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	<title>Marketing Blog &#124;Marketing Agency&#124; Healthcare Marketing &#124; PR Marketing Firm&#124; Medical Marketing &#124; Medical Practice Consulting at Quaintise</title>
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	<link>http://blog.quaintise.com</link>
	<description>Quaintise is a Full-Service Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations Agency, with Special Expertise in Medical Marketing, in Phoenix, Arizona.</description>
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		<title>Top 10 Trends in Healthcare &amp; Medical Marketing for 2012</title>
		<link>http://blog.quaintise.com/top-10-trends-in-healthcare-medical-marketing-for-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.quaintise.com/top-10-trends-in-healthcare-medical-marketing-for-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:46:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>raquel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Medical Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.quaintise.com/?p=492</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Along with increasing health care costs and the growing use of the Internet for marketing and social media solutions, the essentials of healthcare marketing are changing. Hospitals, physicians, insurers, patients, and other players in the healthcare industry must adapt to &#8230; <a href="http://blog.quaintise.com/top-10-trends-in-healthcare-medical-marketing-for-2012/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Along with increasing health care costs and the growing use of the Internet for marketing and social media solutions, the essentials of healthcare marketing are changing. Hospitals, physicians, insurers, patients, and other players in the healthcare industry must adapt to stay on top of their markets and in front of their consumers. The top trends in health care and medical marketing for 2012 reflect an increase in consumer sophistication, and a shifting landscape in health care delivery.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>1. </strong><strong>The Rise of the Sophisticated Healthcare Consumer</strong>. Today’s technologically savvy consumers are more apt to do their own research when selecting a doctor, investigating treatment options, and making major health care decisions. As more providers recognize this new role for consumers and the impact their requirements and expectations can play in the delivery of health care, the market is shifting from physician-driven to consumer-driven. Patients and potential patients—and their methods of conducting research and making decisions—have become the focus of the most successful healthcare marketing campaigns.</p>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>2. </strong><strong>Increased Industry Consolidation</strong>.<strong> </strong>Nearly 100 hospitals were acquired by other hospitals in 2011. Similarly, the number of physicians who own their own practices has decreased significantly in the last decade. As doctors become less independent and join large workforces directed by healthcare organizations, consumers can start to question the level of service and quality care they might receive. Marketing campaigns in 2012 will need to communicate how these larger healthcare organizations will provide value to patients and to their communities. They must clearly show how they stand out from their competition when consumers are making decisions based on evaluations from ranked reporting vehicles and third-party endorsements.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>3. Growth in Defined Contribution Programs.</strong> Many large employers are offering programs (such as Health Savings Plans) that are similar to insurance but put the management of a fixed amount of money directly in consumers’ hands. These emerging programs create a need for insurers and medical practices to direct targeted marketing campaigns toward large businesses who may be interested in developing similar programs for their employees.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>4. Cooperative Partnerships Between Providers and Insurers. </strong>Insurance companies are starting to cooperate with—or acquire—health care providers, resulting in a merging of services geared toward reducing cost, increasing the quality of health care, and sharing any risk of coverage. Both the insurers and the health care providers involved in these cooperative agreements must take steps to educate consumers on the benefits of this new model, such as joint health plans and new payment standards.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>5. </strong><strong>A Growing Focus on Creativity and Digital Media</strong><strong>.</strong> As more health care providers recognize the need to focus marketing efforts on consumers, the channels for reaching those consumers will become saturated with a variety of similar messages. The challenge to healthcare providers will be to differentiate themselves from their competition to keep or increase their market share. Creativity in marketing campaigns and using newer methods, such as social media and digital marketing to reach decision-makers, will be more important than ever.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>6. Increased Internet Communication.</strong> With its round-the-clock availability, affordability, and sheer variety of uses, the Internet is emerging as the most practical and adaptable medium for reaching the average consumer. Healthcare providers will continue to use the Internet to communicate with their audiences—not only to gain new business through marketing, but to keep their existing customers informed through customized portals aimed at providing timely, accurate, and secure healthcare information.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>7. The Growing Power of Social Media Testimonials. </strong>Facebook has more than 800 million active users, and 350 million of those users access the site through their mobile devices. Facebook and similar social media platforms are an extremely powerful tool for reaching consumers, and for learning what consumers are saying about the businesses they use and the services they buy. Similarly, online sites geared toward the service provider or medical communities (such as Angie’s List, Healthgrades, and Vitals.com) will become increasingly important in monitoring what consumers are saying about their health care providers, facilities, and insurers. Forward-thinking healthcare organizations will create and manage their own pages on these sites to better manage and generate positive online communication.