by Chris Currington | Sep 25, 2019 | Blog
You have a piece of fantastic news. Congratulations! But what are you going to do with it now so you can get maximum exposure of it?
We hear many times, “I have a great story, let’s write a press release!” Could be a new solution offering, the latest customer success story, or perhaps even a new hire who has a lot of experience and is of high caliber. This always leads to bigger questions, such as: “How does it fit into your broader marketing efforts?” or “What does publicizing this do for you?”
Anything that is truly newsworthy isn’t a one-off “mention.” It’s what you do with it afterward that creates the bigger buzz and gets the most attraction for your company or organization.
Use it to create broader campaigns
This is especially important for a new solution or product launch. You’ve taken the time to go through the tedious development and testing phases, which is great for the worth of the product. But, do you really just want to issue a press release, or do you want to use the news as a springboard for broader exposure? Consider what you’re going to do after the press release has been issued.
Today, social media and advertising can be excellent ways to capture leads and generate sales. Tie whatever news you’re creating to the appropriate social channels and use them to keep promoting the product offering. And consider how the news translates to the customer journey. If you want to attract customers to your website, ask yourself how you will use the news you create to drive traffic there.
Remember where it falls into integrated marketing efforts
Just because you have a new piece of news doesn’t mean it shouldn’t tie into your broader marketing efforts. Many industry publications provide their annual editorial calendars. These can be incredibly important as you develop your news cycle and combine it with your paid media efforts.
For example, let’s say a trade publication has dedicated its March issue to a topic that matches perfectly with the research being performed by one of your thought leaders. You may want to consider skipping the news you’d planned for him or her in January and wait until the publication’s March issue. This way, not only are you releasing the news publicly, you’re more likely to get an interview by the publication at the same time, increasing the exposure for your thought leader even more.
Keep the next campaign in mind
If you want to use your news as a way to reach your target audiences, consider having a cadence of news releases, and have them coincide with various campaigns. This is a great way to promote your products and/or solutions throughout the year. For example, you can look at your integrated calendar, and have press releases occurring every month. But don’t let the releases stop without further promotions. Have an entire calendar of items happening – and remember that it doesn’t matter if they’re overlapping at various times.
This is also where your automated marketing efforts can produce excellent results. Have a press release prepared, plan to issue it, then follow it up with an infographic that brings people to some form of gated content. Keep doing this throughout the year, and you could possibly have a never-ending list of leads constantly coming to you.
Remember what’s newsworthy and what’s noteworthy
Just because someone comes to you with something they feel is newsworthy doesn’t necessarily mean it is. What’s harder is trying to convince him or her that what they have in mind may not capture their audience as compellingly as they intend. Finding the right outlet may be the best way to convince them that there could be a better – and less time consuming – way.
For example, a company could spend thousands of dollars recruiting a new senior vice president. They find the ideal candidate, with the right education and background, and they want to point that out to their competitors. So they propose a news release. However, industry publications and business journals throughout the country have new-hire and people-on-the-move sections. Perhaps it would be a lot easier writing up something simple, having it placed in one of these outlets, and then promoting on the company’s website and through social media. You may find that you get the same, if not better, results with a lot less effort and expense.
When planning your overall news cycle, keep these things in mind: newsworthiness, breadth, integration and the big-picture campaigns. Don’t let your stories fall flat when there are so many ways to promote them and easily available to you and your organization.
by admin | Sep 11, 2019 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., September 11, 2019 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and health IT public relations and marketing agency, has promoted Marcia Rhodes to the position of Vice President, the agency announced today. The promotion is the latest in a steady progression of responsibility for Rhodes, who originally joined the agency in 2013 as Regional Managing Director before being promoted to National Managing Director. In each position, Rhodes held many integral roles in client relations, operations and human resources.
As one of only two Vice Presidents in an agency that leans toward a flat hierarchy, Rhodes will continue to lead many of the agency’s client accounts, conduct media training and continue to build out the operational and human resources infrastructure that has made the agency a textbook example of the 21st century workplace flexible, nimble and tech-enabled, with strongly collaborative teams located throughout the country. Rhodes will also spearhead new recruitment programs to support the agency’s rapid expansion into digital marketing, analytics and event management.
