Author: Kadesha Thomas Smith

CEO Vitamins: 4 Digital Marketing Influencers I Follow

New Year, New Website, New Services — Same Commitment To Top-Notch Healthcare Marketing

Our new website reflects who we are as a more grown-up, full-service company.

What Healthcare Marketing Can Learn From Target

I rarely go into stores. Ever. If I can get it on Instacart, I will find $30 worth of stuff to buy, just to get my order delivered. Thanks to the pandemic, I think I’m allergic to walking into a store — except for Target.

Target is the only store that I look forward to going to. It’s the only store that my kids look forward to going to. And the reason I still enjoy going there is that Target has taken what would be a mundane experience of running errands and turned it into something special.

It’s hard to put into words exactly what that special something is, but I think most working moms walk into Target and they feel this instant sense of peace. A feeling like everything is going to be okay. It’s always so clean. Everything seems perfectly organized.

We could all learn a lesson from Target — and especially hospitals. Here are some things that I think hospitals can take from the Target shopping experience and make it a part of the patient experience.

1. Anything that can be done at home should be done at home.

Even before the pandemic, Target had this brilliant drive-up service, allowing you to shop in their app, make your purchase, and then pick up your order in the parking lot.

Hospitals, in turn, are learning something from this approach — or rather, they’re remembering something. Before hospitals became the norm in the early 1900s, most medical care was given at home.

We’re going back to this approach in large part because of the pandemic. When no one was able to visit the hospital, the only way certain patients could get certain services was to have those services done at home. As a result, hospital administrators discovered that this led to better outcomes, lower costs, and better patient satisfaction.

Many services can be moved to the home or car space. When you’re having a baby, for example, you have to get blood pressure checks that could be done in the parking lot. No one who is 9 months pregnant should have to ask themselves, “Why did I have to get out of my car for this?”

2. Show — don’t tell.

Target’s desktop website, mobile site, and app all do an excellent job of showing a shopper everything they need at a glance. This is something that all companies can learn from.

Typically, when our clients call us for help with their web content and content strategy, one of the big issues is that everything on their site is buried. The content that consumers really would be looking for is buried. It takes three clicks. It takes several. You have to scroll and scroll and scroll, which is not necessary.

There are different ways that a hospital’s website could be more like Target’s web experience, where they present you with as many options as possible at a glance. With just a quick scan, you can see what you’re looking for, see what you want, and put it in your cart.

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Focus On These Website Features

• Mega menus: Users should find exactly what they are looking for — without having to scroll.
• Fat footers: When a user makes it to the bottom of a page, there should still be somewhere to go.
• Tiled landing page: If a user can see it, they can easily click on it.

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Retail websites make it easy for the user to do what they went there to do — and what the company wants them to do as well: buy things. By tapping into the web conventions consumers are already used to from their retail experiences, your healthcare website can be more usable and more successful.

3. Brag about your diversity.

When I walk into my Target, they have an entire shelf of beauty products that are created by women-owned companies. They have a display of products from black-owned, black-women-owned companies, Latina-women-owned, and LGBTQ-owned companies.

If you are interested in supporting a certain group by buying their products and services, Target makes it easy. Hospitals could take a cue from that and start to really promote the administrators and clinicians who reflect the groups you most need to reach.

There’s no reason somebody should come to your website and see only white male doctors, or worse — standard stock photos of a bunch of skinny smiling people. If you have a diverse team, broadcast it. Put it out there front and center. Let your patient audience know, “We have people who can relate to folks from all different walks of life, who can connect with your lived experiences.”

4. Show me how beautiful you are.

Target can make anything look beautiful. I mean, they have toilet scrubbers that are just gorgeous. They have storage bins that are stunning. And when you actually go to the store or onto the website, the space where Target displays these products looks a lot like a living room or a kitchen. They don’t simply show you the product, they show you how beautiful this product would be in your own home.

