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Zynx Healthcare Taps Amendola for Public Relations, Content Creation and Marketing Strategy

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Scottsdale, Ariz. March 15, 2017 Amendola Communications, an award-winning healthcare marketing and public relations agency, announced today that Zynx Health, a market leader in providing evidence- and experience-based clinical improvement solutions and part of the Hearst Network, has selected Amendola Communications as its agency of record. Amendola will provide a broad range of public relations and content services that promote Zynx Health as a pioneer and innovator in the delivery of clinical solutions that improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare.

“The Amendola team has impressed us with their in-depth knowledge of the healthcare IT space, as well as their commitment to going that extra mile to meet our needs, such as helping to secure a recent interview with the industry-leading blog, HIStalk,” said Kevin Daly, president of Zynx Health. “Not only has Amendola represented Zynx Health before but one of our executive management team members has worked with Amendola at two companies with stellar results. We are confident that they are the right partner to help us create excellent content and achieve our PR goals as we launch new solutions into the marketplace.”

Amendola Communications will provide broad public relations and marketing services, including media research, media and analyst relations, and the generation of top-tier awards and speaking opportunities. The agency will also be responsible for delivering a range of content demonstrating the thought leadership and expertise of Zynx Health’s subject matter experts, including bylined articles, blog posts, press releases and other materials.

“Zynx is a KLAS-recognized leader in healthcare IT based on their long history of delivering evidence-based clinical decision support solutions that improve patient safety and the delivery of quality care,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “We’ve worked with Zynx in the past and we look forward to promoting its new leadership team as thought leaders/visionaries as the company continues to enhance and expand its portfolio of solutions that help reduce variations in clinical care, financial performance, and clinician documentation.”

Zynx Health was founded around a mission to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare. For more than 20 years, Zynx Health has empowered thousands of healthcare organizations and clinicians to align their clinical decision support, strategies, and workflows around the standardization and infusion of evidence-based vital information and experience-based best practices. Over the years, Zynx Health has earned numerous awards for its products and was recently named the 2017 KLAS Category Leader for Clinical Decision Support Order Sets.

About Zynx Health
Zynx Health, part of the Hearst Health network, provides healthcare professionals with vital information and processes that guide care decisions and reduce complexity across the entire patient journey in a way that leads to healthier lives for all. Zynx is a pioneer and market leader in evidence- and experience-based clinical solutions that help health systems improve patient outcomes, financial outcomes, clinical engagement and technology performance. With Zynx Health, healthcare organizations exceed industry demands for delivering high-quality care at lower costs under value-based reimbursement models. To learn more, visit zynxhealth.com or call 855.367.ZYNX.

About Hearst Health
The Hearst Health network includes FDB (First Databank), Zynx Health, MCG, Homecare Homebase, MedHOK, Hearst Health International, Hearst Health Ventures and the Hearst Health Innovation Lab (www.hearsthealth.com). The mission of Hearst Health is to help guide the most important care moments by delivering vital information into the hands of everyone who touches a person’s health journey. Each year in the U.S., care guidance from the Hearst Health network reaches 84 percent of discharged patients, 177 million insured individuals, 60 million home health visits, and 3.1 billion dispensed prescriptions.

About Amendola Communications
Amendola Communications is an award-winning national public relations, marketing communications, social media and content marketing firm. Named one of the best information technology (IT) PR firms in the nation four times by PRSourceCode, Amendola represents some of the best-known brands and groundbreaking startups in the healthcare and HIT industries. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros delivers strategic guidance and effective solutions to help organizations boost their reputation and drive market share. For more information about the PR industry’s “A Team,” visit www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow Amendola on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contact: Michelle Ronan Noteboom | 512,426.2870| mnoteboom@acmarketingpr.com

In content marketing, there's always an "and then."

Content Marketing: Remember to Ask “And Then?”

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One of the most important questions a content marketing team can ask when charged with developing a new press release/blog post/case study/white paper/video/etc. doesn’t come from a marketing textbook or TED talk. It actually comes from the lowbrow movie “Dude, Where’s My Car?”

At one point the two not-so-bright main characters (played to perfection by Ashton Kutcher and Sean William Scott) pull up to the drive-through speaker at a Chinese restaurant to place an order. Each time Ashton Kutcher says what they want, the voice on the other end asks a simple question: “And then?” Even after he tells her they’re done ordering, which leads to a very funny scene.

