Storytelling

5 Examples of Creative Healthcare Content Marketing

When you’re searching for a healthcare provider, you want more than a scientific expert. You need someone accessible, prompt, and trustworthy. Today’s patients need personalized advice and access to helpful resources. This changing tide is why many healthcare and pharmaceutical companies are rethinking their content strategies.

In 2019, 81 percent of companies are aiming for better brand awareness, per Content Marketing Institute. It’s a smart goal for marketers because providing an audience with creative, reliable content will help these firms stand out in a sector constrained by regulations and misleading information.

To show you what kind of ambitious stories, tools, and resources are possible, we collected five exceptional examples of healthcare content marketing. Think of this list as medicine for marketers searching for inspiration.

J&J | Campaign for Nursing’s Future

In 2002, experts projected a nationwide shortage of nurses by 2020. That dire version of the future inspired Johnson & Johnson to address the topic with the Campaign for Nursing’s Future.

The long-running campaign features articles, training opportunities, a podcast, and other resources that support nurses. The audience can find an abundance of videos from day-in-the-life vignettes to lectures from current nurses. There’s even a “Career Path” pillar that includes advice for getting hired and links to relevant job sites.

This is a great example of building a microsite around a cause. Johnson & Johnson has created a comprehensive resource center. Through the company’s work and the advocacy of others, the support seems to be working. It is now estimated that the nursing workforce will grow steadily through 2030.

Mayo Clinic | Sharing

Frequently cited as one of the best hospitals in the world, the Mayo Clinic has also been recognized as the leading player in healthcare content marketing. Its Sharing blog offers patients an extensive amount of information that touches on topics from medical research to treatment plans and diagnoses.

What truly makes their online library shine is that every piece of content is written by the hospital’s own patients and staff from all around the world. These contributors use their own experiences dealing with different health issues to color the content with authority and a personal touch; like this piece about one patient that managed to live 11 years (and counting!) after a diagnosis of a rare and incurable cancer.

The process of researching and finding treatment can be lonely. There’s no one better equipped to empathize with a patient’s problems than someone who recently went through the same treatment. An online community like Mayo Clinic’s website is the perfect place to forge those connections.

AbbVie | Scientist Rock!

What should a pharmaceutical research company’s website look like? Could it include videos of underwater research and vintage Air Jordan sneakers collections? For AbbVie, the answer is yes.

AbbVie’s unique Q&A series, Scientists Rock!, covers a different employee’s personal passion each month. The content allows experts to describe what inspires them to get up and go to work every day. The interviews are a fun and manageable way for the audience to discover what scientists do outside of the lab.

One article revealed that the director of disease portfolio management at AbbVie moonlights as a marine biologist “evaluating the effects of marine toxins on animals.”Meanwhile, the head of digital health and innovation still manages to squeeze in some time to watch football with his family.

It’s humanizing and illuminating. Each piece of content makes AbbVie look lively, engaging, and like a company that attracts people who appreciate the wonders of the world.

Cleveland Clinic | Health Essentials Podcast

Ranked No. 4 on the 2019-2020 Best Hospitals list by U.S. News, Cleveland Clinic has expanded its brand awareness through its digital publication: Health Essentials.

The team posts three to five articles a day to the website, distributing the content to the brand’s 4 million combined followers on Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, in light of the rising popularity in audio content, the brand recently invested in a podcast series that focuses on topics like breast cancer, heart-healthy diets, and sleep patterns.Each episode brings in a different medical experts who shed light on a given topic, offering listeners reliable information that can help them live their best lives.

The company has made a big bet on podcasts, launching a full library with other series as well, including Butts & Guts, Cardiac Consult, Love Your Heart, and Neuro Pathways.

athenahealth | athenaInsight Flu Dashboard

Through incredible storytelling and design, athenahealth’s publication Insight has been able to differentiate itself from other healthcare blogs.

[Disclosure: athenahealth is a Contently client.]

As a cloud-based network provider that lives and breathes data, the company has become a trusted source for healthcare information. Look no further than this Flu Dashboard, a detailed and useful example of interactive content.

The dashboard, which tracks the spread of the flu in the U.S. every season, gets updated weekly based on new data from athenahealth’s vast network. What’s really cool is that they’ve been tracking the changes since 2017, and data shows that there have been fewer flu diagnoses over time.

Healthcare companies may face more challenges than brands in retail or travel, but their hurdles are also present an opportunity. As these five companies have shown, there’s a way to differentiate yourself through content. In a world where people are becoming more aware and concerned about wellness, informative and personal healthcare content marketing is the best way to connect with them.

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