Category: Branding

Five Tips for Exhibiting at HIMSS

Posted on by Taylor Kennedy

INTRODUCTION

HIMSS 2018Healthcare tradeshows, like HIMSS 2018, provide a one-stop shop to keep up with industry trends, forge new relationships and acquire leads. With more than 1,300 exhibitors at this year’s conference and booth prices around $10,000, you need the right marketing strategy to increase brand awareness and ultimately get the maximum return on your tradeshow dollar.

Here are five tips for HIMSS 2018 exhibitors:

1. Do your homework
Prior to the tradeshow, be sure your staff, including marketing, sales and management, know the goals for attending the event and the types of people (e.g. CISOs) you’re trying to meet. This seems obvious, but schedule your staff to be present at all times, as sometimes decision-makers seek information on the exhibitor hall show when it’s less hectic, typically around 5-6 p.m. Tuesday, March 6 and Wednesday, March 7 and between 3-4 p.m. on Thursday, March 8.

In addition, have your PR team research media outlets that will be attending HIMSS (e.g. Health Data Management) and secure interviews for your subject matter experts and/or CEO. Your PR team also should conduct media training so everyone is prepared. These talking points also should be used on the show floor.

2. Location of the booth matters
It’s not news that the better the booth location, the more visitors there will be. While HIMSS exhibitors don’t have 100 percent say in where their booth will be placed, earning/accumulating Exhibitor Priority Points throughout the year can help your company receive better a booth location at the conference. For example, your company earns 15 points for paying for its exhibit space in full by a certain date.

Also, companies can pick what “zone”–predetermined floor space by pricing levels–you want to be located as long as space is available.

3. Ship your booth
To save yourself potential travel headaches, ship your booths, materials and products to HIMSS prior to the start of the conference. If you shipped directly to the Sands Convention Center, target your truck to arrive at the yard at least an hour prior to your check-in time. Move-in days begin Tuesday, Feb. 27, but keep in mind, each exhibitor will have a targeted move-in day and time depending on the location and size of the booth. When HIMSS is done, all booths must be removed from the facility by 8 p.m. Friday, March 9.

4. Make your booth stand out
Gone are the days that a few paper handouts and a sign would suffice, so make your booth interactive. For example, at HIMSS 2017, Salesforce’s booth completely immersed visitors in its “trailblazer” woodland creature theme, complete with bird noises and mascots. This year, to play along with the conference’s topic of “Where the World Connects for Health,” you could use the Winter Olympic Games as your theme.

5. Connect and be social
In a conference that attracts more than 45,000 attendees, social media posts using the conference hashtag (#HIMSS18) can get lost quickly in the high volume. Instead, research industry-related hashtags (e.g. #HITsecurity, #Aim2Innovate) to hone in on conversations and connect with specific audiences.

Also, instead of posting/tweeting where your booth is located, you should brainstorm creative ways to engage people on social media using your brand/product. For example, host a live tweet scavenger hunt for attendees by hiding promotional materials around your booth, with the winners claiming the prize by tweeting a photo and tagging your company.

You also should create a separate HIMSS-related landing page on your website for those interested in finding out more about your product/where you will be located at the show.

Lastly, don’t lose the momentum you gained on social media. Have your staff develop a plan to keep engaging your existing and new followers.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Revelation PR, Advertising & Social Media offers healthcare IT companies and startups services related to media relations, email marketing, investor relations, tradeshow marketing, content marketing and social media management. Please contact Brian Lee, brian [at] experiencerevelation.com or 608-622-7767.

How to Handle Common Guest Complaints

Posted on by Jaimie Onasch

INTRODUCTION

free guest services photo (pexels)In hospitality, customer complaints are to some extent, inevitable. While complaints may seem like a burden, you should embrace them as a way to collect direct feedback about how your operation is running. Complaints can provide insight to a problem with facilities, services, staff, training, internal processes or even marketing.

Furthermore, guest complaints offer an opportunity to correct immediate issues, restore goodwill and protect your reputation. You will not always get this chance. Only 1 in 27 customers will voice their concerns to you directly, according to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs. The rest will simply keep quiet and stay with your competitors in the future.

Guest feedback should be encouraged in your hotel or resort, and any problems should be identified and resolved in a prompt and fair manner. Here are some tips on where to start.

DEVELOP A CUSTOMER COMPLAINT HANDLING PROCEDURE

Demonstrate a commitment to complaint management by making it a priority in your hotel. Create policies and procedures for logging, categorizing, tracking and resolving guest complaints for the five main ways complaints are expressed–in person, via email, online (including social media and review sites), over the phone or by mail. A clear, flexible and open plan is best.

