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[Your Business Name] – Powered by Communication

10 Things Your Publicist Would Do if S/he Ran Your Company

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All of the below suggestions are offered by experienced publicists in the B2B arena, including myself and several colleagues at Amendola Communications. While we fully get that a public relations program is just one of many important contributions to creating a successful company along with a whip smart product development team, a terrific product, turbo-charged salespeople, and savvy marketing, to name a few each one of our recommendations below helps fuel these crucial moving parts even more. So here is what we’d prioritize if we had a few months in the driver’s seat

Item #1: Create a customer success library and keep it continuously restocked. Nothing will give you more credibility with prospects, investors, your own employees, and of course, the media, than the testimonials of thrilled customers. So as an established company with a solid customer roster of your own, why don’t you have more of these stories to broadcast to the world?

Most likely, it’s one of two primary reasons. Either your employees are too nervous to ask customers to participate in a case study, or there’s no real process in place to develop these strategic assets. And it does take a process. The next few items delve a little deeper into both of these challenges.

Item #2: Incentivize your employees to get customer success stories. Here’s the deal. The main reason employees aren’t going after customer success stories is out of fear that the customer will decline to participate. The product’s not fully in use yet they’ve run into some issues you get the idea. There is always a seemingly legitimate reason for putting off the request.

But what if getting customer success stories was part of the job description? And what if the pressure to obtain them was considerably lightened with the right tools and handsome bonuses?

One of our own most successful clients has made obtaining customer success stories part of the company’s official bonus structure. At last count, this client had more than 170 customer success stories! Money is a great motivator, people. We know this.

But money alone isn’t enough to create outstanding, detailed customer success stories

Item #3: Formalize and launch a customer adoption program. All good success stories have tangible results to report. And a customer adoption program is a terrific opportunity to establish with your customer what the metrics for success will be. From there, you can organize your efforts around seeing that the customer fully and productively adopts the appropriate components of your product to reach these targets. Typically these efforts include regular communication, benchmark reporting, and always available support. In person, on the phone, via email a combination of all three will be part of most top tier customer adoption programs.

And within a relatively short period of time, you should be able to have some successful results to report in a customer story. Oh, and couple of other significant benefits like increased customer satisfaction and retention.

Item #4: Create a “Customer Reference program.” My colleague Stacy State, a senior account director at Amendola, further advises making best use of customer testimonials by creating a spreadsheet or other document that houses:

  • Clients who can provide quotes (organized based on product/location/benefit/challenge solved)
  • Clients willing to be references (organized based on location, product/s, account manager, etc.)
  • Clients who are willing to speak at trade shows and who will have the necessary presenting skills to do so
  • Clients who allow onsite interviews of how your solution works in their setting

Item #5: Have talented storytellers on hand. Whether they reside in your in-house PR and marketing teams or with your agency partner, it’s essential that you are telling your product, company or customer story in human, attention-seizing terms. Identify and utilize those people who will be fearless at doing just that a surprisingly rare resource, by the way. Many people are intimidated by writing for corporate/business needs, and inevitably revert to “safe” corporate-speak and industry jargon.

But please listen to someone who has spent her entire career crafting stories for newspapers, companies, non-profits and others. Nothing will snuff the life out of a good story faster than peppering it with phrases like “ensure” and “going forward” and “operational efficiency.” So don’t do it! Invest in great writing. It will pay off for you, I promise.

Item #6: Develop a stable of charismatic thought leaders. There are some solid benefits to doing so. According to another colleague, Amendola senior account director Michelle Noteboom, “Once executives have established themselves as credible industry experts, media outlets will seek their opinions and be more receptive to covering company news.”

To make sure no single thought leader is stretched too thin, you’ll want to cultivate multiple spokespeople within your organization. But please don’t base this on their expertise alone. An effective thought leader is personable, warm, as good of a listener as he or she is a speaker, is eager to share knowledge, willing to participate in media training, and of course, is quickly responsive.

You can start cultivating potential thought leaders early on. My colleague and senior account director Philip Anast recommends: “Include external communications in an executive’s performance requirements, i.e. actually making it part of one’s job requirements to make oneself available for media interviews and garner media coverage.”

Item #7: Stop putting social media on the backburner. This recommendation comes courtesy of Amendola social media guru, Margaret Kelly. “In this day and age, don’t underestimate the impact of reaching clients in 280 characters with a clever phrase or video. The trick is to know your audience and social platforms. Messages on LinkedIn, where you’re likely to already be connected to C-suite members of other companies, may have more impact than messages on other platforms. If you’re trying to put sales in your pipeline, for example, LinkedIn is the best platform to engage your decision-makers,” Margaret observes.

