One of the most important contributors to productivity is outstanding collaboration between business partners. In this brief (3:24) video, Amendola Communications Senior Account Director Philip Anast shares some tips he learned from the book Smarter, Faster, Better that explain how PR agencies and the client teams they work with can create a more collaborative relationship.
Here’s a valuable lesson for anyone involved in content marketing.Recently, I was chatting with a small group of guests at a party. Then, the other partygoers gracefully exited the conversation and suddenly, I was trapped. I looked right. I looked left. But my efforts were futile. I was officially stuck in a never-ending conversation. Yes, I had entered the dreaded Party Vortex, which is similar to the Polar Vortex but much less cold and much more dangerous.
But the real problem, and what made the circumstances so precarious, is that the never-ending conversation wasn’t a conversation at all. It was a monologue without audience participation. It was a soliloquy but far less articulate. It was all about my new acquaintance, who would most certainly not make the cut to be called a friend. As he continued to talk at me for 20 minutes, which felt like 20 hours, I smiled and nodded but secretly plotted my escape. Yet, despite my best Party Ninja skills, there was no way.
Spoiler alert: I survived this party trauma and lived to tell the tale. But sadly, this blog is not about party etiquette. It’s about content marketing because my Party Vortex nightmare is undeniably similar to the experience that potential customers might be having with your content right now.
While content marketing missteps are many and frequent, the biggest, most overarching mistake is that your content is all about you. It’s all about your company and your solutions. It’s all about your technology saving the world. This is the sort of content that not so subtly shouts “buy this.” After all, isn’t that your end goal?
However, touting the features and functionality of your newest product under the guise of a white paper often fails to make an impact especially as healthcare professionals becomes savvier to the idea that they’re being sold to everyday. It falls short because it doesn’t take readers, your potential customers, into account. It doesn’t address what readers really want to know and what will compel them to take action. It leaves readers hanging, and then what happens?
Rather than completing a “contact us form” on your website to learn more, they’re lost to you. They may have simply decided that it’s not the right time to buy or that your company isn’t the right partner. They may have even gasp moved on to one of your competitors.
From company-focused to customer-focused
When developing a content marketing strategy and crafting each piece of content to support that plan, it’s critical to keep your future customers top-of-mind. Remember that every decision-maker or influencer that engages with your content could be your newest client, smartest super user, or most reliable reference.
How can you better connect with your audience? It’s simple but shockingly hard to do. Write what they want to hear about, rather than writing what you want to say. Write what they are hungry to learn about, rather than what you’re desperate to teach them. It’s a small change in perspective that makes a big difference. And while that may seem obvious, it’s not abundantly clear to many marketing and PR professionals unless they’re just doing it wrong.
Effective, customer-focused content prompts an “aha moment,” by sharing new ideas or even the same old ideas in a new way. This matters because encouraging readers to think differently is the first step to being seen as a thought leader in their minds and then as the ideal strategic partner.
These new perspectives aren’t necessarily earth-shattering but they draw readers in. Customer-focused content addresses the problem you’re solving, not just the solution.
It also doesn’t oversimplify the solution by presenting painless and perfect success stories of IT solutions that were seamlessly implemented and quickly gained adoption by all end users. Further, it provides insights on process improvements, change management, and other tactics that readers can put into action, aside from just buying your technology.
Real-world tips and lessons learned are valuable takeaways that readers appreciate much more than a bulleted list of your product’s bells and whistles.
Your new customer-focused content will not only satisfy readers but also help turn more potential customers into actual ones. Even more importantly, we know that your new, improved content will ensure that you’re invited back to the party. And isn’t being invited back to the party the ultimate goal of any marketing?
It happens to healthcare vendors all the time…
It’s a great day at the office. Your sales team inks a deal with a major client. Your development team tells you that a recent implementation has been an earth-shattering success. An industry-renowned customer casually mentions to your CEO that your company’s platform should be an industry standard.
You fire off an email to your PR agency and the machine is set in motion. Press releases are drafted. Media alerts are sent. A steady cadence of pitches for bylines, case studies, and interviews land in the inboxes of scores of reporters and editors. Momentum begins to build.
You turn to your marketing team to begin coordinating strategy with your PR team, when suddenly a single e-mail or phone call brings the entire endeavor to a screeching halt.
Your customer the shining example of your company’s efficacy in a fiercely competitive marketplace can’t or won’t do a press release. Previously unknown policies against speaking to the media begin to pop up. Oh, and about that opportunity to co-present at a major healthcare conference yeah, turns out they will have to pass on that, too. So sorry, but perhaps they can do something as long as it is stripped of any quotes, endorsements, or mentions of the client.
A healthcare vendor’s clients are a critical and bountiful resource for your PR and marketing program. They offer third-party validation for the efficacy of your solution within the industry. They act as vendor-neutral sources for editors and reporters in the trade and business press. They provide real-world solidity to the larger trends and narratives impacting healthcare in the United States.
Though your clients may understand the value they could bring to your PR strategy, that doesn’t mean they will go along with it. Communication with a healthcare vendor’s clients about PR initiatives not only clears up misunderstandings, but also helps establish with your client boundaries and a level of comfort about deliverables being created with their name and reputation affixed to it.
Here are some tips to consider:
Reach out to their PR department. A big part of PR is relationship building. A quick huddle with your client’s PR or corporate communications department and agency is great for setting boundaries about what they will or won’t participate in.
Consider contractual language. Speak with your sales and legal teams. Do you contracts include any language about PR participation? Most client would understandably balk at being required to participate in a full-fledged PR campaign, but many contracts have a line or two mandating that a press release be distributed within 60 to 90 days of signing the contract.
Introduce your agency. You know and trust your PR agency but that doesn’t mean your client does. A quick meeting between your agency and your client clears the air and ensures that everyone is on the same page.
Share your plan. Any client who is participating in your PR efforts should have a voice in the actual strategy and tactics. This thinking goes beyond press release approval. It includes how and when they will be positioned and prepared for media interviews, speaking engagements, or other opportunities.
Establishing a regular cadence and open line of communication with a healthcare vendor’s client’s marketing and PR team ensures that you both make the most of your public relations efforts.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 13, 2016 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and healthcare IT public relations and marketing agency, announced today that it has been selected as the agency of record for Connecture (Nasdaq: CNXR), a provider of web-based information systems used to create health insurance marketplaces. Amendola will effectively serve as the company’s public relations arm, leveraging its many relationships with industry media and analysts to broadly publicize Connecture’s brand, solutions and thought leaders, and aggressively pursue top-tier speaking and award opportunities.
“Amendola comes highly recommended to Connecture as the health IT industry’s premier public relations agency,” said Stephanie Meyer, Connecture’s Chief Marketing Officer. “We’re looking forward to putting those assets to work for us.” The agency will provide full account management, media relations, content for earned media placements and other PR and marketing resources to establish the Connecture brand at the forefront of the healthcare insurance marketplace.
Publicizing an emerging trend in the payer market
The influx of millions more insured consumers has arrived in tandem with what is shaping up to be a permanent, but still evolving trend in the healthcare payer market more tailored health and financial coverage. Connecture offers carriers, brokers and employers an intuitive platform they can use to create a personalized benefits shopping experience for their own targeted audiences.
“Connecture develops technology that helps consumers achieve health and financial security and make informed, intelligent choices about their healthcare and ancillary coverage,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “Offering tools that enroll millions of consumers in such plans helps healthcare achieve its holy grail of better outcomes at a lower cost an exciting message that Amendola can’t wait to publicize.”
About Connecture
Connecture (NASDAQ: CNXR) is a leading web-based consumer shopping, enrollment and retention platform for health insurance distribution. Connecture offers a personalized health insurance shopping experience that recommends the best fit insurance plan based on an individual’s preferences, health status, preferred providers, medications and expected out-of-pocket costs. Connecture’s customers are health insurance marketplace operators such as health plans, brokers and exchange operators, who must distribute health insurance in a cost-effective manner to a growing number of insured consumers. Connecture’s solutions automate key functions in the health insurance distribution process, allowing its customers to price and present plan options accurately to consumers and efficiently enroll, renew and manage plan members. www.connecture.com
About Amendola Communications
Amendola Communications is an award-winning national public relations, marketing communications, social media and content marketing firm. Named one of the best information technology (IT) PR firms in the nation four times by PRSourceCode, Amendola represents some of the best-known brands and groundbreaking startups in the healthcare and HIT industries. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros delivers strategic guidance and effective solutions to help organizations boost their reputation and drive market share. For more information about the PR industry’s “A Team,” visit www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow Amendola on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Media Contact: Marcia Rhodes | mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized and award-winning public relations, content creation and marketing firm specializing in healthcare and health information technology, announced that HGS Colibrium Inc. has expanded its content and social media programs. The Atlanta-based company is a subsidiary of Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), which is also an Amendola client public relations client.
Colibrium’s expanded partnership with Amendola was based in part by the creation of a significant internal feedback report. Amendola interviewed more than a dozen of the company’s employees and payer clients. The interviews covered the lifecycle of the Colibrium experience, including identifying health plans” pain points and business needs; the RFP process, demos, and tipping points; marketing and sales efforts; implementation, including transition from sales staff to stand-up; and, when available, metrics and return on investment. The information gleaned from the interviews informed the design of the company’s website and critical components of its marketing, branding, and communications strategy.
Amendola will continue to support that strategy with the ongoing development of case studies, infographics, white papers, press releases, eBlasts, social media as well as bylined articles and media interviews.
“We knew it was essential to retain a health IT-focused public relations firm to help us gain a share of voice in a very noisy marketplace,” said Mark Poling, CEO of Colibrium. “I know that Colibrium, our clients, and our thought leaders are well-represented in the marketplace with Amendola as an extension of our team. They will expertly showcase the tremendous value we bring to the health plan community.”
Colibrium’s Tuo platform solutions are designed to provide health plans with both turn-key and modular solutions, as well as market segmentation and comprehensive functionality across the entire health insurance enterprise.
HGS has also experienced tremendous success with Amendola, enjoying an aggressive earned media program that includes interviews with key thought leadership and bylines in critical healthcare payer publications. Amendola works closely with HGS social media and blogging team to coordinate publishing efforts, ensuring maximum exposure of HGS payer and provider services in the U.S healthcare market.
For example, Amendola authored a blog based on a byline the PR firm earned for the company, and it ranked among the most popular in blog’s history with nearly 1,000 views.
The AC team provides ongoing strategic counsel on market developments and messaging to support media relations, speaker and award initiatives, and support for HGS social media team.
“We value our partnership with Amendola,” said Andrew Kokes, Chief Marketing Officer for HGS. “Brands are built on what people are saying about you, not what you’re saying about yourself. The Amendola team has already elevated many of our key thought leaders through earned media placements, and have helped us foster critical relationships within the healthcare industry.”
Based in Lisle, IL, HGS is a global leader in business process management and provides end-to-end innovations for all facets of provider and payer lifecycle management. As a client partner of five of the top 10 U.S. healthcare payers, multi-state health systems, and large provider groups, HGS brings transformational care management to revenue cycle management, lifecycle management, claims benefits management, and medical cost management.
“Amendola Communications is a natural fit for innovative companies like HGS and Colibrium, and we are excited to tell their stories,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “Health insurance reform has been a game-changer in our industry, and our in-depth knowledge of the highly competitive payer marketplace will help position both companies for success now and in the future.”
View a video testimonial from HGS here: https://youtu.be/9zqs_kKIMVg.
About HGS
HGS is a leader in optimizing the customer experience and helping our clients to become more competitive. HGS provides a full suite of business process management services from marketing and digital enablement services, consumer interaction services to platform enabling back office business services. By applying analytics and interaction transformation design to deliver innovation and thought leadership, HGS increases revenue, improves operating efficiency and helps to retain valuable customers. HGS expertise spans the telecommunications and media, healthcare, insurance, banking, consumer electronics and technology, retail, consumer packaged goods industries, as well as the public sector. HGS operates on a global landscape with 29,000+ employees in 60 worldwide locations delivering localized solutions. HGS, part of the multi-billion dollar Hinduja Group, has over four decades of experience working with some of the world’s most recognized brands. For more information, please visit www.hgshealthcare.com.
About HGS Colibrium, Inc.
Founded in 2005, Colibrium, an HGS Company, delivers integrated software solutions designed specifically for the health insurance industry. Colibrium’s award-winning Tuo software empowers health plans with a best-in-class private exchange solution to enroll, engage, and retain members in individual, group and Medicare markets. Colibrium’s pre-configured Tuo 360, their CRM overlay built specifically for Salesforce and Dynamics platforms, enables health plans to gain a 360 degree view of their members to improve marketing effectiveness, customer service and member engagement. For the past two years, Colibrium has earned industry recognition including Microsoft Dynamics Partner of the Year for Health Plans and a recent listing in Hype Cycle for Healthcare Payers report from industry analyst Gartner. For more information about Colibrium or view recent case studies and client results visit www.colibrium.com.
About Amendola Communications
Amendola Communications is an award-winning national public relations, marketing communications, social media and content marketing firm. Named one of the best information technology (IT) PR firms in the nation by PRSourceCode for four years running, Amendola represents some of the best-known brands and groundbreaking startups in the healthcare and healthcare IT industries. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros delivers strategic guidance and effective solutions to help organizations boost their reputation and drive market share. For more information about the PR industry’s “A Team,” visit www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow Amendola on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Media Contact: Â Matt Schlossberg | 630-935-9136 |mschlossberg@ACmarketingPR.com