Tomorrow I will put a one-page summary of the pros, cons, and who's who of corporate blogging along with a multi-point plan into the titular basket at the Basket of Ideas breakfast the healthcare organization I work for puts on every quarter.
This will be my latest tactical maneauver in a two-year battle to get the word “blog” on the radar of my company's CEO. My previous efforts have largely involved me playing the role of Cyrano to the Sales and Marketing management's Christian. Unfortunately Christian, having no idea of what I was talking about, never uttered my words to Roxane.
Can you tell that I wasn't a computer science major?
The southeast Michigan market for healthcare is one of the most competitive and difficult in the nation right now. Plagued by layoffs and generally poor corporate performance among its subscriber base, I believe that my organization needs a more effective communications strategy than it is currently employing. Not that what we have right now is bad; it isn't. The problem is that our message doesn't stand out. I believe a corporate blogging strategy will help change that.
Healthcare is a deeply personal issue as it touches on two of the most intimate and important areas of a person's private life: their health and their wallet. Yet, as the article I referenced in my previous post illustrates, the healthcare industry as a whole is very impersonal in its interactions with the majority of the people who consume its products and utilize its services.
It's true that outside of the providers themselves, there's only so much that can be done in the way of direct, personal contact with your customers. My organization rightly prides itself on the services it provides to patients with chronic health problems and the communication channels it maintains (largely through printed materials) with broad categories of our subscriber base (women, seniors, etc.). The strength of these programs lies in their ability to convey a great deal of information on relatively narrow topics to discreet segments of our customer base; their weakness lies in the converse. Simply put, they are of little or no interest or value to the majority of the people we service. Yet they are also comparatively expensive programs to maintain.
Especially in light of current economic conditions in my state, I am baffled by the failure of my organization and its competitors to utilize such a cheap and effective communications medium. Under the best of circumstances, people like assurances that their money is being well spent. Under difficult circumstances they demand it. What better way for a CEO to communicate his or her vision, demonstrate empathy and understanding of consumers' needs, and present proof that they're getting their money's worth than through a blog?
In the healthcare industry new products and services don't mean a thing unless they're delivered in context. So you're rolling out Consumer Driven Health Plans (CDHPs). So what? What does that mean to me, the consumer? Why is it a good thing? How does it help me better allocate my healthcare dollars? Without going into my own views on the topic, rest assured that there are a lot of opinions on CDHPs to be found on the Web, much of which appear to answer these questions in the negative. Advocates of CDHPs need every advantage at their disposal to counter these negative reviews and clearly articulate their view of the product and its benefits.
Another advantage that early adopters in the corporate blogosphere have is that blogs are a self-promoting medium and they generate their own buzz. You heard it here first: the initial wave of healthcare CEOs who start blogging about their organization and the goods and services it provides are all but guaranteed additional, positive media coverage while the johnny-come-lately bloggers will have to settle for being also-rans. Love them or hate them, believe them or not, the early adopters have an advantage that no amount of money can buy late in the game.