Can Radiologists Be Social?

Working in radiology marketing, we've learned the in’s and out’s of the industry. We have become well-versed in radiology specific terminology, learned more about Toshiba and Hitachi technology than we can fathom and found out how to use various forms of marketing to attract patients and referring physicians.  The biggest lesson we have learned though, is how to bring the actual radiologists to the table for marketing success.

A joke in our niche industry is that radiologist physicians chose their specialty because they in fact don’t like patients and would rather sit in a dark room all day powering through their work, than ever have to see a single patient.  It makes sense; being that radiologists are compensated for the amount of interpretations they get through, rather than their amount of daily positive patient interactions.  As a result, the radiologist is not normally well known for exquisite bedside manner.

That being said, many imaging centers and radiology departments end up marketing their centers the same way. Using crutch-terms like “24-hour turnaround time” and “ACR accredited” plastered all over their advertisements and signs, doing nothing to stand out against their competition. By finding unique ways to actually market your radiologist, you can take the road less traveled in radiology.

So what can you do to market a physician that rarely interacts with patients and referring physicians?

-       Build an online persona for your physician through LinkedIn and Twitter

o   Share posts and become a thought-leader in radiology by posting valuable content, studies and blog articles.  As a marketing pro, you can help extend the radiologist’s reach through these two social mediums.

-       Patient-focused ghost writing

o   Write original content for patients from the perspective of your radiologist, advising them on the differences between procedures, how to prepare and how to understand diagnoses.

-       Brand journalism for your radiologist

o   Take the ghost writing a step further and reach out to local media and industry publications to explore whether they need an expert in radiology to consult on medical news and healthcare changes.

-       Video interviews and how-to’s

o   If you’re lucky enough to have a radiologist that wants to get involved with your efforts and feels comfortable being filmed, you can package short videos of the doctor explaining their services. Video content is great for SEO and is much more manageable for patient education than long white papers and jargon–riddled blog posts.

To discuss some ways to transform your practice’s marketing, fill out the form below:

Hockey & Health Care Marketing

If you’re anything like us, the NHL playoffs have had us rather preoccupied as of late. Keeping track of our beloved Lightning has become a part-time job it seems, but the road to the Stanley Cup has been an exciting one for the Tampa community.  Hockey is one of our favorite spectator sports because of its fast pace, unpredictable nature and of course, the impassioned fights… everyone knows that is the best part! You’re on the edge of your seat from the second the first period starts until the last buzzer goes off.

A “normal” person might not see the association between the high-intensity nature of hockey and the world of health care marketing. Being the health care nuts that we are though, we recognized a few lessons health care marketers can take away from watching all these exciting match ups.

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Power Play: When one team’s player gets a penalty they have to play one person short, giving the opposing team the advantage.

-       When a team is on a power play, they have the opportunity score while the other team is at a disadvantage. In health care marketing, you could look at your competition to see where they are slacking in their marketing strategy and capitalize on that free space. For example, see if your competing practice has a YouTube channel. If they do not but you have 1 or 2 videos on yours, you have the advantage. By optimizing your channel and creating some short videos of interviews with your staff or virtual tours, you can take the lead in your community.

Icing: When a player shoots the puck across both the centerline and the other team’s goal line without getting touched.

-       When a player gets called for icing, the game stops and the crowd gets frustrated because it is usually an act of desperation. Too often marketers make the mistake of being reactive and throwing together campaigns in response to a challenge. Rather than letting yourself get to a point of desperation when your competition gets positive attention or when CMS makes changes, make sure to take the necessary time to be aware of potential hurdles and develop plans early.

Slashing: When a player swings their hockey stick at a player on the opposing team and it clearly is not going for the puck.

-       Slashing is a desperate attempt to hurt or distract another player and does nothing to advance positive play. Often times, we see health care marketers do the equivalent of slashing their competition, pointing out their negative qualities or reviews without pointing out how their own organization provides a solution to patient challenges. It’s okay to pick an opponent and it’s even okay to pick fair battles in your marketing plans, but remember that no one likes a bully.

(Read More: March Madness - Picking Your Health Care Plan)

Assists: When one player passes the puck to another player with a better opportunity to score.

-       Marketers often forget to consider the support they can gain from their network connections to improve their marketing campaigns. Look for opportunities where you can assist others in your community through donations of services, discounts or even just promoting them through your social media platforms or blogs. You can also find opportunities where others might be willing to assist in promoting your campaigns.

Hat trick: When a player scores three goals in one game.

-       You too can score a marketing hat trick. Remember when you’re creating content to repurpose it for multiple platforms. For instance, if you create a new video of a patient testimonial, don’t just post it on YouTube and call it a day. Be sure to embed it on your website or in a blog post, then post the video and the link to the blog/landing page on Facebook as well.

