The Healthcare Video Production Strategy You Need, Stat.
Being in healthcare is no picnic. While it can be incredibly rewarding, it can also be a challenge. However, as healthcare video specialists, we have good news for those of you working in internal and/or external communications. Your industry is made for video.
When it comes to spreading a message, video is one of the best (if not THE best) way to share it. Hubspot tells us:
94% of marketers agree that videos have helped increase user understanding of their product or service
87% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive ROI
86% of video marketers say video has been effective for generating leads
Whether you’re marketing to the general public, within the medical community, or internally at your own organization… video gets the job done.
As a video producer, I can attest some industries have it easier than others. It’s pretty hard to beat manufacturers when it comes to video. People and machinery churring out interesting products.
VIDEO: find out how to create a starter video strategy by answering five questions.
While that’s great, I don’t think anything beats healthcare video production. Not only is the raw video itself interesting… from inside hospitals, clinics, labs, et cetera. It’s also hard to beat the stories healthcare professionals can tell. In many cases, we’re talking life and death.
That’s compelling stuff!
Compare that to… accounting. Having produced some accounting-related videos in my time I can tell you, it’s not easy making them look interesting and the content compelling.
Which is why I love producing healthcare videos. The passion and professionalism of those in the industry never ceases to amaze me, and the stories are second to none.
Ahava Leibtag is the founder of Aha Media, a company that specializes in creating content for healthcare organizations. She says patient stories are an especially great way to reach people.
Ahava Leibtag:
“Readers think, ‘That story sounds a lot like mine. If they can conquer their health problem, so can I.’
Sharing an impactful story makes people feel something – about their health and your brand – bringing your facility and team to life.”
Healthcare communications pros like you are no stranger to video. Look around and you’ll find everyone from health systems to health clubs producing videos. And with all this video content out there, it’s important for you to produce quality videos to make sure you stand out from the crowd.
It’s not good enough to pull out your smartphone, throw a doctor on-camera and have them talk about themselves. And a patient testimonial is no good without a storyteller to help craft the story and the proper visuals to support it.
In other words, it’s never been easier to produce healthcare videos, but it’s not easy making them interesting enough to move your audience.
That’s what I’m here to help with. I want to make sure you’re producing the types of videos that will have your customers and/or employees feeling good about you and your healthcare brand.
VIDEO: when you don’t have a strategy, you end up with videos like this one.😆
Where Healthcare Video Production Can Help
Let’s start with the basics. Video can help healthcare communication pros in a few key areas:
Attracting patients/customers
Community relations
Employee engagement
Let’s look at each one individually.
Attracting patients/customers: I once had a health system CEO tell me, these people might be our patients but they’re also our customers.
Enter marketing videos.
Patients have plenty of choices for where to turn for their healthcare needs. You need to make sure they know you’re the best choice.
The key here, as is with most videos, is to put yourself in their shoes. Too many times, companies/organizations end up producing videos for themselves. They get so wrapped up in what they think customers should want, they don’t focus on what their customers actually want.
For example, you might be super into a treatment process, so you produce a video detailing every step. You interview doctors, present compelling data, and demonstrate why this is the most logical approach to treatment.
Blah!
Video isn’t about facts and figures. Video is about emotion. You need to make an emotional connection with your audience.
Forget the data and logic. Focus on your patients’ feelings. They’re looking to you for reassurance. To make them feel good about choosing you. Healthcare video production isn’t about communicating data. It’s about being more human.
Thankfully, video is a medium that can deliver this!
Carl White is the founder of the healthcare marketing agency MarketVisory Group and the host of the PracticeCare Podcast. He says patients hope to choose a provider they can stay with forever.
Carl White:
“While that always takes time, a one minute video of the provider introducing themselves can be very effective.
In that short time, the patient can get a good feel for the provider, and when they come for their first appointment, the familiarity that’s already been started will pay dividends.”
Community relations: while the individual patient is important, healthcare is about more than that. It’s about caring for an entire community.
Chances are your organization does more for the community than simply provide a place to treat sick and injured patients. You provide wellness campaigns, are constantly innovating, and providing services outside your walls to improve the health of the entire community.
Whatever it is you’re doing in these areas, you should be producing videos featuring those efforts.
The videos will provide a couple of benefits. First, by promoting those community efforts, more people will find out about them. The more people who know about them, the more will participate. The more who participate, the healthier your community will be.
Second, letting people know about all the things you’re doing in the community will endear yourself to them. Remember, video is about emotion. Showing people what you do outside your facility demonstrates that you not only care for people, you care about them.
Employee engagement: no matter what you call them… employees, team members, whatever… the people who work for your organization are the heartbeat. They are ultimately what makes everything go, and if you want a healthy workforce you need to communicate with them.
No doubt, you send company-wide emails. You also might produce a newsletter. I’m sure you have posters on walls and cards on tables. You share information in all sorts of ways.
Great. However, you can do ever better.
It’s not just customers who like video, so do your employees. If you have something important to share with them, video is a great way to do it. If you want to praise their efforts, video is a great way to do it. If you want to inspire them, video is a great way to do it.
