In the latest installment of our 10^th anniversary blog series, a Dodge Communications client is interviewed to discuss his experience with Dodge over the years. To view earlier installments please click here.

Marty McKenna leads marketing and commercial operations at dbMotion and joined the company three years ago. dbMotion has been a Dodge client for six years.

Dodge: How has Dodge helped with your communications needs since you started working with them?

McKenna: There are a couple of angles to that. The obvious one of course is that you guys are connected. We’re relatively small, and your connections have helped us place articles and things we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. That might be the easiest thing—helping us get speaking spots at events like World Health Congress and HIMSS, and article placements for the UPMC folks. I think that all works, and along the way, you guys have had a professionalism that is important. You’ve made us look like we know what we we’re doing when we probably didn’t. That’s really helpful.

One of the things I remember from when I first joined was I saw an article that Elizabeth [Glaser] had written, and I thought it was one of my team members who is close to the industry who wrote it. I responded really quickly about how amazed I was at how deep it was it terms of understanding the domain, and everything was well-written and well-connected to what was happening in the industry. I responded to my team member, and she said that it was something we got from Dodge. This gave me a little more insight into what the group there brings to the table. I think the understanding and focus that we’ve seen from everyone at Dodge is really important to me. We need to come across like we know what we’re talking about and that we’ve been in the industry. Everything Dodge has ever written has come across that way.

Dodge: What are some of the major accomplishments you’ve been able to achieve through your partnership with Dodge, and how have these accomplishments impacted your overall business?

McKenna: Probably the biggest one has been that we had two or three presentations at HIMSS last year, and basically from soup to nuts, Elizabeth and the team took it over and took on the challenge. They worked with our clients, such as UMass, and were able to prepare them for the presentation. I think almost everything she [Glaser] has presented to HIMSS has been accepted, that’s probably not quite true, but it’s a very, very high hit rate. From a business impact of course what happens is that we’ll be exhibiting at a tradeshow, or even World Health Conference where Bill Fera was speaking, and we don’t have much activity. As soon as one of our clients speaks, then we’re able to chat with some people, develop leads and opportunities and get the chance to position our product the right way. In that way, it’s been integral to our strategy of really trying to get out in front and get our clients out in front, which is our overall business strategy.

Dodge: Where is the field of healthcare communication headed, and why do you think Dodge is positioned to succeed?

McKenna: I think it all comes down to domain, so I think the advantage of Dodge is that we look at Elizabeth as a business partner for us. One of the projects we’re taking on right now is revamping our website. I can be confident that someone like Elizabeth along with my team will be able to help those folks make sure they don’t go down an alley we don’t want to go down or take us down a place that isn’t right for positioning. It’s a tricky place, so you want to be sophisticated and interesting. Somewhere right on that fine line is where you want to be, and I think Elizabeth does a nice job of walking that line.

In terms of where communications are heading, it’s changing very rapidly; there’s all sorts of things we’re questioning. We’re questioning a lot of the publications, frankly, and how much value we get from them and trying to figure out how to spend our money appropriately. As a relatively small company, we don’t have endless budget, and we don’t have the ability to do everything so we have to be very selective. In that way, it helps to have someone that when we select something, we knock the cover off the ball because we need to do something well when we do it. The people that we work with there [at Dodge] are our trusted advisers that can help us do that.

Dodge: That’s all of the questions that we have for you. Is there anything else you might like to add or a memory of Dodge you’d like to share?

McKenna: I think for us, it really does come down to that business partnership. We don’t work with any companies, whether it’s marketing or professional services or otherwise, that can’t sit at the table with us and help us explore. It’s never a “here’s the textbook way to do it,” it’s actually a dialog, and that’s what we enjoy about Dodge.

I think the other piece, possibly, is the global understanding. The people working with us have done a nice job bridging the gap originally because we’ve gone through a lot of changes. Dodge has been able to roll with those changes. They’ve been significant even in terms of our market positioning.

In the latest installment of our 10^th anniversary blog series, a Dodge Communications senior account manager is interviewed to discuss her experience with Dodge over the years. To view earlier installments please click here.

