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A NOTE FROM JIM EMMERLING, PRESIDENT OF EM-MEDIA:

8 out of 10 internet users look for health Related information online, making it the third largest online activity. — Pew Research Center

If you are in the healthcare industry, and you are not focused with laser-like attention on your digital marketing strategy, you are, at best missing a golden opportunity, and at worst, falling tragically behind your competition.

So, what if you have limited resources, budget, or buy-in? Where should you start to get the best value for your dollar and still be able to move the needle on digital patient acquisition and retention?

As is the case with most things, the best place to start marketing to patients is at the beginning of their patient journey with what I call Healthcare’s Holy Trinity of Digital Marketing–content marketing, social media, and landing pages

Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is OK. You are OK.

— Don Draper

Don Draper was a character I always related to. It wasn’t that he was an ad man. It wasn’t that he had a certain style and charisma that I admired. What I really related to was Don’s inner tension. He was a product of his time and yet so far ahead of his industry, and for better or for worse, he was mostly unapologetic about the way he interpreted and acted on the events that happened around him.

I have felt that tension in my own life lately. I have felt the negativity and the cynicism that seems to be a huge part of our nation and world today. I have felt the need to speak up while at the same time being aware of the lessons that I’m meant to learn along the way. I have faced my own demons and fears, and I continue to face them with an honest and open heart.

But on the other side of that tension are so many good things. On the other side, I’ve found family and friends that love me and believe that my heart is worth having. I have found that even as we grow and expand, EM remains a family-like atmosphere, and I have found that amid all the confusion and negativity, there is strength in following your path and finding the good in those around you and the circumstances you find yourself in.

But I asked myself, what would happen if I began encouraging the team at EM to lead with their heart as well. Yes, I’d love to see them do so in their personal lives, but I’m talking specifically about how we all go about our work at the agency. What would a heart-led agency look like.

Here are a few ways that I think EM-Media is already well on her way to marketing with heart.

Superbowl 51 will go down as one of the great Super Bowls in NFL history.

While I haven’t heard anyone say the same about this year’s Super Bowl commercials, I can honestly say that I can’t remember a Super Bowl where brands took such divisive stands on cultural and political issues.

I was asked to write a piece on the Super Bowl 51 commercials. So when I arrived at work the morning after the game, I asked the team at EM to give me their top three winners and losers from last night’s advertising sweepstakes.

I thought there would be some sort of consensus. As usual, I was completely wrong. I’ve still declared winners and losers, but I’ve also given some of the dissenting feedback and debate that was heard around our office when each person put their two cents in.

No matter what I write here, I doubt I’m going to be popular tomorrow.

Super Bowl Commercials that Won

One of my growing passions is the continued economic growth of our region. Pittsburgh continues to show that its rebirth is not just a fad, and I think you are seeing that carry-over into the recovering mill towns that sit on our rivers and the coal mining towns that are nestled among our hills. I’m not saying that there isn’t still plenty of struggle to go around, but I do believe that we’ve seen improvements over the last decade in cities across the tri-state area like Wheeling and Morgantown in West Virginia, Canton and Youngstown in Ohio, and Cranberry Township and other outlying areas surrounding the Pittsburgh metroplex.

One of the trends I’ve seen that almost always trigger sustainable economic growth is the growth of small business. It’s easy to get drawn by big box stores and chain restaurants, but what really seems to stabilize a community is when a city keeps its money in the local economy.

The world of business and marketing are in a state of flux. The market, platforms, and rules of engagement and acceptable practice seem to change before you have mastered the last set. There seems to be an insurmountable amount of variables that are outside of our control in a professional world where control seems absolutely necessary.

But in the midst of all this uncertainty, technological advancements, and the rising expectations from customers, clients, employees, and vendors, there is one thing that never changes or goes out of style–good leadership.