At any long race, most experienced runners will tell you that the last quarter is where you really step into your power. Plan right, and you've saved enough energy to even sprint to the finish.
Now's the time to focus on finishing strong in Q4, regardless of what Q3 looked like for your healthcare organization.
5 ways to make Q4 a strong finish for healthcare marcoms teams
Do more of what’s working
There are plenty of so-called experts with loads of ideas on the ONE THING that works for marketing now. Beware of anyone claiming they know the one “secret” or “trick." As my teens would say: red flag!
What’s more accurate is that there’s likely a short list of things that are working well in your marketing.
For example:
Is one social media channel more effective than another? Dig deeper into what's working there. For those channels that are less effective these days (ahem, Facebook), perhaps spend less effort nurturing that audience.
Do blogs that feature staff profiles perform better than case studies? Do more of the former.
Recycle content in new formats
Sometimes slowing down can help you speed up. This is true in a race, and it's true in your content. You've likely built up a big library of content over the past year. Curate what's there to determine if there are other ways you can use it.
For example:
Recycle your videos into blogs: Your writer can watch all the full interview videos that got cut from the final product and write a robust new piece of content.
Create an FAQ about a service you featured in a blog.
Design an infographic from some of the success stories and stats you've shared over the year.
Create a round-up or highlights blog that ties multiple pieces from the year together and then link to the original work.
Shiny new projects are attractive. Showcasing what you've already got is easier and can have a bigger impact.
Consider LinkedIn
Social media remains a powerful tool in your marketing kit, even as the strategy and channels constantly evolve. Facebook results continue to plummet while TikTok outshines the rest. While TikTok is ripe for consideration in 2023, LinkedIn is something healthcare organizations can easily double down on now.
LinkedIn is like Facebook was a decade ago. As in…you post something and people see it, like it and comment. Remember that?!
On LinkedIn your healthcare organization isn't competing with dancing influencers, pottery demos (my personal favorite!) and vacation short form videos. In fact, you’re not competing with nearly as many people at all. While the platform has 810 million members, but only about 3 million share content. That means there’s plenty of room for yours.
On LinkedIn, your employees can become your micro influencers. Train your c-suite on how to leverage the channel to share thought leadership, and your whole healthcare organization will benefit. They'll also give your marketing content a big boost by supporting and sharing the posts on your business page.
Here’s a free workshop of mine if you want to dust off your LinkedIn.
Give your content time to work
One of the biggest challenges I see at healthcare organizations new to content marketing is patience. Content marketing is a long game. And much of content marketing is a test. Like any good scientific testing, you need a decent sample. And sometimes, you need to tweak and pivot.
A robust content strategy can take a year to start seeing big results, such as having an impact on your search rank. You should see small successes along the way, though.
A good way to quell the c-suite demands for results is to focus on the reason to launch a healthcare content marketing program in the first place:
The pandemic reiterated the importance of supporting your audience with credible healthcare content (and what happens when they don't find it).
Patients have more choices for healthcare than ever, thanks to telehealth. Content marketing helps you stand out and stay top of mind.
66% of internet users look online for information about a specific disease or medical problem.
There are 70,000 health-related searches per minute, every day.
Nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) obtain health-related information from the internet.
(The last 4 stats all came from this article.)
Get help on your healthcare content marketing
The content to-do list for Q4 (not to mention all you need to do to prepare for 2023) is a massive undertaking for even the most experienced marcoms team. Telling the story of a large healthcare organization today means operating more like a newsroom.
It's impossible to complete all the work without independent contractors. Let's talk if we can take some of those projects off your desk!