by Lisa Chernikoff | Oct 4, 2017 | Blog
As you work on your content strategy, think about this: According to a recent study, the average person now loses concentration after only eight seconds. I would ask you to pause and think about that but then I’ll risk of losing the remaining seconds of your attention entirely if I haven’t already. As a “fun fact,” researchers noted that even goldfish which are “notoriously ill-focused” have an average attention span of nine seconds.
So, whether that fact is fun or concerning is still be determined, but it really isn’t that shocking. This study simply quantifies the impact of a highly digitized lifestyle on the human brain. After all, we live in a world where our phones are constantly buzzing with emails, texts, news alerts, and social media notifications. We live in a world where”
Sorry, I got distracted for a moment. Did you know that Kim and Kanye are expecting their third child via surrogate? My phone just vibrated with that “breaking” news, as well as four work emails, three personal emails, and two trivial text messages. And even if celebrity gossip isn’t your guilty pleasure, you’re likely experiencing a similar scenario every hour of every day.
But to be clear, the aha moment from this study is not that goldfish are smarter than us. It’s an aha moment for us as marketing and public relations professionals. The study has profound implications for those of us who communicate for a living. To be successful, we must adapt our strategies and tactics to the reality of eight second attention spans.
Why evolving content doesn’t mean dumbing it down
In today’s world of digital and information overload, crafting content that is relevant and meaningful for your target audience is mission-critical. Remember that having shorter attention spans doesn’t mean that your customers are not decision-makers. It doesn’t mean that they’re less intelligent. It doesn’t mean that they don’t have the same pain points. It just means that they need to absorb information differently. It just means that despite downloading your white paper, they’re probably not getting past page one. There’s no shame. It’s the new normal.
That’s why evolving your content marketing is not about dumbing down the information. It’s not about simplifying or going back to basics. It’s about making your content snackable. In fact, your new bite-sized content can still convey the same concepts and ideas as the longer pieces but that content must be more concise and free of fluff.
Even more importantly, it must provide just a taste to satisfy their brief hunger and keep their interest. It must leave the audience wanting more of your content snacks. That’s what marketing is all about.
How to create tasty content snacks a recipe for success
Snackable content for the eight second attention span is just a new way of creating, organizing, and promoting content. To create tasty content snacks, you don’t need to start from scratch. You don’t need all new ingredients. Your content kitchen is likely full of big, heavy content meals which can be remixed and reused to fit the new snackable content mold. The good news is that one content meal equals several content snacks.
Now, let’s enter the content kitchen and see how to turn those content meals into content snacks. Here are three examples:
- Transform your white paper into an infographic and a cheat sheet with must-do’s.
- Transform your case study into a checklist of best practices, or a series of checklists that span everything from implementation to training and optimization.
- Transform your 30-minute webinar into a sequence of 30 second videos that highlight that key learning objectives.
And rather than being sad about the lost of art of white paper reading, keep in mind that multiple content snacks derived from the same content meal not only convey the same messages but also can easily become a lead nurturing campaign or useful follow-up references for your sales team to share with prospects.
I think it’s time to stop mourning the white paper. Instead, it’s time to cook up some bite-sized content. After all, it’s just waiting to be eaten.
by admin | Oct 3, 2017 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., October 3, 2017 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and healthcare IT public relations and marketing agency, announced today its selection as the agency of record for Boston-based caresyntax, Inc., which helps hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers identify and manage risk, automate workflows, enhance knowledge sharing and reduce surgical variability. Amendola shares caresyntax’s passion for improving the healthcare ecosystem to deliver quality improvements and favorable patient outcomes.
Caresyntax targets the more than 80 percent of clinical and operational data in surgery that exists outside of EHRs, produced by medical devices, people, sensors and checklists. By combining these procedural workflow data with clinical outcomes, healthcare providers can unlock crucial insights toward improving performance.
“Caresyntax is serious about significantly moving the needle to improve outcomes in the operating room, while also eliminating wasted capacity,” said caresyntax CEO Dennis Kogan. “We needed an agency that understands clinician pain points during this era of transition to value-based care. Amendola showed its readiness on Day One to help us refine our core messages, and get them out to potential customers and the wider provider community.”