No matter your platform, a social media program must be consistent to be successful. You can’t just flirt with social media it’s either all the way or not at all. But it takes time to see results. Viral sensations are usually the umpteenth attempt not the first, second, or even 50th.

Item #8: Break down the barriers between executives and the rest of us. Personally, I see a flatter hierarchy as the future of corporate business, but there will always be identified leaders within an organization. They need not be walled off as if their work is top secret. Account director and Amendola colleague Brandon Glenn has a great suggestion here.

“Conduct quarterly executive Q&As with employees. My old company used to do this every time quarterly earnings were released because we were public, but this could apply to any company. The idea is the executives get up in front of the company, deliver some prepared remarks about how things are going with the company financially, key business highlights, what was good about the last quarter, what they’re looking forward to in the next quarter, and so on. After, it’s opened up for employee questions, which can be asked live verbally or pre-submitted in written form,” Brandon explains.

Depending on the size of your company, consider also making everyone’s weekly work schedule transparent. Here at the agency we share our weekly projects on a common online document. It gives us all a sense of what our coworkers are working on, and is just a more helpful way to organize and be accountable for how we spend our time.

Item #9: Break down the barriers between sales and PR. Even quarterly meetings between sales and PR can make a big difference in the substance and quality of your PR messaging. My colleague Philip Anast notes, “Salespeople especially can give invaluable information to PR. They’re on the front lines of prospect interaction, so can bring a lot of the industry challenges to the fore, providing good fodder for thought leadership.”

Item #10: Break down the barriers between YOU and PR. Of course, there’s no need to micromanage PR if you have effective people overseeing it. But make time for media training and schedule monthly calls to touch base with your PR team. I’m actually surprised by how many CEOs are removed from their company’s public relations. While this demonstrates two important positives–trust in the people who oversee PR and a willingness to allow others in the organization to develop into thought leaders–a CEO who isn’t engaged in PR much at all can find herself or himself caught flatfooted at the most inopportune times when a good response is essential.

With that, my tenure running your company is over. Which is fine with me, because with these recommendations now in place, I can’t wait to get back to publicizing it!

[Your Business Name] Powered by Communication

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We’ve always heard that communication is key, but in today’s world it’s not only key it can make or break a business.

Nearly every minute of every workday we are communicating whether it’s internally with coworkers or trying to close the next big deal with a business prospect. We now have more communication vehicles than one could imagine. It’s becoming rare that people pick up a phone, much less engage in face-to-face meetings. Rather, most businesses rely on email, social media, media outlets, mobile apps, chat boxes, and texts.

Communication by the Numbers

According to one report, the costs of poor communication has hit $37 billion annually with large organizations (over 100,000 employees) reporting losses in productivity of $62.4 million per year. For a company with fewer than 100 employees, studies show a loss of $420,000 annually due to miscommunications.

Think what your company could achieve with $420,000 more a year.

While communication has always been a challenge for businesses, these astonishing statistics show just how much more an employee is overloaded in today’s workplace.

Every day, 205.6 billion emails are sent; only one-third are opened1
Americans spend 26 minutes a day texting and send 5.3 more texts than phone calls they make2
46% of employees leave a meeting not sure of what they are supposed to do next2
57% of projects fail due to breakdown in communications3
11 hours a week are wasted on poor email communications3

To make matters worse, studies have shown that different generations have different communication preferences. If you’re a millennial, you may be thinking IKR “send me a text, forget emails.” (That’s “I know, right?” for those of you who don’t speak text.) If you’re a baby boomer, you may just want to talk via phone or face-to-face.

So, how can you use the tools and methods available to you to better communication to co-workers and future partners or clients?

How to Succeed at Business Communications

Today everyone is bombarded with messages from social media, emails, and texts. To get the next deal or partnership for your company, it’s important to make every message count. How can you make sure your message is heard above the noise?

To succeed in today’s art of Business Communication, follow these simple steps:

Actively listen and pay attention. Ignore the next email that just came in or the text that just appeared on your phone.
Be empathetic and understanding. Everyone is managing multiple tasks and fires each day. Be aware that people aren’t starting their days from the same place every day.
Assume good intent. Clients and prospects are busy just like you. Most people are focused on getting work done and doing what’s best. A brief response or delayed response does not mean that person is angry or ignoring you they are likely buried in priorities.
Don’t make assumptions. You know what they say when you assume. With much communication happening in writing, it is easy to misread a comma or a text message gone bad.
Be self-aware. Know your own emotions and if you have a reaction that you feel strongly about, double check where you are mentally and what you have going on around you before you respond.
Ask questions. Work under the guidance that there are no dumb questions. If you don’t know what the person is communicating or you are confused, ask for clarification. Asking questions will ensure that you and the other person/s are on the same page.