Many hospitals have made a lot of capital investments to increase the beauty factor of their physical location. But how many times do they hire a professional photographer to help them show that beauty off?

If you have invested in sprucing up your space, the next investment should be hiring a photographer or videographer to create some kind of virtual tour of that space. Patients shouldn’t need to come into your hospital to know how beautiful it is.

In healthcare, we could all learn a thing or two from Target. With just a few changes, the patient experience on hospital websites — and in the actual hospital — can be elevated from just so-so to the Target experience.

Looking to beautify your hospital’s website? CareContent can help with content strategy, creation, and promotion.

Happy Thanksgiving From CareContent— What We’re Grateful For This Year

This past year has been filled with so much to be grateful for. From the hard work of doctors and nurses to the innovation of scientists to the widespread efforts to protect our communities from an ever-evolving pandemic — it has been a year of breakthroughs and blessings.

But 2021 has not been without its challenges, and it continues to be important to us at CareContent that we take the time to slow down and practice gratitude.

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Kadesha — Founder and CEO

I am most thankful for my faith. Being able to pray and read Scripture during these crazy times has preserved my sanity. I’m also so thankful for my family. We’ve remained healthy and supportive of each other throughout this pandemic. I don’t take that for granted because I’ve also been to a lot of funerals this year. Lastly, I’m thankful for my wonderful team here at CareContent. I love the people I work with. They are genuinely super-talented, good people.

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Brandies — VP, Client Strategy

Right now, I’m most thankful for being able to spend more time with my family. The pandemic has changed the way we work and live together dramatically. I’m so grateful to have all my loved ones still with me so far and the time that we get to be together — learning, growing, and loving one another along the way. Oh, and that yoga pants are now work-appropriate!

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Crystal — Operations and Project Manager

So many things to be thankful for. Healthy family and friends are at the top of the list. A safe and warm home is up there too. The fact that we can share a laugh with someone, anyone really. That’s pretty great. I’m not sure if other living things are able to share that, but I hope so. Laughing makes life so much better. Sunscreen, plants, and beer. All so wonderful.

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Lynette — Content Director

Family and physical and mental health will always be at the top of my list of things to be thankful for no matter the holiday. After this past year though, I find myself being thankful for a lot of the small-big things like sunrises and sunsets, ocean breezes, long walks, and just having an overall appreciation for nature — something we often take for granted. This pandemic has made us all slow down and take stock of our environment (or it should have). I am also tremendously grateful for CareContent and our gracious CEO who not only gives us all the flexibility we need but also makes working here feel more like a partnership.

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Ros — Content Production Manager

It sounds super cliche, but I really am thankful for the health and happiness of me and my loved ones this year. This past year was challenging in many ways, but we all came through it, and for that I am grateful. I am grateful to live near my parents after many years of being a plane ride away from each other. I am grateful for my cats, Albie and Minnie (who LOVE taking pictures with me). And I am grateful for my work family, too, of course!

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Sammi — UX Content Specialist

I was asked to write approximately 100 words about what I’m thankful for this year. I’ve now written 24 words. Here are the rest:

• Family
• Friends
• Safety from COVID-19
• This job and team
• My beautiful cat, Twyla
• Schitt’s Creek — the best show ever made
• Being cast in my first show in 2 years (Schoolhouse Rock LIVE)
• Financial, food, and home security
• My crazy dating stories. They make me popular at parties.
• Health
• Going on 13 years seizure-free (knock on wood)
• My faith
• Chocolate
• Vaccines
• My nephew, Teddy (yes, he’s family, but he gets counted separately because he’s so cute)

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Natalie — Lead Content Specialist

I have so much to be thankful for this year. From my family to my friends to my supportive team here at CareContent, I am grateful for all the incredibly special people in my life. I’m also lucky to have my health — both physical and mental. These past few years more than ever, I’ve tried to really appreciate waking up each morning, being able to go for a run, and having healthy food to eat. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention my dog, Arya, who brings more joy to my life than she could ever know.