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>8. Refined Generational Targeting. </strong>There are currently four generations with very different values and expectations of their healthcare providers. For example, Generation Y is just entering the realm of adult healthcare, while the Baby Boomers are moving toward a different stage in life and may have very different needs. The key is determining the best message, approach, and medium to connect with your target generation, instead of the general population as a whole. Healthcare providers must refine their marketing tactics and messages for each (or a specific) generation to get the most return on their marketing dollars.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>9. Continuing Focus on Physician Referrals. </strong>Despite the emerging shift to consumer-driven healthcare, referrals of medical providers and physicians are still important to making health care decisions. They carry great influence in discussions with their patients and industry peers, and will require a more tailored marketing strategy to be persuaded by your message.<strong> </strong>2012 will see marketers honing their focus on physician marketing using direct mail, spotlighting clients’ work in hospital grand rounds, and advertising clients’ latest breakthroughs through continuing medical education programs.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>10. Greater Focus on Target Markets.</strong> To succeed in today’s market, healthcare providers must be recognized by their communities as a trusted source of quality care. The Internet and social media sites are great ways to engage with the people who make up your healthcare community; patients, insurers, and even an organization’s own employees can contribute to a positive online presence. For example, business Facebook pages have very high levels of engagement and encourage the power of word-of mouth marketing. Increasingly, healthcare providers must understand their target markets instead of casting a wide net.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Medical marketing in 2012 will be about what healthcare organizations represent and live up to at each and every touch point, how they design extraordinary experiences for patients, and how their organizations deliver those experiences. While effective advertising remains a popular staple of marketing campaigns, marketing will become less about ad spend and more about the sum of total impressions, experiences, and relationships that stakeholders have with organizations. While consumers will lead this change, savvy marketing firms will help healthcare organizations develop and deliver campaigns that truly engage with their communities.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Raquel Baldelomar</strong> is the Founder and Managing Director of Quaintise, a full-service marketing, advertising, and public relations agency with special expertise in medical marketing. Quaintise is the Agency of Record for many of the largest names in Arizona healthcare and specializes in strategic, creative, and cost-effective solutions to help clients increase revenue, brand name recognition, and market share.  Through work with companies such as Arizona OBGYN Affiliates, Southwest Kidney Institute, and Arizona Heart Institute, Quaintise has gained a unique perspective for building the brand equity for some of Arizona’s largest medical practices. Contact Raquel at <a href="mailto:raquel@quaintise.com">raquel@quaintise.com</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Costa Concordia &#8211; What We Would Have Done</title>
		<link>http://blog.quaintise.com/costa-concordia-what-we-would-have-done/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.quaintise.com/costa-concordia-what-we-would-have-done/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:47:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>raquel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing Plans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brand Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reputation Management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.quaintise.com/?p=487</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Before the shipwreck of Costa Concordia, Carnival Corp was seeing huge strides in overall sales and Wall Street numbers. Everything was looking up. Today, shares of Carnival have dropped significantly, according to Forbes.com. PRWeek estimates that Carnival will lose more &#8230; <a href="http://blog.quaintise.com/costa-concordia-what-we-would-have-done/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Before the shipwreck of Costa Concordia, Carnival Corp was seeing huge strides in overall sales and Wall Street numbers. Everything was looking up. Today, shares of Carnival have dropped significantly, according to Forbes.com. PRWeek estimates that Carnival will lose more than $90 million in earnings in 2012 due to this event. Here’s what we would have done:</p>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>1.	Be Quicker</strong> – In any situation where <a href="http://www.quaintise.com">brand reputation</a> is at stake, whether it’s on a small scale (Facebook comments) or grand scale (shipwreck), nothing beats timing. If a Fan leaves a horrible review on your Facebook page, the last thing that you want to do is delete that review, and the next to last thing you want to do is respond late. Immediate response times are crucial to avoiding reputation disasters.  In the case of Carnival Corp, timing was everything, and they missed the mark. You cannot delete and avoid a disaster like this, but you can have strategies set up to respond quickly and compassionately.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>2.	Be Smarter</strong> – Quick response strategies are crucial for big brands. While small businesses have response guidelines for bad reviews on blogs or Facebook, so should big brands have for disasters like these. Being smarter means having the strategies and steps already in place should this kind of grand disaster happen. Brand marketers, advertisers, and PR team members should already know what they’re role will be when this happens. Whether that means a midnight meeting to get on the same page and roll out with the already conceived strategy, or it means following a strict set of steps already designed for this type of disaster, being ahead of the game and prepared for anything will save your brand.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>3.	