In summary, communication takes practice. No one will ever get it right all the time. We leave you with these pearls of wisdom.

[1] https://www.bluesource.co.uk/knowledge-hub/20-astonishing-stats-business-communications/
[2] https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/280301
[3] http://blog.twoodo.com/1088/snackable-stats-about-company-communication-and-collaboration-today/

Trade Shows and Events: Four Ways to Improve Your ROI

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Whether you personally believe trade shows are the land of opportunity or merely a relic of a bygone era where primitive being skulked through the aisles without the benefit of a smartphone, there is no question that they are still a fact of life for many of us. In fact, some (such as, oh, I dunno, HIMSS?) are not merely a minor blip on our radars but a huge disruptor to the otherwise semi-orderly flow of our lives.

Trade shows can be a time-sink as well as a budget-sink, so if you’re going to make that type of investment, it’s critically important that you be sure the organization gets something out of it. Something more than “exposure” and free leftover pens, tote bags and the kind of hard candy your grandmother gives you when you come to visit, and that you only eat when there is absolutely no other choice. Love you, grandma!

Toward that end (getting something out of your trade show investment, not getting hard candy), Amendola Communications CEO Jodi Amendola has written a blog post in her role as a member of the Forbes Agency Council. “Trade Show ROI: Four Ways to Make the Most Out of Industry Events” offers some great suggestions for ensuring marketers get a pat on the back rather than a kick in the backside for the results of their organization’s trade show efforts. The four tips include:

  • Ensuring you have a well-honed elevator pitch that carefully walks the line between proper and over-the-top self-promotion
  • Making Twitter your go-to social media platform for engaging other attendees
  • Hosting a reception for clients and prospects
  • Being sure you do something with all those leads you capture

Obviously there’s more to it than just those four bullet points, so it’s well worth giving the post a full read. You can do that here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2019/02/08/trade-show-roi-four-ways-to-make-the-most-out-of-industry-events/#17e432e9174f

Whatever your personal feelings about trade shows, however, they still loom large in many industries – especially healthcare. So if you’re going to do it, do it right.

Take the time to prepare properly, and then maximize your time on the floor – whether you’re in front of the counter or behind it. It will pay off in the end.

DisposeRx Engages Amendola for Strategic PR, Content, Social Media and Marketing Strategy and Services

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Healthcare agency to elevate PR and marketing program for drug disposal company

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., June 11, 2019 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and health IT public relations and marketing firm, announced today that DisposeRx, Inc., has hired the agency to provide strategic PR and marketing services, including media relations, content creation, marketing materials and social media.

DisposeRx, based in Sanford, NC, is committed to the eradication of leftover medications through its innovative, at-home technology. Through its proprietary blend of FDA-approved materials, DisposeRx provides an eco-friendly, site-of-use solution for the disposal of unused medications, meaning a drug can be safely, quickly and efficiently neutralized and disposed of wherever leftover drugs are kept, including the home medicine cabinet. The ability to bring the solution to the problem of leftover medications is especially important for opioids and other prescription drugs, which can lead to accidental poisonings especially in children and to drug diversion, abuse and death.

When water and the DisposeRx powder are added to medications in a pill bottle and shaken, the drugs dissolve and a gel is formed, rendering the medications unavailable and unusable; the contents can then be thrown away in the household trash, reducing diversion, exposure and harm. This is the only site-of-use disposal method that uses a government-approved prescription vial with a child-resistant closure to capture the drugs and is eco-friendly when discarded.

As John Holaday, PhD, chairman, founder and CEO of DisposeRx says: “Because the powder and water are added to the prescription vial itself, as the leftover pills dissolve, they become part of the gel solution.” Compared to current suggested disposal guidelines, DisposeRx’s packets are met with the highest level of customer satisfaction. DisposeRx is available with opioid prescriptions free-of-charge at leading pharmacies across the United States.

Dr. Holaday says he and DisposeRx leadership decided to work with the Amendola team because of their deep expertise and contacts in healthcare, as well as their understanding of the societal significance of DisposeRx as an extremely important disposal mechanism. “As a nation, we are all extremely concerned about the after-effects of prescriptions that are left in medicine cabinets and can be diverted, contributing to the opioid epidemic and other societal and public health problems,” Dr. Holaday said. “Our mission is to educate consumers about the need for proper leftover medication management, and Amendola is our strategic weapon in reaching decision-makers and influencers quickly, as well as helping us accelerate our continued growth. With our efforts and Amendola’s support, we can tackle the major issue of eco-friendly, at-home, site-of-use disposal, and shed light on the tragic consequences of drug diversion and the environmental consequences of improperly disposing of leftover medications.”

Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola, said that the agency is focusing on advancing DisposeRx’s important mission to educate stakeholders such as retail pharmacists, health plans, pharmacy benefit managers and healthcare providers about practical, convenient, cost-effective and safe medication disposal. “Increasing the adoption of DisposeRx packets can decrease the potential misuse of leftover drugs, including accidental poisonings, overdoses and death,” she said. “Our public relations and marketing programs will directly address the question, “What do I do with my unused medications to prevent misuse, while also protecting the environment?'”

Amendola is implementing a comprehensive media relations plan that will include aggressive media relations to showcase the results of DisposeRx’s innovation, partnerships and social responsibility and community involvement. A multi-pronged communications approach will include press releases and media engagement; bylined thought leadership articles; and speaking engagements and awards to position DisposeRx as subject matter experts and thought leaders. In addition, Amendola will manage multi-media, interactive marketing activities to fuel DisposeRx’s adoption and lead generation.

About DisposeRx Packets

DisposeRx packets contain a blend of proprietary solidifying materials that provide an at-home, site-of-use solution for the neutralization and eco-friendly disposal of unused medications. When water and DisposeRx powder are added to drugs in a prescription vial and shaken, the drugs are chemically and physically sequestered in a viscous polymer gel. DisposeRx is made of materials that are FDA approved for oral medications. For more information and to order DisposeRx packets, please visit our website at: https://disposerx.com/

About DisposeRx, Inc.

Located in North Carolina, DisposeRx, Inc. is a drug disposal company with a mission to eradicate the misuse of unused medications through innovative at-home, site-of-use technology. The company is spearheading programs to educate consumers and communities about at-home, site-of-use medication disposal solutions to prevent drug addiction and poisonings, overdoses and deaths. DisposeRx’s easy-to-use disposal solution empowers users to secure a healthier home by facilitating the efficient disposal of unwanted medications.

Media Contact:

Tara Stultz
Amendola Communications
440.225.9595
tstultz@acmarketing.com

Amendola Communications Expands Marketing and Communications Team, Appointing Stacy State as Senior Account Director

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 29, 2019 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and healthcare IT public relations and marketing agency, announced today that Stacy State has joined the team as a senior account director. State will create and manage integrated marketing and communications programs, develop lead-generation initiatives, provide strategic counsel, and tell clients’ stories to targeted audiences by leveraging media relations and influencer relationships and strategies.

Stacy State

State brings nearly 20 years of marketing and product development experience across several healthcare verticals including providers, payers and health IT platform vendors. Having held marketing leadership roles at healthcare companies such as Humana and ZirMed (now Waystar), she has a proven track record of driving growth through lead generation strategies; developing and executing strategic communications and marketing programs; and leveraging PR and innovative digital strategies to transform brands.

“Amendola has a stellar reputation in the industry, and I’m excited to join an award-winning team of healthcare and health IT experts committed to the success and growth of our clients,” State said.

The agency’s CEO Jodi Amendola said clients will benefit from State’s marketing expertise as well as her ability to advance PR strategies to drive tangible business results for healthcare innovators, ranging from start-ups to mid-size and Fortune 100 companies. “Stacy’s deep knowledge of the healthcare industry ecosystem and extensive experience leading marketing strategies will allow her to bring immediate positive results for our clients,” Amendola said.

Prior to Amendola, State held the role of director of marketing for Advantum Health, a billing services company focused on physician and hospital billing. At Advantum, she served on the executive leadership team, creating a new brand for the company and guiding them through three strategic acquisitions.

Before that, State served as the director of enterprise marketing for ZirMed, a revenue cycle management company. State played an integral role in introducing ZirMed to the hospital and health system market and increasing year-over-year revenue bookings by millions of dollars. At Humana, she led initiatives that included new product development, mergers and acquisitions, clinical program communications, and customer messaging and engagement.

State earned her MBA from Indiana University and her bachelor of arts degree in sociology from the University of Kentucky.

Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes
Amendola Communications
480.664.8412 ext. 15
mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com

Air Methods Engages Amendola for Full-Service PR, Content, Marketing & Digital Strategy and Execution

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 7, 2019 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and health IT public relations and marketing agency, has announced it has been selected as the outsourced marketing and PR partner for Air Methods, the leading air medical services provider that delivers lifesaving care to more than 70,000 people every year.

