Thoughts, Ideas, & Tips for ‘Pitching’ Healthcare Products & Services

This post shares information on pitching to healthcare 'Journalists' and 'Reporters; a couple dozen bits of information shared by attendees at last week’s Healthcare IT Marketing Conference event in Las Vegas. 

As noted in previous posts, I've sifted through hundreds of tweets containing the #HITMC hashtag to pull out what I think may be useful to those operating in the healthcare IT space. This is the 3rd post where I'm sharing what I believe are useful bits of information for those charged with promoting healthcare IT products and services. See this post for a summary of everything I'm sharing.

Note: A lot of the information, ideas and opinions presented below will be discussed during the #HITsm chat this Friday, April 14th, 2017 at 9:00am PST where the theme will be Healthcare Content Creation for Audience Economy.

Pitching Others

Tweet	Handle
Idea for pitches. Instead of telling, give your potential clients an experience.	@stacygoebel
Always great to hear the reporter's side of the story. Great insights from @scottmace @nversel and @techguy	@ariamarketing
@nversel says 'Pitch case studies outside of big news to get reporters attention.'	@amyinmaine
@scottmace says '@HealthLeaders writers either write sponsored or editorial, not both.'	@amyinmaine
Having worked for 3 online publishers with 3 different so-so business models, I increasingly think the answer is Yes. https://t.co/dZ4wq0CvoM	@brian_eastwood
How many “major #healthcare media” outfits give unfettered access to the individuals who promote their stuff?	@shimcode
In #healthcare, we may be coding an email or pitching ideas, but in the end we're all a part of the quality of life of humans	@studionorthusa
Most journalists are too busy chasing the proverbial ambulance to field pitches, sadly. Part of why I left business.	@brian_eastwood
Oh yeah, those stories are only valuable to entry-level editors who have slots to fill in newsletter so it goes out before lunch.	@brian_eastwood
Personalization is key to marketing. "Somebody cares if it's good enough" @sscottcollins cc @sarahbennight @jslentzclifton	@erinewold
Since when does "the press" mean "generate leads" instead of "educate readers?"	@david_c_clifton
Sound advice from @nversel: You might not like his stance but why would a reporter waste time on a piece that has errors?	@colin_hung
Take the time to learn our beats -- great advice from @nversel	@paulberthiaume
Totally agree. Often you can't cause someone to buy #HealthIT you have to be top of mind at the right time.	@colin_hung
When it comes to asking a reporter for an article correction, @nversel says be sure its a factual issue (not tone)	@ssfraser
When it comes to ed cals, "I hate when folks ask, 'what do you want to write about?'" ShimCode asks: What's an 'ed cals?'	@ssfraser

Dealing with Entrepreneurs

Tweet	Handle
Entrepreneurs are David. Play to your strengths. Be creative.	@chints2
"Don't market like big orgs do, think like David vs Goliath."	@professortalk
Find a Goliath to slay - something people have emotional connections to.	@marsinthestars
Find a Goliath to slay. Give a customer’s reason to love you.	@amyinmaine
Rhoads "David wins cause he played to his strengths and fought Goliath in ways G never understood."	@amyinmaine

Partnering

Tweet	Handle
"Collaborative Engagement for shared benefit has shared value and can help differentiate solutions."	@mdeiner
Multi-stakeholder collaboration (payer, provider, patient) is powerful. Future of #HealthIT panel at #HITMC	@tjustincampbell
Does partnering diminish the HealthIT company? John Moore (Jr.) from @ChilmarkHIT says no.	@tjustincampbell
If you're not a strategic partner to your customers, you're useless to them says @ShahidNShah	@gary_rubin
It's ALL about strategic partnerships and collaborative engagement. https://t.co/fELj9q5Fw0	@rn_solutions
Marketers, we can partner together on content... all of our solutions work together! https://t.co/8FgRECQRBW	@stacygoebel
Partner on marketing content with companies that are in the same continuum as you (non competitors).	@amyinmaine

Share Your Insight!

Come join the #HITsm chat this Friday, April 14th, 2017 at 9:00am PST and share your insight.