Kat McDavitt is senior account manager at Dodge Communications. She has been at Dodge for a year and a half and says that having a great group of supportive colleagues is one of her favorite parts of her job. Click on the picture below to listen to the interview or view the transcript below.

Dodge: How has Dodge helped you develop as a professional communicator?

McDavitt: I think it’s helped me most by being able to work on a team. In my previous position I was the sole PR practitioner at a corporate firm, and there was no one to bounce ideas off of. There was no one to get a second opinion from, so it’s been really great to have a group of really supportive colleagues who go out of their way to give you good advice.

Dodge: What role do you think Dodge has in the ever-changing healthcare technology industry?

McDavitt: I think Dodge has a great opportunity to cut through a lot of the noise that is out there right now, especially with healthcare reform and a lot of changing rules and deadlines. There’s a lot of uncertainty and chaos, so I think we have a great opportunity to tell the story of the companies who might not have the biggest, baddest budgets, but the companies that might have really great benefits to offer and really great solutions.

Dodge: What do you think is the most important part of working with clients to create integrated communications campaigns?

McDavitt: I think the most important things to consider when putting together an integrated marketing campaign is to set really clear expectations upfront and to define clear objectives. I think if you skip ahead to the fun stuff and skip the foundation, I think you may be disappointed in the end. It’s very important to take time at the beginning of a campaign and set everything up right.

Dodge: What’s your favorite part about working for Dodge?

McDavitt: My favorite part about working at Dodge is probably my first answer—that you get to work with a fun team and a fun group of people. I’ve made a lot of good friends here and a lot of good professional relationships as well.

Dodge: What are some of the memorable moments you’ve had here at Dodge?

McDavitt: On a professional level, I think one of the best experiences I’ve had so far is getting to go the HIMSS conference this past year. It was great to go to one of the biggest industry events we have here. To have the chance to see our clients in a different environment and face-to-face makes it a very interesting place to be. On a personal level, I really loved the Dodge WhirleyBall competition last year. That was a lot of fun!

During a recent visit to my neighborhood burrito bar, I was struck by a minor change at the cash register. Instead of the usual glass tip jar, employees had purchased a (clean) red plastic gas can, cut a big hole in the side and adorned it with a “gas money for the crew” sign.

Nothing about the message was new; servers have long and openly requested tips for commuting expenses. But the manner in which the message was packaged and delivered was fresh – and prompted more than one customer to chuckle and throw in an extra dollar or two.

It was a timely reminder for those of us who work in the marketing and PR world – and a valuable lesson for us to share with clients. Successful messaging and promotion campaigns don’t necessarily require bells, whistles and razzmatazz (an animated, life-sized cutout of Jimmie Johnson with a sound chip of engines revving would not have caused me to increase my typical tip the way the gas can did). But they do rely on clarity and impact. Here are three rules of thumb to keep in mind…

1. Remember the old “KISS” adage – “keep it simple, stupid.” Aim to communicate one clear idea through a headline or graphic. Trying to do too much dilutes the message and fails to direct your audience to the most important take-away concept. That will cause prospects to shrug and pass you by. Supportive and subordinate messages can be presented in secondary copy or follow-up communications.
2. Deliver your message in an inventive, compelling manner. Good creative comes in many packages – from simple to complex. But no matter what the package, it must be germane to the message (that’s why the plastic gas can worked so well), fresh and grab attention. Think seamless; you want words and images to deliver an identical, integrated message, providing no opportunity for your audience to say, “huh?”– even for an instant. Once their train of thought is interrupted, you may never get it back.
3. Don’t forget that you are not your audience. Deliver a message that will resonate with them. You are familiar with and enthused about your product or service. But no matter how misguided you think they are , your prospects are skeptical and need to be convinced. Get into their heads. What will make them pause to consider your argument? How can you communicate value quickly and convincingly – with the least amount of work on the audience’s part? Grab attention and deliver that one clear idea in a memorable way.

In some cases, successful communications come from a flash of inspiration. I doubt the burrito builders in the example above held multiple brainstorming sessions to come up with their tip jar idea – although it probably was bounced around behind the counter and refined during a conversation that began with “What if we tried this…?”