Amendola will elevate Air Methods’ position within the industry through a broad range of integrated PR, media relations, digital marketing, crisis planning, messaging and content development services. Through the engagement, Amendola will develop and execute a holistic plan that educates the healthcare and aviation markets on Air Methods’ offerings. The program also will showcase stories of how Air Methods saves lives by delivering high-quality “critical care in the air” and transport for trauma and emergency medical situations.

“We conducted an agency search and it was clear that Amendola would provide the strategic guidance and tactical execution we needed,” said JaeLynn Williams, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Air Methods. “Amendola is hands down the best integrated healthcare PR and marketing partner we could have imagined! They have executed beyond expectations and have quickly elevated our positioning among healthcare providers, insurers and most importantly, patients, demonstrating our vital role within the healthcare continuum.”

Williams added, “Amendola’s broad healthcare industry expertise, along with their strongly established media relationships, will ensure that all stakeholders have a clear view of how crucial air medical services are to millions of Americans, and how Air Methods leads our industry in care quality, safety and patient advocacy.”

Founded in 1980 with one helicopter and a single hospital contract, Air Methods has grown to the largest air medical service provider in the country, with more than 300 bases serving 48 states. Today, Air Methods is an essential healthcare service in rural areas where 85 million Americans are within an hour of critical care facilities only if transported by air.

Amendola will promote Air Methods through numerous PR and content development programs, supported by Amendola’s top-tier industry and media relations. The agency will work with Air Methods to enlighten providers, payers and patients about Air Methods’ critical care value proposition through a broad range of targeted content, drawing on Amendola’s deep industry knowledge and diverse media relationships in healthcare, business and consumer media. Amendola also will be responsible for delivering a range of content demonstrating the thought leadership and expertise of Air Methods leaders and highlighting examples of the many patient lives that have been saved thanks to its skilled and experienced air medical professionals.

“Air Methods’ story of lifesaving and innovative emergency medical care is inspiring,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “We value their trusted partnership and are excited to share their story as well as insight from Air Methods’ leaders with more providers, insurers and consumers across a spectrum of media outlets, social and digital platforms.”

About Air Methods

Air Methods (www.airmethods.com) is the leading air medical provider, delivering lifesaving care to more than 70,000 people every year. With nearly 40 years of air medical experience, Air Methods is the preferred partner for hospitals and one of the largest community-based providers of air medical services. United Rotorcraft is the Company’s products division specializing in the design and manufacture of aeromedical and aerospace technology. Air Methods’ fleet of owned, leased or maintained aircraft features more than 450 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.

Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes
Amendola Communications
480.664.8412 ext. 15
mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com

Get Your Marketing and PR Programs Ready for Summer

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Healthcare IT public relations agency Amendola Communications offers three ideas to help keep marketing and PR programs filled with energy and enthusiasm

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., April 24, 2019 As we near the end of spring, we’re reminded that vacation season is just around the corner. But while we firmly believe busy marketers and PR professionals deserve plenty of fun in the sun, we know that a good communications strategy never takes a day off.

That’s why Amendola, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and technology public relations and marketing agency, offers three suggested posts from its blog to keep your PR programs fresh, vital and effective–even during the laziest days of summer. (To receive more tips like these from more than a dozen of the agency’s experts, be sure to subscribe to the blog today.)

Take a holistic approach to your content strategy

We’ve all heard that these days content is king. But all too often organizations focus more on delivering a high volume of content rather than whether that content will actually help them achieve their business objectives. The best results come when organizations build cohesive, holistic campaigns based on well-defined strategies instead of posting individual pieces on whatever happens to capture their interest that day. Read the full post here.

Make the most of your professional PR writer

Speaking of content, once the holistic strategy is in place, it’s time to start getting the organization’s subject matter experts together with the writer who will help them turn their expertise into PR gold. While it can be difficult for these experts (especially those at the executive level) to think about adding a call with a writer to their already busy schedules, the rewards are great if those calls are approached correctly. Here are five tips to assure everyone is happy with the process and the outcome.

Follow these tips for a terrific media interview every time

After doing a few successful media interviews it can be easy for busy executives to fall into the trap of feeling like they don’t need to do much to prepare anymore. But interview opportunities are like snowflakes. Each has its own unique characteristics that can throw even the most experienced veterans off-message if they’re not ready. This blog post explains some of the basics interviewees should do every time to optimize every media conversation and to make sure that they don’t inadvertently say something they don’t want to see in a media outlet.

Amendola’s blog covers all things public relations and marketing. A go-to source for communications professionals, the blog publishes on a weekly basis and features subject matter experts in every aspect of publicizing and marketing healthcare technology companies.

Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes, Amendola Communications, 480.664.8412 ext. 15 / mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com

Think of Your Upcoming Summit as the Next Blockbuster Release

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You’ve invested substantially in your upcoming trade shows, congresses, conferences or summits (collectively referred to as “summits” in this blog piece). Speaker submission forms. Sponsorships. Booth-install, technology and set-up. Videos. Meeting spaces. Air fare. Hotel blocks. Meals and entertainment. Just to name a few of the common and worthwhile expenses.

But, how do you make your speakers stand out from the others? How will you pique interest and draw attendance? How can you show target audiences the value in your solution and engage with them?

Think about your upcoming summit as if you were bringing a new movie to theaters building anticipation and excitement for your specific offering, making sure your audience gets an entertaining learning experience and then at the end leave them wanting more.

1. Coming Soon! (Build Anticipation)

You should begin preparing months in advance of the summit. If possible, make sure the save-the-date goes out to key audiences (including internal sales and marketing teams) during the previous year’s summit. If that isn’t possible, then send out the save-the-date as soon as your appearance at a summit or a speaking opportunity is secured.

During the months leading up to it, create talk tracks for sales and account teams to help drive attendance to the summit. Talking points can also be used in emails to clients, customers and prospects. Develop landing pages and digital flyers with information about the summit and speaker.

Something to keep in mind is, if you’re securing speaking sessions or educational forums, make sure they offer continuing education credits. This helps to build interest in your key audiences and leads to better attendance.

As the show draws closer, supply your sales and account teams with social media posts that they can easily post and share. These take only minutes to compose and can be a simple push to their Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram accounts.

2. Showtime! (Creating a Meaningful Experience)

From the time the summit opens, you should be taking advantage of opportunities to engage your appropriate audiences. There are various media and formats to create a dialogue and draw attention to your company and solution offering.

If it’s allowed, during keynotes and other speeches, you could consider live-streaming them for your customers, clients and prospects who are unable to attend. This is also a great way to create a “pull” and desire to attend the show in the future.

For social media, make sure that you have an ambassador who is taking pictures and writing recaps of sessions that link to next year’s save-the-date for the show. Include something in the social post like, “Reserve your spot NOW for next year’s summit!”

If you have clients on-site, help them share their stories through testimonials. You can also have a videographer, who is visible to other attendees, grabbing people in the hallway or aisles and asking them about their conference experience, what they’ve learned and their most important takeaways. This is an excellent way to create buzz and get people talking. It also provides content for a recap video to promote future conferences and can be an amazing tool for digital campaigns.

Be sure to have a booth or pop-up in the vendor display area. In addition to having a space to demonstrate your solution, this gives you a meeting area for clients to discuss their successes and prospects to ask questions and sign up to learn more. And, make sure that sales and account management teams are taking notes so they can conduct proper follow-up opportunities. To keep attendees engaged and returning to your booth, consider some sort of raffle or giveaway.

If you have speakers and clients presenting, create polls during the sessions. This gives another chance to engage the audience and gives you statistics and material to post on social media. Build in an appropriate time for questions and answers those, too, can be posted on social channels. For future material, assign writers to record the sessions and create bylines or post-session articles to add to your marketing content pipeline for months to come.

3. Now Streaming! (Post Show Tactics and After Effects)

As soon as the show ends, issue a press release with a recap of any important announcements, how many people attended, a list of organizations that attended (if it’s impressive) and any awards that may have been given to your customers or clients. Be sure to include client quotes”¦especially those related to your product or solution.

Create a virtual summit, in a webinar format, with a series of the best sessions. You may need to fill out forms and work with the show’s continuing education people, but it may be possible to offer continuing education for the virtual summit as well.

For those who attended the summit, consider creating a gated microsite, with links to all materials from the show’s sessions, and a link to the next year’s save-the-date. You can also include links to the virtual summit schedule, registrations and the media recap session that was produced during the show (or post-show) as well.

Finally, email your target list to keep them engaged! Develop a cadence of one-a-month, with key takeaways, follow up materials and calls to action.

To get the most from the investment you’ve made in summits, have a strategy and devote the time to plan, execute and follow-up. Remember that the latest big blockbuster movie had many resources devoted to its preparation and release, as well as continuing its popularity after it left theaters. With the tactics in this blog, hopefully you, too, will have a summit that’s a hit for a long time to follow and attracts audiences to many sequels.

Maximizing the Value of PR Placements

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The big day has finally arrived. After rearranging schedules, sweating out interviews or writing deadlines, and walking the line between “persistent” and “pest” your PR placement has seen the light of day.