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Meg — Web Content Specialist

This year, I am grateful for so much — my family, my friends, my partner, my health. I am grateful to live somewhere warm and to live with my best friend (finally) after 3 years of a multi-state, long-distance relationship. And this year, especially, I am grateful to have joined the CareContent team. They are smart, funny, and supportive people. Their pun game is unmatched, and they care about the work we do — and doing it well. And above all, they enable and empower me to bring my whole self to work each day.

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Nicole — Multimedia Content Designer

This year, I am most thankful for health and science. As the saying goes, health is wealth, and I’ve felt very fortunate to have maintained mine during this time … probably more so now than ever before. And science — well, vaccinations for me and nearly my entire family have allowed us to return to (almost) a normal daily routine. A welcome change, indeed.

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Cris — UX Designer/Web Developer

There are many things to be thankful for this year. First would be the health and well-being of my family. Next, the birth of my third child. Yet another would be the “new normal” of adjusting to work from home. Working from home allows me to see my kids throughout the day and be home for those special moments, such as when my 1-year-old daughter took her first steps or being able to walk my 6-year-old daughter to school every morning. It’s the small things that give us moments to be thankful for.

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At CareContent, one thing we all share is gratitude for this amazing team. Learn more about who we are and how we can help your organization achieve its content goals.

Using The Queen Bee Role To Promote Company And Individual Success

In a bee colony, queen bees have one job — to lay eggs. When a queen bee dies, the colony’s highly efficient system breaks down, and all 100,000 bees are in temporary disarray.

To ensure their colony thrives, queen bees focus on their one role of laying eggs. This is called a Queen Bee Role (QBR), and it also applies to the success of a company.

A Queen Bee Role (or King Bee Role) is a term for the function that your individual success and a company’s collective success depend on. As an employee, you own this role. You own the outcomes of this role. You own the decisions of this role.

If you don’t take ownership of your QBR, companies become inefficient, overworked, and burned out. Even worse, processes break down, you need a lot of unnecessary meetings, employees become poor performers, and companies fail.

This idea comes from the book Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself by Michael Michalowicz. His goal is to help small business owners who tend to work themselves to death trying to serve clients and run a company — roles that should eventually become mutually exclusive as the company grows. But I think this is good wisdom for all leaders.

Here’s a look at QBRs at CareContent — and how you can identify your own.

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Queen Bee Roles apply to entire organizations and the individuals within them.

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CareContent Queen Bee Roles

At CareContent, our company QBR is to produce spot-on first drafts of all deliverables that:

• Are on deadline, not wordy, and accessible
• Are error and oversight-free
• Do not contain functionality flaws
• Provide an excellent user experience
• Achieve the client’s desired results

At the individual role, CareContent employee QBRs include:

• CEO: Plan the company’s short and long-term future.
• VP, Client Strategy: Create digital strategies to help clients and CareContent grow.
• Multimedia Designer: Create and execute aesthetic direction for client projects to match business goals.
• Content Director: Get spot-on first drafts across the finish line.
• Content Specialist: Produce solid first drafts that meet client and audience needs.
• Project Manager: Ensure client, web development, and internal team are all on point with tasks and deadlines.

What Is Your Queen Bee Role?

Determining your QBR requires identifying your number one priority— that one function you must do well if everyone else around you is to do well.

For instance, a hospital CEO plans, directs, and coordinates day-to-day operations at the highest level of management. A healthcare marketing manager implements marketing strategies and campaigns, analyzes data, and oversees relationships with the media and the wider community.

In each position, the long-term success of both their career and the organization depends on these responsibilities being done successfully.

Once you’ve determined your QBR, get it in writing. Craft a statement that pinpoints the one task that is your responsibility to complete efficiently. Each position should know their QBR as well as those of other employees.