Be Empathetic</strong> – Showing compassion and recognition is one thing, but displaying a genuine empathy towards the people who have suffered is quite another, and a very powerful thing. Nothing beats showing empathy. Nothing beats a true show of emotion for the situation. Take the example of a sports figure who blurts out a racial slur during a game. The next day, that sport figure will apologize; saying all the right things, but everyone knows he is not sorry. It’s the common case of the ‘unapology-apology,’ and it ends up making things much worse from a brand reputation management stance. If you don’t mean the apology, don’t say it and stay in the background while the disaster plays out.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>4.	Be Transparent </strong>– This brings us to our final tip; be completely transparent, honest, and visible to your fans and critics. Carnival CEO Micky Arison is taking a lot of heat for remaining out of the spotlight after this tragedy. He has not been seen or heard since the shipwreck, and many are saying that this is a sign of apathy, not empathy. His singular response via spokesperson is no better than a sports figure’s ‘unapology-apology.’ It’s distasteful, indifferent, and shows a great detachment from the tragedy. He might be greatly hurt by the tragedy, however if he, as the CEO, is not transparent and visible with his feelings he will come across as cold and unapologetic.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>There are literally hundreds of things that Carnival should have done differently, and while we’ve only gone over the four most important aspects of brand reputation management, it’s crucial to sit down with a marketing expert before something like this happens. If you don’t have strategies set up, either small scale or large scale, to deal with reputation issues, talk to us today.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Costa Concordia and Brand Reputation Management</title>
		<link>http://blog.quaintise.com/costa-concordia-and-brand-reputation-management/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.quaintise.com/costa-concordia-and-brand-reputation-management/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:47:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>raquel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing Plans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brand Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reputation Management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.quaintise.com/?p=485</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A huge part of public relations and brand marketing is reputation management. IN small terms, that means monitoring social networks, news feeds and blogs for any possible disgruntled consumer or unhappy fan. In big money terms, this means taking a &#8230; <a href="http://blog.quaintise.com/costa-concordia-and-brand-reputation-management/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A huge part of public relations and <a href="http://www.quaintise.com">brand marketing</a> is reputation management. IN small terms, that means monitoring social networks, news feeds and blogs for any possible disgruntled consumer or unhappy fan. In big money terms, this means taking a disaster that is truly unimaginable, such as the Costa Concordia shipwreck, from becoming a brand destroying, company crushing event…no small feat.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Brand Risk Taking</strong></p>
<p>Every brand takes risks, but hopefully these risks are calculated and are strategically taken in order to increase brand equity. The Costa Concordia, owned by Carnival Corp, took one huge risk in the name of increasing brand awareness that ultimately has tarnished the brand forever.</p>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
<span id="more-485"></span><br />
According to the ship captain, this giant luxury cruise liner traveled extremely close to shore many times in order to ‘generate publicity for the cruise line.’ By traveling close to shore, the Costa Concordia was more than just a luxury vacation for those on board, it was also a traveling advertisement and brand marketing ploy.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This decision, however, took the idea of ‘publicity’ and increasing brand visibility to an entirely new level by not accurately calculating the risk involved not only to the travelers on board the ship, but the overall brand itself.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Brand Reputation Management</strong></p>
<p>When you are the cause of a disaster on this grand scale, you must be ahead of the PR battle on every front. Offering shipwreck survivors a discount on their next cruise might not be the best way to handle your reputation. This only adds insult to injury, and when you are attempting to handle every aspect of this tragedy with marketing finesse, Costa Cruises and Carnival is failing miserably.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&#8220;The company is not only going to refund everybody but they will offer a 30 per cent discount on future cruises if they want to stay loyal to the company.&#8221;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To add more fuel to the PR fire, Cost Cruises and Carnival denied the discounted offer, and then retracted that denial, ultimately admitting they did offer discounted cruises to shipwreck survivors.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>While offering discounted cruises to survivors was one mistake, making the statement that they’d get the discount “if they want to stay loyal to the company” was probably even worse. <em>In brand reputation management, the biggest mistake that any PR professional can make is to ask disheartened consumers to remain loyal to a company. You don’t ask for loyalty or brand equity, you build it, cultivate it, and reinforce again and again why your brand is trustworthy, genuine, and worth the equity.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Top Brands of 2011</title>
		<link>http://blog.quaintise.com/top-brands-of-2011/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.quaintise.com/top-brands-of-2011/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:26:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>raquel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business Branding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Market Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brand Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.quaintise.com/?p=483</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Let’s talk brands, as we always do. On Monday, Bloomberg released their 2011 greatest brand rankings, something that we at Quaintise are very keenly watching. As part of Interbrand’s Best Global Brands of 2011, the list includes the most influential, &#8230; <a href="http://blog.quaintise.com/top-brands-of-2011/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Let’s talk brands, as we always do. On Monday, Bloomberg released their 2011 greatest brand rankings, something that we at <a href="http://www.quaintise.com">Quaintise </a>are very keenly watching. As part of Interbrand’s Best Global Brands of 2011, the list includes the most influential, highest value brands in the world. What did they come up with? Take a look.</p>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Top Ten ‘Best Global Brands’ of 2011</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Coca-Cola – Brand Valued at $71,861million</li>
