I’ve written on a lot of different topics lately – big data, how to not hit a deer while driving a motorcycle, taking care of your aging parent. But health has never been one of my specialties and most likely never will. Since I’ve gotten a lot of questions lately about health content marketing, I decided to ask for help from a friend and health content marketing writer whose expertise and advice I always find to be spot on – Elizabeth Hanes.

If you are interested in healthcare content marketing writing, I also highly recommend checking out her blog RNWriter as well, which although she is no longer updating is still a fantastic resource.

Jennifer: Thank you so much Elizabeth! What are your overall thoughts on healthcare content marketing?

Elizabeth: I think healthcare content marketing really is in its infancy. There still is time to leap on this bandwagon and ride it for a long while.

“Healthcare content marketing” is an enormous umbrella that encompasses:

• B2C (what I believe most writers think of when they envision “health writing”)
• B2B (in my opinion a hugely untapped market)
• Providers (hospitals, physician groups, etc.)
• Insurers
• Medical manufacturers
• Medical service providers
• Nutritional supplement manufacturers
• Health information websites
• Federal, state, local government
• Associations

And that’s really just the segments I can think of off the top of my head. I find prospective health content writers tend to limit their vision to providers, whereas there are these other vast, untapped markets. Provider content may actually be one of the most competitive spaces to be in, as a writer right now. If you can’t crack that nut, try going after business in a different sector. There’s plenty of opportunity for everyone, that’s for sure.

Jennifer: What differences do you find with working with health clients as opposed to other types of content clients?

Elizabeth: I find health content clients tend to be meticulous about several things: sourcing, accuracy, and avoiding medical advice. This is understandable, to me. Like I said, there is a lot of inaccurate or borderline health information floating around on the internet, so it’s only logical a client would want to make sure I’m not sourcing from a sketchy website.

With my health content clients, there often is an extra layer of review. Many of my clients employ medical reviewers, while my non-health clients (few though they are) generally only perform regular edits by the usual staff members.

Jennifer: How much health background and knowledge do you need to write health content?

Elizabeth: Well, to be perfectly candid, I don’t think you need any at all. In my opinion, any journalist should be able to become what I call a “nickel expert” on any subject, whether it’s a health topic or the economics of rice production. If you understand how to perform research, interview experts and interpret research findings, then you can be a competent health content writer.

That said, I do believe people who have some type of background in health, especially an academic degree, hold unique qualifications to write about health issues. For instance, my nursing education taught me how to read and interpret research, how to properly interpret and employ statistics, and so on. Those are highly valuable skills for content writers. There’s a wealth of, um, crap reporting out there when it comes to health. (Don’t believe me? See Health News Review http://www.healthnewsreview.org/ .) Even if you’re not doing health reporting, your health content needs to be accurate.

Jennifer: What is your most successful strategy for finding health writing clients?

Elizabeth: Number One for me is having an excellent, search engine optimized website. My site (elizabethhanes.com ) isn’t the prettiest, in terms of design, or the most sophisticated, in terms of technology, but I did spend a lot of time working on the content itself. And I made sure it would rank well in Google search results for “nurse writer.” I feel very fortunate that the vast majority of my leads today come to me through my website, which  means less pitching.

It’s always tricky to tell where you really rank on Google, since searching from your own machine employs certain biases. But I believe my site currently ranks in the top 20 for “nurse writer,” the top 10 for “RN writer” and the top 15 for “healthcare content writer.” Not too shabby.

It’s worth noting, too, it took over a year for me to achieve those rankings.

Aside from this passive marketing (or “inbound”) approach, my best strategy for finding clients is simply to seek out health content on the web and then approach the publisher. I prefer to work strictly online (as opposed to print), so I might do a search for “rheumatoid arthritis” to see who has published articles on that subject, and then I send them an LOI. Pretty basic stuff.

Jennifer: Do you have any advice for marketing directly to hospitals or do you recommend going through agencies?

Elizabeth: Personally, I prefer going through agencies. Why? Reduced bureaucracy. Content marketing is a relatively new concept in healthcare, and many hospital marketing departments don’t know what they want or what is reasonable for them to pursue in that regard. An agency will do a lot of things like content audits and strategy development for the hospital to help them formulate a plan. As a one-woman shop, I don’t really prefer to perform those tasks. I would rather “just write,” and I can do that when I work with an agency.

That said,  there is no reason why competent healthcare content writers shouldn’t directly reach out to their local hospital marketing departments. I would first try to determine what types of content the hospital currently publishes (websites, electronic newsletters, print newsletters, etc.) so I could approach them knowledgeably with suggestions for filling content gaps or taking over specific content items they currently publish.

Jennifer: How do you find agencies representing hospitals?

Elizabeth: It helps to read the trades. The main one I’ve found useful is Medical Marketing & Media (http://www.mmm-online.com/). Although their content is geared mainly toward pharmaceutical marketing, every year they run a list of the 100 top agencies. That’s a whole lotta leads right there. I generally try to perform a bit of research on each agency to try to discern whom they work with, and then if it seems like the agency might be a good fit I send a LOI.

Jennifer: Any tips for LOI’s for health writers?

Elizabeth: Yes. It might pay to emphasize your journalism skills over your professional license or advanced degree. To hold yourself out as a competent writer, you must demonstrate your ability to perform research and produce unbiased reporting. When it comes down to brass tacks, your prospective client is hiring a WRITER, not an RN, MD, PharmD, PhD in biology – or anything else. Your professional license or advanced degree might make you more able to understand complex health and medical concepts/research, but it doesn’t mean you will be able to communicate these thing effectively through your writing.

And that’s another thing: Don’t tell prospects you “specialize” in “simplifying complex health and medical concepts.” ALL health and medical writers do that. There’s nothing special about it. Instead, spend some time figuring out what makes you different from every other health writer out there (your unique selling proposition or value proposition) and then hammer that in your LOI.

What has your experience been with health content marketing writing? Any questions? Any tips to share with other writers?

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