The Role Of Distractions

If you’re constantly required to complete tasks outside of your QBR, that’s a problem. Distractions can be anything from unnecessary meetings to endless emails to anything else that’s not in your wheelhouse.

Identify your distractions, then communicate with your team to avoid them. As a company, you must learn to respect other QBRs and also protect your own.

At CareContent, we pride ourselves on our company Queen Bee Role. Let us know how we can help your healthcare organization.

4 Questions To Ask Before Investing In Healthcare Technology — Afterthoughts From Google’s Chief Health Officer Dr. Karen DeSalvo

For many healthcare organizations, July 1 will mark the beginning of a new fiscal year. As this year comes to a close, leaders at these organizations are putting together their next yearly budget — and a major part of that is deciding which healthcare technology solutions to invest in.

I recently spoke with Dr. Karen DeSalvo on Modern Healthcare’s “Next Up” podcast about vetting these investments.

Dr. DeSalvo is a guru when it comes to technological investments. After serving in Health and Human Services under the Obama Administration, she led the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Currently, she is the first Chief Health Officer at Google.

In our conversation, Dr. DeSalvo discussed four questions that organizations need to ask themselves before making investments.

For any type of healthcare technology investment — whether it’s buying a new ultrasound machine, updating your telehealth system, or revamping content on your website — it’s critical to answer these questions before deciding where your technology dollars will be going.

1. Does this fit with our strategic priorities?

Don’t get distracted by the shiny new object. Only make an investment if what you’re investing in really says, “This is what our organization is all about.”

This is particularly important if you’re investing in something like an electronic health record system that will require an ongoing partnership with an outside company. You don’t just want to think about your own strategic priorities — you want to think about theirs, too.

If your priorities align, it’s much easier to come to an agreed understanding of the definition of the success. It’s also a lot easier to work through roadblocks and make sure you still reach success in the end.

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“… a lot of our partners when they come to us is, what is the future going to look like? And how can we help not just get there, but build it? What does it mean, if we want to think about building artificial intelligence models to identify breast cancer? How can we do that together in a way that is not just bringing great engineering capabilities to bear but doing it in a way that respects patient autonomy and privacy and has a fairness in the models in mind? These are all things that when you build that future, you want to know, with your partner, yeah, what we want is to eliminate disparities. And we want to make care less costly, so that we’re pulling savings out of the system. And if you can be aligned into that future, then you can kind of back into, ‘What are the steps that we need to take together to build that?’”

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2. Will it help our patients?

When we say “technology,” we’re not just talking about equipment or patient data systems. We’re also talking about a piece of technology that patients are using every day: your website.

Whether you’re working with an outside organization or paying someone in your organization to write it, be selective about the type of content you’re paying for.

Healthcare 101s should be close to the bottom of your list. Do those FAQ pages that go into detail about the symptoms and causes of a disease help patients? Sure. Does having those pages on your own site help them? Probably not.

By the time patients get to your site, they want to make an appointment. They want to know what types of treatments are available at your facility and who will be treating them. They’ve already consulted Dr. Google.

Don’t waste your money on reinventing the wheel. A quick explanation of a condition on a page is fine, but you don’t need to write your own Wikipedia article. Provide links to reputable sources, like the CDC or NIH. Use your money to invest in the unique content your patients want, like what to expect when they receive care in your brand new dialysis center, or original advice on parenting a child who has ADHD. Invest in content that speaks to your patient populations’ cultural and socioeconomic needs.

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“… healthcare systems don’t need to think that they have to create all that content because there’s already good content out there from places like the American Diabetes Association or NAMI or the CDC. I think it’s helpful for consumers that they can be pointed to some of that existing good content.”

“… what I hear from consumers and patients is, they want to make sure that the healthcare system is getting the healthcare part right. And the messaging part, sometimes they can find from other sources. Perhaps that’s the most succinct way to sometimes say it. It’s that we don’t have to be all things to all people.”

