6 Reasons Your Practice Needs A PR Pro

(Image via PerezHilton.com)

Okay, so needing your own public relations team is not actually scandalous as you might think. On ABC’s Scandal, the team of “Gladiator” PR pros face quite outrageous scenarios. Your practice might not deal with the same kinds of situations but you certainly have your own challenges to face, like pitching to health care reporters and keeping your practice together.

Olivia Pope, Scandal’s main character, can handle just about anything. Her clients are some of the most powerful people in the world (a South American dictator, a congressman, a governor, and a senator, just to name a few), but even they need to enlist her help every once in awhile to manage their reputation.

Doctors and their practices are no different.

Here are our six reasons why your practice could use its own team of “gladiators”:

1) A PR Pro can help foster your brand by developing campaigns and building your reputation at community events and networking opportunities. Need to get your name out there a little bit more? You can rely on them for that.

(ABC via Giphy.com)

2) When someone gives your practice a good review or promotes you on social media, you need to work to spread that positive feedback. Your PR team should keep an eye out for particularly happy patients and ask for a testimonials and help acquire more good reviews.

(ABC via FlawedLoveableTaylor.Tumblr.com)

3) On the same note, your own gladiator can manage and respond to negative Facebook and Yelp reviews/comments. People are most likely to provide feedback after negative experiences, so having a plan for how to handle those scenarios is imperative.

(ABC, via Buzzfeed.com)

4) They can help you become an expert authority in your community and industry. By helping you establish yourself with a significant presence on medical forums and networking websites like LinkedIn and other social media.

(ABC via iVillage.com)

5) They can plan and manage all kinds of events: from a happy hours to introduce your new doctor or technician, to an open house to showcase your facility, to community service or charity fundraiser.

(ABC via BlessedBeYoundMeasure15.Tumblr.com)

6) Consider this gladiator an inter-office staff member. They can help manage your online interactions and build relationships with other offices.

(ABC via UProxx.com)

Are you ready to get your team of gladiators together? We would be happy to help. Here is the form to request a consultation with Atlantic Health Solutions so we can get started making a difference in your practice.

How To Pitch to Health Care Reporters

Pitching to health care reporters can be challenging, but if you know some of the tricks of their trade you can capture the attention of top writers from publications like Huffington Post, The New York Times and USA Today.  The trick is realizing that there really isn’t a trick. Health care writers are people too! Keep in mind that they have a job to do too and they want to do it well, so if you can be a genuine health care industry resource to them to help produce better content, they will see the value in your relationship.

Need more help pitching to healthcare reporters? Download our Press Release Checklist

Recently, we attended Hubspot’s Inbound Conference in Boston and we learned a lot from two knowledgeable speakers, Gini Dietrich (CEO of Arment Dietrich and SpinSucks) and Scott Kirsner (Columnist from The Boston Globe). Both discussed ways to get more out of your public relations efforts, but their diverse backgrounds gave us a unique insight to what public relations professionals can do to get the attention of reporters.

Scott’s presentation; “Getting Ink: Inbound Strategies for Building Relationships with Traditional Media Outlets and Bloggers,” taught us a lot about what reporters and writers are looking for, here are our top takeaways:

1. Journalists are skeptical by nature, but if you show them that you want to help them succeed, you’ll get farther.
2. Your website’s “Media Inquiry” page can help you or hurt you. Contact forms will often be ignored, but if you have the contact name and direct phone number and email address of someone on your team a reporter is more likely to reach out to you.
3. Unique bios showcasing your affinity for kickball and cat shirts can be fun, but ultimately could be hurting your chances of getting found. Meatier bios of your staff, especially your leadership team, can help you catch the attention of a reporter who, for instance, is looking for a Florida State University alum working for a health care startup.
4. Steer clear of sending comprehensive Ebooks and whitepapers, no matter how interesting YOU find them. You are not your audience. Think about how the journalist you are targeting would search for a subject and tailor your messaging to fit them. Keep in mind, sharing infographics and short videos can be a great idea.
5. Create lists in Twitter of reporters and writers who write about companies in your space, then tweet to them regularly about their articles. When it comes time to share your content, they’ll be more receptive.

