Marketing Communications Today Blog

Behavioral science is a relatively new field, with huge implications for marketing. Neuromarketing can actually help you develop more persuasive communications that will increase your response rates. Join Nancy Harhut, Chief Creative Officer at HBT Marketing, as she explains how she persuades her target audiences successfully, using the lessons of behavioral science, on the sub-series, Marketing Horizons. 

Cyndi Greenglass: What is behavioral science and what does it have to do with marketing?

Apple released its app tracking transparency (ATT) framework with iOS 14.5, limiting an advertiser’s ability to track user behavior. With these changes, companies are going to need to evaluate how to best reach their customers.

How does it work? A window will pop up asking the user if they want to allow tracking within the app they are using. If they say no, the app must stop monitoring and sharing the users data. Early surveys have suggested 80% will opt out of most tracking.

"Unless you receive permission from the user to enable tracking, the device's advertising identifier value will be all zeros and you may not track them," Apple said this week in an online message to developers.

Learn about the power of guest posting (guest blogging) and why it's an important tool for marketers of all levels to utilize. Use it for brand recognition, building backlinks to your site, sharing your knowledge and expertise on certain topics, and increasing your trustworthiness in your business niche. Discover why it's valuable for freelancers and solopreneurs to implement as well! Join Rebecca Reynoso, Senior Editor + Guest Post Program Manager at G2 for "What is Guest Posting and Why You Should Start Using it for Your Brand" on the WVU Marketing Communications Today podcast.

Amy Alyson Teller: What is guest posting or blogging?

Rebecca Reynoso: Guest posting is a way to have writers produce content for your website’s blog, and they are not writers that are employed by your company. It's usually something that either an individual or a company agrees to some kind of content swap or a one-off piece from a writer from a different company. It is a way for the writer to get their name out there, get published and show people that they’ve got the authority on this topic. It is a way to grow your own brand recognition.

Chatbot technology in B2B is developing quickly beyond customer experience to becoming an important part of Top of Funnel (TOF) tactics. Join Koen de Witte, Managing Director at Leadfabric, and Drift's exclusive certified partner in Europe, to hear his insights around next generation Chatbots in the sub-series, Marketing Horizons hosted by Ruth Stevens and Cyndi Greenglass.

Ruth Stevens: Could you tell us what these new tools like Drift and Intercom and others are up to and what's this new generation of chatbots all about?

Koen De Witte: When I started my agency 13 years ago, we started implementing and talking about marketing automation and how to connect to the buyer. It has taken us quite a lot of time to start proving the value, because you need to go through lots of change and it is not only the technical aspect to it, but it's also a change business process, reengineering it needs to take place. We have learned to understand what it's all about. It's a way to connect buyers, but at the end of the day, we're trying to connect with our people.

With so many platforms emerging for streaming services, how do brands like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, etc. reach their audiences? And how do marketers learn from this rise in streaming services? On April 12, the WVU Marketing Communications Graduate Programs hosted a Twitter Chat for faculty, staff, students and professionals to discuss how the streaming wars has impacted them.

If you missed the Twitter Chat, please view the recap below or visit the @wvuimc Twitter page.

Q1: Speaking of streaming services, what do you use and why? 

Healthcare is one of the largest industries and with so many options (as well as “Dr. Google”) it’s important for marketers to know the strategies to reach patients. Christopher Caserta, Vice President for Strategic Development at United States Medical Management, joins us to discuss how marketers are changing the healthcare industry, as well as how the industry has evolved on the WVU Marketing Communications Today podcast.

Susan Jones: Sure, so let's start with something very general: we've all heard the term healthcare industry, but what exactly does that mean and what does that encompass?

Christopher Caserta: You know Susan I think that's a common term that people will undershoot. They will just limit it to basically what they know. You know chances are you know, in today's time you were probably born in a hospital or you, you have family members who were born in a hospital so that comes to mind. Maybe you've had a family member in an assisted living facility or skilled nursing facility, and we all use pharmacies as well, at least most of us do unless you're uber healthy. If you are, I would like to know what your secrets are. Otherwise it's just kind of what we know, but in actuality healthcare is a huge industry, I mean it's actually our largest contributor to the gross domestic product in this country. I know it's grown significantly in the last 50 years; it is ahead of technology in the United States when you talk about an industry, industry and how big it is, and it kind of breaks down into six categories. You know, there are pharmaceuticals which those are obviously the medications to hear and vaccinate, we all know them with a pandemic we're all well aware of what goes on there. Biotechnology is another industry using enzymes or microorganisms to produce products, you know you think of baking bread because you're using yeast with the living organism that would qualify biotech. You have the equipment side, devices for like pacemakers and ultrasound imaging you have to have distribution, which is actually a category under healthcare because there's hundreds of thousands of pharmacies and hospitals that need medicines and products for patients. You have the facilities; I mean that's what we see that's usually where people go when they think of healthcare and then you have the manage healthcare side. I think we've all probably read about health maintenance organizations and other types of groups or ways to have healthcare and pay for healthcare. So really when you include all those when you look at the healthcare industry there's over 784,000 companies in the United States right now. So, and the good news for those of us in this field is they all need strategy, they all need sales and they all need marketing so it's a wonderful opportunity and only getting bigger.

The marketing communications programs at WVU have aided brilliant and talented people to achieve their dreams and to find success within the industry. As you think about your future career in Marketing Communications and consider advancing your degree, view the success of the WVU Marketing Communications Integrated Marketing Communications alumni.

Adrienne King has been promoted to serve as UToledo’s vice president of marketing and communications. King has led institutional crisis communications efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and provided direction for the rebrand efforts of UToledo and more recently, UTMC. Her teams have won numerous awards for their creative work to support enrollment initiatives and crisis communications efforts.

Emily recently moved companies to join HMP Global, a multichannel leader in healthcare meetings, content, and education. In her new role as a Marketing Communications Manager, she oversees the promotions and marketing of healthcare education events. Tactics include everything from social, digital and traditional marketing methods.