<li>IBM – Brand Valued at $69,905million</li>
<li>Microsoft – Brand Valued at $59,087</li>
<li>Google – Brand Valued at $55,317million</li>
<li>PG&amp;E – Brand Valued at $42,808million</li>
<li>McDonald’s – Brand Valued at $35,593million</li>
<li>Intel – Brand Valued at $35,217million</li>
<li>Apple – Brand Valued at $33,492million</li>
<li>Disney – Brand Valued at $29,018million</li>
<li>HP – Brand Valued at $28,479</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Apple had the best year out of the entire list of ranking brands, jumping from number 17 to number 9 in just one year. Apple increased its brand value by 58% in just one year, the largest growth of any brand monitored in the report. Amazon also had a tremendous year, with a 32% growth in 2011 and placing that brand in 26<sup>th</sup> place.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Measuring a Brand’s Value and Worth</strong></p>
<p>How do Bloomberg and Interbrand determine the value of a brand? According to Forbes.com, quantifying the net worth of any particular brand isn’t easy, as you might imagine.  There are all kinds of factors to consider – from brand recognition to target audience to first-mover advantage.  But regardless of the factors at play, ultimately the value of a brand is tied to its capacity to increase profits for its owner.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>“First, a strong brand protects the volume of business that a company gets.” </em></p>
<p>This simply means that as a brands equity grows, it is essentially protecting its long-term sales. When a brand becomes preferred over others, when customers turn into fans and eventually brand advocates, a brand’s equity rises. When a brand’s equity rises, it secures it’s future sales because brand advocates will purchase that preferred product or service over all others, no matter what the cost.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>“Second, a strong brand boosts margins.” </em></p>
<p>Being able to boost margins depends greatly on the first step of establishing brand advocates and brand equity. When you have fans that will purchase from your no matter what the cost because they are so emotionally attached to the brand experience, you can successfully increase prices without losing customers.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>“Third, a strong brand buffets a company from external circumstances.”</em></p>
<p>As other’s cut back their marketing, advertising and production efforts due to the poor economy, you increase your efforts and reap the benefits. As the competition cuts back, they leave the door wide open for you to step in and take advantage of ‘external circumstances.’</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>How much is your brand worth? Do you have any idea how to calculate this? Let the marketing experts at Quaintise help you determine your brand value.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Three Steps to Increasing Facebook EdgeRank</title>
		<link>http://blog.quaintise.com/three-steps-to-increasing-facebook-edgerank/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.quaintise.com/three-steps-to-increasing-facebook-edgerank/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:34:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>raquel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Media Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.quaintise.com/?p=480</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday we talked about Facebook’s Edgerank and what it all means. In social media marketing and brand marketing, understanding how to reach your target audience is paramount, so understanding Facebook’s Edgerank should really be second to none. There are hundreds &#8230; <a href="http://blog.quaintise.com/three-steps-to-increasing-facebook-edgerank/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yesterday we talked about Facebook’s Edgerank and what it all means. In social media marketing and <a href="http://www.quaintise.com">brand marketing</a>, understanding how to reach your target audience is paramount, so understanding Facebook’s Edgerank should really be second to none. There are hundreds of marketing strategies to remember when marketing to that specific Facebook audience, but above all is taking advantage of Edgerank. So, now that you understand how it works, let’s take a look at how you can use it to your advantage.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Step One – Create an Accessible Facebook Page</strong></p>
<p>Be inviting in everything that you do no Facebook. Remain positive at all times, and encourage interaction both between the brand and the audience, and between the audience themselves. Build your page with less professionalism and more fun…this is Facebook after all. Remember who you are targeting, who your audience is, what gender and how old they are, and build out some tabs just for them.</p>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
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Create a welcome page that is, well, welcoming. It must have a strong call to action, which should be to Like that specific page, and it should be incredibly inviting. If you don’t have someone to simply maintain your Facebook Page, get someone. When Fans comment, ask questions, post on your wall, or simply Like something you’ve done, you need to respond immediately.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Step Two – Share, Share and Share Some More</strong></p>
<p>Publish photos, video, news stories, blogs, jokes, quotes, polls and questions, and everything and anything regarding your brand. The only way to truly know how your audience is going to react to what you’re saying is if you say it. Keep things fresh, relevant, and always on the move. If you just sold a new product to an old customer, talk about it. If you received a new shipment of an old product, talk about it. Take pictures of the guys unloading the truck and your employees setting up the new product.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Don’t worry about going overboard with Facebook Posts in the beginning. Don’t post every 15 minutes and scare all of your Fans away, but do your best to stay relevant and fresh on their News Feed in the beginning. As we discussed this week, having a high EdgeRank is paramount, but in order to do that you’ll have to feel out your audience to understand what they want, what they interact with, and what topics work the best for generating engagement.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Step Three – Offer Incentives, Then Take Advantage of The Moment</strong></p>
<p>Contests are a wonderful way to offer Facebook Fans an incentive to share your page with others, thus generating more Fans. The key with contests is offering what your audience wants. If you own a wedding venue and offer free oil changes for the winner of a contest, your contest might not go over so well. However, if you’re an OB GYN and offer a few hundred bucks to a local baby boutique, you might strike it rich with new Facebook engagement.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>However, having a contest is one thing, solidifying your EdgeRank while that contest is running is another, and in truth far more important than the contest itself. When running a contest, most Facebook marketing firms will sit back, relax and watch the engagement numbers go up. Many fail to capitalize on the moment, when things are hot, the target audience is talking, and everyone is interested in what your brand has to say. If you sit back and watch them roll in, you are losing an amazing opportunity.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>During the contest, post photos regarding the contest, post status updates encouraging interactions as well as contest updates. Persuade Fans to stay involved every single day of the contest. You see, when it comes to Facebook contests Fans usually vote once, maybe comment once, and go on with their Facebook lives. This is not increasing engagement and will not likely increase your Edgerank on that specific person’s News Feed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>However, if you can capitalize on that very moment when everyone is looking to your page and get those voters and new Fans to stay engaged, Like more and more posts, and comment on your shares, you are increasing your Edgerank with each and every new Fan and thus you are increasing the odds that once the contest is over you will remain high in their News Feed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Why do you want to maintain a high Edgerank for each of your Fans? Because the more that you can stay relevant and in their New Feed, the more they will see your new products, your new stores, and your brand message and the more likely they will become a brand advocate.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Interested in getting more information and ideas for increasing your Edgerank? Talk to us today.</p>
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		<title>Facebook&#8217;s EdgeRank Explained</title>
		<link>http://blog.quaintise.com/facebooks-edgerank-explained/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.quaintise.com/facebooks-edgerank-explained/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:38:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>raquel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Media Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.quaintise.com/?p=478</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Facebook’s EdgeRank; it’s either silently killing your social media marketing efforts or making your life very easy. Much like Google, Yahoo and Bing rate websites and rank them based on their overall score (Google uses PageRank), so too does Facebook, &#8230; <a href="http://blog.quaintise.com/facebooks-edgerank-explained/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Facebook’s EdgeRank; it’s either silently killing your social media <a href="http://www.quaintise.com">marketing </a>efforts or making your life very easy. Much like Google, Yahoo and Bing rate websites and rank them based on their overall score (Google uses PageRank), so too does Facebook, ranking all of your Friends and Businesses based on a variety of aspects that contribute to the EdgeRank. In online brand marketing, understanding how EdgeRank works and how to beat it is crucial to getting your brand message seen and heard on the most influential social media outlet in existence.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>What is EdgeRank?</strong></p>
<p>EdgeRank is the probability that your status update, post, photo, link or video will show up in a Fan’s ‘News Feed.’ A few months back, Facebook renovated its entire platform, literally taking EdgeRank to the next level.</p>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
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Before the Facebook upgrade, posts that you say in your News Feed were categorized by either ‘Top News’ or ‘Recent News.’ After the upgrade, you can still change the News Feed view to ‘Highlighted Stories First’ or ‘Recent Stories First.’ This is basically the same idea, with one very important twist, you now have the ability to ‘highlight’ stories and essentially give that business or friend priority over others.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Facebook’s EdgeRank is based on three factors, according to SocialMediaExaminer.com. These three factors are:</p>
<p>•	Affinity or relationship between the creator and user</p>
<p>•	Interaction with the story such as comments, likes and shares</p>
<p>•	Timeliness</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Facebook’s EdgeRank is personalized and custom to each and every 700-plus million Facebook users. Even if you and another Facebook friend have Liked all of the same businesses, and have all of the same friends, your News Feed will look very different based on those three EdgeRanking factors.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Affinity</strong></p>
<p>When your Facebook history shows that you have an affinity to a certain friend or business, which increases that friend or businesses EdgeRank, making it more likely that they will show up on your News Feed over others. For example, you are trying to get pregnant and follow your local OB GYN on Facebook. You ask a lot of questions, comment on a lot of status updates, and share a lot of their articles. This increases affinity numbers and increases that chances that your physician’s Facebook Page will consistently show high in your News Feed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The opposite would be if you followed your physician, read their status updates, but never liked, shared or commented on their posts. Even if you read every single one of their updates, but never interacted with them, Facebook would have no way of knowing that you have an affinity for this page and thus the page would not regularly show up in your News Feed. In fact, it might not show up at all.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Interaction</strong></p>
<p>Facebook looks at every single thing that gets published as a ‘story,’ whether it’s a photo, video, link or comment. Each story creates other stories, or interactions, based off of the original story, or post. And each interaction weighs differently based on the level of that interaction. For example, leaving a comment on a post holds more weight than simply liking that post. The more weight you give to a business or friend, the more likely that entity will have a higher EdgeRank in your News Feed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Timeliness</strong></p>
<p>As a marketing, if your story is timely and deals with relevant information, its EdgeRank numbers will increase. Facebook is all about being on the cutting edge, so it would not make sense to rank stories that are irrelevant and untimely. All this would do is tarnish Facebook’s brand message. It would be similar to Google ranking an irrelevant news story from last year on its search results. This would go against everything in Google’s branding.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In order to be out in front of your audience, you need to increase your business page’s EdgeRank on Facebook. We can show you how…</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Top 5 Marketing Disasters of 2011</title>
		<link>http://blog.quaintise.com/top-5-marketing-disasters-of-2011/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.quaintise.com/top-5-marketing-disasters-of-2011/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:33:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>raquel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business Branding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.quaintise.com/?p=474</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As we work out way well into 2012, it’s always fun to look back at what others have done in 2011 and base our future marketing plans avoiding every mistake that the others have made. Last week we talked about &#8230; <a href="http://blog.quaintise.com/top-5-marketing-disasters-of-2011/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As we work out way well into 2012, it’s always fun to look back at what others have done in 2011 and base our future <a href="http://www.quaintise.com">marketing </a>plans avoiding every mistake that the others have made. Last week we talked about setting yourself up for marketing success in 2012 with the right outlook, plans and strategy. It’s also useful to look back at what marketing strategies others used in 2011 and how miserably they failed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Inc.com’s Top 10 Brand Disasters of 2011</strong></p>
<p>At the end of 2011, last week, Inc.com released its top 10 failed marketing disasters of 2011, and we couldn’t agree more. Here are our top 5 brand blunders of 2011 from the Inc.com list:</p>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
<span id="more-474"></span><br />
•	Bank of America – Of course, we will never forget how BofA took a free service, began charging quite a lot of money  when you think about it, and fell victim to its own greed. By assuming that there brand held enough weight and that their customers would simply ‘go with the flow,’ BofA walked into a brick wall. According to Inc.com, ‘in the end BofA backed down, thereby appearing gutless as well as heartless.’</p>
<p>•	Blackberry – If you owned a Blackberry in 2011, the odds are that you won’t own one in 2012. The highly trusted brand by journalists, politicians, even the President of the United States, went dark for three entire days, leaving everyone wondering what happened. No emails, no internet, no apps; nothing. The Blackberry brand is based on reliance, accountability, and professionalism, and when they lost all accountability for three entire days they literally took a baseball bat to their own brand.</p>
<p>•	Netflix – If we’ve talked about this disaster once, we’ve talked about it a million times. There truly is nothing that compared in 2011 to the embarrassment that was Netflix. First, Netflix raised its prices, going against every ‘convenient’ branding they ever pursued. Not long after the rise in prices, Netflix announced it was ‘splitting off its DVD rental service’ to a different website, different payment options, different everything. Needless to say, customers did not respond positively and Netflix ultimately lost millions of Fans.</p>
<p>•	The Murdoch Empire – It’s interesting when a media empire known for unethical and unprofessional tactics actually gets slammed and prosecuted for just that. The Murdoch brand has always been about greatness, a bit of shock and awe, and when it was made public that British reporters were found breaking into voice mails, reading emails, and dropping in on calls, the brand image was ironically reinforced and tarnished at the same time. Everyone always assumed they had undesirable ethics, but when the truth finally came out it was unnerving.</p>
<p>•	Facebook Privacy – This one almost takes the cake for the worst brand management in 2011. When the Federal Trade Commission stated that it required Facebook to undergo ‘regular privacy audits’ until 2031, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shrugged his shoulders and told Facebook Fans that privacy standards were high on Facebook and not to worry. Ironically, not long after, hackers got into Zuckerberg’s personal Facebook Page, posting status updates and private photos. To claim that your product and brand is safe for everyone while under investigation by the FTC is one thing, but to say it and in the next moment have that privacy destroyed is quite another.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>There were many, many brand disasters of 2011, and we don’t bring these up to point out humor in other’s debacles. However, it is important to take a look at where others have failed to realize where you can succeed. For example, assuming that customers will remain loyal after an extreme hike in fees, such as BofA did in 2011, might not be a good strategy.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Want to get it right in 2012? Contact us.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Part II &#8211; New Year&#8217;s Resolutions for 2012</title>