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3. Will it help our providers help our patients?

4. What problem does this solve for us?

Questions 3 and 4 go hand-in-hand.

That new cutting-edge imaging equipment might be really tempting. But is it actually going to improve the quality of care your clinicians can provide — or is it just a really expensive new coat of paint? And how complex is it? Is taking the time to learn the new technology going to be worth the results?

If it’s not going to help providers, ask yourself if it’s going to solve any other problems that your organization or patients are facing. If there’s no problem, then you don’t need to spend time and money on a solution.

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“Is it going to solve some important problems that our providers have, whether that’s our nurses or social workers or doctors? And really to stay focused in all those areas as much as possible on what are the problems we’re trying to solve? And is this a solution that meets it? I think it’s very easy to get enamored with solutions and cool, interesting technology that really doesn’t solve a problem that might actually add more layers of complexity or create more problems.”

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The Takeaway

It’s easy to get caught up with wanting the latest and greatest, or to partner with a company because you enjoy working with the people there. Unfortunately, this can lead to a lot of wasted time and money in technology solutions that you don’t actually need or that are premature investments. But by asking the right questions, you can make investments that are best for your organization and won’t unnecessarily eat up your budget.

If one of your upcoming technology needs is a website or content overhaul, we’d love to work with you. Contact CareContent.

Podcasting Part 2: 10 Must-Have Team Members For Your Podcast Production Team

Over fifteen years ago, Apple offered more than 3,000 free podcasts on iTunes. Now, the medium is one of the most popular ways to consume information — and everyone wants in on the action.

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Currently, there are nearly 2 million podcasts and over 47 million podcast episodes.

Source: PodcastInsights.com

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However, producing a podcast is no easy feat. It requires a team that works together seamlessly.

The podcasting world is not just vast — it’s also diverse. Some podcasts release episodes every day and are backed by a large production team. Others are made in a basement and run by a couple of hardworking individuals.

CareContent produces Modern Healthcare’s Next Up, a twice-monthly podcast that empowers aspiring women healthcare leaders to reach new levels of success. We leverage our team members’ skills in order to produce engaging and inspiring content for healthcare leaders.

Whether you’re in the beginning stages of dreaming up your podcast, or you’re a little farther along, here’s who you need on your podcast production team.

 

If you want to start your own healthcare podcast but don’t know how, let us help!

Afterthoughts On ACHE: How To Get Honest Feedback From Your Team

You might look around at your team and your organization and think that everything is perfect. Spoiler alert: It’s probably not.

Or, you might look at them and see lots of areas for improvement, but feel like it’s a lost cause. Second spoiler alert: It’s probably not.

Even the seemingly most well-oiled organizations have room for improvement. The trick is using the right tools. Your team’s feedback is one of the greatest.

This past March, I hosted several panels for the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) virtual conference. Several of the panelists discussed not only the importance of receiving feedback, but also the best approach for getting it.

Here are three of the methods that stuck out to me as some of the most constructive tools for getting honest feedback from your team.

1. Conducting Rounds

Healthcare providers have been conducting daily patient rounds since the late 1880s. Rounds are used to ensure that patients and all members of their care team are on the same page, and to educate young providers. Ultimately, rounds have been shown to improve patient outcomes, and satisfaction for patients, providers, and employees alike.

So, instead of reinventing the wheel, why not take advantage of a model that’s been working for over a century?

Start conducting regular well-being rounds to check in with your employees and simply see how they’re doing. Make it clear that it’s an agendaless meeting. It’s a safe place to vent, ask questions, get reassurance, etc. Also, since employees might be a bit anxious knowing that senior leadership is in on the rounds, reassure them that this isn’t a “gotcha” meeting.

Well-being rounds help you learn by observation. Just like with medical rounds, you can make sure that everyone is on the same page about which tactics that you’ve put in place are or are not working.