Be Like Wayne Gretzky: This hockey great is quoted saying, “Don’t go to where the puck is go to where the puck is going to be.”

-       This is great advice for finding scoring opportunities in hockey, but also in the world of health care marketing. We have the opportunity to think out of the box and be creative with our messaging when no on else in our industry has taken that step yet. By pulling creative marketing ideas from other industries you can get out ahead of the competition.

Hopefully these lessons can help refresh your marketing strategy and remind you to think a little out of the box. Remember, as Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” so try something new and watch your patient volume grow.  In the meantime, don’t forget to cheer on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Go Bolts!

Pitching Perfect: PR Advice in Healthcare

This past Tuesday we had the opportunity to sit in on Cision’s “Pitch Smart: Media Outreach” webinar by PR expert Michael Smart. In 60 minutes, punctuated by success stories and a brief Q/A session, Michael shared his top tips and tricks for effectively pitching to the media. These pieces of PR advice work in health care as well. For those of you who missed it, I will highlight and summarize a few of Michael’s pearls of wisdom.

Ever blunt, Michael cut right to the chase beginning the webinar by stating a few bleak facts about media pitching that we already know.

• Journalists and bloggers are incredibly swamped, so they’ve got less and less time to spend listening to pitches.
• Traditional approaches to media relations simply don’t work anymore.
• Sending the same pitch to your entire media list is less effective than ever before.

Given this information, it’s clear that it is our job as PR professionals to find new and exciting ways to frame “boring” stories if we want them to get picked up by the media. Michael pointed out that exploiting pop culture and using compelling content are the two most effective ways of adding value and flair to your story, thus increasing its likelihood of getting picked up by the media.

He used his past work for Brigham Young University as an example, where he took a story about BYU mathletes and turned it into a viral sensation. He did this by creating a rap video comparing the mathletes to BYU’s D1 basketball team, just as March Madness kicked off. The video linked a program that many people viewed as boring to both BYU’s successful sports team and a popular nationwide college event. Those things combined made more successful than BYU could ever have dreamed.

For most companies, however, trying to make your stories more exciting isn’t always enough to get them picked up by the media. Most companies—like ours—rely heavily on the pitch, which is why it’s so crucial that we do everything we can to perfect it.

According to Michael, good pitching revolves around something called the “80/20 Principle”, which basically states that you should spend 80% of your pitch time on the top 20% of your media list. If you’re a company that reaches out to more than 10 media contacts at a time, it’s unrealistic to think that you can devote the time and manpower necessary to customize each individual pitch. Taking this into consideration, you should select the top 20% of your media contacts and focus the majority of your time on fully customizing their pitches. For the next 30% of your media contacts it’s ok to decrease the amount of customization in your pitch, and for the bottom 50% of your media contacts it’s alright to use minimal customization when pitching.

If you’re having trouble figuring out who should be included in the top 20% of your media contacts, there are a few different things you can look for. Keep in mind your target audiences. Try to determine what types of media they’re consuming and the outlets that frequently reach them. Also, try to remember that at the end of the day, it’s all about the Benjamin’s where you’ll get your best ROI. All media relationships, specifically those in your top 20%, should either consistently drive revenue or drive valuation. These are important things to remember when trying to rank your media contacts.

Michael went on to describe exactly how PR professionals can customize their pitches. When pitching to your top 20%, make sure you do your research. Find out what industry they’re in, get to know their personal interests, go through and actually read their past work. The more you know about a media contact, the easier it will be to find ways of customizing your pitch specifically for them. As a rule, you should be both specific and sincere when pitching. Don’t just say, “I noticed you cover industry events”. Dig deeper. Actually read and reference their former work or their personal interests while finding a way to tie it to either yourself or your story. Forging these personal connections can help increase a media contact’s likelihood of picking up your story.

Michael also touched on the appropriate amount of information that should be in your pitch. If you’re pitching to someone at a top-tier organization such as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal , make sure to keep your pitch short and sweet, giving just enough information to catch their attention. If your media contact is older he suggests ending with “would you like more information?” and if you’re pitching to a younger reporter then you’re better off ending with a link instead.

In closing, he leaves us with a few additional pieces of advice:

• Don’t pitch over social media
• Start following potential media contacts early, but never friend them on Facebook
• After pitching to someone, wait 24 hours before a response and then follow up if you don’t get one

Keeping this advice in mind, here are a few takeaways and tips:

• Find ways to reference pop culture and current events.
• Exercise the “80/20 Principle”.
• Follow the customization formula.
• Ensure that you include the appropriate amount of information in your pitches.

These are all smart ways to improve the quality of your overall pitch, give you a leg up on your competition and increase your chances of getting your story picked up by the media. We’re not sure if there will ever be a formula for “the perfect pitch”, but we think Michael Smart has definitely given us a great framework. The rest is up to you!