When you think about it, though, there’s a lot of beauty and wisdom in that simple question for marketers. Often when there’s a new development or new idea to convey we get caught up in thinking about what’s needed immediately.

We say “we need a press release on such-and-such a topic” and we spring into action. A message is developed, subject matter experts interviewed, the release is written and revised, the pitching plan is developed and so forth until finally the release sees the light of day and maybe generates some interviews.

Yet considerably less time is spent answering the question “and then?” As in “what happens after the target audience reads the press release?”

Is there a landing page to refer them to? If so, what’s on it? If they’re really interested in the new product or service is there a way for them to gather more information about it, such as a data sheet, video, blog post, white paper or other piece of additional content to keep them interested and moving toward the narrower end of the sale funnel?

The thing to consider is that the period of active promotion around a press release, or any new piece of content for that matter, tends to last for just a few days. Then you’re on to something else. But the period after the initial release is infinite. If there isn’t somewhere else for your target audience to go, or something else for them to do after consuming the content, you’re losing opportunities.

Here are some of the content marketing best practices for ensuring you’re maximizing the value of everything you’ve worked so hard to produce.

Provide a destination
Think from the prospect’s point of view. I’ve consumed whatever content was produced. I’m intrigued by what you’re saying, although I still have questions. But I’m not quite ready to speak to a salesperson. How do I get my answers? This concept is particularly important given studies that show that 60 percent of the purchasing decision is already made before any conversations with a supplier take place.

For general topics you may just want to point prospects to the appropriate page on your website. You can do that through links embedded in the text, or with a more obvious call to action such as “For more details on”

For more significant topics such as a new product/service, you may want to create a specific landing page that offers more detailed information.

And then?

Create content in different forms
Often landing pages offer up content in one form usually more text, either on the page or offered as a download. If that’s what you’re doing you’re again limiting your own effectiveness.

Keep in mind that some people prefer to read more formal presentations of information while others like the easy accessibility of a blog post. Then there are those who like FAQs, or prefer video over any sort of reading. Having options that present the same information in different ways helps you avoid losing any part of your audience.

And then?

Use gated content
Most healthcare and health IT products/services aren’t purchased directly from a website like a retail transaction. They require interaction between the prospect and someone on your team. A good way to move that along a little faster is to use high-value, gated content such as a white paper or executive summary to entice the prospect to let you know they’re interested by giving you their contact information.

When you get to this point, of course, determining whether to provide the information is a big decision. The best thing you can do is keep the amount of information you’re asking for to a minimum. If you can limit it to the person’s name, job title, company and email address you’ll find you capture far more prospects than you will with a lengthy qualifying questionnaire.

As long as prospects believe what they’ll be getting from you is of greater value than what they’ll be giving to you, they’ll be willing to make the trade.

And then?

Incorporate lead nurturing
If you’re lucky, once they go through the gated content they’ll have a high level of interest and are ready to buy. More often than not in the real world, however, there’s still work to be done.

That’s where an email-based lead nurturing campaign comes in. (Also the reason you want to capture that email address in the first place.) Think through the sales process what messages people need to see at which points in the sales cycle in order to nudge them forward. Then develop a series of emails to provide that nudge.

One thing to keep in mind is don’t automatically start the program at communication #1. Determine as best you can, either by their messages to you or their interactions with your content, where they are and pick up from there.

It’s kind of like calling plays in football. You don’t want to try to score the touchdown on the first play every time. Work the ball down the field in increments and you’ll find it’s easier to score more consistently.

And then?

Look for holes
You may think you’ve thought of everything. But if the program is consistently breaking down at some point (meaning you’re losing prospects or sales) it’s time to determine why and fill in any gaps that lead to disengagement. There’s always something to tweak.

And then?

There really isn’t much of an “and then?” after that. You will have done all you can do.

Clearly, not every announcement or piece of content will require all these steps. But use this as a guide to determine which steps it needs.

The most important thing is to cover all the bases that need it. Otherwise you may find yourself wandering around in daze, wondering “Dude, where’s my sales?”

Clarify Health Solutions Selects Amendola Communications for Public Relations and Content Creation

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., February 14, 2017 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and healthcare IT public relations and marketing agency, is pleased to announce that it has been selected as the agency of record for Clarify Health Solutions. Amendola will utilize a broad range of public relations and content services to promote Clarify Health’s belief that real-time care guidance powered by predictive analytics can orchestrate the far better healthcare journeys that we all deserve.

