The healthcare products and services industry is one where strong relationships and memorable experiences matter. You’ve got to impress prospects and open the door to further conversations about your medical devices, medications, etc., to succeed.
Consequently, many agencies specialize in healthcare event marketing. They help companies create in-person and online experiences that impress hospital procurement professionals, doctors, nurses, and other stakeholders.
How can an experiential marketing firm stand out among its competitors and convince companies to use its services? That’s the challenge that faced Slate360 and the reason they turned to The Creative Alliance for assistance.
Enhancing Slate360’s Brand
Slate360’s leadership and team members have many decades of cumulative experience. However, the agency itself is relatively “young.”
Conversations with the agency’s decision-makers made it clear that that unique blend of characteristics was and should continue to be a cornerstone of its brand. Specifically, the term “renegades” came up several times in our discussions.
So, it was decided to make that attitude the foundation of the firm’s marketing strategy in a way that says, “We’re not cocky, but we’ve got tremendous expertise and are confident we can help your company succeed.” And that started with formulating new, attention-getting messaging.
Making a Statement With Slate360’s Messaging: “We’re not your typical event marketing firm.”
Slate360’s leaders love what they do. In fact, that passion is evident in everyone at the firm. The team also has a refreshing, “no B.S.” approach to their client engagements.
We demonstrate that spirit on their website and elsewhere in statements like:
“We’re not your typical event marketing firm.”
“Every company has an ‘elevator pitch’ that encapsulates who they are and what they do in a few sentences. Team members practice giving it as if it came to them on the spot. But you know better, so we’ll share ours as drafted…”
“The investment you make in your event presence has to pay dividends.”
Slate360 knows from experience that this type of frank, no-fluff messaging appeals to busy healthcare professionals. It’s also a genuine expression of who Slate360 is and what they stand for.
Developing a Dynamic Visual Design
Trust and confidence are vital when purchasing products and services, but perhaps nowhere more than in the healthcare industry. A company has to have a visual identity that says, “You can rely on us to get the results you need.”
For Slate360, our designers chose blue—widely regarded as communicating trustworthiness—as the brand’s main color. They also gave the website and other manifestations of the brand more weight and gravitas with a strong font and sharp contrasts in the overall design and imagery.
These and other design decisions contribute to a brand that clearly “knows the business” and is unapologetically confident in its ability to deliver great work that drives excellent outcomes for clients.
Reimagining the Slate360 Website and Crafting an Impactful User Experience (UX)
Having the right words and compelling visuals is essential. But it’s the interplay of those elements in an engaging and satisfying website user experience (UX) that can capture a prospect’s attention or turn one-time clients into long-time clients. That was our focus in overhauling the existing Slate360 website.
For example, we ensured visitors never have to “hunt” for information on the site. Just two of the four main navigation items have submenus, and the options are clear and concise. And with a Contact Us button at the top of every page, people can shift from researching Slate360’s services to requesting specific information with just a click.
Overall, the site is like the agency: Professional and polished while simultaneously inviting and welcoming.
Creating Other Ways To Share the Slate360 Story
While a company’s website tends to be the epicenter of its marketing efforts, it shouldn’t be the only place where vital information is communicated. Our team developed marketing materials that Slate360 can hand out in physical form or send in electronic form. That includes a visually engaging PowerPoint template that team members can quickly customize for a particular prospect or client.
A well-designed, fully vetted set of marketing materials helps sales reps in multiple ways. First, it saves them time by making it easy to share the information they believe will help them close a deal. Second, it gives them the confidence to know they can quickly respond to questions from prospects or clients with an accurate, up-to-date piece developed (and maintained) for a particular purpose.
Keeping It Tight: Defining Slate360’s New Brand Standards
Project managers are familiar with the concept of “scope creep.” That’s when the parameters for a project gradually undergo a series of unauthorized deviations and modifications until the engagement’s scope is significantly different from when it was initially defined.
A similar phenomenon can occur with brands. Someone changes the colors in the logo “just this one time, to match the color palette in an event we’re attending.” And then someone else makes a similar one-time-only change to the brand’s primary font, and so on. Soon, the company has countless “alternative brands” floating around and used by people who know nothing about their origins. Worse, customers and clients, who previously could spot a brand’s logo a mile away, are now becoming confused about its appearance.
The best way to avoid “brand creep” is to have clearly defined brand standards, like those we developed for Slate360. These explicit rules serve two purposes. First, they discourage people from making any unauthorized changes to the company’s branding. Second, should changes be made, the business can get rid of any rogue branding and revert to the original specs.
For companies that have invested a significant amount of time, effort, and resources to develop a new look and feel, brand standards are essential.
Assisting Marketers With Their Marketing
One of the unique things about our work with Slate360 was that, given their expertise in marketing, we were all speaking the same language. That made our collaboration that much more interesting and rewarding.
Through an iterative process, we reached a place where everyone agreed on the brand’s new direction, was eager to implement the changes, and was excited about the agency’s future.