Amendola will work with caresyntax to increase brand awareness and thought leadership by driving excitement for the value of its platform among surgeons, nurses, quality managers, and health organization leaders. Amendola with draw on its deep network of industry leaders and significant media relationships in healthcare IT. Amendola also will be responsible for delivering a range of content, demonstrating the thought leadership and expertise of caresyntax’s subject matter experts.
“Downtime in the operating room and clinical variability are key cost drivers for surgery departments, and caresyntax is at the forefront of tackling these issues by improving efficiency and clinician workflows,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “We look forward to elevating the caresyntax brand across the hospital and health system ecosystem, using our deep expertise in the healthcare IT space. Our proven track record will help accelerate progress towards caresyntax’s PR goals.”
About caresyntax
Caresyntax, a surgical analytics and integration services company with North American headquarters in Boston, helps hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers identify and manage risk, automate workflows, enhance knowledge sharing, and reduce surgical variability.
Converging IoT technology and surgical analytics, the caresyntax platform is used in nearly 6,000 operating rooms worldwide, transforming unstructured clinical and operational data into actionable, real-time insights. Clinical teams, as a result, enhance performance, control surgical variation and improve patient outcomes.
Partnering with GE, Medtronic and Siemens in the U.S., caresyntax is a sister company of Berlin-based S-CAPE GmbH, a global operating room integration specialist with 25 years of successful installations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit www.caresyntax.com.
Media Contact: Jodi Amendola | jamendola@acmarketingpr.com | 602-614-3182
by Philip Anast | Sep 27, 2017 | Blog
As we strive to be better communicators and storytellers, it often helps to get out of our comfort zones and read inspirational literature that can teach us new things. We often find those types of books in classical literature, or from the latest fiction and non-fiction books. Sometimes, “How-to” guides also help.
That happened to me recently when I picked up the book, “A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even if You Flunked Algebra).” You may be asking yourself, “Why would a PR guy be reading a book about math and science?” Isn’t the reason you pursued journalism and then PR in the first place is that you stunk in those other areas?
Well, as it turns out, author Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., did, too. But through a gradual retraining of her brain, she earned a Ph.D. in systems engineering after completing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, respectively. She now teaches engineering at Oakland University in Detroit, and is a leading educator in the area of STEM education.
While her book is primarily geared toward helping high school and college students successfully navigate the aforementioned disciplines, it’s ultimately a guide to improving skills and techniques for learning how to learn. And that can be useful for people in any profession, including PR.
Two modes of thinking
For instance, Oakley describes the two modes of thinking: the focused and diffuse.
The focused mode is like the flashlight setting that casts a bright light in a narrow area. It’s a direct approach to solving problems that requires rational, analytic and sequential ways of thinking. When we’re working intently on a project, like writing a white paper or drafting a PR plan/strategy, we use the focused mode of thinking.
But the diffuse mode also plays an important role in those projects. It taps other parts of the brain and is akin to turning your flashlight setting to casting a wider yet less powerful light. As its name suggests, the diffuse mode is wider and big picture. It’s a resting state in our brains. It works quietly in the background and allows us to form new insights. It kicks in when our minds wander, or when we take a break from a focused task to walk, jog, listen to music, sleep or play video games.
Oakley’s point, backed by the hundreds of research studies that inform her book, is that we must maximize both types of thinking to learn and tackle problems.
If we’re working on a specific assignment, it’s important to step away from that work at intervals to allow the diffuse mode to enter the picture. By pursuing a leisure activity or working on some other job assignment, we allow our diffuse mode of thinking to continue working on the first task at hand and lend new insights. The diffuse mode opens up possibilities that we may not have considered in the focused mode and prevents us from believing that only one approach to a project is the single way of accomplishing it.
Taking a better approach
Here are some other practical tips that I gleaned from the book that we can translate to our own profession and help us do our jobs better:
- Avoid procrastination because it prevents the diffuse mode from helping a project or media campaign. While the luxury of time is not always possible in our profession, especially in crisis communication situations, building a timetable of assignments and deadlines, with thoughtful consideration, can help improve the overall response and results.
- Don’t cram to memorize a speech or the big PR plan presentation in one day. Rehearse and study over a series of days and/or weeks. Research shows that we retain the material better, avoid reading the screen verbatim, and make more genuine presentations.
- Avoid reading literature or meeting notes over and over again to learn the material. Instead, use a technique called “pause and recall,” i.e., turn away from the literature and notes after each page or several pages, and describe the concept in one’s own words; that’s the way we build chunks that form strong neural connections in long-term memory.