In short, video is a great way to improve employee engagement.
Okay, there are a lot of you right now who are saying, Tony, hold the phone. We have seen HR and internal communications videos in the past. THEY’RE TERRIBLE! Nobody is going to watch those videos.
You’re right. HR and internal communications videos are traditionally awful. And if you produce videos in that fashion, nobody will watch. But you’re not going to produce videos like that.
I want you to look at your HR and internal communications videos as marketing videos… because they are. Only instead of marketing your services to customers, you’re marketing your internal programs to your employees. You have simply changed audiences.
When you produce a marketing video that is intended for the general public, you make it as engaging as possible. You tap emotions and want to leave people feeling good about your organization. You should go into your internal communications videos with the same mentality.
That’s when your employees will start watching and start engaging.
Types of Videos to Produce
About Us
Okay, you’re onboard with all of this? Let’s talk about different types of videos you can produce.
If you don’t already have an About Us video, you should probably start there. Think of it as your introduction video. You’re telling people who you are, what you do, and why you do it.
I love the About Us video because it’s so versatile. You can insert it into any part of your marketing funnel or flywheel.
It’s also important because for many people, it might be their first contact with you. They have come to your website wanting to learn more about your organization, and this video will be their first impression.
So make it a good one!
Innovation
Make sure everyone knows about all the different ways you’re providing healthcare. Whether it’s the services you provide, products you offer, or how you’re innovating and improving all of the above.
You want to produce videos that demonstrate all the ways you’re making a difference to patients, the community, even healthcare in general.
Innovation Video Example
Technology is an easy thing to feature. Everyone wants to know that their healthcare providers have the latest and greatest when it comes to tech, but don’t stop there.
What are some of the programs and initiatives you offer that might be unique? If you offer all the standard stuff, what makes how you do it better than most?
Let people know.
Highlight Your Stars
One of the biggest difficulties marketers and internal communicators share with me is their struggle to find stories to tell. Sometimes I think it’s the old saying about not being able to see the forest through the trees because every business has stories to tell.
A great place to turn is to the people who work at the company. Every person there has a story worth telling. The easiest one is to simply ask them “why” they do what they do.
Highlight Your Stars Video example
The reason team member stories are so great to tell is that they show your audience that there are real people working at your business. Real people who care deeply about what they do.
This is so important because we are far more likely to do business with someone we know and trust than a total stranger. Employee videos start to break down that barrier. Getting to see and hear your employees’ stories is a good first step towards building trust.
And I don’t care what position they hold. Sure, doctor and nurse profiles are great, but my favorite hospital profile we have ever produced was on someone in “environmental services.” She was the custodian.
Everyone matters. Everyone has a story.
Community Partners
We discussed how great it is to produce community relations videos. It’s natural to focus on things you are doing in the community, like programs and initiatives you offer folks outside your walls.
Community Partners Video Example
Something else you can do is highlight your community partners. Maybe you run a wellness clinic at a homeless shelter. Maybe you go into schools to teach kids hygiene. Maybe you promote physical fitness by sponsoring the local little league.
What I’m getting at is that you have partners out in the community doing great things, so shine the spotlight on them. The video doesn’t have to be about you at all. That feel-good the audience gets from what that partner is doing rubs off on you when they realize how you’re helping them care for the community.
Events
If your company or organization is hosting or sponsoring an event, you should produce a video about it. Event videos can do a few things that provide big benefits.
First, they are a great way to promote the event to boost attendance. A video will catch more eyeballs and help generate more interest in your event.
Second, producing a video to play at the event itself is a great way to reinvigorate the audience. It catches people’s attention and allows you to draw them into the reason for the event.
Fundraiser Event Video Example
If it’s a fundraiser, using video to help tug heartstrings is also an excellent way to encourage people to open their wallets.
Finally, a video shot during the event and shared with people afterwards is a great way to keep the event alive after it's over.
You can share it with the attendees, people who couldn’t make it, even the general public. The idea is to show people what the event was all about, and why it was important.
And when next year’s event rolls around, oh look, now you have a video you can use to promote it!
Testimonials
Last, but certainly not least, are customer testimonials. You are doing amazing things. You are literally saving and changing people’s lives. Tell their stories.
I don’t know if there is anything more powerful than a customer testimonial, and in healthcare communications you are often blessed with extremely grateful customers.
Testimonial Video Example
Sure, there will be plenty of people who might not want to share their highly personal story with the public at-large, but you know there are plenty who are willing.
Yes, this is a video that ultimately promotes your business, but it’s also an opportunity for your customers to help other people like them. Sharing their story could encourage someone else to do the same to improve their own life.
Remember, stories move people to action.
Wrapping Up
I’m really just scratching the surface here. When it comes to the types of videos you can produce, you’re only limited by your own imagination.
You work in healthcare communications. Take people behind-the-scenes. Show them the important work you’re doing. Introduce them to the people who are doing it. Make sure they know you’re a part of their community.
