R.A. My Way

My name is Monica Marchak and I am graduating this spring with a Bachelors Degree In Marketing from Western Washington University. I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis two years ago during my sophomore year. Learning about RA has become a passion, and I have become a volunteer for the Arthritis Foundation to help others with this crippling disease. I will be pursuing a sales position in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry where I hope to use my education to be an advocate for improving care for RA patients.

[monicamarchak]

Communities formed by a #

In the research paper by Jonah Berger from University of Pennsylvania titled Facebook Therapy, a study was conducted to test the theory that sharing self-relevant content online (specifically via Facebook) is a way for emotionally unstable individuals to boost their well-being. The study proved that “emotional writing, paired with the potential to receive social support helps them repair well-being after negative experiences”. I could not help but automatically relate this study to the rheumatoid arthritis social media community I have found after being diagnosed and researching for my blog. Although people diagnosed with RA are not all “emotionally unstable”, we can feel physically and emotionally different than if our bodies felt normal. After I was diagnosed with RA and before beginning my current treatment, I was taking a medication that was really hard on my body. What made the pain even more difficult sometimes was that none of my friends or family really understood how I felt or what I was going through. On the outside I might have looked normal, but the pain, fatigue/nausea, and other side effects all contributed to one of the most negative experiences of my life. I never used social media as an outlet to vent, but I can honestly say that if I were presented with some sort of online community where I could share my story and hear from others experiencing the same thing, I would have started sharing content and communicating online in a heartbeat. I did not understand that an online RA community had already been formed. Although it is not prominent on Facebook like the study conducted by Berger, it is on all other social media platforms where communities are formed with a simple hash-tag. The hash-tag I have found that connects the RA community is #rheum. It is the amazing how using the right hash-tag can affect the results you find. After finding #rheum I have started following girls my age via Tumblr and Twitter diagnosed with RA. Many of their posts are about the daily struggles of living with the disease or updates about treatments, news, etc. The amount of support shared on posts, and the positive feedback reciprocated through comments is truly inspiring. I am sure that if it was not for the constant support being shared in the online community, no one would be as inclined to post their struggles publically like they do. Just like in the Facebook study, if it were not for the potential to receive social support, who knows the difference in content that social media sites would have. The fact that people feel comfortable sharing self-relevant information online with the anticipation of creating a conversation (or community) is what makes social media content so valuable and credible.

[monicamarchak]

Here is the video I mentioned in my last blog post titled "Start a Trend". Joanne Wurm- you are very inspiring. Thank you for sharing your story in the hope to raise awareness and find a cure. 

[monicamarchak]

Start a Trend

The article Mobile Marketer by Chantal Tode brings up the rising popularity of sharing videos online and whether or not marketers are prepared for this trend. The article mentions that global consumer video traffic is expected to double by 2016 and a large percentage of these viewers will be using mobile devices. The question that arose in my mind was how to create powerful videos that will inspire people to share and to act. It is remarkable how quickly a creative video can become popular and spread. Viral videos not only have the potential of reaching millions of people, but the following cover videos that  re-create popular videos reach the same amount of viewers or more! Viral videos create trends that spread. For example, the latest craze right now is the “Harlem Shake”. Not only has the original Harlem Shake video reached 25,626,150 people, the re-makes are reaching 18,000,000+. My university, Western Washington University, just recently had a student head a “WWU Harlem Shake” and the original video currently has 33,810 views and the video from the local newspaper with 13,759 views. Even though the Harlem Shake has nothing to do with a company or organization, it is a great example of how a viral video can turn into a trend and reach millions of people.

When I think of what a biotechnology/pharmaceutical company could use videos for, I think of patient advocates. I think a great way for companies to utilize their advocates is through videos. In a blog post by Ben Yoskovitz titled Telling Compelling Stories with Video he states, “…visuals are almost always more compelling and interesting than text. I can read points that speak to your value proposition, or you can just show me”.  I believe that if more companies used videos to let patients share their stories, or share their testimonial for a treatment that worked, etc., it would influence people in a deeper more connecting way. A great example of an effective video is one published July 11, 2012 by Joanne Wurm, a young woman diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. The purpose of the video is to raise awareness of the disease and share the hope to find a cure. I will share the video in another blog post. Even though she does not speak throughout the video, and shares her story via a flip-book, it is still able to touch the viewer is a way unreachable by words alone. I can only imagine what creative videos more RA advocates could create to raise awareness. Joanne could have possibly even started a trend of people sharing their stories via flip-books.

Marketers should not be afraid of the video trend. They should embrace it, make their own spin off of it, and start their own trend…it could possibly go viral. 

[monicamarchak]

Here are screen shots from my experience with everydayvictories.com that I mentioned in my last blog post (The "Holy Grail"). You can see my "victory" on the home page in the picture! 

[monicamarchak]

The "Holy Grail"

In the article 3 Easy Ways to Grow Earned Media by Victoria Ransom, the media type referred to as “the holy grail” is earned media. The following are the three ways that Ransom shares can enhance and optimize earned media: Play up personality, make sharing worth the while, and mix it up. When you allow people to express themselves using your channels and let them share their passions, stories, etc. it will add uniqueness and “personality” to your owned media. People are more likely to share when they feel like they are receiving benefit or value in return. Also, you must keep in mind what your goal is for your owned and earned media. Are you trying to increase awareness? Are you trying to learn something, conduct some sort of research? Are you trying to increase engagement? I believe the global biopharma company UBC provides the perfect example on how to utilize owned media to enhance earned media and find the “holy grail”.

While browsing on Twitter the other day under #rheum, I came across an inspiring tweet from the Arthritis Foundation. They were asking people who suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis to share their “Everyday Victory” to help inspire others. After clicking on the link I was directed to everydayvictories.com, a site hosted by UCB with support from the Arthritis Foundation. The purpose of the site is for people with RA to submit their “victory”, and with every victory submitted one dollar is donated from UCB to the Arthritis Foundation. The goal is to reach $30,000, also seen as 30,000 victories shared. As someone who sufferers from RA, I was intrigued and excited to share a little about my personal story in a way that donated money to the Arthritis Foundation. In order to share my “victory” I had to fill out required information like my name, address, and email address. I also noticed at the bottom of the screen there was an opt-out box checked by UCB asking permission to send emails with information about the disease and information about treatments and products offered by UCB. The next stage was extremely interesting to me. Not only was UCB able to find out which RA medicine I was currently using or used in my past, but they asked how long I have been using the medicine and how satisfied I was with my current treatment. They even asked how likely I am in the next three months to ask my physician about a new RA treatment. The questions took less than two minutes to answer and gave them golden information. The next step was sharing my personal victory, which was “putting on my heels for a special occasion”. After I submitted my victory I was able to see a dollar donated to the Arthritis Foundation and could browse through other victories submitted from around the nation. This website is the “holy grail” for UCB for the following reasons:

 If people do not un-click the box at the bottom of the sign up page, UCB receives an email address from their target market, someone who suffers from RA. With a goal to raise $30,000, that could easily turn into 30,000 amazingly useful email addresses.

UCB is able to see on a scale of “Not at all” to “Extremely” about how satisfied people are with their current RA medicine and how likely they are to switch within the next three months (I wonder how many email addresses they have  accumulated thus far of people unsatisfied with their current treatment and ready to switch).

People are excited to share their “victory”. This is a fun way to share accomplishments with family and friends in an interesting and meaningful way. 

Money is being raised for the Arthritis Foundation, an amazing cause that his highly recognized, highly credible and highly supported by the RA community.

Not only does this website help with awareness and interest, the information they gather can help them reach potential customers who are likely to take action.

A website/campaign like the one presented here by UCB is definitely something to learn from and be inspired by.

[monicamarchak]

Paid Media is a Catalyst

In the article Defining Earned, Owned, and Paid Media by Sean Corcoran published in 2009, it mentions the idea that paid media is not quite dead, but it is evolving into a catalyst. Paid media is becoming a way to reach earned media and spark engagement with consumers. I think the perfect example of paid media as a catalyst, and one of my personal favorite business ideas, is the company Klout. Klout is a tool that people can download to link their social media platforms together to see the influence they have on people.  An individual’s “Klout Score” is determined by the impact their posts, tweets, blogs, etc. have on their followers and the amount of activity shown on social media platforms. The reason why this is such a valuable resource for a company, is because Klout offers access to people who reach and inspire others. Companies can even reach influencers by specific topics. I had the pleasure of listening to a presentation done by Nat Duffy, a creative technologist at Copacino+Fujikado in Seattle, and was intrigued by his company’s use of Klout. In order to promote travel and tourism in Seattle during the fall and winter seasons, the company used Klout to stimulate their “Two Days in Seattle” campaign. Klout provided them with some top “influencers” to send on a free trip to Seattle and post, tweet, blog, etc. about their experiences. The influencers used the hash-tag #2daysinseattle and were able to create quite the buzz about their adventures exploring Seattle!