“Clarify Health’s mission is to improve healthcare and make a meaningful impact through our unique real-time care traffic control system,” said Jean Drouin, MD, CEO and co-founder of Clarify Health. “We searched for an agency that would serve as a partner and foster broad awareness and industry connections. Amendola shares our ambitions and has the knowledge and experience to help us reach our goals as we grow.”

Clarify Health has built a breakthrough digital care guidance system that seamlessly integrates powerful analytics, artificial intelligence, real-time patient navigation and smart workflows. Its analytics platform currently processes over 200 million records to illuminate the care and practices of over three million patients and a million physicians. Using AI to surface actionable insights and identify issues before they occur, Clarify supports clinicians and hospitals in delivering more precise and personalized care that is also more affordable. Clarify Health brings together committed and passionate colleagues with backgrounds in big data and AI engineering from financial services together with extensive clinical operations expertise.

Amendola will work with Clarify Health to increase brand awareness and thought leadership by delivering its core value proposition to target audiences, drawing on its deep industry knowledge and significant media relationships in healthcare IT. Amendola will also be responsible for delivering a range of content demonstrating the thought leadership and expertise of Clarify Health’s subject matter experts.

“Value-based care has broad implications for the healthcare industry and creates opportunities for companies that can execute on a vision to improve healthcare delivery,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “Our knowledge of the healthcare IT space and proven track record of elevating clients will be instrumental in helping Clarify Health reach its PR objectives. We are excited to work with their team.”

About Clarify Health
Clarify Health Solutions believes that patients and those who care for them deserve far better care. Clarify Health works to improve the lives of patients and their caregivers by delivering an innovative real-time care guidance platform that enables more satisfying, better outcome, higher value healthcare. The Clarify Health digital platform seamlessly integrates powerful analytics, artificial intelligence, real-time patient navigation and smart workflows to proactively guide patients and their caregivers through personalized care journeys. Providers and payers receive faster, more actionable insights to deliver more delightful care. Clarify Health brings together committed and passionate colleagues with backgrounds in big data and AI engineering from financial services together with extensive clinical operations expertise. For more information, please visit http://www.clarifyhealth.com.
About Amendola Communications
Amendola Communications is an award-winning national public relations, marketing communications, social media and content marketing firm. Named one of the best information technology (IT) PR firms in the nation four times by PRSourceCode, Amendola represents some of the best-known brands and groundbreaking startups in the healthcare and HIT industries. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros delivers strategic guidance and effective solutions to help organizations boost their reputation and drive market share. For more information about the PR industry’s “A Team,” visit www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow Amendola on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Media Contact | Marcia Rhodes | Ph: 480.664.8412, ext. 15 | mrhodes@ACMarketingPR.com

The key to winning PR.

How your PR team can play winning ball like the Cubs

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The Associated Press named the Cubs winning the World Series as the top sports story of 2016. Aside from the fact that Captain Obvious must have been moonlighting for the AP sports department this year, there are two critical lessons that PR strategists can take from the Cubs championship season to play winning PR.

Winning PR is about setting a good plan, sticking to it, and making adjustments when needed.

The author (right) with his son Jeff outside Wrigley Field before Game 5 of the 2016 World Series. Cubs were down 3-1 at this point but came back to win the Series 4-3. They had a plan, and stuck to it.

Have a plan and stick to it
When Theo Epstein became President of the Cubs, he was upfront with the fans. He said he had a plan but the fans would have to be patient. He was confident it would work. For fans (like me) of a team that at the time had gone more than a century since last winning the World Series, that was a big ask.

But Theo stuck to his plan, as he sought to build a “foundation of sustained success.” He focused on building the pillars for future long-term success around younger players the team could develop in their own image, such as Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, and Javier Baez.

A team built with the compass of a guiding philosophy that everyone buys into has a much greater likelihood of winning the World Series. And so it is in PR.

In the haste to generate immediate leads for the sales team, a PR plan is slapped together with lofty and often unachievable short-term goals Page 1 story in the Wall Street Journal, interviews on CNBC or Fox Business News, feature in the New York Times. But without first building the PR plan basics and getting everyone on the team to buy into the goals, those lofty aspirations will remain out of reach, especially if you are starting from a position far back in the standings of your industry.

