Hazelden

"Lisa is focused, creative, innovative and a driver. She has excellent written communication skills. She developed a consistent messaging platform that elevated the Hazelden brand." — Susan Jepson, Fmr Chief Marketing Officer at Hazelden

This nationally recognized non-profit organization is known as being a leader in drug and alcohol addiction treatment, education, publishing and advocacy. I served as VP of Marketing and Communications in 2008 and 2009, and was very hands-on in developing branding strategy, communications, and copywriting for key marketing pieces including brochures, online marketing and the annual report.

Go to www.hazelden.org to learn more.

The Challenge

Over the years, Hazelden's marketing efforts had become fragmented in an effort to support their large number of programs and activities around the country. The result was often competing and inconsistent messages, and a splintered marketing budget that didn't effectively tell the whole Hazleden story to their many target audiences. In addition, a large portion of the their limited marketing spend was being allocated to traditional media (i.e. Yellow Pages) while their web presence lagged behind.

My Approach

Created a single, powerful voice for Hazelden's brand. Developing a short list of key messages such as "We believe lifelong recovery is possible" served as a powerful platform from which to launch various advertising initiatives in both traditional and digital media.
Promoted Hazelden as a whole, while providing supplemental program-specific support regionally as appropriate. Adhering to the principle that "a rising tide raises all boats," dollars were focused on raising the awareness and perception of Hazelden as a whole.
Rationalized the ad spending to focus (limited) dollars where they could have the most impact, rather than spreading them across many media to little effect.
Created better alignment between marketing and sales (outreach). I organized and ran quarterly "Marketing Summits" to pull together sales and marketing for more coordinated strategic thinking and execution.
Dramatically improved the consumer online (web) experience with new educational content to serve the increasing number of people searching for healthcare solutions online.