Just be sure that you’re not getting in their way. They are incredibly busy trying to save lives. Don’t make well-being rounds just another burdensome task.  Schedule a 15-minute Zoom call for those working remotely, or set aside a day where they can initiate a meeting with you.

2. Distributing Surveys

Another tried-and-true method for getting feedback is pulse-surveys.

Remember: Your employees are busy. They don’t want to spend more than a few minutes doing surveys.

Make surveys short — 3 to 5 questions max — via email or text. Send them at a regular cadence, like at 3 p.m. on Fridays, for example. That way employees know it’s coming. And if they miss it, they know it’s coming again.

Setting up a good system for surveys is a great initiative for an internal communications team to take on.  It’s all about determining who should be involved in developing the questions, how frequently surveys should be sent, and what senior leadership really wants to take a pulse on.

3. Eliminating Implicit Bias

Workplace discrimination isn’t always visible. In many cases, if not most, it’s also not intentional. This is implicit bias — subconsciously stereotyping or having an attitude toward a group of people. Implicit bias has led to discrimination toward certain ethnic groups, genders, sexualities, abilities, and more in the workplace.

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• More than 60% of employees feel that bias is present in their workplace.
• 84% of these employees say that bias has negatively affected their well-being, happiness, and confidence.
• 83% of employees who have witnessed workplace bias say that the bias is subtle or indirect.

Source: Deloitte

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Nipping implicit bias in the bud is especially important in a healthcare organization. The 2019 “Bias Barrier” survey from Deloitte found that 70% of employees who have experienced or witnessed workplace bias feel that they are less engaged in their work. And what happens when healthcare providers are disengaged? Higher rates of hospital-acquired infections, longer patient stays, more readmissions, and lower patient safety scores.

This training can lead to hard conversations, but it’s important to cultivate transparency. Don’t get defensive — really listen to them, take in what they’re saying, and make a commitment to change.

There are many organizations that can help. For example, the Perception Institute provides solutions from simple needs assessments to workshops on recognizing and correcting implicit bias.

Making an open and sincere effort to eliminate implicit bias — as well as conducting rounds or distributing surveys — have an added bonus. It shows your employees that you value what they have to say and that their well-being is a company priority.

Making improvements doesn’t start and stop with receiving employee feedback. Contact CareContent to learn more about content-based solutions to meet your improvement goals.

Podcasting Part 1: 10 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Starting A Podcast

Two decades — that’s how long podcasts have been around. But in the last five years, the industry has skyrocketed and become one of the most popular ways to consume information out there, making it a $1 billion industry this year.

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Nearly 78 million people in the US listen to a podcast at least once a week — a number that has more than doubled since 2016.

Source: Business Insider

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Recognizing podcasts as an in-demand medium, in May 2020 CareContent became the producer of Modern Healthcare’s Next Up, a podcast that aims to inspire the next generation of women executives and innovators in healthcare.

This isn’t our first time producing a podcast. However, it’s my first time hosting, and it’s been a success. Though Next Up is still new, our average downloads are on par with healthcare podcasts that are older, more established, and have more promotional dollars behind them.

Next Up is clearly resonating with its audience. But this isn’t because of luck or fate or even money — it’s because of a solid content strategy and plenty of hard work.

If you’re looking to jump onto the podcast train, here are ten questions to ask yourself before you get started.

1. Who is the audience of your podcast?

Audience drives everything in the digital experience — including podcasting.

In general, a niche audience will be easier to reach.

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The majority of new podcast listeners are women, and the median age of listeners is 34.

Source: Forbes

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Once you identify a target audience, figure out what topics they care about. Just like content strategy, creation, and marketing, this podcast is about them — not you. Build your editorial calendar around your listeners.

On Next Up, our audience is aspiring healthcare leaders, with a particular spotlight on women. It’s our job to keep a pulse on what’s new and relevant in healthcare, what our listeners want to hear, and what will actually benefit them in their careers.