Basically, you’re trying to hit an 8-run homer to take the lead when you are behind 7-0 in the first inning, instead of think about how to move runners from base to base within your integrated marketing plan to put (and keep the) pressure on to take the lead in your market.

Instead of swinging for the PR fences, start first by looking to hit some singles and doubles. Understand your priorities, where your fans (your prospects and customers) are, what challenges they have, what will interest them. Then build a strong content lineup that gets and keeps them circling the basepaths with you as they tap into your bench for your depth of industry knowledge as they make their purchasing decisions. That’s a proven winning PR strategy.

BUT Adjust on the fly
The Cubs went through some tough times during Theo Epstein’s early years running the club. They lost 101, 96 and 89 games his first three years, as the team looked to unload the bad attitudes, the bad contracts and the bad fundamentals that had jinxed the team for decades. They were progressing, albeit slowly, and adjusting ever so slightly on the fly only when it made sense.

Then Joe Maddon became available to manage the team. Maddon was a proven winner who worked with young players throughout his tenure in Tampa Bay, making repeat trips to the playoffs against much bigger-market teams with much larger payrolls, so the Cubs jumped at the chance to bring him in.

They also added several playoff-proven veteran pitchers, even though their plan focused initially on young hitters. The time was right to go for it all. They were winning, but they adjusted on the fly and got even better.

That’s what your PR team needs to do as well. There will be a lot of swings and plenty of misses as you look to see what scores with your prospects, but once you start making contact with the ball look to adjust the program to get even better. The unique buying personas who may be interested in your solutions may not swing at a webinar, but they may subscribe to your blog or pay attention to a particularly insightful infographic.

Then start going for extra bases with more exclusive, deeply researched thought leadership pieces placed in major healthcare industry trade publications, or white papers distributed as part of an integrated digital marketing campaign. You may want to build on your winning streak with videos or a serial ebook that takes those leads being generated and keeps them coming back for more and more compelling content.

Keep adding to your PR program based on what’s working, and don’t be afraid to trade off something that isn’t working for something new.

Extra Innings
With PR, like any sport, practice makes perfect. But along the ways, bad things can and will happen. Your executive team can lose a key player, your organization may face a communications crisis due to a disgruntled ex-employee or dissatisfied customer, or an industry analyst may criticize your solutions.

Bad things happened to the Cubs, too, late in the game against the Indians. The Cleveland team came from behind to tie the score, sending the game into the 10th inning tied.
That’s when the most disappointing player on the Cubs, Jason Heyward, stepped up during a rain delay and reminded his team how good they were, that they were ready for what happened to them. And that they could win. And they did. The World Series. In my lifetime. I can die a happy man.

By building your PR plan to be fundamentally strong, by not being afraid to try different things to see what works, by leveraging the depth of knowledge on your bench to create strong, compelling content you too can be World Champions, in PR.

There are many good PR and marketing reasons to write books

Don’t Judge a Book by Its Sales: Tips for turning your book into a relationship magnet

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Why should you write a book? Most busy tech executives have a hundred good reasons why they can’t spare the time for books. Their PR advisers may be tempted to concur since PR performance is judged largely on the quantity of placements secured. After all, why spend months writing one 80,000-word book when you could write 100 800-word articles for a variety of online publications?

Yet a book’s value exceeds that of even dozens of articles. With a book, you can dive into your topic in much more detail than you ever could with online content. Sure, it might not sell but sales aren’t the point: books are tools for establishing you and your company as thought leaders. They’re magnets for relationship building. An expert who is confident and knowledgeable enough to set her expertise in stone with a book will win instant credibility in the eyes of potential partners, clients and customers.

Books also achieve a few very important goals in PR:

  • Books are assets that you can share with brand advocates, customers, prospects, investors, and industry stakeholders.
  • Books can attract other opportunities to you and your company. Conference organizers, for instance, are much more likely to give a keynote to the author of a respected book even if it doesn’t sell well than to a book-less competitor.
  • A book can build trust by positioning your company as having a knowledge-based environment, rather than one focused on sales alone.

The key to making the most of a book is good promotion. At Amendola, while we don’t specialize in book promotion, we’ve learned over the years how to augment the distribution and promotion efforts of book publishers to drive PR value.