More frequently, however, the effective delivery of a message takes planning, strategizing and careful execution. One of the most effective campaigns in recent years was launched by Chik-fil-a. Having cows hawk chicken sandwiches in a burger-crazed world was brilliant. The message was clear: Eat more chicken. The images were attention-getting and compelling, and supported the core message/headline seamlessly. It was fun, inventive and designed to attract consumer attention – and appeared to be a no-brainer campaign.

But I’ll bet the farm that it took time, and that corporate, marketing and creative staffs collaborated to critique, buff and polish the basic idea to ensure the right message was delivered in the right way to the right people.

The campaign was simple, spectacular, strategic. And, needless to say, successful.

Huh? It may sound ridiculous, but it illustrates one of the most significant marketing and PR challenges facing healthcare IT companies today. Many innovative healthcare companies are pioneering products and services that are ahead of the market—helping improve patient safety, enabling better care delivery or delivering greater efficiencies to business operations. Yet your prospect often doesn’t even realize they HAVE the pain your product sets out to ease. And if they do recognize the pain, they probably have no clue that a product exists that can ease that pain. And if, miraculously, they DO know that such a product exists, it’s highly unlikely that they know that it’s YOUR company that has the best product available.

Until your market acknowledges the need for your offering, it’s futile to plaster the healthcare equivalent of “safe” or “best available” all over your ads, collateral and trade show exhibit.

If you fall into the “ahead of the market” category, here are three communication tips to deliver compelling messages and maximize the chance your market will understand that you exist, you can ease their pain, and you’re the best at what you do.

1. Get out of the inner circle:
   The fastest way to see if your messages resonate is to test them on someone who is a total stranger to the industry. A spouse, for example. Or a friend. Take a minute to deliver your 60 second elevator pitch (what’s an elevator pitch?) and see if they understand what it is you do and why it should make any difference. You’ll probably find that there is significant jargon in your pitch that others don’t understand. (ask about “interoperability,” “SaaS,” or even “portal.”) And it’s not just jargon. We assume that most people are familiar with the same things we are. (Case in point: This Ingenix study shows that fewer than HALF of physicians are familiar with ARRA and the impact it will have on their practices. Wouldn’t you have thought that number would be more like 100% given the attention we’ve all paid it over the last year?) Break down your pitch so it’s understandable by anyone.
2. Adjust on the fly:
   You don’t want to talk over their heads, but you don’t want to talk down to them. How can you get the right level, often when you don’t even know the audience’s level of understanding? An effective communications technique is assume-they-know-but-explain-anyway. “You probably know a lot about interoperability—where disparate computers communicate and share information with other computers—right, Mr. Prospect?” It’s a win-win technique. If they already know, you’re covered. If they don’t, they can save the embarrassment by saying they know now that you’ve helped them with a definition.
   Another gauging technique is to ask. What a concept. “Before I get into some of the technical details of our service, I want to get an undertstanding of how familiar you are with these technologies.” They’ll help you level-set the subsequent portion of the presentation so that you’re presenting at just the right level.
3. Category first. Benefits second.
   Walk around a tradeshow floor or peruse home pages of vendor sites and you’ll be surprised how often you will have no idea what companies do. There’s often a focus on “save money, reduce costs, improve efficiency” without any mention of how. Yet without an understanding of what category you’re in, (are you a consulting organization or a software developer? A product company or a services company?) benefits like these will not resonate with the buyer. They’ll walk on by without your brand having made an impression in their mind. Let the market know who you are first. Then, tell them why that’s important to them.We hear it all the time. “Our product is unique.” “No-one does what we do.” “We don’t really fit into a category.” “Our category is new.” “We’re so different than the category the market wants to put us in.”
   Let’s assume all that is true. You still need to make the potential buyer aware of what you do. Take the car example. A crossover is still a car, even though it’s something more/different/special. So, the communications technique used is this: “You’re familiar with a car, right? Well, the crossover I’d like to sell you starts with that concept, and from there it’s more/different/special.” Same idea selling technology to the healthcare industry. The audience needs to understand where you’re starting from in order to understand what you have. It’s like, “You’re familiar with a consultant, right? Well, we’re like that except we’re more/different/special. Or, “You’re familiar with how hospitals are using the Internet to help communicate with others? Take that idea and add this new, new thing.” Letting the audience have a baseline of understanding from which to start will take you a long way towards having them understand your offering.