- Take a 21-minute nap to refresh the brain (but don’t tell the boss). The brain’s neural networks need to be reset from time-to-time, which freshens our outlooks toward problem-solving
- “Lady Luck favors those who try.” Sometimes, we feel downtrodden if a media pitch fails to elicit that desired interview, for example. Perhaps it’s time to let the diffuse mode help; alternatively, we could pick up the phone, be persistent (within reason), and converse with that target reporter directly. In my experience, with professionalism and respect for the journalist on the other end, the odds are good.
As in any learning endeavor, Dr. Oakley’s observation rings true: “The better I got (at math), the more I enjoyed what I was doing. And the more I enjoyed what I was doing, the more time I spent on it.”
by Brandon Glenn | Sep 13, 2017 | Blog
Admit it, reporters and editors: Many of you are a little curious to learn about tips for journalists considering a career in public relations, or at least you have been at some point.
That’s OK. No one could blame you and you’ve got plenty of reasons:
- Newspapers have hemorrhaged so many jobs over the last 10 years that a major industry trade group threw in the towel on tracking job losses.
- Before you say, “Everyone knows newspapers have been bleeding jobs, but that’s been offset by growth at digital publishers,” consider one factor: That statement isn’t true. Hiring at digital media outlets “pales in comparison to the number of journalists laid off in the newspaper industry,” according to Columbia Journalism Review.
- The occupation “desktop publisher” (sounds a lot like a journalist to me) appears on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics list of fastest-declining occupations between 2014 and 2024, along with telephone operators, mail carriers, sewing machine operators and a lot of other occupations that aren’t very appealing to young people.
- Most disturbing, perhaps, is the absolute dominance of Facebook and Google in the advertising market. Between 2012 and 2016, the two giants alone accounted for 70 percent of the growth of ALL advertising revenues, a figure which is inclusive of radio and TV ads. If we focus only on the U.S. digital advertising, the numbers are even more bleak: Last year, Google and Facebook accounted for an “astounding” 99 percent of the growth in that market last year.
- Further, with Facebook and Google controlling 65 percent of new digital ad revenues, don’t expect a big surge in hiring from other digital publishers any time soon.
No doubt, it’s hard out there for a journalist. So, naturally, you may be thinking about transitioning to a new career that builds on many of the skills you’ve developed as a reporter and editor writing, interviewing, editing, researching and the like. Lots of us have been there.
I spent nearly a decade in journalism, and worked in corporate communications and public relations for about the last four years. As someone who has seen how the sausage is made on both sides of the industry, I offer the following thoughts, observations and tips for journalists who are interested in a career in public relations.
Continue to think like a journalist: That’s not to say that after starting in PR you need to think exactly like you did as a journalist. Once you acquire more PR experience you’ll have an advantage over others in the field: You’ll have the ability to think both as a journalist and PR professional. Your guidance on what does or does not capture media interest will serve you very well with clients, who typically have a wealth of knowledge and experience in their own industry and are anxious to learn how journalists work.
Become more client-focused: Journalist are a bit like a lone wolf: Largely self-reliant and able to chart their own course to find the nourishment they need to survive. For journalists that nourishment comes in the form of stories that will attract readers and clicks (“publish or perish,” after all). Corporate culture is a bit of change from that, and in many cases, the change is positive. You’ll actually get to work as part of a team rather than primarily writing articles by yourself although that cooperation with and reliance on others may take some getting used to at first.
Another difference is the number of approvers. In journalism, it’s essentially you and your editor. In PR, there is your internal team, and there is the client team, which often includes members of the marketing department as well as individual subject matter experts. Everyone in the process brings their own perspective, which may not always align with what you may have been taught in journalism school. That’s ok, though. It helps you expand your universe and the ways you can communicate.
Stress out less about deadlines: No matter the profession they’re in, everyone seems to think that they’re faced with constant deadline pressures and always rushing to get to the next task, whatever that task may be. However, in my own experience from working in journalism and with corporations, corporate deadlines are usually longer than “today” (unlike journalism), and are more likely to get pushed back when needed. Why might this be? I suspect it comes down to organizational focus. A media outlet or publishing company is in the business of publishing news. Articles are the “widgets” that these companies produce to pull in revenues from advertisers.
