There it is, right there to my left. The first editorial cartoon I produced for our client, Healthcare IT Transition Group, a healthcare information technology (HIT) consulting company. It's become legendary, at least in our own minds.
I was developing custom content for their email newsletter at the time. The Chief Operating Officer's father—a retired advertising exec—was on the distribution list. "Great," he emailed back, "but how about a cartoon?"
Brilliant. That little cartoon and the ones that followed it sprung our email marketing program right off the chain. Soon it was the core channel for about a third of our client's total revenues.
Nice.
And who was looking at our cartoons? Not just the client's customers, but influential people throughout the rather large and lucrative healthcare technology sector. They were asking permission to reprint our cartoons in their own newsletters. CEOs, CFOs and CIOs were including them in Powerpoint presentations at conferences.
Nothing screams "VIRAL!" like well-targeted humor on the internet. Embrace it: There's something funny about your business, too.
~ Michael Christopher, writer/illustrator