Health IT Marketing Minutes

What makes marketing in the health IT space unique? Who are the movers and shakers? What’s working, what’s trending? Where can you learn more? This monthly roundup post will focus in on all things health IT when it comes to marketing.

To Listen

Overrated & Underused
Tune in to one of our latest shows, Overrated & Underused. Killer public relations, marketing and social media in healthcare requires making the right moves at the right time. Hosts, experienced marketers Jen Jennings (@Jen_Jennings) and Tom Testa (@Tom_Testa) have emerged from the trenches to provide the answers. In each episode, they will debate the most OVERRATED and UNDERUSED promotional tactics – evaluating each not only for their effectiveness, but their cost-effectiveness, while sharing best practice examples and challenging the status quo. Take a listen.

To Read

KNB Communications
Top 4 Healthcare Marketing Tips in 2021 – Nina Khademi at KNB Communications (@KNBComm) writes, Like most industries, the healthcare sector is competitive. Amidst traditional advertising and newer online marketing methods, it can be tricky to find the most effective method to reach your health tech clients. With this in mind, here are some tips to help you successfully market in 2021!

ClarityQuest
Is SEO worth it? See how organic traffic is contributing to your bottom line with our ROI calculator. – Brian Shilling, Branding & Digital Marketing Director at ClarityQuest (@CQmarketing) says, SEO is a term that gets a lot of attention. But take a minute to think: do you know how well your SEO strategy is performing right now? As one of the most effective ways to build credibility and generate leads from customers, don’t let SEO’s potential go to waste. If you’re cringing at the thought of your current metrics, don’t panic…SEO is a marathon, not a sprint and just like marathon training, you can succeed with consistency and patience.

HITMC
Unprecedented Opportunity to Gauge True Value of Conferences – By Colin Hung (@Colin_Hung) – Healthcare marketers have a unique opportunity to look back at the past 12 months and use the disruption caused by COVID-19 to determine the true value of their conference-related programs and strategies. Before the pandemic, exhibiting at in-person healthcare conferences represented a key part of most marketing plans. In fact, at most of the companies I have worked at, conferences were the largest line item on the marketing budget – ranging between 30-60% of the total spend.

Aria Marketing
The Bright Side: 5 Positive Changes Fueled by the Pandemic – Jessica Cohen, Executive Vice President at Aria Marketing (@AriaMarketing) writes, As the world begins to “return to normal,” there are some innovations, processes and habits we picked up during the COVID-19 lockdown that actually weren’t so bad – in fact, there are a few COVID adaptations I think we should keep.

Brafton
Content Marketing Metrics That Matter (And Those That Don’t) – Michael O’Neill, Writer, Editor & Content Manager at Brafton (@Brafton) says, Content marketing is awash in data, yet most companies don’t have the proper processes in place to compile, analyze and report this data in a meaningful way that supports business objectives. Even worse, some firms misreport metrics or have only a surface-level understanding of their marketing KPIs. Needless to say, how do you prove the value of your actions if there’s no internal definition of “value” at your company?

Matter Communications
Understanding The Role of Video in 2021 – Tim Bradley, Executive Producer & Vice President at Matter Communications (@MatterComm) writes, There’s an old saying that goes, “Hindsight is 2020.” You’ve probably heard it – who hasn’t? But, as we push into the second half of 2021, we might adjust it to reflect how the challenges of this past year sit comfortably in our rear view. 2020 is now officially hindsight, and thanks to webinars like Wistia’s “2021 State of Video Report” we can tease meaning out of the strange version of reality we all just experienced.

Amendola Communications
Are Humans Destined To Be The New Horses? Thoughts On AI In PR – Brandon Glenn, Content & Account Director at Amendola Communications (@AmendolaComm) says, As artificial intelligence (AI) continues its inexorable march towards consuming more and more jobs previously done by humans, it may be a question of when, rather than if, humans become the new horses. Think, for a minute, about how absolutely essential horses were to the economy 200 years ago. With much of the economy still industrializing and dependent on agriculture, horses were vital to the farm work that produced the world’s food. With no automobiles, horses also played a critical role in transportation, delivering goods to market and enabling humans to travel in coaches or by horseback.

Agency News

Matter Health All Smiles, Wins AOR For Sage Dental Management
Matter Communications (@MatterComm) has been named the agency of record for Sage Dental Management, LLC, a leading dental service organization providing comprehensive business and administrative support services to over 65 affiliated Sage Dental practices in Florida and Georgia.

MERGE Ranked Among Ad Age’s Top 100 U.S. Agencies for Second Consecutive Year
MERGE (@weareMERGE) announced it has been named one of the Top U.S. Agencies in Ad Age’s Agency Report 2021. The company placed No. 18 among the top 25 Largest U.S. Health Care Agency Networks and No. 98 on the Largest U.S. Agencies from All Disciplines list, which ranks the top 250 advertising, marketing, and communications agencies nationwide. This year’s performance also places MERGE among the nation’s 10 largest independent agencies.

Bulldog Awards Honors Amendola Communications for Appriss Health OpenBeds Media Campaign
Amendola Communications (@AmendolaComm) announced it has won a Bulldog PR Award in the Best Healthcare Campaign category, further enhancing the company’s reputation as a top, innovative public relations (PR) and marketing communications agency for healthcare and health IT.

Hermes Creative Awards Top Honors to Amendola Communications for Kaufman Hall Media Response Campaign During Pandemic
Amendola Communications (@AmendolaComm) announced it has won a Hermes Creative Award, further enhancing the company’s reputation as a leading innovative public relations (PR) and marketing communications agency for healthcare and health IT.

Marketing Hires & Now Hiring

Finn Partners

Congrats Brian! 

The Bloc Hires Stuart Goldstein as COO
Stuart Goldstein has been hired as Chief Operating Officer at The Bloc. In the newly-created role of COO, Stuart will be responsible for the execution of over 4,500 projects per year across The Bloc’s US client business. He’ll work to optimize project management and identify metrics to increase efficiency and profitability.

StudioNorth

MERGE

Amendola Communications

Aria Marketing

Events

HITMC

Resources

Urgent Care Marketing 101 – free, online marketing eBook from Experity (@ExperityHealth)
An urgent care clinic, like any business, is only profitable if patients continue to use its services over time. Unfortunately, many urgent care facilities have a restricted marketing budget, which can severely limit new business volume and community engagement. According to Andrew Ibbotson, Vice President of the National Research Corp. in Nebraska, “Urgent care traffic is driven more by online search results, geography, wait times, and availability than traditional healthcare delivery.” These added complications make identifying the most effective marketing strategies for your walk-in clinic even more essential to success.

ICYMI

Thought Leadership in Healthcare: 2021 Landscape for Audio Content
In today’s digital and social media driven world, thought leadership as part of a content and branding strategy has never been more critical. The COVID-19 pandemic brings additional challenges as health IT companies and organizations pivot messaging and approach, some struggling to find a foothold, and a voice, in these incredibly challenging times.

On this webinar, Carol Flagg of Answers Media Network/HealthcareNOW Radio discussed: Overview of Voice Marketing; Latest research on audio content; The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; Differences in streaming audio content and what that means for Alexa and Siri; How audio content provides an opportunity to create multiple content usages; The elephant in the room – Listener Analytics; ROI. Watch the recording.