Marketing strategies to energize your brand
Early in 2021, Genesys Health approached the Tantrum Agency about helping the health insurance consultancy refine its identity and develop its brand story. Tantrum founder and CEO David Tann and his team began the process by examining every aspect of the company, from its services, offerings and client success stories, to its culture, origin story and even the individual personalities of every person on staff.
Tantrum’s goal was to get beyond just the services Genesys provided and delve into the true aspects of the brand—the intangibles that made it unique and help boost its clients’ success. The discovery process not only enabled Tantrum to build a brand that was reflective of who Genesys was and its corner in the marketplace, but also gave the Tantrum team loads of content to begin developing a marketing plan. In developing the Genesys game plan, Tantrum identified a series of guideposts for the brand launch campaign. The goal was to implement content that could add value, inspire, humanize, educate, differentiate and celebrate.
“These guideposts gave us opportunities to tell the brand story through each of our channels,” Tann says. “For example, with focus on differentiating ourselves, we could highlight and illustrate ‘The Genesys Way,’ which is our client’s compassionate approach to health benefits. Through the guidepost of ‘adding value,’ we could tailor content around the ‘how to’ and tips. This guidepost was especially important and genuine to Genesys, which believes in putting people first.”
In a time when consumer trends are shifting toward health and wellness, the demand for related products and services has never been higher. In turn, it has also created an extremely competitive landscape, which means that it is critical to be able to stand out from the noise in the marketplace.
“Storytelling is always at the heart of what we do. It is reflected in our tagline: “pure emotional branding.” We believe storytelling is key to connection and driving people to action.”
— David Tann, Founder & CEO, Tantrum Agency
In rolling out the Genesys brand and marketing strategy, the Tantrum team knew it needed quality, engaging media assets to pull itself up over the competition. It invested in capturing high-quality video and still photography up front to personify the brand’s personality and energy. The content it shot was varied, capturing organic, authentic moments. For one of the sessions, Tantrum even brought in an entertainment photographer who works with A-list celebrities and musicians. “His style illuminated Genesys in a way that was unreal. This will continue to be a part of the strategy moving forward,” Tann says.
Because of Tantrum’s belief that a marketing strategy must employ a variety of tactics, it used myriad channels to redefine the brand and tell its story. Understanding how each channel works, as well as knowing how your audience consumes news and information, is imperative. “This is one of the reasons why our relationship with Genesys Health works so well,” Tann says. “Their tagline is, ‘data-driven, people focused.’ This was at the foundation of our marketing strategy approach. We understood who they were speaking to and what content their audience would benefit from receiving.”
Tann says that because Genesys makes it their business to understand their client, he and his team made it their business to help them communicate effectively. “Storytelling is always at the heart of what we do. It is reflected in our tagline: ‘pure emotional branding.’ We believe storytelling is key to connection and driving people to action.”
Finger on the pulse
When Kelly Miller Laughlin looks out at today’s health and wellness market, she sees one that is ever changing, especially over the past few years. More people branching out into alternative methods. A more keen interest in vitamins and herbs. Eastern medicine. Better diets and exercise routines. More than at any time before, people understand that all of it is an integral part of overall wellbeing.
As VP of Communications at Community Health Services of Georgia (CHSGa), Laughlin understands that helping stay in touch with that kind of messaging not only means knowing where the trends are going, but how to communicate them.
During the pandemic, CHSGa, an integrated healthcare delivery system providing one source for life management strategies for its customers, was hit as hard as any healthcare provider dealing with the day in and day out implications related to the virus. With 9,000 employees, Laughlin was tasked with helping keep everyone abreast of what turned out to be an ever-evolving spate of information.
In the midst of losing employees to the virus across a variety of departments CHSGa implemented a Vaccination Initiative, which Laughlin and her team worked to deliver. By using social media, internal messaging via the intranet and the company’s newsletter to spread the word, CHSGa achieved a 97% acceptance rate.
“One of the most effective tools we used is creating individual stories of people who experienced COVID-19 and why they chose to get the vaccine,” Laughlin says. “Using people within the organization that other employees could relate to was very helpful in moving our numbers forward. There was a level of trust hearing from people they knew. Yes, we will continue this type of messaging going forward.”
By using every tool at its disposal, CHSGa continues to make sure it reaches out to everyone it can in any and every way possible. Heading into continued uncharted waters, Laughlin knows that by sticking to the marketing tools that have worked—and not being afraid to try others—is key.
“Everyone receives information differently, so it’s important to reach them in more than one way.”
— Kelly Miller Laughlin, VP of Communications, Community Health Services of Georgia
“It is still a tough market out there,” Laughlin says. “Everyone receives information differently, so it’s important to reach them in more than one way. We want to educate Georgians that we are a system that can meet their healthcare needs when they need it, whether it is emergency care services, home health, rehabilitation, care management, skilled nursing care or hospice. We desire to be their trusted partner.”
In the end, the key component for any health and wellness marketer is trust. Rising to the occasion is paramount in the effort to build community. That means being as authentic and as real as possible. Building relationships. And always doing the right thing for the right reasons.