There is a lot of noise out there. It’s hard for the market to understand it all—all the opportunities available to them. The harder you work at keeping your message simple, clear, understandable and relevant, the quicker you’ll achieve the elevated levels of brand awareness that translate to company growth.

Whether you’re selling to consumers or other businesses, there’s no better endorsement than one from a client, and this is especially true for healthcare IT vendors. Showing prospects that you have clients willing to speak on your behalf gives your product third-party credibility and often puts it ahead of competitive products. We’ve included five ways you can utilize your clients to drive sales and generate buzz around your offerings.

1. Media opportunities: When securing media coverage highlighting a customer’s use of your products, it’s important to realize the story has a life beyond the month it’s issued. You can e-mail prospects and customers a link to the piece once it comes out; order a PDF from the publication for e-mailing or posting on your Web site; or secure hard copy reprints for use as part of a direct mail or for your sales team to hand out at meetings or tradeshows.
2. Testimonials and case studies: These marketing tactics arm you with powerful sales tools that can be used a variety of ways. Testimonials can be sprinkled throughout your Web site, in brochures or other marketing collateral—they ultimately support the statements you are making and give them credibility. Case studies on the other hand can be posted to your Web site or e-mailed and handed out to prospects. They show prospects how your clients are using the technology and the results and benefits they might experience. This article offers some helpful tips on asking clients to participate in case studies and testimonials.
3. Speaking and award opportunities: Having clients present educational sessions or participate as part of an expert panel at industry events is a great way to demonstrate the value of your products as is nominating clients for industry awards. These tactics enable potential prospects interested in the speaking or award topic to learn about your organization in a non-advertorial way.
4. Referrals: By developing strong working relationships with clients and encouraging their product feedback, you’ll often find that they are happy to refer your offering to colleagues. You can also create a database of client references to put in touch with prospects who want to speak to end-users.
5. Client forums: Creating user groups, client forums or best practices award programs will help you get to know your clients better. It could also help you uncover details that might lead to great media opportunities you otherwise may not have known. Additionally, creating this type of community for users can be attractive to those interested in your technology so they can learn how others are implementing the applications and using them on a daily basis.

Investing the time to know your clients can have a huge payoff. Not only will you make them happy by promoting their business, but you’ll also reap the benefits of having third-party credibility.

Looking to get more out of Twitter? Avid users and newcomers alike can easily expand their industry knowledge, stay on top of the latest trends and monitor best practices − all by following the right mix of associations, pundits and experts. Here’s a brief guide to get you started:

1. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (@HIMSS). Few PR and marketing professionals in the health IT field aren’t affected by the current dialogue surrounding EMRs, interoperability and the related technologies. HIMSS provides valuable updates on industry events, healthcare reform and a multitude of other topics.
2. Medical Group Management Association (@mgma). If physician practices are part of your target market, this is an excellent resource for staying on top of those issues that impact physicians from a clinical, administrative and financial perspective.
3. Healthcare Financial Management Association (@hfmaorg). By following HFMA, you’ll learn how financial trends are affecting healthcare organizations. You’ll also receive results of recent studies and valuable statistics.
4. Bulldog Reporter (@BulldogReporter). While not specific to healthcare, this is a great resource for B2B PR professionals looking for news and insights to better hone their strategies for generating positive media exposure.
5. Public Relations Society of America (@prsa). As the world’s largest PR organization, PRSA offers tips on educational tools, like webinars and publications, as well as news on issues affecting those working in the field.
6. PRSourceCode (@PRSourceCode). Geared specifically toward PR professionals within the IT industry, this resource provides ways to grow your PR savvy, from Webinars to interviews with editors and industry influencers.
7. HISTalk (@IngaHISTalk). This well-read blog covers a wide range of news and opinion related to the healthcare IT industry and is a great way to hear the perspective of those professionals working in the trenches.
8. iHealthBeat (@iHealthBeat). Compiled by the California Health Care Foundation, this free newsletter combines recent headlines from a variety of news media, including healthcare trades, magazines and daily newspapers. With so much content being written about healthcare IT, it’s a simple way to scan the headlines and make sure you’re not missing something specific your unique interests.
9. The New York Times Prescriptions Blog (@NYTPrescription). Monitoring the constant activity surrounding the proposed healthcare reform is no easy task. This blog from The New York Times is a great all-in-one-source for the latest on current proposals, what they mean for various stakeholders and what the experts have to say about it.
10. AP Style Book (@APStylebook). Keeping up on the latest style rules is much simpler when you follow the AP Style Book. You can even ask the editor a question and receive a response to a specific style question.