For takeaways from Gini Dietriche’s presentation, Using Media Relations to Drive SEO, read our next blog post.

How to Analyze Your Healthcare Website Like a Pro

So you’ve built this awesome website and now you’re ready to start attracting new patients. You make it live and sit back, waiting for the appointments to start rolling in. But just like when you were 15 and waiting for your crush to call… the phone just doesn’t ring. (Oh wait, that’s just us? Moving on.) Where did you go wrong? What could you have done better? Is it you? Is it them? Why does my health care practice’s website not attract patients?

You are not alone. The process of reaching patients is a challenging trek.  It’s not easy, you have to build an engaging website, battle for organic and paid search space and grab the attention of leads. How can you make it through the second two steps though, if you haven’t successfully completed the first step? It’s time to take a good hard look at your website and poke holes in its weak spots.

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Tip 1: Look at your website from an unbiased perspective. If you designed your website you probably put a lot of time, energy, money and tears into it, so it might be best to get an outsider’s opinion. Get an online reputation and website evaluation done by someone who knows what to look for.

Tip 2: If you want to do the research yourself because you’re determined like that, start out by doing a crawl of your website to look for any error codes, missed meta descriptions or empty title tags. Screaming Frog SEO Spider is simple and easy to use if you know how to read the reports. You can download a free version here.

Tip 3: Hubspot also has a free website grader you can use to evaluate your website. Don’t get too hung up on the 1/100 grade they give you, but it can give you a very topical idea of how your website stands up against others. This can help you see how well Google sees your website as it searches for an onsite blog, lead generation forms and meta descriptions.

Tip 4: Don’t stop there, you can stalk your competition too! See how well they are doing online so you have an idea of how well you stack up against them. Knowing your enemies’ weaknesses can sometimes help you prevail. I’m fairly confident this was a lesson from Disney’s Mulan or The Art of War, but it still rings true in healthcare marketing.

Tip 5: Do some good old fashioned searches. Think like your potential patient. Ask yourself what their needs are and what they would type into Google to find your practice. If you aren’t coming up in the organic searches or your Adwords ads aren’t showing up, take note. You need to capitalize on those missed opportunities and find ways to incorporate those key terms into your website content so you will show up in potential patient search queries.

You too can act like a website marketing pro. Another bonus tip is to never stop learning. Subscribe to our blog and other tech websites to stay up on best practices to continuously improve your website, whether you are a medical practice, hospital or healthcare organization. 

The Importance of a Mission Statement in Health Care Marketing

Recently we decided to revaluate our mission statement to determine if it was still in line with our company culture. What we found was that our mission statement was so broad, that it was falling flat. It wasn’t doing what we created it for; which was to hold our employees accountable and remind us why we do what we do. So, we decided to go back to square one and redevelop a mission statement that would effectively showcase what Atlantic Health Solutions is all about.

Does a mission statement really matter?

Initially, I had some apprehension regarding developing a new mission statement. As the Communication Director, I knew how effective a great mission statement could be for large companies but I was unsure if it was worth our time and attention. Now I know, no matter how large or small your organization is, having the right mission statement and encouraging your employees to truly adhere to it, can make all the difference in the world.

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Why a mission statement matters:

• Helps keep your staff accountable and on track
• Clearly explains your culture to potential clients and partners
•  Let’s others see what sets you apart from your competition
• It can help with future growth and new staff
• Forms a template for decision-making and strategic moves

How to write an effective mission statement for a medical practice or hospital:

• Be clear and avoid medical, clinical or marketing jargon.
• Ex: Specifics regarding procedures/diagnoses, terms regarding reporting, turn around time, accreditations, terms like “strategic alliance” and “exceptional service” because it doesn’t really say what you do.
• Make sure to say what you “aspire” to be, rather than bragging about how great your practice already is at what they do.
• Let your mission statement be unique to your center. If it’s too broad or looks like it could belong to just about anyone in health care, you need to be more niche.
• Don’t make it too lofty. Goals should be specific and somewhat realistic and the same goes for your mission statement.
• Keep it short and simple. Nobody likes a diatribe of you going on and on about your doctors and staff.

