cullmanndesign blog

Last week, Tasigna, a Novartis product, received a letter from DDMAC for including a “share” button on their website. The letter stated that the utility “fails to communicate any risk information”. For those who may not know, a “share” button is a small widget that allows you to link to the site that it has been hosted on, with one or two clicks, to your favorite social networking service (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc).

The issue with this tool (in order to make use of it) for the pharmaceutical industry, or any other highly regulated industry, is two-fold: 1.) There is a character limit placed on the title and description that is shown to other users using the framework provide by Facebook and 2.) That to be assured that this information is included in a social network post, it must be included in the metadata of the branded page (thus mitigating the natural search engine opportunity afforded by the use of metadata).

Controlling social media

The Facebook share widget, and almost all other widgets that are similar, use images found on the webpage they are linking to, any metadata (content coded into the page to help search engines) and the page title (again, content coded into the webpage for search engines) to create the presentation on the host service. Facebook is one service that provides these features. Just like search engine results that are shown to users when they make a web search, the amount of data that can be shown is limited. This is precisely the issue that the FDA has with the “Share” feature.

To add an additional complication, users can also make changes to the metadata before publishing it a part of their social network posting. Although there are many ways to do this using third-party solutions, the easy with which this can be done exacerbates the situation for brand managers and regulatory officials.

The “sharing” features of social media websites are a valuable tool for marketers and extend the reach of brand messaging. It makes use of peer-to-peer recommendations and allows easy communication of ideas and findings between professionals and patients alike. The relevance of social media for the Healthcare Professional can be debated, but regardless of your opinion, the ease of use and subtle differences between social media tools like this and search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) are indistinguishable.

Then what does this mean for SEO/SEM?

Recently, the requirements for presenting “important safety information” and warnings has become very important. Suggested parameters range from the vague “presentation above the fold”, to a persistent sidebar presentation,like Tasigna demonstrates, to a complete “opt-in” splash screen before beginning to display content. Regardless of your position, many of these parameters are moot when taking into account the growth of alternative consumption devices like mobile phones, iPads, and dedicated readers. The user experience is not nearly as controllable as regulatory groups would ideally be comfortable with.

I suspect that if regulatory boards and staff where more aware of how search engines worked and behaved that metadata too, would become equally as scrutinized. The limited amount of space allotted by search engines for description and the need to describe to doctors and consumers the offerings on a webpage may quickly come to odds. A danger exists in the sunsetting of branded pharmaceutical websites and the growth of less-accurate non-branded websites and third-party control of the search space for indication categories.

Is this preventable?

The facts around social media tools are that there is little anyone, brand managers, agencies or legal boards, can do to stop someone from linking to a pharmaceutical web property and manipulate the properties of a given post. What companies can do is pay attention to the attributes that these applications and services use. Do you know what the metadata on your brand’s websites says? Have you seen what it may look like if you link to it from Facebook or LinkedIn? That is the best place to start. You should include this in the discussion you have with your agency, peers and legal boards.

Educating yourself and those responsible for approving your web properties is more important than ever. The presentation of the DDMAC letter shows how the FDA is educating itself and taking a position. Marketers will need to be equally, if not more educated, in order to avoid the conditions which Tasigna must address.

What can be done?

If you are responsible or contribute to a brand that may require a black box warning or similar safety notification requirements, there are currently some limited actions that can be taken to make use of social media sharing tools:

• Check your metadata. Can you provide a description of your content and your required legal disclosure in 420 characters or less (you likely don’t work in pharmaceutical marketing!)? At the time of posting, that is the current maximum character count for Facebook’s status area. Anything additional will be truncated.
• Does your brand have a dedicated Healthcare Professional section? Although consumer facing communication is harshly regulated, the jury is still out on making a use-case for “sharing” tools to be a peer-to-peer vehicle with slightly more liberal policies for social marketing requirements.
• Do you have an unbranded channel? This would be an ideal opportunity for using Facebook, Twitter or any other social media channel as a driver and awareness vehicle.
• Talk to your medical legal review board. Nothing can aid your cause more than knowing your company’s policies and what your board’s opinions and policies are for the use of social media and how that may apply to a particular indication or brand.

NOTE: The opinions expressed in this and all of my posts are my own and are not those of my employer or its parent company.

