by Ken Terry | Oct 24, 2018 | Blog
One of the trickiest jobs of a PR professional consists of guiding corporate executives to the proper mix of marketing and thought leadership in various types of writing.
The easy part, relatively speaking, is persuading them that if they insist on promoting their product directly in a bylined article, it won’t be published. In case they have any doubts, you can just suggest that they take a look at the publication online and see if any of its articles are marketing-oriented.
On the other hand, by its nature a case study or a press release is strictly promotional. Readers expect that the story will focus on a product or a business deal and that it will be structured to make the company and the product look as good as possible.
But the boundaries are much more porous when it comes to white papers, sometimes known as position papers. Over the years, I’ve worked for clients who have had many different ideas about what such papers should be.
Ultimately, of course, they all wanted to sell their products. But only some executives grasp the concept of a truly effective white paper: It should draw in readers with a point of view about an industry trend and promote the company’s product indirectly by showing the need for it.
The rest want me to blatantly list the advantages of their product somewhere in the paper. To them, it’s just another form of advertising.
I don’t know whether a rigorous study has ever been done to measure the readership of these two kinds of papers, controlling for length and the demand for information on the topic. But I’d venture to guess that industry stakeholders would be more interested in a paper that gave them information they could use than in another piece of marketing collateral.
Interestingly, big companies are no more likely than small ones to embrace the concept of true thought leadership pieces. Because they’re big, they may commission longer papers that have space to discuss industry trends or government regulations at greater length. But in the end, they still usually want their product promoted, with hardly a fig leaf to cover it.
It was actually a small, rapidly growing firm that gave me the widest rein to show its thought leadership and vision. Over a period of several years, I wrote a dozen or more white papers that helped build the company’s reputation for expertise in population health management.
I always mentioned the need for health IT solutions that could help healthcare organizations manage population health. But for the most part, the papers focused on topics that people needed to know about, ranging from accountable care organizations (ACOs) and patient-centered medical homes to care coordination, patient engagement and post-discharge care. Eventually, the company pulled together my essays into a book that it used effectively as a sales tool.
White papers and byliners are not the only vehicles for thought leadership. Occasionally, if a company CEO is a recognized expert in a particular area, you might be able to get a major publication such as the Wall Street Journal or the Washington Post to publish a thought leadership piece by that person.
The easiest way to do this, by the way, is to pitch a letter to the editor. But it has to be on a hot topic, and you have to get it in very quickly.
One way to show a company executive the difference between marketing and thought leadership is to ask him or her where they see a bylined article or position paper being published. If they say they’d like to reach a broad universe, you advise them to think about thought leadership. If they insist on a marketing message, you tell them that it’s probably only going to be posted on their website or printed up for use by their salespeople.
A sophisticated PR professional or marketer knows that organizations need the right mix of these two kinds of communications to be successful. But thought leadership should be part of the package so that companies can impress potential clients with their deep knowledge and brilliant insights.
After reading a white paper or a bylined piece of this type, the potential buyer will probably not go running to your client. But when the organization’s salesperson comes calling, they’re likely to remember something about the company that caught their attention.
Like medicine and angling, PR is as much an art as a science. What it takes to help organizations succeed depends on how many tools you have in your toolkit, and how many different approaches you try. Eventually, if your executives trust you, they will land a fish or two.
by admin | Sep 25, 2018 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 25, 2018 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and health IT public relations and marketing agency, is pleased to announce that PatientPing has selected Amendola as its agency of record to lead its PR and marketing strategy. PatientPing is a Boston-based care coordination platform that reduces the cost of healthcare by seamlessly connecting providers with crucial information about shared patients.
Amendola will leverage a broad range of public relations, marketing and content services to help drive PatientPing’s expansion of a nationwide community of providers coordinating care through real-time notifications, or “Pings,” that keep providers informed when patients receive care anywhere across the continuum. Amendola will craft engaging content to showcase the thought leadership and expertise of PatientPing’s corporate leadership and the success stories of its end users.
