Dodge Communications

Blog. Blog. Blog. Blog. Blog. Haven’t quite wrapped your head around the importance of blogging and social media in healthcare technology? Yet to embrace these outlets as part of your marketing strategy? When others discuss the subject of blogs, does it come across more as the “Wah, wah, wah” Charlie Brown hears when grownups talk? 

These days, it’s misguided not to at least become knowledgeable about blogging and social media as it relates to your business. Blogging can have a measurable impact in both sales and visibility when integrated with the right public relations and marketing strategy, so understanding the benefits of creating a blog is Step One down the right path. Below, I’ve outlined 10 main reasons blogging is a crucial component to the marketing efforts of healthcare technology companies.

1. A blog is just a social media tool, but it is one of the easiest and most effective publishing tools for healthcare technology organizations to share information with customers and prospects. Why? First, because YOU control the content and messaging. Secondly, the cost of maintaining a blog is relatively low. And lastly, the blogging platforms available today make it incredibly easy to post content.
2. Your brand is what your people read and talk about online. If you’re not happy with what’s out there…or not out there…it’s time to look at blogs as a way of enhancing your online marketing strategy.
3. A blog can be the center of your content marketing strategy. It’s a hub of content for you to get out to the world through various outlets. If you’re only using Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn to share information, whose content are you promoting? With a blog of your own, you can create and publish the content where you’ll most efficiently see the results and gain the exposure.
4. Remember that it’s 2010. You can’t be taken seriously as an industry-leading organization if you’re only using the same marketing strategy from 1992. There’s a VERY good chance nowadays that your competitors are delving into social media and blogging, so if you’re without a sound and consistent blog, it’s harder to compete.
5. Search engines love blogs. For many B2B organizations, typical Web site content is rarely dynamic. With a blog, new content is added often, sometimes daily. And because you to create blog posts around important keywords and include additional inbound links to products and services pages on your Web site, it can serve as the core of your search engine optimization strategy.
6. A blog is a great way to differentiate your organization from the rest of the static corporate Web sites. By consistently posting interesting, informative information, organizations will encourage prospects to regularly visit the blog in search of fresh content.
7. Blogging represents a true commitment and passion to your industry. By offering insight on trends and interviews with industry thought leaders, blog content can help healthcare IT companies prove to customers they’re an integral and involved industry player. Presenting this type of compelling content – rather than simply pushing product information – is an effective way to prove that you truly understand your customers’ unique business challenges.
8. If you don’t have anything interesting to say, why would anyone have a reason to talk about you or your company? Every company has a story and a problem that their product or service solves, whatever it may be. A blog is a good vehicle for getting that story out there.
9. Repackaging of blog posts can nourish articles, email blasts, direct mail, white papers, speaking proposals, marketing sheets, and just about all other educational content you’ll need for your marketing, and vice versa. A company isn’t always tasked with creating completely original content, but instead can integrate their blog with other marketing efforts to do more with less.
10. Over time, there are cumulative results from blogging that can be gained. Each blog post continuously adds value to your site as a whole. Blog posts from months or years ago are still found in search results and read, adding traffic and building upon the collection of industry thought leadership your organization represents.

From the ability to interact and prove your industry expertise to prospects to increased search engine visibility, the potential benefits of implementing a company blog are endless. Comment below and share any thoughts or additional benefits you see from blogging!