		<link>http://blog.quaintise.com/part-ii-new-years-resolutions-for-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.quaintise.com/part-ii-new-years-resolutions-for-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:58:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>raquel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing Plans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brand Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.quaintise.com/?p=471</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Deciding on your business New Year’s Resolutions for 2012 is all about setting yourself up for success. You are going to make 2012 an amazing year for your business. Think positively, but realistically, and jot down some ideas for what &#8230; <a href="http://blog.quaintise.com/part-ii-new-years-resolutions-for-2012/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Deciding on your business New Year’s Resolutions for 2012 is all about setting yourself up for success. You are going to make 2012 an amazing year for your business. Think positively, but realistically, and jot down some ideas for what you want to happen in the next year. Do you want more Fans and brand advocates? Do you want to take on less of the work load? Do you want a greater brand and <a href="http://www.quaintise.com">marketing </a>presence? How much more money do you realistically want your business to make in 2012?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Resolution #1</strong></p>
<p>Brand Audit – Every business needs to revaluate their brand once a year, and what better time than now? You’re number one New Year’s Resolution should be to have a professional marketing firm audit your brand. From this audit they will be able to tell you if your brand message is accurate and effective, if you’re demographic is targeted properly, if your business is consistently sticking to that brand message, and much more.  There is truly no better way to start off 2012 on the right track then by having a brand audit ran.</p>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Resolution #2</strong></p>
<p><strong>Lose the Weight</strong> – Of course, we don’t mean this from a fitness standpoint, but from a marketing and budgeting standpoint this is the perfect time of year to re-evaluate your marketing budget. Take a look at exactly where each and every penny of your business is going and decide which areas can be trimmed to add funds to other, more effective areas. For example, one of the biggest mistakes that small business owners make is in advertising dollars. If you aren’t targeting your specific demographic on the mediums that they use with a targeted brand message, you might as well be throwing money away. How much ad money did you throw away in 2011?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Are you using Google Pay-Per-Click? If so, it’s definitely time to take a look at how much you’re spending, how much revenue it’s generating, and how your ranking overall. Are you truly qualified to run these campaigns, or are you just throwing money out there on probably keywords and hoping that it works? It might be worth the money to get an expert.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Resolution #3</strong></p>
<p><strong>Go Mobile and Get Found</strong> – Your 2012 New Year’s Resolutions should definitely include online and mobile marketing. Two-thousand-and-twelve will be all about instant access, so going mobile and getting found online is paramount to all marketing campaigns. Where are you ranking on the three major search engines? Are you on Yelp, FB and Foursquare? In 2012, you need to be completely accessible to your fans at all times.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Resolution #4</strong></p>
<p><strong>Get Social</strong> – This resolution is very similar to the above; you need to be accessible, transparent and social. In 2011 you might have set up a Facebook and Twitter account, but in 2012 you need to actually start using those accounts. Engage with your fans, get them excited about your products and services, and create brand advocates on a social level.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Resolution #5</strong></p>
<p><strong>Be a Leader –</strong>What kind of leader will you be in 2012? What leadership qualities do you possess? What leadership qualities would you like to improve on in 2012? Take this year as your opportunity to not only improve your business, but improve yourself along with it. When you can identify what you’re highly skilled at and what you need to work on in terms of leading your company, you will improve overall results in every category.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>No matter what New Year’s Resolutions you decide to set for 2012, make them positive, realistic, and focused. Don’t just say that you want to make more money next year, break it down and set out the exact strategies to make the exact amount that you want. Need help? Let us know.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Business New Year&#8217;s Resolutions for 2012</title>
		<link>http://blog.quaintise.com/business-new-years-resolutions-for-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.quaintise.com/business-new-years-resolutions-for-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:56:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>raquel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing Plans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brand Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.quaintise.com/?p=469</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Happy Holidays! This purgatory week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is commonly known as the week when you sit back and reanalyze your business. You take a look at your brand, your marketing efforts, your message, advertising, and overall &#8230; <a href="http://blog.quaintise.com/business-new-years-resolutions-for-2012/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Happy Holidays! This purgatory week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is commonly known as the week when you sit back and reanalyze your business. You take a look at your brand, your <a href="http://www.quaintise.com">marketing </a>efforts, your message, advertising, and overall financial picture. It’s also when you set business goals for 2012, and jot down your business New Year’s Resolutions. As marketing professionals, we’d like to assist you in setting those business New Year’s Resolutions for 2012.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Learning from 2011 </strong></p>
<p>Before you set up your New Year’s Resolutions for 2012, take a look at what worked and what didn’t work in 2011 in terms of brand marketing and advertising. Did you run any highly successful advertising campaigns? What can you take away from those successful campaigns and tweak for 2012?<br />