“Amendola came highly recommended to us by a leading healthcare data analytics company whose amazing success with the agency speaks volumes,” said Jay Desai, PatientPing co-founder and CEO. “Amendola hit the ground running and we’re excited about working together to spread the word about how the PatientPing platform enables providers, payers and other healthcare organizations to leverage real-time data to achieve the shared goal of improving the efficiency of the healthcare system and ultimately, achieving better patient satisfaction and outcomes.”
Amendola will work with PatientPing to increase brand awareness and engagement by crystallizing its core value proposition to target audiences and drawing on Amendola’s deep industry knowledge and top-tier media relationships in health IT.
“Safe and effective care coordination and transitions continue to challenge healthcare organizations,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “This partnership is rewarding for the Amendola team because our strategy and tactics will increase awareness among key stakeholders that they can effectively address this challenge with PatientPing’s proven solutions that share real-time patient information across care teams in any location.”
About PatientPing
PatientPing is a Boston-based care coordination platform that reduces the cost of healthcare by seamlessly connecting providers to coordinate patient care. The platform allows providers to collaborate on shared patients through Pings real-time notifications when patients receive care and Stories important patient context at the point of care and allows provider organizations, payers, governments, individuals and the organizations supporting them to leverage this real-time data to reach their shared goals of improving the efficiency of our healthcare system. For more information, please visit www.patientping.com.
Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes
Amendola Communications
mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
by admin | Aug 28, 2018 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., August 28, 2018 Although they say you can’t go home again, don’t tell that to CTG, a provider of reliable information technology (IT) solutions and services to organizations in North America and Western Europe. Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning public relations and marketing agency, announced today that it has been selected as CTG’s public relations agency of record in North America across all of its lines of business. This marks the second PR engagement between Amendola and CTG, in addition to a number of individual projects that the two firms have worked on together.
CTG’s PR program will focus on promoting the company’s solutions in various industries, including healthcare and life sciences, tech, oil and gas, manufacturing, and a strong strategic staffing offering across all lines of business. The Amendola team will apply its industry expertise, longstanding relationships with editors and writers, and content development capabilities to help CTG expand its business.
“We are very excited to be working with Amendola Communications again, especially with their extraordinary communication experience, media relationships and knowledge, and proven reputation for results,” said Amanda LeBlanc, Chief Marketing Officer and VP, Marketing of CTG. “CTG’s strategic plans for growth will require a strong PR partner that can help us rise above a crowded field. Our clients have told us that our reliability, in terms of doing what we say we’ll do, on time and on budget, is one of our greatest assets. We feel the same about Amendola Communications. We are looking forward to taking full advantage of the knowledge and expertise of their entire team.”
For more than 50 years, CTG has built a reputation as the most reliable IT services provider across multiple industries. The company delivers high-value, industry-specific strategies, solutions, services, and staffing. The company boasts a Fortune 1000 client list that spans 74 of the 83 major industries defined by the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, many of them with long-standing relationships.
Amendola will support CTG with a comprehensive media relations program, pitching the knowledge and experience of its numerous subject matter experts for interviews and contributed content as well as bringing its press releases to the attention of the media. The agency will also provide event-related media support, support for speaker opportunities and content development, webinar programming guidance, as well as collaborating with the CTG team on new ways to take advantage of social media.
“CTG is an incredible company with a long history of doing great work for its clients, so we are delighted to have them back on our client roster,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “They have a stellar reputation in healthcare, which is where Amendola began and where we first began our working relationship. Today, we’re looking forward to working with them to generate opportunities to increase visibility beyond just the healthcare space to all the industries that CTG serves. It says a lot about us that they chose to return, and in an expanded capacity.”
About CTG:
Over the last three decades, CTG has provided reliable IT solutions and services to more than 145 enterprise information management clients. Our more than 500 Information Management professionals help clients recognize the true business value of their data by transforming, managing, and visualizing it through our solution suite. Our EIM services have helped meet the unique needs of companies in various industries, including manufacturing, energy, government, healthcare and life sciences, telecommunications, and financial services. CTG has operations in North America, Western Europe, and India. The company regularly posts news and other important information online at www.ctg.com.
Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes
Amendola Communications
mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
by admin | Aug 23, 2018 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., August 23, 2018 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and healthcare information technology public relations and marketing agency, announced today that Morgan Lewis Jr. has joined the agency as Senior Writer. An award-winning healthcare journalist and experienced public relations professional, Lewis will create a wide variety of PR content for the agency’s healthcare/healthcare IT clients.
Lewis brings 20 years of journalism and PR writing experience, focused almost exclusively on business and healthcare. He most recently served as Senior Copywriter at MERGE Atlanta, formerly Dodge Communications, an integrated healthcare PR and marketing communications agency. As Senior Copywriter, Lewis created ghostwritten bylined thought leadership articles, white papers, case studies, blog posts, website copy and other pieces of strategic PR and marketing content for dozens of healthcare and healthcare IT clients over four years.
Before joining MERGE Atlanta, Lewis was an independent healthcare and healthcare IT writer creating content for several PR agency clients, as well as crafting his own bylined articles that appeared in publications such as Medscape, Physicians Practice, Managed Healthcare Executive, Medical Economics and Chiropractic Economics. Lewis previously served as Senior Editor at Medical Economics, where he focused on healthcare IT, and won three writing awards from the American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors (ASHPE), including two Gold Awards.
Agency CEO Jodi Amendola said: “Morgan’s knowledge and experience as a healthcare journalist and PR copywriter will be tremendous assets to our growing team and expanding list of diverse clients. Morgan is not only an exceptional writer, but he is also a strategic collaborator who understands how to engagingly share clients messages amidst a rapidly changing industry.”
Lewis holds a bachelor’s degree in English-Journalism from Miami University of Ohio.
Media Contact: Marcia Rhodes | mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
by admin | Jun 5, 2018 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., June 5, 2018 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and health IT public relations and marketing agency, is pleased to announce that it has been selected as the PR agency of record for VisitPay.
Amendola will utilize a broad range of public relations and content services to promote VisitPay’s market-leading platform for fully automated patient financial engagement.
Founded in 2010, VisitPay is the developer of a cloud-based platform used by major providers to deliver transparency, choice and control to patients managing healthcare financial transactions and outstanding balances. Through VisitPay, patients can access a complete and comprehensive accounting of their financial obligations, as well as critical health plan and healthcare information, through health system-branded portals.
For health systems, VisitPay’s proprietary analytics tailors consistent and fully compliant financing options to the unique needs of individual patients and their families, creating a simplified billing experience that drives both higher payment rates and improved patient satisfaction scores.
“VisitPay counts some of the largest and most innovative health systems as clients. We wanted a public relations agency that could capitalize on that momentum,” said Will Reilly, Vice President of Marketing at VisitPay. “Amendola’s deep experience in health IT will help us shape and lead the conversation on patient financial experience.”
Amendola will promote VisitPay through a number of public relations and content marketing programs, supported by Amendola’s top-tier media research and relations. The agency will work with VisitPay to increase brand awareness and thought leadership by delivering its core value proposition to target audiences, drawing on its deep industry knowledge and significant media relationships in health IT. Amendola will also be responsible for delivering a range of content demonstrating the thought leadership and expertise of VisitPay’s corporate and client-based leadership.
“Hospitals and health systems are challenged with uncovering the tools and strategies for bringing transparency, choice and control to the patient financial experience,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “Our collective experience in the patient-as-payer space will be instrumental in helping
About VisitPay
VisitPay is the first and only platform for Patient Financial Health. The culmination of seven years learning and development, this proprietary cloud-based platform enables health systems to dramatically increase the amount paid on patient balances because patients can finally exercise control over their financial health. VisitPay is proudly headquartered in Boise, Idaho, one of the most livable cities in the country, where it has assembled a powerful team focused on predictive analytics, user-driven software design and consumer finance. More information about the company and its solutions can be found at www.visitpay.com.
Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes
Amendola Communications
mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
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