I think that any company in any industry could benefit from finding top influencers who can help spread awareness and favorability about their products and services. Think about if a pharmaceutical company was able to find influential people that suffer from asthma.  They could provide them with a new inhaler to use and share the experience about the improvement or influence it has on their lives or favorite activities. Those influencers would be a credible and personal source to anyone their posts, tweets, blogs, etc. encounter.  Paid media is not dead, but the type you choose to invest in could determine the amount of life you bring to your company. 

[monicamarchak]

I was asked to be the honoree for the 2013 Jingle Bell Run in Bellingham! I am so honored and so thrilled! Our goal this year will be to raise $185,000 towards the prevention, control and cure of arthritis and related diseases. Let's see how I can use digital marketing to help reach our goal and create awareness!

[monicamarchak]

Learning to Stand Out

Inbound marketing is an essential part to any company’s marketing mix. By using social media, SEO, blogging, etc. a company can influence people and build their brand awareness before consumers are even looking for a product or service. By creating a conversation and providing unique content to people, your company can stand out and impact consumers before their “anti-marketing” guard is up. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies fail to utilize the inbound marketing tactics in their marketing mix. With large budgets and strong “paid” marketing campaigns, the idea of creating conversations and creative content probably does not seem necessary. This could be an opportunity for a company to really stand out. Outbound marketing could be the way to focus on the company product and solution they provide, and inbound marketing could be the outlet to show their participation in the community, successful patient stories, news in the arthritis community, advances in R & D, etc. A lot of the creative content can come from crowdsourcing as well, using outside sources to help contribute content while also reaching new audiences. The following is great quote from a marketing automation software company Marketo related to inbound marketing: “By surrounding your own content with that from third parties, you’re seen as a trusted resource and your credibility rises”. So for the 2013 Arthritis Foundation Jingle Bell Run around the nation (a 5-k fundraising event), who will be the company to stand out and create a conversation by creating a team and track the progress of fundraising using social media and inviting people to attend the event patient or not? Who will be the company that blogs about Honoree’s around the nation and help spread their inspirational stories? Who will be the company to inspire people before they even are diagnosed with arthritis?

[monicamarchak]

Crowdsourcing, Collaborating, Innovating

Crowdsourcing is a truly amazing thing. The perfect definition is “The new pool of cheap labor: everyday people using their spare cycles to create content, solve problems, even do corporate R & D” (Howe, Jeff). Crowdsourcing can be taking someone’s home videos and making a hit television show, or giving a chemist the opportunity to help a toothpaste company find a way to inject fluoride powder into a toothpaste tube without it dispersing into the air.   It is giving people the opportunity to contribute to ideas, products, businesses, and research that they normally would not have the possibility to be a part of. The collaboration that is happening between businesses and shareholders online and through social media is leading innovation. Pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly funded InnoCentive’s launch in 2001 as a way to connect with brainpower outside his company- connecting with people who could help develop drugs and speed them to market (Howe, Jeff). Giving anyone the chance to attempt “challenges” has saved his company thousands in R & D money and has led to breakthroughs.  This kind of collaboration could be useful to any business, to any product. It is also helping people who have ideas and need an outlet to bring them to life. There are many online based companies now that act as dis-intermediaries for people to accomplish things never possible in the past. Quirky for example is an online based company where a person can submit their “million dollar idea” and have the chance to be selected by Quirky to have a prototype built and a team of people working to get their product to market.  

While looking at Quirky’s website, it made me think about innovation and how people are able to come up with such simple but amazing product ideas. It made me think of an ex NFL player I saw on the TV show Shark Tank who did not get an offer from any investor for his product idea for a easy to use laundry basket for people with back pain. As an ex NFL player, he had suffered intense back injuries from football and had come up with a laundry basket made from a special type of material that would keep clothes at a level where you would not have to bend your back to pick things up. With his intense back pain, he was able to relate to other people with back problems like pregnant women or the elderly. He was able to create an amazing product that could improve the lives of many people who suffer the same pain as he does. And even though he could not get billionaires to invest in his idea, he has the internet, social media, and companies like Quirky that are a reason not to quit. He could collaborate with more people online to improve his prototype laundry basket, and possibly improve his product even more. The possibilities for crowdsourcing, co-creating, collaborating, and innovating online are endless. 

[monicamarchak]

Thank you Chris Chapman! This was my favorite slide of the day!

[monicamarchak]

Learning from Google

Today there were two guest speakers from Google in my marketing classes, Chris Chapman and Katie Tzanidou. Chris Chapman is a senior quantitative experience researcher for advertising and spoke about the culture of Google. One thing that really stood out to me in his presentation was the focus that Google has on making a user’s search experience as quick, easy and useful as possible. They are always looking to improve the way they serve their users. Whether that is quickly helping people find relevant information they search for by providing them the best sites, or providing an amazing way for advertisers to reach their target markets.  An example of a great way that Google helps advertisers reach their target market is AdSense. AdSense is an ad serving application run by Google that gives website owners the ability to run Google-branded ads. In the article How Does Google Make It’s Money by Greg McFarlane, the example used for AdSense was a website devoted to yoga that might run ads for mats, props, water-bottles, etc.  