Below is a sampling of the tactics we use in helping our clients draw attention to their books and leverage them for relationship building:

  • Send the book to key journalists and bloggers and request a book review (ideally) as well as offering the author for an interview on the book’s topic
  • Pitch the author as an expert on the topic, with the book as proof of their expertise. Broadcast media love interviewing authors with new ideas.
  • Do a Google Hangout with the author to promote the book
  • Run a Tweetchat with the author leveraging a major partner hashtag to drive attendance
  • Turn the book chapters into a webinar series, with each chapter or section a separate webinar. Give the book away as enticement to register for the webinar.
  • Turn the book into blog posts: one for each chapter or section, and link to the book at the end of each post
  • Arm all salespeople with several hard-copy versions of the book as leave-behinds, or use book giveaways to drive a Salesforce email campaign to prospects in their territories
  • Hand out the book at all events where you exhibit, as well as at your end-user conference
  • Email the book to attendees at webinars, trade shows or seminars as a follow-up
  • Write a LinkedIn status update about the book and post a link to it in groups where prospects congregate.
  • Pull out keys facts or items of interest from the book and tweet those on Twitter with a link to the book and a popular related hashtag
  • Include the book in your email signature, with a link to download it for free.

If this short list helps convince you to write a book, give us a shout. We can help.

Start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start

5 Keys to Building a Brand

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Clients have high hopes when they first engage a public relations firm. Building a brand will mean interviews with the Wall Street Journal! Blogs that go viral on Facebook and Twitter! Appearances on CNN! And well they should. After all, clients are paying good money for marketing and PR services, and they should get results.

But unfortunately, what many companies either young startups or more mature companies hitting an inflection point such as an acquisition or new product launch DON’T have is a clear message they want to convey. And that is the first building block for any brand.

In fact, we find with many clients, simply launching an intense media relations and content marketing campaign is like starting in the middle of a race when you don’t know the course. Companies will reach that finish line an effective PR strategy sooner if they begin at the starting line with a clear understanding of the race course and where they are going.

Here’s some advice for companies looking to create or hone their messaging for a precision brand-building strategy.

  1. Begin with a brainstorming session

A good PR firm can lead your team in exercises that will help fine-tune your messages for each product and for each audience you hope to target. This could include efforts to name a new product or to determine which concepts resonate with consumers versus potential investors and/or partners. We find that at some companies there may be a significant gap between the messages the CEO wants to convey and those advocated by the head of marketing or other important stakeholders. By engaging in a brainstorming session, those differences will be revealed and can be mediated by the PR agency to help guide the team toward the messages that will resonate best in the marketplace and show the company to its best advantage.

  1. Develop messaging documents

An investment of time upfront to create comprehensive messaging documents will save a tremendous amount of time down the road. Individual documents for each product are advisable. These should include a one-sentence descriptor of the product, a list of differentiators, customer pain points and gaps in the market addressed by the product. The product messaging documents should also include relevant context, including the competitive landscape. In addition, companies should develop a few versions of the overall value proposition and mission of the company, geared toward different stakeholders including investors, partners and customers. Developing these messaging documents will likely require interviews of key subject matter experts at the company to make sure they correctly reflect the most current features of the products. These documents could also include a company FAQ to either be posted on the website or used internally. CEOs should sign off on all messaging documents before they are finalized.

  1. Use messaging documents as “already approved content”

Once messaging documents are completed, they can form the basis for content marketing assets including blogs, bylined articles and company whitepapers. While additional input or interviews may be required, this work will be cut down significantly by having agreed-upon messages as a common backbone for all content. This will also streamline approvals for each new piece of content and preempt messaging differences among team members since all stakeholders have already agreed upon the key messages.

  1. Use messaging documents for media interview prep

The appropriate product messaging document, the overarching company messaging asset and the FAQ can all form the basis of media interview prep for CEOs or other company spokespeople. Your PR agency can come up a list of targeted talking points and sample questions based on the outlet, audience and angle the reporter is pursuing. But ultimately, every interview should circle back to the company’s core messages which are contained in the documents. Using the messaging documents as “lane bumpers”, as in bowling, will prevent a passionate CEO from running afoul of investors, partners or customers by veering off-message. Combining a message development program with media training, which high-quality PR firms should provide, is the best way to ensure that CEOs and other spokespeople take the best advantage of every media interview opportunity.