Huzzah! (I am bound and determined to bring back “huzzah” as something people say when something great occurs.)

It feels like a weight has been lifted off of everyone’s shoulders especially in the case of an interview, where you had little to no control over the content. Fortunately your SME sounded like the expert he/she is rather than a babbling idiot who struggles to string two coherent sentences together.

It’s easy to think that you’ve now reached an end point, closed the loop as it were, so you can move on to the next crisis opportunity du jour. If you do that, however, the benefits of all that work end up having about the same lifespan as a mayfly here today, gone tomorrow and all that. (If you click the link it will count as your “I learned something today” moment.)

The reality is the article appearing online or in print isn’t the end point. Instead, it’s really just the starting point.

Here are a few ways you can take better advantage of all that nerve-wracking work and maximize the value of those hard-earned PR placements.

Share via social media channels

This tactic should be a no-brainer, but it’s amazing how often organizations don’t take advantage of this opportunity.

When a PR placement appears an interview, a byline article, a case study, even a good quality rewrite of your press release you should let the world know. Send a Tweet with a link. Put together a one- or two-sentence summary and post it on LinkedIn, Facebook, and/or whatever other channels you use and send it out.

Don’t trust that the people you want to influence will come across this great example of your expertise by happenstance. Be proactive in telling them it’s there.

By the way, taking this approach has an added benefit. The media (even trade media) is very focused on getting traffic to their sites. If you help them with it by sharing they will notice. And they just may be a little more inclined to read your email or take your call the next time you have a story for them.

Email your customers and prospects

Don’t assume that your target audiences will see the original article, or are following you on your social channels. Having your sales team email the article directly to them is a great way to make them aware of your great PR placement.

It also gives you an opportunity to focus it more specifically on your company since most PR placements will tend to be vendor-neutral. If your salespeople aren’t good at writing emails, have your marketing team or PR agency craft the message with some blanks that can be filled in to personalize it.

That doesn’t mean you can send them the entire article unless you’ve paid for a reprint of course. But fair use laws usually allow you to share a paragraph or so. Pick one that you can use as a launching pad, and again direct the email recipient to the publication’s website.

One word of caution with emails, however. Make sure the PR placement you’re promoting has some level of value to the reader. You don’t need to send out every personnel announcement or minor upgrade release that appears. That’s a quick way to ensure ALL your emails get deleted.

But if you share good information that demonstrates your organization’s knowledge and expertise you can condition your audience that it’s worth their time to see what you’re sending.

Post them in your online newsroom

Again, nothing revolutionary here but you’d be surprised how many organizations miss this opportunity because they feel they don’t have time, or have more important things to do. My advice to you is make the time.

Think about it from a prospect’s standpoint. The decision-maker has never done business with you before, but thinks he/she might want to. So what does he/she do? For many, the first step is to check out your website.

That checking out process includes looking at news about your company. If there isn’t much news there it’s easy for the prospect to assume there’s not much happening at the company on a regular basis. Even without that assumption, however, he won’t learn very much from an empty newsroom.

But if you have press releases, published articles, case studies, etc. readily available the impression that prospect will get is that your company is a very active, happenin’ place. He/she will also see that your experts are well-respected because their thought leadership is appearing in a variety of industry publications. Never underestimate the power of the implied third-party endorsement.

Again, unless you’ve paid for online reprint rights you can’t post the article in its entirety. But you can offer an excerpt, or a summary, with a link to the original article.

That’s actually better for you, because then the publication’s masthead is tied to the article, ensuring its legitimacy. Just remember to set the publication’s website to pop up in a new window so when the visitor is done reading the article he/she still has your website open.

The online newsroom is also good for customers. Everyone wants to associate themselves with winners. An active online newsroom is confirmation that they’ve made a good choice.

Include them in sales presentations

Just about every sales presentation, at least in the initial stages, has a section that talks about who the company is and what it stands for. That’s an ideal place to insert a slide with an array of PR placements to show that your organization understands the industry and its challenges and has recognized solutions.

Try to include multiple topics from different people to demonstrate a breadth of expertise. If they are all from one expert, however, that’s ok too. You can promote that person as a recognized authority; if the prospect wants the benefit of that person’s knowledge there is only one place to get it.

Display them in your trade show booth

To ensure your PR placements are the gifts that keep on giving, try creating a graphic panel showing some of your best articles, case studies, etc. in larger-than-life format. Think of a movie poster.

If you can’t do that do to space or cost considerations, think about creating easel cards that can sit on counters or shelves.