Share your strategy with front-of-house and customer service staff and establish incentives for all personnel to strive for guest satisfaction. Emphasize the accountability of individual employees and give them the skills and confidence needed to identify and resolve common issues.

Hilton, for example, has established brand standard documents and service recovery guidelines for each of its brands and regions. One policy specifically focuses on onsite complaint management for elite status guests. It defines what compensation means, establishes a timeline for record-keeping and follow-up and even outlines specific plans of action for various recovery scenarios.

STRATEGIES TO HANDLE CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS

Best practices for handling customer complaints involve prompt acknowledgement, reliable tracking and timely resolution. Your communications staff–especially the people who manage your online presence–should follow these steps:

Monitor online complaint channels. Rather than expressing complaints privately, many guests share their experiences on public social media platforms and online review sites. These should be monitored frequently for guest feedback, as they can have a much larger impact on your hotel’s reputation than more traditional forms of complaint communication. Create email alerts and push notifications to help keep track of this information.

Acknowledge the complaint. Effectively handling customer complaints first requires understanding their foundation. Negative feedback should be shared with the appropriate personnel to gain insight about the underlying issue. Clear up any areas of confusion and respond to the guest in a polite, professional and timely manner. Trip Advisor recommends replying to all reviews within 24 hours, and several social media sites encourage a response within a few hours.

Apologize and take ownership of mistakes. Never underestimate the importance of an apology. Guests are more willing to forgive an establishment that offers an apology as opposed to being compensated alone. Thank the guest for taking the time to voice his or her concerns, recognize that he or she has suffered an inconvenience and take responsibility for shortcomings as an establishment.

Outline a solution and follow up. Explain the steps your hotel plans to take to fix the problem and provide a timeline for resolution. When possible, move the conversation offline and make the guest a partner in the problem-solving process. Monitor the progress of the corrective action and check back with the guest.

Invite the guest back. Once the source of the complaint has been identified and resolved, invite the guest back so he or she can experience the improvements you made. If appropriate, offer an incentive, such as a discounted room rate or a special offer. By taking this next step, you may turn a dissatisfied guest into a loyal customer or even a brand advocate.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Revelation PR, Advertising & Social Media offers hotels, B&Bs and resorts services related to media relations, community relations, branding, group sales, SEO/SEM and social media management. Please contact Brian Lee, brian [at] experiencerevelation.com or 608-622-7767.

How to Position Your Staff as Subject Matter Experts

Posted on by Brian Lee

INTRODUCTION

Does your hospital or health tech expertcompany want to have the reputation as being the best in certain areas? Perhaps your hospital is renowned for orthopedics, or your startup’s CTO has special insights on interoperability?

Positioning a staff member as a subject matter expert (SME) will earn your company credibility among your target audiences. That’s because people want to do business with experts. In other words, would you want to go to an OB/GYN who knew the least about women’s health?

Your SMEs also will serve as the “go-to” person to answer questions from the media, if you brand them correctly. Following are tips for positioning your staff as subject matter experts.

WHO SHOULD BE SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS

To maximize the effectiveness of subject matter experts, choose ones that matter to your target audiences. Let’s take a look at an example for a health tech company focused on helping radiologists: No offense to the developers who created your SaaS, but the radiologists probably prefer to hear from a DO than a programmer.

Make sure the SMEs are experienced and/or hold some type of management position (vice president, professional services team, etc.). They also need to know about the mission and business objectives of your IDN or HIT company. Each month may be different, but generally, you need to find SMEs that can allot 2-3 hours/month to carry out their duties.

HOW TO USE SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS

The value of your subject matter experts comes from being able to use them in a variety of ways, such as media relations, content marketing and public speaking.

Prior to any kind of interviews, each SME needs to go through a media training session, in which they will learn how to succinctly respond to reporters’ questions while working in your key messaging strategy.

Use subject matter experts in content marketing to add credibility and authenticity. They are likely already keeping up with what’s going on in your industry–for example, MACRA, Affordable Care Act, telehealth, etc.–so it shouldn’t be too hard to have them provide insights on those topics.

Similar to media interviews, you should have SMEs go through presentation training before you send them out in public. Tradeshows, conferences, TED Talks and symposiums are ideal venues for you to showcase your SMEs because they can talk in technical detail with audiences or attendees.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

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