Chances are that when you hear the name Adobe you probably think of them as the purveyor of digital products, such as Flash, Photoshop and PDFs. But the company is also a prolific producer of well-researched reports and whitepapers under its Adobe Marketing Cloud brand. Generally designed to help companies better understand online marketing, their latest one — The State of Content: Rules of Engagement for 2016 — offers excellent insights for doctors hoping to engage today’s time-pressed, digitally-savvy aesthetic consumer. Among its insights:
#1: Design for the Multiscreen Reality
Today’s consumer is not only constantly connected, she’s often connected through multiple devices; in fact, according to Adobe, 83% of consumers say they multiscreen. And when they were asked to name the most important factor in their viewing experience, 65% said “It displays well on the device I’m using,” more than any other factor. Bottom line: Content that’s optimized for all screens gets viewed; content that’s not gets ignored.
#2: Don’t Fall Victim to #TLDR
For the uninitiated, that’s shorthand for Too Long, Didn’t Read. The report notes that 67% of consumers will stop engaging with content if it’s too long and 89% would stop viewing or switch devices if the content fails to meet their expectations. Factor in how much content is getting viewed on small screens and the takeaways are clear: Get to the point, use video and photos, and don’t be boring. ‘Nuff said.
#3: You Really Need to Lighten Up
As the creators of some of the funniest marketing videos around, the folks at Adobe know how to make a dry subject entertaining. And with 70% of consumers agreeing that humor makes companies more relatable, they’re clearly onto something. Healthcare, of course, is different: You don’t want to go for laughs but there’s nothing wrong with telling a personal story or sharing an uplifting video to humanize what can be an emotion-laden, even frightening, subject.
#4: In Our Relationships We Trust
We live in an era of high skepticism, which makes tapping into trusted relationships more important than ever. In fact, consumer trust in content increases as their relationship with the source grows stronger — even for brands. While just 23% of consumers trust content from companies they don’t patronize, almost twice as many (43%) trust content from those they do. It’s a virtuous circle: The more you emphasize the relationship, the more potential patients will be interested in your content, which, in turn, deepens the relationship.
#5: Don’t Show up Uninvited
According to the report, consumers are willing to share information but expect return on value. For retailers, that means pegging content to previous behavior and making predictive recommendations. Obviously, this presents a challenge in regulated industries like healthcare but the takeaway is the same: Assuming consumers have given you permission to engage with them — e.g., by opting in to your newsletter — use their questions, comments and other actions as guidelines to ensure your subsequent efforts constitute content they’ll want to receive.
Ultimately, it all boils down the fact that people are exposed to far more content than they can possibly digest and end up ignoring or discarding all but the most relevant and useful. Incorporating the five rules noted above can help ensure that your content makes the cut.