“Marcia leads by example in everything she does, whether it’s working tirelessly to amplify our clients’ national and trade media coverage; onboarding new Amendola hires with her typical warmth and thoroughness; or making sure that our remote teams have the most up-to-date tools and processes they need for client success. Additionally, she is a highly respected mentor to numerous Amendola employees,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola.
She added, “Marcia has taken on the well-deserved role of Vice President with her usual commitment to excellence. I can’t overstate how much she has helped to shape Amendola’s ideal culture to become the agency it is today; one that is known for high-performance, harmony and intellectual curiosity.”
Rhodes is a recognized public relations and marketing communications leader who has honed her skills over more than two decades. She has served in PR executive leadership roles in companies that, in addition to six years at Amendola, include WorldatWork, Six Sigma Academy, and Accenture, where she worked for 11 years.
Not only is Rhodes skilled in securing broad media coverage and coveted awards and speaking slots for Amendola clients, her own insights have been featured in publications that include the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Sun-Times, San Jose Mercury News, Columbus Dispatch, The Houston Chronicle, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix Business Journal and several trade publications.
“This is such an exciting time for Amendola; our agency is growing as we continue to add the most innovative companies in healthcare to our client portfolio. It is a joy to recruit the best PR and marketing talent and set them up for success with what I believe is the most flexible, supportive and dynamic agency in the industry,” said Rhodes.
Amendola has a policy of promoting from within whenever possible. To nurture future leaders in the agency, employees are encouraged to regularly learn new skills and take on new responsibilities. Amendola also has a strong culture of mentoring and teamwork that further contributes to professional development. Each employee is assigned a “champion” or mentor, and teamwide collaboration is a feature of every client account.
Rhodes earned a M.A. in International Communications from the University of Washington and a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of the Philippines. She has been honored by the League of American Communications Professionals (for web site development and a client testimonial video) and by the International Association of Business Communicators (for newsletter writing).
by Jodi Amendola | Aug 9, 2019 | News
POST WRITTEN BY
Jodi Amendola
Jodi Amendola is CEO of Amendola, an award-winning healthcare and technology public relations and marketing agency based in Scottsdale, AZ.
Ah, social media. Has any invention ever been simultaneously so loved and so hated?
The dream, of course, is that social media connects us all in a community of understanding and shared experiences. We hope that others will share their experiences and connection to our brand and that their followers will do the same. It does happen sometimes. But there’s also a darker side to all that sharing — one that businesses must be aware of.
We’ve all heard stories about how viral videos (think: United Airlines) or other posts on major social platforms can damage an organization’s reputation. What starts out small can quickly gain momentum, and all of a sudden, you have a very visible PR crisis on your hands. …
by admin | Jul 30, 2019 | News
Healthcare and Health IT full service agency Amendola Communications shares insights on preventing and mitigating a crisis, ending a publicity dry spell and proving that PR and marketing work
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., July 30, 2019 PR and marketing aren’t for the faint of heart. If we’re not trying to talk a reporter into writing about our company, we’re pleading with them not to write something that was spilled in an interview. One minute we’re confidently explaining how marketing will enable sales, only to find ourselves tongue-tied when asked exactly how to measure those efforts.
Fear not, PR and marketing pros: you can do this! Amendola, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and health IT public relations and marketing agency, offers one of the most informative blogs available for taking on our profession’s most persistent problems. Check out some of our top posts this summer that give insight on crisis management, getting more pitches accepted, and yes measuring all of our stellar results.
How to break a pitching losing streak
You don’t have to be a crack marketer to get that a product based on a market want is more likely to succeed than one that isn’t. On the public relations side, however, there’s a tendency to pitch stories we want a journalist to cover instead of the other way around. No wonder then our pitches go unanswered or directed to e-Siberia: the reporter’s junk inbox. So how do we devise pitches that uncannily match a journalist’s interests and beat? In this informative post, Amendola’s managing director shares his tips for pitches that do exactly that. Read the full post here.
Nix media interview nervousness
We’ve seen it happen time and again. Someone who seems perfectly at ease whenever we encounter them becomes a different person altogether in a media interview. Suddenly, their confidence is replaced with an uncontrollable urge to ramble on and on in a fruitless search of a point any point. Unfortunately, that’s one of your few spokespeople. What to do? Start by watching this very short video from one of Amendola’s media training gurus. Even applying just a few of her tips can make a quick difference. Check out the video post here.
Create a better crisis response plan
You’ve spent considerable time putting together a crisis management plan that, hopefully, covers all the bases. But something important feels like it’s missing something that could derail even the best laid plan if you can’t remember it. Here’s what it is: more of a focus on what to do before and after the crisis. One of the most important prior to a crisis having enough goodwill on hand to survive it. Read all of the essential components here.
Make sure your marketing and PR measures up
If you can’t measure it, it didn’t happen, according to a frequently repeated maxim in our profession. Trouble is, when you try to figure out how to measure your own campaigns, you often wonder if you’re doing it right. There seem to be so many different opinions out there on the topic, and so much confusing lexicon. Until this blog post from an Amendola expert on PR and marketing metrics. We should all keep this terrific list on hand that details the top metrics that prove the impact of marketing and PR. Access the full list here.
What’s in a blog? In the Amendola blog, quite a bit! We cover all aspects of public relations and marketing, tackling difficult subjects with tried and tested strategies. A go-to source for communications professionals, the blog publishes on a weekly basis and features subject matter experts in every aspect of publicizing and marketing healthcare and health IT companies.
Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes, Amendola Communications / mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
by admin | Jul 23, 2019 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., July 23, 2019 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and health IT public relations and marketing agency, has announced it has been selected as the public relations and media relations partner for HMS, a leading healthcare technology company that helps healthcare organizations reduce costs and improve health outcomes.
Amendola will utilize a broad range of integrated PR, media relations and content development services to drive greater industry awareness of HMS’ innovative technology, analytics and engagement solutions that save public and commercial payers, as well as employers and at-risk healthcare providers, billions of dollars annually while helping consumers lead healthier lives. Chiefly, Amendola will be driving brand awareness of the HMS’ population health management solutions through earned thought leadership content, media outreach campaigns, conference speaking opportunities, as well as strategic PR counsel and planning.
“We need a savvy and skilled partner to hit the ground running as we expand our fast-growing population health management suite as well as our industry leading coordination of benefits and payment integrity solutions,” said HMS Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Maria Perrin. “Amendola’s decades-long healthcare and health technology expertise and experience is impressive, but what excites us the most is the proven results they’ve delivered for clients across a wide range of trade, national and local media, as well as through social platforms. Amendola is a perfect partner to help us generate the type of awareness and growth we’re pursuing in the highly competitive healthcare market.”
“HMS is an established health tech leader with an impressive track record of saving billions of dollars for their customers, while helping to improve health outcomes for consumers,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “That’s why we are excited to partner with them as they expand their footprint in the growing population health management market segment with solutions that are both unique and drive real results.”
Founded in 1974, HMS is based in Irving, Texas, with more than 2,500 employees in 25-plus offices across the country. HMS’ customer base includes more than 40 state Medicaid programs and more than 325 health plans, including 23 of the top 25 health plans nationally based on membership. Customers also include more than 150 private employers, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Veterans Affairs, pharmacy benefit managers and risk-bearing provider organizations, including independent practice associations, hospital systems, ACOs and specialty care organizations. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of HMS Holdings Corp., traded on NASDAQ (ticker: HMSY), and certified by HITRUST.
Amendola will promote HMS through numerous PR and content development programs, supported by Amendola’s top-tier industry and media relations. The agency will work with HMS to deliver to federal, state and commercial payers and risk-bearing provider organizations a broad range of targeted content, drawing on Amendola’s deep industry knowledge and diverse media relationships in healthcare, business and consumer media. Amendola also will be responsible for driving coverage of HMS’ leaders and highlighting how analytics can identify, stratify and guide members and patients toward healthier and adherent behaviors and away from adverse events, emergency department utilization and hospitalizations.
About HMS
HMS advances the healthcare system by helping healthcare organizations reduce costs and improve health outcomes. Through our industry-leading technology, analytics and engagement solutions, we save billions of dollars annually while helping consumers lead healthier lives. HMS provides a broad range of coordination of benefits, payment integrity, care management and consumer engagement solutions that help move the healthcare system forward.
Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes
Amendola Communications
mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
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