by Administrator | Dec 2, 2024 | News
Check out these recent interviews with Amendola’s founder Jodi Amendola that delve into what’s trending in healthcare, health tech and life sciences PR and marketing, including hot tips on what it will take to succeed in today’s challenging market.
➡ HISTalk interview with Mr. HISTalk
➡ Behind the Mask podcast with Ed Marx
➡ What’s My Tagline podcast with Carol Flagg
➡ Digital Health Insights podcast with Frank Cutitta
➡ Perspectives: Working with a PR Agency–How to Make the Most of the Partnership
by Jim Sweeney | Jul 10, 2024 | Blog
Hey, want to hear an announcement from my company?
Or,
Hey, want to hear a story?
Which got your attention?
If you’re human, it was probably the latter.
We are hardwired to listen to and learn from stories. From the earliest days of painting on cave walls through Aesop’s Fables and TEDx Talks, stories have proven themselves to be the best way to convey information to an audience. Even business information. Write a memo reminding people to always file their TPS reports with a cover sheet and they’ll ignore it. Tell them a story about the coworker who got fired for forgetting the cover sheet and they’ll remember.
But we largely abandon the power of narrative when it comes to press releases, which tend to be dry recitations of facts fleshed out with manufactured quotes and a corporate boilerplate.
For years the standard thinking on press releases has been to cram as much of the important information as possible up top on the theory that journalists won’t read past the headline and opening paragraph. There is merit to this approach if you’re announcing something truly significant or newsworthy, like a corporate merger or a new iPhone.
But, if we’re being honest, that’s the minority of releases. In most cases, the news isn’t a big enough deal to sell itself. So we, as PR practitioners, need to sell it. And stories are the best way to do it. A compelling story wrapped around a somewhat-less compelling piece of news can make an irresistible package.
Here’s an example: A chemical company wanted to announce a new polymer that would be used to line the surfaces of artificial joints. That could have been a straightforward product announcement, but I wanted to humanize the impact of the product, so I focused on the recipients of the artificial knees and hips, not the polymer itself.
I found Senior Olympics basketball players, each of whom had at least one artificial joint, and shot a video of them playing and talking about how grateful they were for the technology that let them hoop it up into their 80s. It was a step or two removed from the actual product, but it brought home the idea that this polymer had real benefits for people.
For the most part, Amendola clients are B2B and work in healthcare IT, which doesn’t easily lend itself to narrative. However, like with the above example, it’s often possible to bring it to the level of the patients and users of the technology. What does new perioperative scheduling software accomplish? Fewer delays and cancellations in scheduling surgeries, which is good for patients and clinicians. How about a new staffing platform for nurses? It gives them greater flexibility and allows them to earn more money.
Sometimes the narrative can be built around a single illuminating fact. I wrote a press release for a company whose seals were to be used on the Mars Rover. In and of itself, not that big a deal; scores of manufacturers had components on the Rover. What I learned from talking to company engineers is that it is impossible to build a seal that doesn’t leak, particularly in space; success is building a seal that leaks very, very slowly. How slowly? In this case, so slowly that it would take 1,000 years to empty a Coke can.
In the release, I told the story of these engineers working toward this ridiculously exacting specification. And it got picked up more than the dozens of cookie-cutter announcements that went out from other parts suppliers.
Of course, the stories must be interesting and short. They can’t meander and they can’t obscure the news. And they must be relevant. Don’t announce a brand of hard seltzer by telling a story about how a surfer took on a 50-foot wave and then enjoyed a can of seltzer back on the beach. Save that for the commercial.
Most press releases vanish with little notice or impact, like gnats flying into a bug zapper. But tell a good story, and people will remember it.
by Jodi Amendola | Jun 26, 2024 | Blog
As I look back at two decades of running a successful PR and marketing agency, I can draw two conclusions: Predicting the future is impossible, but preparing for it is a necessity.