Although biotech/pharmaceutical companies are probably not worried about gaining revenue from hosting advertisements on their websites or their medicine’s websites, I think the concept of an application like AdSense might be beneficial to their patients. When a person is diagnosed with a disease like rheumatoid arthritis, their life drastically changes. Purchasing habits and daily routines are likely to change when diagnosed and prescribed certain medicines. For example, when diagnosed with RA I researched the right diet to help with joint pain. I learned that refined sugar and grain products are terrible for inflammation. So, when someone is visiting Actemra’s website and is on the page titled “Taking Actemra”, it might be a helpful for the user to see an advertisement for Joshua Goldenberger’s cookbook Rheumatoid Arthritis Diet and Cookbook or the newest shoe collection from “Orthaheel”. When someone is researching a new medicine, it is a great time to introduce them to products/brands that they can use throughout their journey with their condition.  A biotech/pharmaceutical company may not care if their patients are buying the newest hottest cookbook, but they might care about how their patients are treating their bodies and how a healthy diet could help a patient’s medication be more effective and impactful. 

[hurtblogger]

I can’t sleep tonight because I’m just too d***** excited about starting my new Actemra infusions tomorrow!! Most people wouldn’t be so thrilled to be checking into the hospital, knowing that what they’re about to have coursing through their veins could very well cause serious reactions. Nah,...

[monicamarchak]

Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have a unique marketing challenge. When someone is diagnosed with a disease or condition, they usually take advice from their doctor about which medicines to use and must receive the prescription from their doctor in order to start using the medicine. In the last 14 years or so biotech/pharmaceutical companies have started a marketing push to put more information and decision power into the hands of the patient. A common term to hear in medical advertisements is, "Ask your doctor about _____" or "Find out if _____ is the right medicine for you". 

When starting this blog and looking more into the online presence of biotechnology companies, I noticed a lack of personalized patient content on company websites and in their social media. Looking specifically at Genentech and Amgen, their weaknesses are not search ranking, but whether or not patients can connect to or utilize the content on the company website or social media platforms. In the Beginners Guide to SEO by SEOmoz, a chapter is dedicated to the importance of improving search engine optimization through "growing popularity and building links". Biotechnology companies could better connect with their patients if they focused on improving link building strategies. If a company like Genentech or Amgen started a blog that linked to their website that shared information, news and "re-blogged" posts from their patients, it could give a large company a more personal and patient-focused feel. 

I wanted to re-blog this post from Hurt Blogger because not only does she share her journey with her condition, but she mentions the medicines she is taking and how they are changing and improving her life. She talks about the excitement she has for starting Actemra. Actemra is a treatment for severe Rheumatoid Arthritis produced by Genentech that gained FDA approval in October 2012. If Actemra works with her body and improves her symptoms, she could be an amazing advocate for Genetech and an inspiring example to newly diagnosed patients. Her blog posts could be featured on the company website, Facebook and Twitter. Personalized content could lead to increased viral sharing and natural linking. It could build stronger relationships with current patients and lead to drawing in new ones.

[monicamarchak]

2012 Jingle Bell Run in Bellingham!  The Jingle Bell run is an annual nation wide fundraiser to help with the fight against arthritis. The goal was to raise $165,000 and Bellingham raised $179,030! 

[monicamarchak]

Introduction

This quarter at Western Washington University I am taking a digital marketing course with the objective of understanding the digital tools and techniques available to enhance the way marketers are able to reach and satisfy consumers. On the first day of class my professor quoted a digital marketing professional and stated, "In 2013 to be hirable, you must be searchable". To help the class strengthen our online presence, we were required to build and update our own blogs, thus was born "R.A. My Way".   

My reasoning for naming my blog "R.A. My Way" is because I'd like to tailor what I am learning now in the classroom to the career I would like to pursue when I graduate in the spring. After being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis as a sophomore in college, I developed a passion for understanding the disease. After graduation I would like to work in sales or marketing for a biotechnology or pharmaceutical company. The companies I am currently interested in are Amgen and Genentech. 

I am going to take my rheumatoid arthritis and use it to my advantage- use it my way. 

My blog posts will be about the involvement and presence of digital marketing in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. I will do this by researching different companies, comparing their marketing techniques and utilizing valuable tools learned from class readings, discussions and guest speakers.