Even if no one stops to read them and the odds are they won’t it’s a quick way to capture some attention and tell show attendees that your organization is a player in the industry.

Post them around the office

Another great way to gain lasting value is to frame significant PR placements and post them in various locations around the office, including the lobby, hallway, and conference rooms. You can even double down on a few if you don’t place them too close together as it’s unlikely anyone will stop to read them all.

If the article is in a print magazine (yes, there still are some left), have someone with an artistic flair cut it out with an Exacto knife. If it’s online, buy some high-quality glossy paper and print it out. Then take it to a professional framing shop and have them do the final work.

These framed reprints aren’t just for the benefit of customers and prospects either. They can also help get potential employees excited about coming to work for such a well-known, well-respected organization, and keep current employees feeling good about it.

If you have a video display in the front lobby, cafeteria, or other areas, be sure your best PR placements show up there as well. Anything you can do to make them visible within the office is a plus.

Get your money’s worth

These are just a few of the many ways you can ensure that you wring every nickel of value out of your PR placements. Sure, it takes a little more effort. But approached properly, what at first seems like a one-day opportunity can continue delivering rewards for weeks, months, or even years to come.

What are some others you’ve done? Leave your ideas in the comments below.

Making HIMSS19 Count

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This year’s HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition (aka HIMSS19) in Orlando will be my eleventh seven as a HIMSS staffer and four as a public relations liaison for vendor clients. The HIMSS Annual Conference has become the NFL of health IT there is no real offseason and it gets bigger every year.

For the past several years, HIMSS has regularly attracted more than 45,000 attendees and 1,500 health IT vendors from around the globe.

If it sounds massive and daunting that’s because it is. If you were to visit every booth in the cavernous exhibit hall for only 10 minutes, it would take you 168 hours non-stop seven full days to complete your mission. Some attendees have complained that the show has suffered from the sprawl, while others view it as a cornucopia of selections that can be personalized to suit specific needs.

For vendor exhibitors, HIMSS represents one of the year’s most significant challenges for event planners, marketers and public relations professionals. Exhibiting companies invest an insane amount of money (and it’s a lot of money) and time (lots of that, too) in making the show a success.

There is certainly a lot of low-hanging fruit to increase your visibility at HIMSS19: Thoughtfully incorporate HIMSS19-branded social tags into your social strategy; develop a content calendar specifically for the show; and promote HIMSS19 tools like the mobile app HIMSS Circles that attendees can leverage to find your booth and education sessions.

That’s all great. However, the focus of this post is on a rather under-reported challenge most exhibitors will face separating the “tourists” from quality business leads.

Tourists are those herds of non-decision makers, culled from the unending flow of foot traffic, who visit your booth largely to acquire food, drinks and/or a free keychain. They also absorb an inordinate amount of your sales staff’s time the same sales staff who ate up a huge chunk of your budget in travel, lodging and registration fees to rope in new business prospects.

You are never going to completely eliminate tourists, but there are some useful strategies that can both slow the flow of the uninterested and attract the demographic population that is more seriously interested in your solutions.

Identify Your Targets Early. Generating quality business leads requires outreach well in advance of the show. One of the recommendations we pound into first-time attendees is the importance of creating and keeping a schedule to avoid mission creep. With all the exhibits, education and networking events to say nothing of all the stop-in-chats with peers in the hallway, HIMSS can be very distracting. Schedules fill up quick, so it’s important to connect with your leads as soon as possible. Consider investing in the HIMSS attendee list (not cheap) or utilizing a native or other third-party list to get leads scheduled to visit your booth. This also allows your staff to prioritize interested parties over passers-by.

Schedule Education and Demos. Are you noticing a scheduling theme here? I’ve noticed a number of vendors running little demos on an endless loop. They don’t seem to ever attract much attention. Instead, consider hosting scheduled education sessions and demos at your booth. Why? Scheduled demos can be easily promoted both before and during the show, making it easy for attendees to schedule time for a full presentation. Incorporate show-time signage into your booth. Speakers should be equipped with an A/V system, so a large group of attendees can see and hear everything you say. You should also film your presentation for distribution in press releases and social channels after the show, to reach an even bigger audience.

Hire a Tourist Wrangler. Reserve your most knowledgeable staff to handle serious prospects. Use lower level staff to handle visitors who may only be interested in asking a few perfunctory questions in order to obtain your swag. If a tourist turns out to be a legitimate lead, escalate them to the sales staff.

You are never going to completely eliminate tourists, but these strategies that can both slow the flow of the uninterested and attract the demographic population that is more seriously invested in exploring your solutions.