market already so we can better highlight your differentiators
• Audience: What’s impacting their everyday lives and healthcare decision making

Commit to your brand

Your brand is the lens for everything you do. Tactics within your strategy evolve over time, especially as you deploy them and evaluate their effectiveness. But they always stay true to the fundamentals of the brand itself.

Ensuring consistency and alignment in every campaign, every message, and every interaction helps maintain focus on what your brand stands for. It drives cohesive storytelling and fosters stronger emotional connections with your target audience that drive results for your organization.

Let’s look at an example

One Unlock Health client had an existing brand and an exceptional reputation as an academic medical center. Like most academic health systems, they’re closely associated with a particular geographic footprint. In surrounding cities, brand awareness was high, and consumers recognized them for academic excellence and innovation.

However, there are a fair number of healthcare deserts in their state. People can’t all get the healthcare they deserve, and our client isn’t in a position to invest in physical locations throughout the state.

Unlock helped launch a campaign highlighting their influence beyond the geographic boundaries of the system itself. The campaign promoted the idea that the health system not only delivers excellent care within its walls, it also affects the quality of care delivered outside them. They train generations of doctors who practice throughout the state and across the country. The campaign expanded the scope of their reputation by focusing on the how the excellent education and research they provide then have a positive impact in the wider world.

Key takeaways

1. Don’t mistake facts for insights. Look for the truths that will make your marketing feel more nuanced and relevant.
2. Use internal and external insights to develop a strategy that highlights your unique value and differentiates you from the competition.
3. Stay on brand – if you don’t know who you are, your audience won’t either. A consistent look and voice will help build familiarity and trust over time.

Committing to an insight-driven brand strategy makes doing great work easier and more intuitive. You’ll have a consistent framework for talking about what you do, why it’s important, and why it connects with audiences in specific ways.

For today’s healthcare marketers, the job is made even harder because achieving your goals has required a roster of agencies – the strategic agency, the creative agency, the tech agency. And yet there’s always been the missing partner — the agency who understands healthcare so deeply that it makes great work easier. Unlock Health is a full-service agency that makes great work easier through a combination of art and science — creativity fueled by data, insights, and deep expertise in the business of healthcare.