Welcome to the CareContent blog.
This is the first post. And it’s about a pain point that most healthcare marketing teams and website managers feel.
It only took about three months before I realized that my healthcare marketing job would not quite be a dream.
I wanted to focus on writing.
But the workday was actually spent on tedious tasks—meetings…managing freelancers…chasing docs and senior leaders to write or approve content…more meetings…answering emails…going back and forth with a vendor…another meeting….
Then, at 5, I could start writing.
Here was the problem:
Our content had no strategy
We were cranking stuff out just because, in spite of knowing that only a few hundred of the 10,000 people receiving the content even clicked on it. Far fewer actually read it.
We had no bandwidth
We didn’t have a team—or at least a protected block of time—dedicated to just creating and updating web content. It was like trying to deliver your own baby.
We had no workflow
Our process from conceiving the content ideas to publishing had 20 official steps…for each article. We relied on antiquated tools like email, printed documents and this colored folder system for project management. Of course content got mixed up, unsaved, or lost.
I even uploaded the wrong drafts for an e-newsletter once.
I quit to go freelance.
Then, I saw something unexpected
Working with dozens of healthcare marketing teams as a freelancer, I saw that other healthcare organizations were having the same issues with web content.
Last summer, I conducted informational interviews with 40 healthcare marketing vice presidents, managers, and coordinators.
We’ll soon be publishing an infographic on the reasons why they too were scrambling to create and update content.
As a freelancer and consultant, I’ve also observed how this stress can rot team dynamics because everyone’s so overwhelmed.
Other organizations were letting it drop off the radar altogether.
I truly believe that many of the healthcare marketing issues with web content can be solved with three changes:
1) Taking a strategic approach to web content
That might lead to doing less, and telling people no. But at least content can be created and updated with a goal in mind.
2) Developing an honest workflow
One that doesn’t force the marketing team to be bigger than it is or function like experts when they are novice. Web content marketing has a lot of rules, and they change constantly.
3) Most importantly, making web content a priority
Instead of crowbarring it into an already full workload.
More healthcare organizations are making this shift. This blog, Out by 5, is about how healthcare marketing teams and website managers can strip the unnecessary time and stress from web content projects—and ultimately from their lives.
Most marketing blogs talk about all this extra stuff you should be doing, i.e. “21 things you should be doing on social media.”
Raise your hand if you have time to do 21 more things. Thought so.
Together, we’re going to figure out how your healthcare organization can be a web marketing rock star and still get you guys out of there by 5.
