By Cary Munk

The American Marketing Association Chapter of New York recently ran a sold-out CMO Marketing Leadership event, titled, “Activating Your Digital Marketing Strategy”, sponsored by the IESE Business School. The panel included leaders from Google and EmblemHealth.

Let’s start with Google…

Reena Jana (Creative Lead, Business Inclusion) is responsible for identifying and engaging with under-represented global communities (eg. women, small business owners, ethnic groups), who are not online as well as challenged with bringing them into the Google eco-system.  No small task!

1- Go To Where Your Target Audience Is:

Google takes a creative approach by traveling to underserved global communities and attending local events.  This allows for understanding of unique needs and establishing relationships in a group setting as well as one-by-one.  Print collateral is leveraged to educate communities about the benefits of being online and in-person meetings establish the needed communication.  Google aims to grow their users from two to three billion by tapping into communities, who are not yet online!

2- Create Engaging Games to Learn:

Google released Quick Draw to encourage people to contribute their drawings.  These doodles are a unique data set that help developers train new neural networks as well researchers see patterns in how people around the world draw.  It’s an open-source platform, which has recently surpassed one billion doodles.  

Now EmblemHealth…

The amazing thing about the digital strategy team at EmblemHealth is that it’s very lean and transforming the entire organization.  It’s led by Beth Leonard (Chief Marketing and Communications Officer) and Olivia Fischetti (Director of Digital Strategy at EmblemHealth).

3 –  Understand The Rules + Gently Push The Limits:

Many industries have significant compliance challenges – and the healthcare industry is no exception.  Don’t be afraid to work closely with regulators and provide a rationale for upcoming innovations.  EmblemHealth is rethinking its digital communications strategy, aiming to provide valuable information to their customers and potential customers in a simple, interactive way.  Even though the company is thinking of out-of-the-box tactics, it still must follow PHI and PII regulations to ensure personal information remains safe and protected.

4- Elevate Your Customer Centric Approach:

EmblemHealth established an escalation process for customer complaints on its digital channels.  All issues are not only taken seriously but also raised to the CMO.  In fact, one issue raised by a single customer resulted in an unbudgeted investment to upgrade their software.

To meet customers where they are, it’s essential to integrate cross-functional teams. EmblemHealth is working on ways to connect customer service with sales, marketing, and communications to improve the customer experience. These personalization initiatives help drive retention and loyalty.

Cary is a customer success professional with SaaS, digital, and data experience.