2. What are the goals of your podcast?

Starting a podcast without a goal is like driving to a new spot with no GPS.

What are you trying to do with your podcast? Maybe you want to raise awareness about your brand, drive listeners to attend an event, or encourage them to subscribe to a newsletter.

Figure out that overarching call to action (CTA) and use that to drive everything you do, including individual CTAs for each episode.

3. What is the tone of your podcast?

Tone matters. Your tone should remain consistent throughout the life of your podcast.

Decide whether you’re going to be formal and authoritative, causal and comedic, or somewhere in between.

If possible, adopt a tone that stands out from the typical voice of your audience. For instance, if your audience is used to formal, stuffy content, try using a more relaxed and colloquial tone (as long as it’s not offensive to your topic).

4. Who is going to do what?

At CareContent, we’ve learned a lot about the importance of a team effort in producing a podcast. It’s like a factory handoff, moving from one team member to the next. If one handoff isn’t successful, or one team member doesn’t understand their role, the whole thing can fall apart.

Determine beforehand who is going to do what, and make sure everyone understands their responsibilities. That way, you can rely on your team for efficiency and success.

5. What is the length of your podcast?

This decision is huge — but often undervalued. The length of your podcast will have a ton of implications, like how long interviews will be and how much time it will take to transcribe them.  Not to mention, the length of your podcast will determine who will press play.

Decide the length of your podcast on the front-end to avoid problems down the line.

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In March 2017, the average length of podcasts played in the US was between 15 and 30 minutes.

Source: Statista

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Keep in mind — there’s no perfect length of a podcast. Some podcasts are 5 minutes, while others are 90. If you have a solid 20 minutes of good content, then 20 minutes it is. Don’t stretch out a podcast or cut it down to meet some imaginary standard.

6. What is the format of your podcast?

Though the podcast is a pretty straightforward concept, it’s extremely versatile. There are a ton of ways you can use this medium, and you need to decide what format you want before getting started.

Examples of different podcast formats include:

• Interviewer and guest
• Solo podcast, where one expert shares their thoughts
• A conversation among co-hosts
• A panel or roundtable discussion
• A compilation of audio snippets from guests who are not present
• Answering listeners’ questions

You can also opt for a combination of formats. However, playing around with the format too often might be off-putting to listeners, not to mention require more time and equipment.

7. How often do you want to produce your podcast?

The frequency of your podcast needs to be decided at the outset. If you go out the door producing too frequently — and then can’t maintain that — it’ll look tacky.

Determine what cadence you can realistically maintain to gather enough data. Pro tip: Don’t go with a daily podcast, unless you have a ton of resources available at your disposal.

If once a week is a bit of a crunch, go with twice a month or every 10 days. Down the road, if you have enough justification to increase the frequency, do it.

8. What do you want your audience to get from your podcast?

Considering your audience’s takeaways is key to determining everything from guests to questions to CTAs to sponsorship.

What do you want your audience to walk away with once they’ve listened to your podcast? Maybe it’s how to do something, inspiration, or knowledge they need for their career development.

Whatever the takeaway is, make sure it’s beneficial to your audience, so it’s worth their time to listen in.

9. Who is the competition for your podcast?

Currently, there are an estimated 1.9 million podcasts — and 47 million individual episodes. Needless to say, you’ll have some competition.

Before you begin, check out the landscape, and research who is talking to your audience about a similar topic. Look at what’s getting high levels of interaction and what’s working. Find topics you can provide a different perspective on.

You’ll always have competition, which is why you need to set your podcast up for success. Assessing that competition is key in the process.

10. How will you promote your podcast?

“If you build it, they will come” does not apply in the podcast world. Just because you put your podcast on some podcatchers and your website, you aren’t guaranteed listeners.

A robust promotional plan for each episode is a must for it to be worth producing a podcast.

Ready to start your own podcast? We can help with strategy, production, or both.

