Epic Systems CEO Judy Faulkner grew her company without a large marketing department or advertising strategy. But in a recent EpicShare post, she outlined the marketing advice from a standup comedian that made her eat her own words.
Back in 1998, Ms. Faulkner worked with an improv comedian she referred to as "Barry" to develop the company's marketing strategy for the HIMSS conference. When Barry suggested purchasing the "belly band" wrapper around giveaway papers and announcements that would appear outside each attendee's hotel room door, Ms. Faulkner said, "Junk mail around junk mail?"
Barry persisted, and she said if the strategy worked, "I'll eat my own words."
The "belly band" touted Epic's recent No. 1 rating from KLAS. Ms. Faulkner wrote seeing the packets each listing Epic as No. 1 on the first day of the event "made an impact."
When leaders arrived at Epic's booth, they mentioned the "belly band" message, knowing Epic was No. 1.
"After we returned to Madison, I joined folks in a conference room, cut the words in the belly band into tiny little pieces, and soaked them in hot soup. Then I ate the soup. I really couldn’t taste the belly band since it had so thoroughly dissolved. But I ate the words and kept my commitment," she wrote in the blog.
Epic maintains its No. 1 ranking with KLAS, having added 153 hospitals and 28,788 beds in the last year. The company now holds 39.1% of the hospital market share and 51.5% of the bed share, according to KLAS. Epic's revenue has also grown 53% over the last five years.