Any others you’d add to the list? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

This Q&A is from our conversation with Jim Riley, vice president sales and marketing at Capario. We asked him to share his thoughts on the healthcare company’s recent rebranding initiative, which spanned everything from a new corporate name, logo and tagline to a new Web site, collateral materials and a comprehensive public relations campaign.

Q: Why did you select the name Capario? What brand attributes did you want to represent?
A: When we started the rebranding process, we viewed it as more than a marketing strategy – it was a company-wide, fundamental change in the way we did business. A brand personality of fresh, contemporary, innovative and unique accurately portrayed the image we wanted to reflect and the new direction we were taking.

With this in mind, we chose Capario. It had a ring to it, was free of connotation, stood out from our competitors, enabled us to purchase an easy-to-remember URL and was different than the other healthcare IT names out there.

By selecting Capario, we avoided descriptive names that would pigeonhole us into one product offering and knew our selection would allow us to evolve as the healthcare industry’s needs changed.

Q: What was the most important lesson you learned throughout the project?
A: Rebranding has a trickledown effect on every aspect of your business. It’s important to look closely at each internal piece of paper and electronic document as well as software interfaces and other client-facing items because you can be assured there is a name or a logo on everything. For example, payroll checks, 401K accounts, lobby signage, HR manuals and client enrollment forms all have to be updated. To meet deadlines and successfully re-launch your organization, it requires company-wide buy in. Every department must work with marketing to orchestrate this great effort.

Another important consideration is the legal process involved in re-naming your company. Ensuring your new name does not have trademark issues or resemble other company names in your space is vital. It’s a far larger process than you may imagine that requires patience, time and a good trademark lawyer.

Q: How did you prepare internal staff for the launch?
A: Constant internal communication was imperative as we rebranded. We wanted staff to feel like they were part of the process, promote buy in and ensure that they had the opportunity to contribute to the decisions we were making to reshape the company. Effective communication at each step of the way helped us generate a feeling of excitement and gave staff ownership of the changes we implemented from the name to collateral.

To prepare staff for external communications, we developed FAQs, talking points and other support materials for each department. We also held informational sessions with client-facing teams to prepare them for the changes and questions they might encounter from clients and prospects. Overall, our efforts seemed to pay off and made the transition as smooth as possible.

Q: How has the market responded to the new brand?
A: We feel our new brand has been well accepted in the market and that it’s a positive reflection on our approach to the way we do business.

With an ever increasing quantity of healthcare blogs, Web sites and other digital venues, do you ever wonder if this media growth translates to more news or just better distribution of stories already generated by the mainstream press? Or if commenting on an article actually triggers more coverage on a topic?

If so, you’re not alone. A recent New York Times article explains how the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard pondered the same questions before launching Media Cloud, a quantitative approach to tracking news coverage so users can determine what topics are or aren’t being covered, who’s driving the agenda, what keeps a story in the news and much more.

While the site is still under development, Media Cloud offers a preview of where media coverage tracking and analysis is headed in the future. Unlike a clipping service which can only tell you where a company or product name gets mentioned, Media Cloud’s data-driven approach is a significant step toward understanding how company-related news is being generated within the context of other news and overarching industry trends.

Having access to this type of information enables PR professionals to more effectively secure the desired level of media coverage for their clients because they know not only what makes news, but also how stories are evolving in today’s constantly changing media landscape, from who’s shaping the dialogue to what the competition has to say about it. As Media Cloud continues to expand its offering, it will be interesting to see how this tool might revolutionize the way that companies track, measure and analyze the impact of their media coverage so they can better shape their message to the market.