  1. Periodically update the messaging

A common challenge in developing consistent messaging for clients is when a member of the team, often the CEO, is out a step (or two, or five) ahead of the company’s current capabilities, size or product development status. Visionary CEOs are a tremendous asset for companies seeking to advance their brands, but risks abound if the CEO promises things the company can’t deliver. One way to overcome this obstacle is to commit to messaging as a dynamic process and not a static set of documents. A quarterly review to sync up messages to goals achieved is a great way to make sure that customers, partners, investors and the public are continuously reminded of the company’s forward march. Companies may also want to consider adding a “future goals” messaging document which can be added to as goals are achieved and moved into “current messaging” status.

Start at the very beginning”¦

It’s a very good place to start, as Julie Andrews sang in The Sound of Music. And it’s great advice for companies who are newly engaged in building a brand. Your PR firm will start by making sure everyone is on the same page regarding the company’s key messages. Then they’ll get it in writing via messaging documents you can leverage again and again to develop a consistent, memorable brand for your company. Even if your company is well-established, your key messages may need a refresh to help take the company to the next level in its maturity.

Great case studies start with great stories.

A Case Study on How to Get More Case Studies

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They’re effective, trustworthy, and prospects actually read them–but marketers can encounter surprising resistance in securing case studies from their customers. Here’s how to overcome the three most common challenges standing in the way of compiling a great collection of customer success stories.

CHALLENGE #1: Your company’s sales reps keep blowing off your requests to schedule case study interviews with customers. And much to your irritation, you’re starting to sense they don’t want the PR or Marketing teams anywhere near their accounts. What gives?

I put this problem first because it’s more common than many marketers realize. Salespeople are indeed protective of their painfully won customer relationships  and live in fear that marketing will do something to screw them up. So, they put you off with different excuses. The customer’s still having some issues with the product they’ve only recently signed up they’re on the verge of buying an additional solution/service that will make for a better case study you get the idea. You’re going to have to walk over the sales rep’s dead body to get to their customer.

Solution: First, keep in mind that these excuses may very well be legitimate concerns, although if there aren’t any good results to report within a few months of implementation, your company could have a larger challenge to address. As for the fairly new account, almost an entire case study can be written that focuses on what led the customer to your company in the first place, why the customer ultimately chose your company over the competition and the solution itself.

So all that said, how do you deal with the sales person who won’t budge? What else: a bribe. These people, even more than most, are driven by rewards so be sure to make this a contest that everyone can win. The reward for securing a case study can be anything from a gift certificate for a hot new restaurant to cold hard cash. I recommend the latter. A generous amount of it. A good customer case study can deliver priceless returns to your marketing, public relations and sales programs.

Even better, make it an ongoing program with new and increasingly desirable rewards for each subsequent case study agreement secured. Any investment you make in prizes will be more than worth it if you end up with an impressive library of case studies.

You will, of course, need to assure sales that you won’t ruin their customer relationships. I try to handle most of the case studies I write like this: send a questionnaire to the salesperson or account manager so he/she knows what questions I’ll be asking the client; have an initial call with the salesperson to get background; then invite the salesperson to be a part of the client phone conversation. I know firsthand these steps go a long way in showing the sales rep that the customer will be treated in a professional, respectful manner. Getting both the salesperson and client’s perspectives also makes for a more layered, contextual customer success story.

CHALLENGE #2: Your customers state that proprietary reasons prevent them from participating in a case study.

This one comes up a lot for companies that sell to notoriously secretive government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. And candidly, it’s the toughest nut to crack. Not even a juicy bribe, like a discount for add-ons or at contract renewal time, will always persuade the customer to agree to a case study  although I have seen this tactic work before.

But in my experience, more than anything it requires a solid working relationship between people in your company and the customer’s.

Solution: Time and again, your company has gone beyond the call of duty for this client and you’re fairly certain there’s considerable gratitude and appreciation for it. Well, now it’s payback time. Don’t be afraid to remind the customer of all that’s been done but in a way that makes the customer see the value in publicizing it.

Have the person who’s the most “in” with your customer do the asking, something along the lines of, This partnership has really solved some persistent challenges for your target market particularly when we solved problem a, b, c, etc. I think more widely promoting this breakthrough to others struggling with the same problems could make a big impact. Can we collaborate on a case study together? We have very skilled writers on hand to craft it, and of course, you’d have final editorial approval.”

Important note: This conversation should also present the case study as a marketing or public relations asset for the customer, not just for your company. Which, by the way, is exactly what a well-written customer success story should be about: how the customer is doing great things for their customers with your product. In short, it should be the customer’s story  always.

