In our first post in the Telehealth Series, we mentioned how important it is for healthcare organizations to have a strong PR and marketing plan in place when implementing a telehealth platform. Hospital adoption of telehealth is doubling this year, but there are relatively few organizations owning the space from a brand perspective. Having a strong communications plan in place will help you stand out to the patient community and demonstrate that you’re an innovator and industry leader.
Here are four ways to build your brand:
- Become a News Maker: Ready to launch your platform, or already rolled it out? Either way, establish an editorial calendar for press releases specifically on your telehealth platform. Plan to distribute news-worthy releases at certain intervals based on the launch, service updates and milestone achievements.
- Drive Thought Leadership: Consistently create thoughtful, meaningful content to share with your audiences. This goes beyond press releases. Write blogs, bylines, reports and other kinds of content consisting of tips, trends and statistics. Immerse yourself in the conversation and don’t be afraid to share your expertise and commentary.
- Create Compelling Storylines: The most successful campaigns are built on good, strong storylines that resonate with both the media and your target audiences. Look across your organization and identify what’s truly unique; talk to physicians or key opinion leaders for their perspectives; speak with patients if they’re willing to share their stories, and with all of this intel, develop a compelling narrative. Once you have your storylines, get creative with media outreach – use story hijacking, trend intervention and proactive media outreach to get your voice out there and forge relationships with the media.
- Develop a Strong Social Strategy: Social media is an important vehicle for promoting your offerings and collaborations. It’s important to create a social media strategy that encompasses all platforms, with aligned messaging, storylines and engaging content. The content shouldn’t only focus on your own offerings, but also trends or industry news, infographics, patient stories if possible, and key opinion leaders. It also helps to set goals and KPIs specifically for your telehealth campaign so you can measure it effectively.
If you’re looking to benchmark an organization doing a good job marketing its telehealth programs, New York Presbyterian is a good one to take a look at. The organization is very vocal about its telemedicine efforts and has a strong perspective on the matter. It also leverages multiple spokespeople across the hospital and has a strategy across both traditional and social media. For example, CEO Steve Corwin was recently quoted at the New Era in Healthcare conference by Axios, explaining how telehealth will help the medical industry move forward. Its CIO also spoke with Health Leaders about its telemedicine kiosks moving into Walgreens. The organization also often promotes its collaborations and media engagements on Twitter.
For some more tips on creating your marketing plan, check out our Healthcare Marketing Guide for 2018.
Are you heading to ATA18 in a few weeks? In our next Telehealth Series post, we’ll share our guide for speakers not to miss and the top emerging mobile telehealth apps being presented at the ATA meeting this year.