In the past 2 years, there has been a tremendous push to move messaging and advertising to social media. Whether FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, every market has it’s niche and ad agencies have gotten proficient at targeting groups within these networks. While social media marketing was maturing, there was (and still is) a trend in dismissing e-mail marketing. With relatively low click-through rates, competition with SPAM, difficulty in delivering branding elements in many e-mail clients, it had become easy to cast off for the more attractive and exciting new arrival: social media.

Verification

Despite a dip in popularity, e-Mail is still a force to be reckoned with for communicating with customers. Regardless of audience, e-Mail is still one of the few ways outside of a closed-wall eco-system like Apple or FaceBook, that a marketer has to “verify” identity or ownership of credentials. One field of any online transaction of information is ALWAYS e-mail. A savvy marketer will verify the e-mail address with a call-to-action confirmation as quickly as possible to confirm that the email can reliably be associated with a particular identity. Next to credit card information, this is a very easy and convenient way to apply a small amount of accountability to an online user. The process of having users “opt-in” and define the terms that they would like to be communicated with is important and based on metrics, e-Mail is still the most popular method for online CRM and brand-building communications.

Call To Action & Response

E-Mail offers users an expected behavior that is comfortable for them. A well-designed e-mail program will have a clear “From” identifier, visible before even opening the e-Mail, a subject line declaring the main intent of the message and the message (usually with several call-to-actions). User are familiar and typically follow a pattern of behavior if you structure your e-Mails with consistent design and language. This is where e-Mail excels: While social media channels are still working towards how to handle unique customer response and moving users from the gated sanctuary of a particular social network, e-Mail delivers a personalized medium with the ability for a unique call-to-action. All of this can be done addressing the users as an individual, tailoring content and offering an end-to-end dialogue. E-Mail’s ubiquitous nature allows this to be done across any platform or device (including mobile).

Reach & Audience

One of first and still the most common method of communication on the internet, e-Mail offers the widest audience. A majority of web users claim more than one active e-Mail address1, many having several. There is also a wave of adoption for new audiences. AARP has recently released data showing that seniors are the fasting growing group of adopters2 of e-Mail. Those in emerging markets overseas also represent a growing population of e-Mail users. There is a simplicity and approachability that makes it attractive to new web users and bullet-proof to web veterans. There are several complications when dealing with e-Mail as well. e-Mail is a communication channel protected in the US by federal law. The manner in which you engage your customers (or recipients) must adhere to the US CAN-SPAM Act. Although it’s a simple criteria to adhere to, not observing the standards set by this policy will likely land you in your reader’s junk-mail file.

Privacy (sort of)

Although E-Mail is far from a secure medium, it does offer several advantages over social media, SMS and several other hot advertising mediums. A marketer and e-Mail recipient can both expect that the contents of an e-Mail message will not be seen by dozens of their friends, other customers or competitors. Additionally, this same channel can be acted upon with an expectation that the action will be equally as private. This may seem like a small nuance, but if you are someone buying a present for a loved one, accessing banking information or even making a mundane request from the post-office, you can expect that the exchange is limited to the addressed parties.

Equally important, a user can respond via e-mail without a character limitation, or concern that there will be additional charges on their bill for the communication. These are both issues facing SMS marketing and communication. Although immediate, it is a concern to those not familiar with texting and it’s protocols.

Cheering The Underdog

I am a believer in e-Mail marketing. I don’t think it is a silver bullet or the only solution for marketers, but rather, a tortoise in the proverbial race with the hair. Currently, the role of the hair is played by social media and SMS marketing. I think both of these have a place. I also believe there are many cases where social media marketing is a run-away winner. The power of e-Mail marketing is in it’s familiarity and direct nature. It offers strong ROI and is easy to measure both success and failure. For the average person, e-Mail is approaching 15 years old. Even if you’re not measuring your time in “internet years”, it has come into it’s maturity.

Before you pass-off your next opportunity to pitch an e-Mail marketing plan to a client, ask your self about the message and audience. The solution may be easier and more traditional than you may have thought.

You want more?
Check out MailChimp and CampaignMonitor for great tools to launch your campaign. If you want to learn more about who is opening and how frequently messages are read, check out MailerMailer’s metrics report from 2009.

The MTA has recently redesigned the New York City Subway Map. Not a drastic change from the 2 previous designs, the new version features additional information about subways lines and expanded visual indications for express and local routes.