If they still won’t do it, then ask if you can write a case study without using the company’s name or other obvious identifiers. By now, they may be feeling guilty enough about saying no that they’ll agree to an interview under this caveat.

No, it’s not as desirable as using the actual customer’s name, but a deftly written case study can overcome this limitation.

And you can add some credibility back in by noting at the top of the case study that it’s about a real customer experience, with the customer’s name omitted for proprietary reasons. And do show it to the customer one more time if it’s well-written, they may like it so much they’ll agree to put their name on it after all!

CHALLENGE #3: Your company or product is new and you don’t have customers yet to agree to a case study.

This seems like the most impossible scenario of all, but it’s actually the easiest to get around!

Solution: Do what a mid-sized client of mine from my past life as a freelancer did with a new line of handheld scanners: create a series of “industry use studies”. In this type of case study, you have zero restrictions on how your product or service performs, as you get to make up whatever setting you want it to perform in for example, how your software saves time, money and patient lives in a community hospital. Or a large health system. Or a skilled nursing facility. It’s your story, and you get to create every detail of the plot, including your ideal setting.

Important caveat: Just be sure the plot is indistinguishable from your target prospect’s real world. And I trust you’ll avoid the credibility-ruining temptation to claim outrageous results, like a zillion dollars in new revenue generated within the first week of implementation!

Worried that a use study won’t be as effective as a case study based on an existing customer? Consider this if your prospects already know your solution doesn’t have customers yet, and they’re still communicating with you, a use study that depicts the solution in a setting much like the one they work in everyday can only proves that you “get” what they do and need.

Of course, if you have case studies about other products in your portfolio to share, all the better. To get more of those, refer back to Challenges #1 and #2.

Lastly, be sure to check out my colleague Matt Schlossberg’s post on how to prime your customers to participate in your public relations efforts. He’s got some great strategies, as well, to make the most of your most important asset your customer.

Determining whether to hire a PR agency starts with asking the right questions.

Checklist: 10 Questions to Determine if the Timing Is Right to Hire A PR Agency

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Like so many companies, you want to promote your company brand and unique value proposition far and wide. But convincing others to pull the trigger on hiring a PR agency is proving to take more time than you anticipated. Or, perhaps you’re the one who isn’t sold yet on bringing in agency expertise. It’s a big decision, no doubt in some ways, as important as choosing a spouse! But there’s also one surefire way to assess if you should hire an agency: Is the timing right?

With 25 years of experience in PR, including owning the fastest-growing agency in healthcare technology, I can help you sort it out. The first step is to determine what your goals are. Why do you want to be front and center in the news? Reasons can vary some of our clients want to stand out clearly from the competition; others want to gain a share of voice on industry trends, and still others want to position their company for a strategic acquisition or IPO.

Once you’ve identified why you want to effectively and consistently promote your company, products, services and thought leaders, then you can move on to 10 key questions to help you make a decision about hiring a PR agency now or in the future. The questions fall under five categories and your answers will give you an honest assessment about whether or not you need a PR agency at your side.

STRATEGY:

#1 Do you have a precise understanding of your target audiences and which media outlets they are mostly likely to engage with? Are you reaching them now or do you need to?

#2 In the event of an unexpected challenge from a competitor/member of the media/credible industry insider, do you have sufficient resources readily available for a rapid response?

#3 In the event of a crisis, do you have the right PR resources in place to quickly gain control of the public dialogue?

MEDIA RELATIONS:

#4 Are you successfully cultivating and maintaining media relationships with key influencers in your space? Are you sending them interesting pitches based on their beats to secure ink for you and your clients?

#5 Are you reaching out to the right media outlets? Every day I hear from prospects that they want to be in the NY Times or the Wall Street Journal but are those the outlets your buyers are reading like the niche pubs in your own office lobby, or the ones they hand out at targeted key trade shows?

CONTENT MARKETING:

#6 Are you creating and distributing enough information to educate today’s information-driven buyers at every step of the buying process? Establishing your educational/thought leadership position through each phase is often critical when it comes time to making purchasing decisions.

#7 Are you getting your thought leaders’ messages out to your targeted markets and media outlets?

SOCIAL MEDIA:

#8 Do you have an effective social media strategy in place that is getting you noticed and talked about by industry/digital influencers?

