Dudnyk blog
Use color to build and differentiate your brand.
Knowing some basic color theory and doing your homework will help bring your brand to life.
Congratulations―you are about to launch (or relaunch) a product in a competitive category. It’s time to build your brand.
You have spent some serious time analyzing the market situation, gaining medical insights, and developing a strategic launch plan. Now it’s time to turn your attention to the creative and visual aspects of building an effective brand―a brand that will stand out from the crowd.
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Don’t let the buzz words get in the way of achieving your brand goals.
It’s the substance of the idea, not always what you call it.
Branding. Insight discovery. Exploration. Positioning. Strategic account planning. CRM.
After 25 years in the business, I’ve heard a lot of the same basic ideas referred to in all kinds of ways. What’s different each time is a matter of wording—the terminology of the day. Yet I’ve seen accounts be put in jeopardy over a simple disagreement in terms: people talking about the same idea but disagreeing over the terminology.
Here’s the takeaway:
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Why shouldn’t my campaign show a smiling patient?
Recently, a member of the extended client marketing team asked the question, “Where’s my happy patient visual?”
This is not a bad question to ask—or maybe it is, if you read your agency’s blog or have visited their website. The real answer is that if you want your brand to look like 83% of communications being created for the healthcare industry, then yes, by all means, use a visual with a smiling, happy patient on it.
The concept of product differentiation is not new.
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5 guidelines to help brand managers find the right tone
Paying attention to how you “talk on paper” will help you sound affable and engaging in your writing.
As a boy, whenever my parents cautioned me to watch my tone, I doubt they meant the timbre of my voice. What they were referring to was my attitude—the defiance they detected in the way I stood or spoke.
Writing, too, carries a certain tone. Following these 5 guidelines from The Elements of Business Writing by Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly will help you communicate in ways that show respect for your audience and invite receptivity.
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Connecting people inside and out
Use social media to address the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
“Your customers and employees are social. What about your company?” George Hu, an executive vice president at Salesforce.com, hopes you and your biotech corporation colleagues will ask yourselves this question, if you haven’t already.
Hu and Brian Halligan, CEO and cofounder of HubSpot, inspired decision makers to cultivate inwardly and outwardly focused social media presences during their recent Webinar “Social Revolution: Connecting With Today’s Customer.”
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Successful brands get buy-in from key stakeholders
Award-winning brand manager shares his thoughts on gaining support.
When asked to describe the biggest challenge faced in relaunching his brand, Jason Menzo, former Associate Director of Marketing at Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc., stated that gaining buy-in was mandatory for his success. Relaunched in 2010, Menzo’s brand posted an impressive 58% increase in sales in the first 6 months when compared to sales in the previous year, with the same promotional spend and sales force size.
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Get the skinny on stock photography
Whether you’re getting ready to launch your first product or refresh your existing campaign, knowing a few things about purchasing creative imagery will go far in protecting the identity of your brand.
Advancements over the past decade in original photography, set design, after-effects, and computer generated imagery (CGI) have made it possible to realize much bigger ideas conceptually and to capture and communicate, in life-like detail, the true essence of a brand’s promise.
Why is this important to you?
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Brand persona: who is your biotech brand?
Step beyond the data to the true essence of a brand.
Whether you are promoting a celebrity, a consumer campaign, or a biotech product, developing a Brand Persona can help a brand come to life in the mind of the target audience.
What is a Brand Persona?
A Brand Persona is an identity or character that can help an audience visualize the brand as a living, breathing person who can affect the lives of others. A Brand Persona must be believable and relevant, and it should make an emotional connection with the end user.
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Keep it simple with your writing
6 ideas for sending efficient e-mail communications to your team.
I recently read a post on the AMA Style Insider blog called “Say It Small.” In it, the author argues the case for making one’s messages more efficient. (The article also makes me wonder if Ernest Hemingway was the prototypical Twitter user—the post begins with a 6-word Hemingway story. Can’t get much briefer than that!)
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Brand strategy comes first, big tactical ideas later
Biotech brand managers should beware of the “Big Idea” salesperson (Part 2).
Back that up a second.
An advertising and branding agency suspicious of big ideas? But isn’t that what marketing folks are always in search of? Aren’t big ideas the fuel that propels a brand to a higher level?
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