(Eagan, Minn.) July 13, 2016 - The Content Marketing Institute announced Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) and Nina Hale, Inc. (NHI) as the 2016 Content Marketing Award category winner for Best Content Strategy. The Content Marketing Awards, produced by the Content Marketing Institute, is the largest content marketing awards program in the world.
Through a strong, continually growing business relationship over the past five years, Blue Cross has worked closely with NHI to revamp the company’s digital strategy. As health care has become more directly focused on the consumer, Blue Cross, with the counsel and support of NHI, proactively shifted its digital strategy in order to provide health care consumers an easy and relevant experience with their health plan.
In order to accomplish this, the Blue Cross and NHI teams worked closely together throughout 2015 to completely revamp Blue Cross’ previous digital approach. This included the development and implementation of new strategies for paid media, search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, digital analytics, social media and conversion rate optimization.
Both teams credit the success of the new content strategy to a shared vision and end goal, as well as a mutual commitment to and understanding of the constant evolution and innovation of digital marketing.
“The unprecedented changes in health care allow us to connect with consumers in new ways,” said Wendy Wiesman, senior director of marketing and advertising for Blue Cross. “Responding quickly with a relevant digital content strategy is essential. We are proud to have worked closely with the NHI team to redevelop our content in such a highly successful way.”
“To say we are honored to share this distinction with Blue Cross is an understatement,” stated NHI CEO Donna Robinson, “It would not have been possible without our teams’ collaboration, and innovative and creative thinking.”
"Each year I am impressed with the caliber of work that is submitted, and this year is no exception," says Joe Pulizzi founder, Content Marketing Institute, and author of four content marketing books including Content Inc. "One of the things that really stood out this year was that marketers are truly starting to understand the approach of content marketing, and seeing real return on investment that is driving future marketing decisions. It’s easy to say that this was our best class ever.”
This year’s Content Marketing Awards include several categories recognizing all aspects of content marketing, from strategy to distribution, from design to editorial. A panel of all-star judges chose the “best of the best” in content marketing excellence from more than 1,300 entries.
You can see a full list of the 2016 winners and finalists in all 76 categories on the Content Marketing Awards website.
About Nina Hale, Inc.
Nina Hale, Inc. is a performance-based digital marketing agency with an analytical, measured process for growing brand awareness, digital performance, and revenue through digital channels. The agency specializes in strategically planning and executing paid media, social media, search engine optimization (SEO), content strategy, conversion rate optimization and analytics, and is the largest Google AdWords certified partner in Minnesota. Founded by Nina Hale in 2005, the agency is 100% employee-owned and a nationally certified woman-owned business (WBENC). Nina Hale, Inc. is a ten-time Best Places to Work award recipient, and has been named to Inc. 5000’s Fastest Growing Companies for four consecutive years.
About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (bluecrossmn.com), with headquarters in the St Paul suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota’s first health plan and continues to carry out its charter mission today as a health company: to promote a wider, more economical and timely availability of health services for the people of Minnesota. Blue Cross is a not-for-profit, taxable organization. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago.
About Content Marketing Institute
Content Marketing Institute is the leading global content marketing education and training organization, teaching enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers through compelling, multichannel storytelling. CMI’s Content Marketing World event, the largest content marketing-focused event, is held every September in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, and the Intelligent Content Conference event is held every spring. CMI publishes the bi-monthly magazine Chief Content Officer, and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research for some of the best-known brands in the world. CMI, a UBM company, has made the Inc. 500/5000 list from 2012-2015. Watch this video to learn more about CMI.