ANALYST RELATIONS:

#9 Are you getting cited in the most widely read industry reports where your competitors are?

INDUSTRY RECOGNITION:

#10 Do we receive the recognition we deserve through different awards, speaking opportunities and trade show presentations?

Now, time to assess the results. If your answers have left you feeling somewhat alarmed about your own company’s “PR readiness,” don’t worry help is just a free consultation away. And now that you know where you’re particularly vulnerable, you can have this consultation tailored to your most pressing needs. We’re here to help you make an informed decision!

Champing at the Bit over the Correct Use of Idioms: Its Just Good PR

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All languages employ idioms, or phrases that have a figurative meaning that goes beyond the literal use of the words and English is no different. In fact, the English language includes an estimated 25,000 idiomatic expressions such as “breath of fresh air” and “clean bill of health.”

We commonly use idioms in business and in marketing and public relations to emphasize a point or make it more memorable. Unfortunately, many idioms are often misused. So much so, that the incorrect usage of idioms in some cases has become more common than the correct use. As we know, though, impressions are everything when it comes to PR, so it’s important to get it right.

Here’s a refresher on commonly used and misused idioms that tend to come up frequently in PR:

  • Flesh out that idea or proposal, don’t flush it out. When you flesh something out, you’re giving it more substance and building out the details. Flushing out refers to clearing something out like a sewer line or getting it out of hiding.
  • Home in on your key messages, don’t hone in on them. To home in on something is to zero in on it, as a missile homes in on a target. Hone (which shouldn’t be used with in, in this way) means to sharpen. So you home in on your key messages, and then you hone them until they are razor sharp.
  • You’re champing at the bit to get started on a project, not chomping. If you’re eager to get a new initiative going, you’re champing at the bit as a horse does when anxious to start a race. Although horses also chomp, or chew noisily, they do so when eating not when anticipating something. (Note: This is one of those idiomatic expressions that is so commonly misused, some dictionaries include both versions of the expression. But the Associated Press Stylebook, the go-to style guide for major media outlets, has spoken and AP still prefers the original usage of “champing.”)
  • It’s for all intents and purposes, not for all intensive purposes. For all intents and purposes means “in effect,” or “practically speaking”: “For all intents and purposes, we have completed our crisis communication plan.” All intensive purposes is a misuse of the original phrase, which comes from British legal terminology originating in the 1500s.

As with “for all intents and purposes,” a number of idioms have “eggcorns,” which means a similar-sounding word or words are substituted for the original due to mishearing or misinterpreting the correct term. The word eggcorn is thought to be a playful descriptor based on a theoretical mishearing of the word “acorn.”

Since eggcorns most often occur with homophones, or words that sound the same to the ear, these idiomatic faux pas occur most frequently when writing a phrase after hearing it spoken.

Here are a few common eggcorns to keep in mind:

  • You toe the line, you don’t tow it. Toeing the line means you conform; you do what you’re expected to do and follow the rules. This phrase comes from racers placing their toes at a start line before a race. You can use a line or cable to help tow something such as a boat, but the line does the towing not vice versa.
  • You give people free rein, not free reign. When you give others free rein as you might with a horse you give them the freedom to do what they want. Reign refers to the act of a monarch ruling a nation or territory.
  • When someone is strongly favored in a competition, he or she is a shoo-in not a shoe-in. This is another idiom related to horses  are you sensing a pattern? If you think about “shooing” a fly, it’s moving in the direction you want it to. The same is the case with the horse/candidate/whomever you want to win some kind of race supporters cheer the candidate on, shooing him or her towards victory.
  • A creative idea piques your interest, it doesn’t peak it. If your interest is piqued, you are excited or curious about something. Peak refers to a pointed end or a hilltop or mountaintop.
  • It’s per se, not per say. Per se is Latin for “by itself”: “The correct use of idioms doesn’t make you a genius, per se, but it’s a point in your favor.” It’s surprising how often the incorrect “per say” appears in writing, and from some super-smart people. Likely a case of the error being repeated so often, it starts to look correct.
  • You wait with bated breath, not baited breath. The adjective bated means “with great suspense,” and this phrase refers to waiting for something anxiously or excitedly. When something is baited, on the other hand, a predator is attempting to lure its prey.

So now that we’ve homed in on the most common incorrect usage of idioms, I know you’re champing at the bit to toe the line when it comes to proper usage. (Yes, I had to do it.)