Relationship marketing (RM) programs are powerful tools that help consumers make educated healthcare decisions. We have been creating and evaluating RM programs for over 10 years. Since the beginning, we have placed an emphasis on measuring results to ensure that programs are successful and provide robust ROIs.

This business of communications-call it advertising, marketing, promotions, or selling -is built on arriving at epiphanies that we call Insights. There are many structured approaches devised to develop Insights-analyzing socio-emotional drivers, customer demographics and market dynamics, scenario planning, and so on-each usually staffed in separate departments of highly educated and thoughtful people.

It is possible to draw parallels between the green movement and what is happening in health today. Both are human problems that have grown to be global crises through our actions and inactions. Both have their advocates and their nay-sayers. Both ask all of us to take personal responsibility for doing everything we can to fix the problem. And, perhaps most importantly in this context, both have a huge impact on brands and how they are expected to behave. Today, people want the brands that they buy or associate with to demonstrate that they share the same standards and beliefs. …

In today's challenging economic climate, medical specialists - including those in diagnostic fields like community pathology and radiology-- increasingly find themselves working overtime to maintain even basic fiscal fitness.

The healthcare industry has been evolving for years, led by innovations that help streamline an antiquated industry for better effectiveness and efficiencies. The administration's healthcare reform bill is keeping the foot on the proverbial gas, fueling new thinking and technologies for better consumer access and engagement. Those business entities that can help cut costs, create awareness and prevention, and empower consumer engagement will find success among the changing landscape. It's a prime time to be a healthcare marketer-full of new challenges and vast new opportunities.

Recently at a meeting, we were talking about the healthcare boards that have popped up on Pinterest. As we discussed the idea of creating a way for oncology patients to find others like themselves on Pinterest, and share inspirational pins, one of the clients turned to me and asked, "What problem are we trying to solve?" An interesting question, indeed. At first I answered - "we are not solving a problem; rather we are embracing an opportunity."

What is a stakeholder? It's not someone who eats beef sans utensils. Stakeholders are simply people with a vested interest in a particular outcome. A stakeholder could be a basketball coach who has an interest in making it to the Final Four, or the owner of a local coffee shop who hopes that Starbucks doesn't take over that empty store across the street.

Consumers today are more demanding than ever, always looking for a reason to doubt your claim or ignore your message. For marketers, the most challenging part of developing communications in this age of skepticism is identifying and crafting the reward or promise. No matter how clever or eye-catching the creative, it must have a reward or promise that resonates with your audience to generate the desired response.

I read an article in the Aug. 19 "New York Times" headlined, "Coming Next: Using an App as Prescribed" by Joshua Brustein. It discusses companies like Happtique and Welldoc that are creating the backbone of a system to allow doctors to prescribe apps. The notion of "prescription apps" has been buzzing about for years at digital agencies, and has also been laughed at - until now.

The seventh annual Healthcare IT Week kicks off next week, Sept. 10-14, and it got me thinking about technology and our healthcare industry. As we know, technology has always been the driving force behind America's innovative and economic industries. That's certainly true with healthcare. But like a perfect storm, health care is benefiting from the rise of transformative digital, social and mobile technologies that are creating a new and empowered consumer.