By now, most people are aware of what Twitter is and how a “tweet” works. One unexpected aspect of this social media tool has been its positive impact on the relationship between journalists and PR professionals. We have found that an increasing amount of healthcare publications and journalists are utilizing Twitter as a vehicle for assembling story ideas, finding sources, and informing “followers” about important events or deadlines. For PR pros, this provides another venue for effectively accessing the media and ensuring that story pitches are as timely and targeted as possible.

This American Journalism Review article provides the journalists’ perspective on Twitter, including its effectiveness as a journalism tool and a news-dissemination channel.

Anthony Guerra, Editor-in-Chief for Healthcare Informatics, provides some solid tips on working more effectively with the media.

Selling is selling, and we’re all selling something. For me, I’m selling my audience, knowledge of the industry and professionalism when I try to get a healthcare CIO on the phone. I’m selling the fact that I know this industry better than any journalist out there, that I won’t ask them to define EMR or HITECH, I won’t ask them to explain the difference between acute and ambulatory, I won’t ask them what best of breed means. I’m selling the fact that I know how to get what I need from them in less than 30 minutes, I won’t misrepresent what they’ve said, and I will never write about something just so the magazine’s sales staff can book a quarter page.

How am I able to make all these assertions? First off, I’m a professionally trained journalist (something quite rare in the B2B field), I’ve got over 10 years of experience, and I’ve built a reputation for fair but tough interviewing. I research all my subjects before I even attempt to get an interview, and above all I strive not to waste anyone’s time.

Why would I expect anything less from someone trying to sell me something? Make no mistake about it, as a PR professional, selling is exactly what you’re doing. Your job is to sell me your client, to get them mentioned in the media, to spread their name far and wide as “the leading” provider of something or other. But before picking up that phone, even before sending that email, have you taken the time to find out who I am?

I’m not necessarily referring to what kind of books I enjoy, though with LinkedIn and the like, it’s amazing how much you can learn about a person (I do update my reading list on that site). I am talking about knowing what kind of pitch will work on me based on the strategic mission of the publication (who are the target readers?) and the tactical means used to deliver on it (staff written content, contributed content, or a mix?). I am talking about knowing the values and priorities of the editor you are approaching.

For example, I don’t accept contributed articles submitted through PR intermediaries. I know these articles are usually not written by the person whose byline they carry but by the person sending the e-mail the article is attached to. Other editors could care less, but it’s an absolute no-go for me. To other editors, you’ve just given them a decent two-page story to fill a hole in their upcoming issue FOR FREE, and they love you for it. That’s fine, I’m not judging anyone. That’s just not the way I work, and you should know that before you reach out.

There is one pitch that will work on me every time, and it goes something like this: “Hi Anthony, this is so and so from so and so PR, our client has just sold their system into hospital X and the CIO would be very happy to talk with you about it.” Done, set it up. You can even sit in on the call if that would be fun for you.

Actually, listening to the interview is a good idea. The sources in this industry are lifers, the best journalists are lifers too, so why would it be any different on the PR side? If everyone you deal with lives, eats and breathes healthcare IT, how much tolerance can there be for someone who, “just works here”? Sitting in on an interview can be a great way to learn the subject matter, as long as you don’t break one very important rule (see #2 below).

The point is that each editor requires a different pitch and some are more finicky than others. Before you pick up the phone, before you start pounding on that keyboard, be sure to know thy audience.

PS: As an added bonus, enjoy the following tongue-in-cheek Top 10 list. (I’ll expand on some of these in upcoming posts):

10. Approach multiple editors on staff independently with the same pitch, hoping you’ll get lucky with one.

9. Put out a release announcing that a person or group you represent is “applauding” another person or group.

8. Overdo the pleasantries if I accidentally answer my phone.

7. Address an e-mail to me as, “Dear Andrew,” or worse, “Dear Tony.”

6. Attempt to get free market research from me by “picking my brain for a few minutes.”

5. Ask if you can, “See a copy of the article before it’s published.”

4. After I’ve asked an interviewee for their contact information, interject with, “You can go through me!”

3. Call me to “follow-up on an e-mail you just sent.”

2. Answer a question while chaperoning an interview.

1. Casually mention that you are an advertiser during a pitch.