New York’s subways maps are a unique piece of history and a part of New York City’s “branding”. For visitor’s, the maps are an integral part of using public transit. For New Yorker’s it’s an embedded icon for navigating those far-reaching parts of the city not frequently visited. Beyond the utilitarian value of the maps, these design pieces are facing travelers coming, going and while on New York’s subterrainian city. Having grown up in New York, the maps represent places I’ve lived, where friends and family are and memories of good times and bad. All of those dots represent day trips, jobs and people I’ve interacted with.

As a kid riding the subway, I remember the Vignelli’s stylized subway map. At that time, it the stylized version of the city was long in the tooth and when I had seen it, usually looked yellow and tired. It still reminds me of an aesthetic that harbors a sense of adventure and newness.

I’m glad to see that the MTA is posting a new version of the map. I don’t feel any nostalgia for the current version. More so than anything else, I’m glad for the big analog infographic that shows a landscape of options to subway riders.

If you’re visiting New York or a have been living there all your life, you can download a PDF of the new MTA Subway Map here.

The MTA has recently redesigned the New York City Subway Map. Not a drastic change from the 2 previous designs, the new version features additional information about subways lines and expanded visual indications for express and local routes.

New York’s subways maps are a unique piece of history and a part of New York City’s “branding”. For visitor’s, the maps are an integral part of using public transit. For New Yorker’s it’s an embedded icon for navigating those far-reaching parts of the city not frequently visited. Beyond the utilitarian value of the maps, these design pieces are facing travelers coming, going and while on New York’s subterrainian city. Having grown up in New York, the maps represent places I’ve lived, where friends and family are and memories of good times and bad. All of those dots represent day trips, jobs and people I’ve interacted with.

As a kid riding the subway, I remember the Vignelli’s stylized subway map. At that time, it the stylized version of the city was long in the tooth and when I had seen it, usually looked yellow and tired. It still reminds me of an aesthetic that harbors a sense of adventure and newness.

I’m glad to see that the MTA is posting a new version of the map. I don’t feel any nostalgia for the current version. More so than anything else, I’m glad for the big analog infographic that shows a landscape of options to subway riders.

If you’re visiting New York or a have been living there all your life, you can download a PDF of the new MTA Subway Map here.

Conceptually “Brand Loyalty” presents itself as the foundation of good business practices. Whether you are a consumer focused enterprise or professionally oriented, the idea of your customers standing behind you is a pretty ideal position. The newest string of marketing buzz and social media marketing is rooted in brand loyalty: Having your customers interact with you in an open dialogue and connecting their own “brands” with those your provide by way of Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn or the myriad of other channels that present opportunity to engage your audience.

FastForward, a partnership channel shared by Google and the Wharton School presents Jean-Philippe Maheu, Worldwide Chief Executive Officer, Publicis Modem and his perspective on Brand Loyalty. His perspective is practical, direct and falls short of over-promising what consumer engagement can provide. Mr. Maheu’s perspective reinforces the idea that consumer loyalty is the result of a relationship and like any relationship requires attention and respect for the life of the bond.

FastForward offers a dedicated channel for marketing, business and consumer though-leaders. A dedicated YouTube channel can be found at: www.youtube.com/user/FastForward

A friend had asked me where they would begin if they had wanted to start building a website for their business. I started an email that outlined a few of the basics, starting with a URL and outlining what they wanted to say and who they wanted to say it to. Of course the e-mail started to talk about producing content and making some of that content available via blog. A thought had crossed my mind: Practice with you preach. Here is my open-letter for starting your first website (I’ll likely miss some of the finer points, so please feel free to contribute).

Before you buy a domain, start to design, find a host, before you start to write any content for your new website, you should decide what is it that you want to communicate? From the largest fortune 500 company to the blogger with the smallest audience, the owner needs to know what they are using the blog for. Most business (big and small) want to create an online footprint that let’s people know who they are, create branding and allow an easy method to locate their business. This is a great way to approach the challenge of your new site and allows you to define your goals. Those same goals can help steer your design, the writing style, call-to-action and a sense of scope moving into the future.

Now that you’ve defined what you are going to be using your site to communicate and who the audience is, you can look at what your competitors are doing. How are they designed? How do they speak to the audience? How do they handle their branding? If you’re planning on sharing this space with them, you have an advantage to learn from their mistakes and successes. You should also look at their design-and other designs on the web that you like so you have an idea of what styles you like and how they divide their messaging, contact information, pricing, call-to-action, etc,.

The beginning of a great website, and the foundation for your new online brand, is the domain name. If you are building a business, try to find a domain that IS your business name (mybusinessname.com). You can see if your domain is available for free using WhoIs.net, NetworkSolutions or GoDaddy. NetworkSolutions will also make name suggestions if the domain you are searching for is taken. I recommend sticking with .com names as opposed to .net or .us. You can also look at foreign top-level domains (the .com .net extensions on the end). Some of these can be used to create creative solutions for your domain name like bit.ly or del.icio.us. Just remember that you may be communicating this domain name (or URL) verbally and simpler is better! Once you have found your open domain name, you should purchase it. GoDaddy usually has the best prices and offers hosting at an additional charge.

Now that you have a domain name, you need to design your website. Find a designer? Hire an agency? Pay a web developer? How much does this all cost? I have a biased opinion here: I am a web designer and usability and web standards are VERY important to me. If your website is a fundamental part of your business or you are planning to use it as the foundation of your marketing and to generate business, you should work with a professional web designer and/or web developer. If the previous is true and you’ve never done anything like this on the web before change “should” to “definitely must”. If you believe your website isn’t going to make a dramatic change to your business or you don’t have a budget to invest in having someone design and build a website, there are several options that can leave you with a great looking website without a tremendous cost:

• Consider hiring someone right out of school or even still IN school. There are a lot of very talented and capable web developers and designers out there waiting for a shot to work with you. You can find some at your local college or university. Many students have a portfolio of work to show or may even do your project on spec.
• Look at a DIY solution like SquareSpace. This service, and others like it, give anyone with a vision a way to deign their own website and host. This takes all of the “tech” out of it and makes it easy for someone to get their start.
• Think about a blog format for your website. There are many, many businesses that use a blog for their PRIMARY customer interface tool. Platforms like WordPress, Tumblr and Posterous. allow you to turn a rainy-day into a start-up marketing platform. WordPress and Tumblr allow you to add “pages” that can easily make your site look like a brand.com with a “About”, “Contact” and “Info” page. All three of the platforms I mentioned are very easily customized with free or paid-for templates and designs that are a snap to install. All of these platforms also include hosting (many at no cost), metrics (to see who is coming or going from your site) and you can add your domain name so no-one will ever know that you’re using a blog engine to host your company’s web presence.
• Social media is a great solution for a start-up. This wouldn’t apply to all audiences, but if your business is selling music from indy artists, clever t-shirts or video games, a FaceBook fanpage may generate more leads than any .com website. If you’re selling turn-signal shut-off reminders for 60 year-olds driving oldsmobiles, a FaceBook fanpage would be a very lonely place for your brand. A FaceBook fanpage is easy to set-up, fast and free. There are several studies to support the this as a tactics, but you have to think about how this fits in with your product/brand.

Before you do anything, you should ask yourself how important your new site will be to your brand? If you believe that it is important at all, the investment in a professional web designer is well worth the cost. Finding someone who understands your needs, your industry adn will work with you collaboratively will yield results beyond your expectations. Designing and building websites is a craft and its proper execution will attract and keep visitors, improve your search engine ranking and define your brand as a whole.

Once you have decided on your design solution, you should begin to develop content. Again, you can work with a professional or write the content yourself. The content you create will drive design, so involving your designer/developer is important. The arrangement and importance of your work will drive how the site is constructed and how search engines will see your website.

With the design, copy and architecture all in place you’re site is ready for launch. Make sure that you tell people to go to your site! Tell everyone you know, put it on business cards, on your email signature, on your facebook page. Every person who visits your site helps create “buzz”. They may share it with friends or remember it when the need arises for your services next week, next month or next year. Don’t be bashful about telling others in your industry. Go to some blogs or forums focused on your industry. Leave comments and reply to threads with your business URL in it. Someone may see your contribution, go to your site and make a purchase or come to you for a service based on your contribution.

Lastly: Update your website with new content, news, customer reviews/testimonials. Not only will updated content make your website (and business) look thriving and alive, but it will also help you with search engine position. Once launched your website is a “living” brand footprint that needs to be maintained to thrive. It will also give your customers and users reason to return regularly and keep you and your brand top-of-mind.

For more about building your brand online:
http://blog.cullmanndesign.com/2010/02/building-brand-you/
http://mashable.com/2008/07/18/building-your-online-brand/
http://www.chrisg.com/social-media-brand/
http://www.slideshare.net/alihadi/build-your-brand-online-presentation