That’s not the contradiction it first appears to be. Twenty years ago, it was the dawn of the digital age for healthcare and I was certain there would be an opportunity for an agency devoted to healthcare, health tech and life sciences. I didn’t know with any degree of precision what was coming, but I knew I wanted to be a part of it.
So, I took the leap and founded Amendola. My crystal ball was clear enough to spot an emerging opportunity, but it could not have anticipated everything that would happen in healthcare and health tech over the next two decades: generative AI, machine learning, genetic and precision medicine, telehealth, the shift to value-based care, remote patient monitoring and more.
In all, it’s fair to say the last 20 years have been some of the most exciting and transformative in the history of healthcare. My agency has not only weathered these tumultuous times, but prospered in them.
Amendola is the recognized industry leader in promoting visionary organizations driving technological change across healthcare delivery and life sciences. We have earned billions of media impressions for clients and received numerous awards from industry organizations honoring the firm’s innovative content generation, media relations and marketing programs.
Our success is not due to anticipating every development, but to being prepared for them.
I built the agency around the principles that I value in PR and marketing: creativity, continuous learning, collaboration, and a deep commitment to customer service and delivering results. With those as our bedrock we have been able to meet each new challenge and help our clients find their footing in the new digital landscape.
From early-stage startups to publicly traded companies, Amendola has helped drive company recognition, revenue growth and wider implementation of cutting-edge IT solutions across healthcare delivery organizations, health insurers, pharmacies and numerous other entities. Amendola has also helped clients pivot their messaging and content during changes in healthcare, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic when care delivery began a greater shift from brick-and-mortar institutions to patients’ homes through telehealth and virtual care.
I want to thank the many clients who have hired Amendola multiple times, bringing us with them as they have moved from company to company. Many of them have become friends over the years, which has been an unexpected bonus.
Of course, most of the credit for our success goes to my team. I make a point of hiring only experienced professionals with deep backgrounds in healthcare, health tech and life sciences. They share my principles, are committed to evolving as healthcare does, and their fine work and dedication have allowed the agency to grow and prosper.
A 20th anniversary is a chance not only to reminisce, but to look ahead. And my crystal ball is no more finely tuned than it was when I founded the agency. I don’t know exactly what will happen over the next decade or two; no one does. I will stand by two predictions, however: The years ahead will be at least as exciting and unpredictable as the past 20.
by Administrator | Apr 4, 2024 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., April 4 2024 – Amendola, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare technology and life sciences public relations and marketing firm, announced that it has been selected by Lindus Health, an “anti-CRO” running radically faster, more reliable clinical trials for life science pioneers, to implement a national PR Program.
Lindus Heath chose Amendola to help the company drive awareness and interest in its unified technology, site services, and CRO services package that enables sponsors to run faster, higher-quality studies for regulatory approvals and payor access.
Amendola is implementing a comprehensive PR plan to demonstrate Lindus Health’s industry-leading technology and services, accomplishments, customer wins, and industry partnerships.
“New drugs and healthcare treatments must undergo clinical trials to show they are safe and effective, but it has gotten exponentially more time consuming and expensive for sponsors to run these clinical trials,” said Meri Beckwith, Co-Founder of Lindus Health. “We are thrilled to work with Amendola to demonstrate to the market how Lindus Health’s new model offers more rapid, high-quality clinical trials together with transparent pricing.”
Lindus Health has created a new “all-in-one” model for running end-to-end clinical trials, which includes everything that a traditional research organization does to operate a study – protocol writing, trial design, patient recruitment, and clinical operations delivery – but without the traditional headaches, delays, and extra costs. The company is passionate about using the highest-quality scientific methods available and homegrown cutting-edge technology, including AI, to conduct radically faster, more reliable clinical trials.
“Leaders from across the life sciences industry are tired of the status quo of CROs substantially overrunning on timelines, constantly issuing change orders based on hourly billing that cause budget overruns, and providing poor customer service,” said agency CEO, Jodi Amendola. “Lindus Health is poised to transform how clinical trials are executed and we look forward to raising awareness across the industry.”