Afterthoughts On Tanya Andreadis And Educating Patients On The COVID-19 Vaccine

Just a year ago, a COVID-19 vaccine seemed like a distant promise. Now, vaccination efforts are ramping up across the country, and eligibility is expanding.

In some states, COVID-19 vaccination eligibility is already open to anyone over 16 years old. By the end of April, at least 36 states plan to be at that stage.

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As of April 6, 2021, 32.4% of the US population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Experts believe that anywhere from 70 to 90% of the population must be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity.

Sources: Our World in Data, The New York Times

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As eligibility expands, health systems shoulder the responsibility to reach more and more people — many of whom remain hesitant. Factors like social media, anti-vaccination groups, religious objections, the lack of long-term data, and our country’s history of racist experimentation in medical care and research are the root of this uncertainty.

Meanwhile, health systems must make sure vaccines aren’t going to waste, unlike the nearly 4,500 doses that were ruined in Tennessee in February alone.

On a recent episode of Modern Healthcare’s Next Up, we spoke with Tanya Andreadis, Chief Marketing Officer at UCLA Health. She has navigated the pandemic in one of the most hard-hit counties in the US — LA County. This also happens to be one of the most diverse counties in race, language, socioeconomic status, and mindsets about healthcare and the vaccine.

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Here are three takeaways from Tanya that certainly apply as vaccine eligibility is expected to broaden this summer.

1. Get Feedback Quickly

“We have a report that we send every day to core groups of people in the organization that collectively brings together all the feedback that we’ve received that day on social media channels, in the form of emails, [and] from our web forms,” Tanya says.

When the messaging is not crystal clear, fix it. For instance, vaccine eligibility is changing rapidly — and health systems must ensure their patient population knows exactly when they can make an appointment.

“We had worked so hard to refine [the messaging], and we thought, ‘This is crystal clear, and this is so helpful.’ And it wasn’t actually because we’re so in our own worlds with the language we use and the understanding that we have,” she explains.

One solution? “Simplify, simplify, simplify — four or five levels of simplification,” Tanya says.

2. Bring In Community Support

Tanya’s COVID-19 initiative, TeamLA, brought together major institutions throughout Los Angeles to combat the virus together. It generated more than 12 million unique impressions in its first three months alone.

“We are embedded with these partnerships with really highly acclaimed sports teams, people that Los Angeles adores — the Dodgers and the Lakers and even our own Bruins at UCLA. We thought we would ride that energy around sports and try to appeal to our community, regarding COVID-19 as a team sport: ‘Let’s fight this together,’” Tanya explains.

Whether it’s about vaccine hesitancy or finally snagging a vaccine appointment, community efforts can be a game-changer.

Keep in mind — community partnerships are not limited to marquee names. Reach out to your donors, your alumni, local membership organizations, and others who have an engaged captive audience. “It’s partnering with those community organizations, like Boys and Girls Clubs [and] churches,” says Tanya.

3. Be Ready To Pivot

People are sick of hearing about masks and social distancing. It’s sad — but true. So, Tanya’s team shifted their messaging.

“We pivoted. Our new platform for messaging is not so much on citizen action, team sport, or unhealthy behaviors. Now, it’s a responsibility to seek information — to get the facts, and to look to science,” Tanya says.

If your health system’s message is around seeking information about the vaccine, hopefully your website supports that. It should be the place people are turning to for reliable information.

The shift will depend on your community’s sentiment as the vaccine rollout expands. “Being really in touch with public sentiment is one way to do that. Think about, ‘What are people wanting to hear right now? How can we add value, how can we contribute?’” she explains.

The role of healthcare organizations in the COVID-19 pandemic is nowhere near over. As vaccinations ramp up and new guidance is developed, patients need accurate and trustworthy information — and that starts with their local healthcare organizations.

Check out more episodes of Modern Healthcare’s Next Up, or subscribe at Apple Podcasts or your preferred podcatcher.