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Did you have any failures in 2011 marketing? Failures are only failures if you don’t take them and grow, learn, and improve on them. So, really dive into those missed objectives and understand why those strategies didn’t work. Was the message wrong? Were you targeting the wrong demographic? Was the medium wrong? A failure is a great opportunity to improve, and while we all want successful campaigns there is nothing more satisfying than taking a poor performance and turning it around for the new year.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Analyze Your 2012 Business Plan</strong></p>
<p>Do you need to update your business plan for the New Year? Your 2012 business plan should have the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Executive Summary</li>
<li>Market Analysis</li>
<li>Company Description</li>
<li>Organization and Management</li>
<li>Product Line or Service</li>
<li>Marketing</li>
<li>Competition</li>
<li>Operation</li>
<li>Financial Data</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Take a look at 2011 marketing and financial reports to determine if you need to update or redesign your 2012 business plan.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This is only the beginning, but these are crucial steps to setting yourself up for success in 2012. Click here to read <a href="http://blog.quaintise.com/part-ii-new-years-resolutions-for-2012/">http://blog.quaintise.com/part-ii-new-years-resolutions-for-2012/</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Brand Trust &#8211; How Important is the Source?</title>
		<link>http://blog.quaintise.com/brand-trust-how-important-is-the-source/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.quaintise.com/brand-trust-how-important-is-the-source/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:37:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>raquel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business Branding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brand Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brand Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Target Audience]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.quaintise.com/?p=466</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How important is brand trust? Undoubtedly, brand trust is the single, most sought-after objective of every marketing strategy. Brand trust equals brand equity, which turns into amazing profit for any given company. But how does brand trust work? Martin Lindstrom, &#8230; <a href="http://blog.quaintise.com/brand-trust-how-important-is-the-source/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>How important is brand trust? Undoubtedly, brand trust is the single, most sought-after objective of every <a href="http://www.quaintise.com">marketing strategy</a>. Brand trust equals brand equity, which turns into amazing profit for any given company. But how does brand trust work? Martin Lindstrom, one of TIME Magazine’s “World’s 100 Most Influential People” took an interesting look into brand trust and product endorsement.<br />
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<strong>Trust Research</strong></p>
<p>In 2010, two Harvard professors conducted some research into brand trust and the power of advertisements.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote><p><em>By placing the same ad in the respected Economist and perhaps the less respected Huffington Post, they discovered that the more respected the publication, the more people would trust and recall the ad. (FastCompany.com)</em></p></blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Our levels of trust in an advertisement or marketing ploy have very much to do with the source of that ad. As shown, an ad in the Economist resonates more favorably with readers than an ad in the Huffington Post simply due to the amount of brand trust that readers and target audience members have with the Economist.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This research is vital to understanding how and why big brands chose specific magazines, newspapers, websites and television shows to advertise with. Sure, selecting mediums that cater to your target audience is one thing, but selecting those mediums based on their own brand equity is also incredibly important.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Product Endorsements</strong></p>
<p>We all know how important celebrity produce endorsements can be to product sales, but what about simply word-of-mouth endorsements from friends of family. Research has shown that consumers are more likely to purchase a product if their Facebook and Twitter friends recommend it:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote><p><em>For moderate users of social networks with average connections (40%), purchases are influenced by social network interaction, boosting vendor sales for this group by 5%.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>But how does this translate into changing behaviors? Lindstrom conducted some research of his own, where he placed a well respected and trusted Californian family in charge of spreading brand awareness for a specific product.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote><p><em>One of the most fascinating things that emerged from the Brandwashed experiment was the importance of how the message was transmitted&#8211;the words used, the tone of voice adopted, the inflection and enthusiasm conveyed. When these behavioral components come together in the right measure, sales are likely to soar. (FastCompany.com)</em></p></blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>When the audience trusts the source, combined with the source using the right methods to convey the brand message, Lindstrom found that not only did sales soar, behaviors began to change. The chosen family was asked to change their recycling habits and to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. According to the research, close to 31% of the thousands of people affected by the experimental family changed their recycling and conserving habits as well, simply based on the influence of a trusted source.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Deep trust is communicated subconsciously. It&#8217;s rarely expressed explicitly, nor is imparted loudly or didactically. To trust deeply not only can change our minds, but it has the power to alter our most ingrained behaviors.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p></blockquote>
<p>Brand trust is essential in creating a successful and long-lasting business. How is your brand trust? Let us help you!</p>
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