For corporations that are clients of PR firms, publishing content is not their primary focus. The content is part of a larger plan with many moving parts. In other words, content isn’t the “widget;” it’s support for the widget, which means content deadlines are dependent on when the widget is ready. Further, corporations typically have more layers of approval that any given piece of content must pass through before seeing the light of day.
Get used to being the pursuer, instead of the one being pursued: As a journalist, PR professionals are constantly vying for your attention, all looking to obtain media coverage for their clients. It’s ok to confess that that felt good sometimes. Well, forget about that feeling. In PR, the tables have turned and you may be expected at times to pursue inexperienced journalists from small media outlets who nonetheless aren’t particularly interested in what you have to say at the moment. If your ego can’t handle that (not to mention lots of your pitches being met with rejection or indifference) PR probably isn’t the best field for you.
Maintain your journalism contacts: Attending a conference or other gathering with a number of fellow journalists? Grab some business cards not only from potential sources you’ll be writing about, but from other reporters, too. Those journalist contacts you make will serve you very well in public relations, and because they’ve seen you as one of themselves, they may respect you a bit more when you’re pitching or sharing story ideas.
Confession time – this is one area where I fell short as a reporter. When I attended conferences, I was so preoccupied with building my network of sources and finding stories that I neglected to interact as much as I should have with journalists – aside from the times we spent together sitting in the press area. So take a step back from your articles, interviews and research and spend some time getting to know the reporters you’re working shoulder-to-shoulder with. If and when you join a PR firm, you’ll be glad you did because you’ll have a pre-built, solid network of journalist contacts the first day you walk in the door. And that’s invaluable to the clients who are depending on you to get their stories told.
These are just one ex-reporter’s tips for journalists considering a career in public relations. There are many paths to PR, and journalism is but one. Regardless of how you come to PR and how you obtain the necessary skills, the abilities that journalism cultivates – writing, interviewing, editing, researching will play a critical role in your success.
by admin | Sep 12, 2017 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., September 12, 2017 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and healthcare IT public relations and marketing agency, announced today that Lumeris, a provider of strategic counsel and technology to health systems, hospitals and insurers, has selected Amendola to be a communications partner. Amendola will provide public relations and content creation services to advance the Lumeris brand among key stakeholders in the payer and provider communities.
“Our awarded-winning model to optimize the transition to value-based care is designed for both payers and providers. That’s why we chose an agency that truly has a 360-degree view of the healthcare ecosystem,” said Art Glasgow, president and COO of Lumeris. “The experienced team at Amendola shares our passion for delivering the Triple Aim Plus One and will help us to more widely communicate the important work that we’re doing with customers across the country.”
The Lumeris model of combining consulting services with health IT solutions helps healthcare organizations lower costs, improve outcomes, increase patient satisfaction and engage physicians achieving the goals of the Triple Aim Plus One.
“Lumeris does what few healthcare firms can do works effectively with both payers and providers to help all sides benefit from new risk-sharing contracts,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “We are excited to introduce this unique perspective to our wide network of media contacts. Our proven track record in promoting healthcare IT companies will help to elevate the Lumeris thought leaders profiles among journalists, prospective clients and the healthcare community at large.”
The agency will work to increase the Lumeris brand identity and spur recognition of Lumeris as a go-to partner for payers and providers seeking strategic counsel and technology to guide their journey from volume to value-based care. Under the partnership agreement, Amendola will be responsible for delivering content demonstrating the thought leadership and expertise of Lumeris subject matter experts including bylined articles, case studies and other materials.
ABOUT LUMERIS
Lumeris brings common sense to healthcare. We provide strategic advising and technology to help providers and payers get back to the way healthcare should be and share in the rewards. We guide health systems and providers through seamless transitions from volume to value, enabling them to deliver improved and more affordable care across populations with better outcomes. And, we work collaboratively with payers to align contracts and engage physicians in programs that drive high-quality, cost-effective care with satisfied consumers and engaged physicians. An industry recognized leader, Lumeris was awarded 2017 Best in KLAS for value-based care managed services for helping clients deliver improved clinical and financial outcomes. This was the second year we received this distinguished award. For the past six years, Essence Healthcare, Lumeris premier client with more than 63,000 members in Missouri and Illinois, has received 4.5 to 5 Stars from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. We enjoy working with all of our clients, delivering these same results, and aligning our proven multi-payer, multi-population model with their value-based care vision.
