An Interview with Lauren Boyer, Underscore Marketing LLC CEO: ‘We Apply Sound Strategic Thinking to Every Aspect of Our Planning and Buying Process’

“We specialize in media strategy, planning and execution for health and wellness brands.”

Regardless of your views on healthcare reform, there’s one thing that everyone can agree on: In 2019, health care is a business. For years, the majority of physicians relied on insurance companies and personal referrals to drive their businesses. Marketing wasn’t considered necessary to grow their practices and, in fact, could be perceived as unprofessional.

Times have changed, and while most medical professionals understand the importance of marketing to drive their business growth, they’re only just scratching the surface on digital marketing. In today’s competitive landscape, where everyone is competing for the same patients, doctors need to be where patients are – and that’s online.

In light of the above-mentioned scenario, we’re thrilled to present Underscore Marketing, LLC– an advertising company.

Underscore Marketing specializes in media strategy, planning, and management solutions for health and wellness brands. Its services include focused media planning, multi-channel negotiation/buying and auditing, analytics and optimization, program measurement, custom research/consultation and solutions, search engine optimization and marketing, social media content review and recommendation, and print and digital broadcasting.

The company was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in New York. It has additional supporting offices in FL, CA and EU.

Lauren Boyer, Underscore Marketing LLC CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Q. Why was the company set up?

In 2002 there weren’t as many savvy digital experts with the ability to bridge the role of digital with traditional media and marketing efforts. Underscore was formed to address this need and to service people who wanted to leverage the power of technology-driven media and marketing but lacked the depth of expertise since it was relatively new.

Q. What challenges did you face in your initial years?

Underscore was bootstrapped from its inception. We built it from the ground up and according to the needs and demands of our clients and prospects. This presented challenges before us – always wanting to build things faster and better than our slim margins enabled. This kept us focused and we patiently prioritized delivering the best quality work and being the most effective partner for our clients. Doing this led to the referrals and repeat business we needed to get to scale. We’d do it the same way if we had to do it again!

Q. What were the grounds on which you have expanded your company and its offerings over the years?

In 2007, we realized that we weren’t large enough to service every industry to the level of depth we felt we should. Although we have deep experience in publishing, technology, finance, travel, and retail. We too have more breadth and depth in health and wellness medications, products, and services. To be the best partner to current and future clients, we focused on the health and wellness vertical from 2009 to 2017. Since then, we have expanded to where we can effectively deliver the level of expertise needed for any vertical.

Moreover, we focus on steady innovation, positivity and confident leadership. As we grow and evolve, we scale with the enrollment and support of our employees and partners. Our pace hasn’t changed since day one and we embrace the startup mentality and encourage entrepreneurialism.

Q. If you have to list five factors that have been/are the biggest asset to your organization, what would they be and why?

• Transparency with our clients about how we operate and why it matters.
• Commitment that what we do results in positive ROI for our clients and enrolling our team at every level in this focus.
• Innovation in the industry with the know-how to lead our clients to the best solutions as they evolve.
• Expertise in our subject matter and confidence in ourselves to share it with our clients and train our team.
• Respect for all contributors and collaborators on the client’s team and outside companies that our clients have contracted with.

Q. Tell us about the products Underscore offers.

Underscore offers five core products:

• Category Analysis & Benchmark, or CAB, is dedicated to optimizing your search campaigns. Conducting a CAB is the quickest way for our team to understand your Search campaign challenges and allow us to create the best recommendations for success.
• Site Analytics Management, or SAM, is built to make sure that the KPIs you’re measuring are accurate, and that audience you’re reaching is exactly who you want to be reaching. Using SAM, it is possible to not only understand what target demographics you’re reaching, but you’re also able to confirm that the people coming to your website are that same demographic that received your message, as well as making sure all data gathered is being done so correctly and accurately.
• Drive To Site, or DTS, is to be implemented when you need qualified visitors, fast. Drive To Site should be deployed at the beginning of a new website when new visitors are imperative. Drive To Site uses a combination of mixed media tactics to help find and direct the qualified audiences you’re looking for to your doorstep.
• MediaVision is the culmination of a strategic approach; it makes media planning for any campaign an inclusive, thorough, and efficient use of time. MediaVision guarantees that every influential and important member integral to the media planning process is in the room from day one, ensuring cohesion and agreement throughout the process. It is a fully informed campaign plan, backed up by extensive research and data, and prepped to deploy at just the right time.
• Strategic Competitive Analysis gives you a glimpse into your competitor’s backyard, offering a sneak peek at competitor tactics, victories, and areas where they’re lacking, giving you all the information you need and more to gain awareness, make incremental shifts, and help you respond to your competition.

Q. How do you bring the best out of an employee, do you give them enough autonomy in work-related decisions?

We provide guidelines for how we work together and what other people and departments do. Our culture is about innovation and positivity and we foster strong collaboration and communication. We look to inspire our employees to innovate new and better ways of doing things. Each person has clear goals and KPIs and receives coaching from leadership and constructive feedback to help them achieve their goals. Employees consistently report back via survey and through our comment box that they do feel empowered to make the right decisions and they know who to engage with when they need support. They also tell us where they need more guidance so we can work on continuous improvements.

Q. How does your company contribute to global media space?

Introducing Underscore Webinar Seminars: join digital media experts Oliver Nelson and Dave Ruppel to learn more about the digital marketing industry as they discuss the issues facing our industry today; our unique solutions to these difficult challenges, and even answer real-time audience questions.

Q. Where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

Underscore will continue to innovate and grow. We are expecting more tech-driven solutions that can be licensed by companies complimenting what we do. We are looking to bring new solutions in media and marketing that change the way people can leverage it.

“We focus on steady innovation, positivity and confident leadership. As we grow and evolve, we scale with the enrollment and support of our employees and partners. Our pace hasn’t changed since day one and we embrace the startup mentality and encourage entrepreneurialism.”