Don’t Forget You Blog to Generate Business!
When SPRYTE Communications was launched early last year, we also launched our Blog, SPRYTE Insights and we’ve been very disciplined about posting new content every Tuesday morning ever since.
The depth of our content bank is impressive. SPRYTE Insights’ “editorial approach” is to delight healthcare communicators with practical information they can use in their everyday professional lives in the healthcare provider space.
Of course, those same healthcare communicators and their managers, investors and owners are also our prospects for business development.
We have to remind ourselves that a more focused sales and marketing platform was one reason we relaunched a general agency, Simon PR in to SPRYTE Communications, a healthcare specialist.
But the PR DNA that makes us outstanding at healthcare earned media and influencer engagement isn’t always our friend as we advance as content marketers.
And anything we dedicate time to for ourselves has to be a best example of our work as we try to win more healthcare digital and social business.
Here are some of the SPRYTE Insights’ shortcomings we’ve noticed as we plan to evolve and decide what to put on our Agency to do list moving forward. Perhaps other healthcare communications bloggers out there are also experiencing similar sentiments.
The Granular Shortcomings of Our Weekly Blogs
Visual Imagery: We will prep an incredibly compelling written piece and then illustrate it with poor imagery, totally undervaluing the need and opportunity for strong art. As writers we’re enamored with words but to be successful in content we need strong words and visuals.
Headlines and Subheads can be so pedestrian. Our blogs are often truly original and pithy to boot but then we’ll put pedestrian headlines on them that do nothing to invite readership or build our brand. We can do better!
Embracing SPRYTE’s Brand Voice: The SPRYTE Insights blog is an owned media property of SPRYTE Communications. As a relaunched agency, we have a highly articulated brand voice, well defined service lines and five known target healthcare industries: hospice, home care, hospitals & health systems, medical practices and social service agencies. Our content needs to build our brand as it’s defined not as a make it up as we blog or as an individual soapbox for issues near and dear to the author.
Paying for It: The PR DNA typically doesn’t include a gene for paying for exposure. We are so attuned to earning media that it’s extremely difficult for us to pay for it. We aren’t natural boosters and we don’t really know how much to spend on boosting. But just posting and not boosting SPRYTE Insights’ Blogs on SPRYTE’s LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter channels is a very big missed opportunity to reach more healthcare eyeballs, the ones that might hire us!
So now that we’ve identified where we need improvement, how will we advance as content marketers supporting the SPRYTE brand and what will we be doing differently or additionally?
How SPRYTE Insights will Evolve:
- Archived SPRYTE Insights Blogs Will be Better Illustrated with Improved Imagery and Reposted.
- A Healthcare Guest Blogger Program Will Debut. (Note: We are accepting blogs written by proven healthcare communicators for consideration.)
- Blog Archiving Under Our Five Target Healthcare Industries: Hospice, Home Care, Hospitals & Health Systems, Medical Practices and Social Service Agencies Will Be Added to the SPRYTE Insights Page on the SPRYTE Communications Web Site.
- A SPRYTE Communications Branded Annual Blog Editorial Calendar Will be Designed and Deployed.
- A Meaningful Plan and Budget for Social Media Boosting Will Be Established.
As defined by the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract a clearly defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action." While complimentary visual and creative skills are required, like public relations, content marketing is rooted in good writing. SPRYTE is ready to up our game as we grow with our SPRYTE Insights Blog.