Check out our new mission statement:

“At Atlantic, we live to inspire. Our mission is to uniquely serve patients by changing the way they engage with healthcare providers. We adhere to a culture of hard work, integrity and innovation. We nurture our team and our community by giving back and growing those around us. We understand that with a positive attitude and the undying desire to never stop learning, we will thrive.”

Marketing to Gen Y Patients

Hannah Horvath, the main character from HBO’s both widely criticized and praised hit television show GIRLS said, "I think that I may be the voice of my generation. Or at least a voice. Of a generation." Well, I don’t claim to be the all encompassing voice of my generation, but after working for four years in the progressive startup space and in health care digital marketing and collaborating with Millennials across the country, I’ve learned a lot about our Gen Y slice of the pie.

Generation Name - Birth Year Ranges

GI Generation - Born 1901 – 1926

Silent Generation - Born 1927 – 1945

Baby Boomers - Born 1946 – 1964

Generation X - Born 1965 – 1980

Generation Y/Millennials - Born 1981 – 2000

Generation Z - Born after 2001

How we spend our money, how we are perceived in the workforce, how we engage with others and how we make an impact on society can be viewed negatively and positively depending on who you ask.  There’s a lot to be said about how other generations view Millennials and the way we view ourselves. Others might say Millennials are:

• Over-privileged
• Ill-prepared for the future
• Lazy, not hardworking
• Cheap
• Overly passionate
• Disobedient

Those perceptions however come with a distasteful side of disdain and an extra helping of misunderstanding. Sure, some Millennials could be classified in those ways, but so many of us could also be called:

• Innovative
• Loyal to brands and loved ones
• Healthy, to avoid issues we’ve seen in the past ie: obesity, cigarette smoking
• Intelligent
• Driven and passionate about our careers
• Respectful and empathetic to others, despite their background

Growing up in a digital environment, our generation has been awarded limitless opportunities unavailable to previous generations. Due to this fact, the way we get information, how we socialize and how we act as consumers is automated, streamlined and unlike ever before. In our time, we’ve seen the evolution of travel with websites like Expedia, digitized shopping capabilities with eBay, automated financial management with PayPal and now even instant gratification from online shopping with Amazon’s introduction of drone delivery.

It’s no wonder we handle things like money management differently than our parents. The things our Baby Boomer generation would save money for, such as homes, cars and health insurance aren’t really on our radar. So why is it that the Gen Y population is seemingly unconcerned with health care coverage, despite the spotlight “Obamacare” has put on the issue?

Reasons why Millennials don’t love the idea of paying for health insurance:

1. Invincibility: We are fairly young and healthy, so we don’t think we’ll get sick and need the insurance
2. Anti-Conformity: We don’t like to take the first answer given to us and we don’t like to be told what we have to purchase, which means we will ultimately try to beat the system.
3. Consumerism: We are accustomed to having the power to use the internet and social media to connect and make decisions about the brands, products and services we spend our money on. In health care, that can be a challenge.

We are the future of health care, but this sad fact remains: 40% of Millennial employees say they would not be prepared to pay out-of-pocket for health expenses if something came up. Additionally, only 13% of Millennials said they are actually satisfied with their employer-provided benefits.

So what can our health care industry do to improve access to quality, affordable care ourselves? We believe the first and most important step is to accept price transparency and quality transparency. Making it easier for patients to compare their options and select physicians based on what’s most important to them. Our online market place, Save On Medical, gives patients the power to actually shop for medical procedures online the way they shop for travel with Expedia.

As more innovative startups continue to develop the health tech space with the support of leaders like Florida Blue, we predict that Millennials will spark a health care revolution. We’ll pave the way for generations to come. If the innovation we’ve seen over the last decade is any indication, it’s going to be a wild ride. 

Fill out the form below to get a grading report from our marketing team, telling you how well you're marketing to Gen Y/Millenial patients: