Most of us in healthcare would agree that when compared with other industries (nothing against my past career marketing dog food and software), we have many great stories to tell about patients, caregivers, clinical breakthroughs, and groundbreaking research. However, we need creative talent, tools, and, most importantly, a plan to bring our stories to life. 

We are not alone when facing obstacles in creating, distributing, and curating compelling content. It requires a strategy (What approach will you take?), planning (How do we get started? Who does or owns what?), and coordination (When do we release and distribute content?). Granted, it takes some effort, but it’s not rocket science, and it is worth investing the time and energy to realize the full potential of your organization’s storytelling. But where do we start, or how do we evolve what we are currently doing?

A good place to begin is to assess your current content situation. First things first, do you have a content strategy? Do you maintain a content calendar (even if it’s a simple spreadsheet)? Do you have a content distribution plan that allows you to share content across owned, earned, and paid channels? Is the content plan integrated with your digital and social media marketing, clinical marketing, PR/thought leadership messaging, and internal communications? Does a team member(s) own some or all of these channels?

Don’t fret if you can’t answer an affirmative “Yes” to all of these questions. Most healthcare marketers can identify gaps in their content strategy and execution as many also juggle much more than content, including crisis management and FY budgeting (the “not-so-fun” content). So, content planning becomes a “nice to have” or something to tackle next fiscal year IF we get more headcount or budget.

The good news is that a) you can produce new content cost-effectively, and b) you are probably sitting on existing content that can be repurposed. A very key first step could include an audit or gap analysis of what you need and what you have. This is an important move (and one that your CFO will love) as it could allow you to leverage existing assets and, with some planning, get much more content from your next production effort. For example, we produced two clinical campaigns with one major health system client by repurposing existing content via a post-production process. Working with another client, we were able to locate and curate terabytes of content, making their existing content more accessible and useful in new ways. When producing new content, some fundamental planning steps can also be undertaken to get more content for less effort. Identifying several locations, programs, faculty, staff, and patients to film over a two to three-day period can result in double or triple the amount of content produced during that short period.

Great storytelling does require time and planning, but it can be a much easier and more productive journey if you start with taking inventory and then move forward with an informed plan in mind.

This article was written by David R. Perry, Executive Vice President, Bowstring Studios. David’s impressive background includes more than 25 years of brand, marketing and strategy experience in the fields of academia, health care, technology and consumer products for Stanford Medicine, Microsoft, Bentley University and Quaker Oats. David just completed his doctorate in Organization Development and Change at Bowling Green State University and serves on the boards of Lindsey Wilson College (KY) and the Madison House Autism Foundation.