About Lindus Health
Lindus Health is an anti-CRO running radically faster and more reliable trials for life science pioneers – bringing ground-breaking treatments to patients more quickly. Lindus Health does this thanks to a commercial model that aligns incentives (fixed-priced quotes per study, with milestone-based payments), marrying a world-class clinical operations team with its unique software platform, and access to 30 million Electronic Health Records. Clinical trials are the biggest bottleneck to advances in healthcare and by removing this constraint they aim to improve health for everyone. They handle the end-to-end execution of clinical studies, including design, patient recruitment, clinical data capture, monitoring and project management.
About Amendola
Amendola is an award-winning, insights-driven public relations and marketing firm that integrates media relations, social media, content and lead gen programs to move healthcare, life sciences/pharma and healthcare IT decision-makers to action. The agency represents some of the industry’s best-known brands as well as groundbreaking startups that are disrupting the status quo. Nearly 90% of its client base represents multi-year clients and/or repeat client executives. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros understand the ongoing complexities of the healthcare ecosystem and provide strategic guidance and creative direction to drive positive ROI, boost reputation and increase market share. Making an impact since 2003, Amendola combines traditional and digital media to fuel meaningful and measurable growth. For more information about the industry’s “A-Team,” visit www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Media Contact: Marcia G. Rhodes, mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
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by Administrator | Dec 12, 2023 | News
Award-winning, full-service health IT agency to help educate hospitals, physicians’ practices on using technology to deliver exceptional patient care
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 12, 2023 – With cybersecurity attacks keeping healthcare CIOs up at night, Amendola, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare technology and life sciences public relations and marketing firm, is pleased to announce that Anatomy IT has selected the firm for strategic PR services. Amendola will promote Anatomy IT’s important role guiding healthcare organizations in the use of technology and cybersecurity solutions.
Amendola is implementing a comprehensive PR plan to demonstrate Anatomy IT’s industry-leading technology and services, new offerings, accomplishments, customer wins, and industry partnerships.
“Amendola came highly recommended to us for its unrivaled healthcare and health IT PR knowledge, bench strength and media relationships,” Anatomy IT CEO Frank Forte said. “They hit the ground running and have already delivered amazing results. We look forward to a long and successful partnership.”
Agency CEO Jodi Amendola said: “Anatomy IT enables mid-size healthcare organizations to realize the same information technology efficiency and scalability benefits as large healthcare systems at a fraction of the cost. We are excited to promote its important initiatives and differentiators to the marketplace to showcase Anatomy IT’s unrivaled healthcare IT and cybersecurity expertise that enable healthcare providers of all sizes to deliver exceptional patient care.”
Anatomy IT has consistently demonstrated its ability to adapt and innovate with its comprehensive platform, including managed IT, cybersecurity, cloud, value-based care services, HIPAA compliance, and strategic IT planning. Recently, Anatomy IT was recognized on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America for 2023.
About Amendola
Amendola is an award-winning, insights-driven public relations and marketing firm that integrates media relations, social media, content, and lead gen programs to move healthcare, life sciences/pharma and healthcare IT decision-makers to action. The agency represents some of the industry’s best-known brands as well as groundbreaking startups that are disrupting the status quo. Nearly 90% of its client base represents multi-year clients and/or repeat client executives. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros understand the ongoing complexities of the healthcare ecosystem and provide strategic guidance and creative direction to drive positive ROI, boost reputation and increase market share. Making an impact since 2003, Amendola combines traditional and digital media to fuel meaningful and measurable growth. For more information about the industry’s “A-Team,” visit www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Anatomy IT
Anatomy IT helps healthcare providers deliver exceptional patient care through technology and cybersecurity solutions. With 30+ years of experience, we understand healthcare organizations’ unique risks, opportunities, and challenges. Anatomy IT is one of the largest and fastest-growing healthcare IT companies, partnering with over 1,750 clients serving 38,000 healthcare staff nationwide, including ASCs, physician groups, and hospitals.
Media Contact: Marcia G. Rhodes for Amendola, mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
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