Some of the best feedback we get from healthcare clients is that we make their jobs easier. I think this is, in part, because we’ve developed an airtight content creation process. We streamline the content process so that your team doesn’t have to worry about keeping up with the conversation around healthcare. 

An efficient process for creating high-quality, journalistic content helps healthcare providers increase website traffic, develop better brand recognition, schedule more appointments and improve communication between patients and providers. 

Here’s an inside look into how Scribewise operates when it comes to regular healthcare content delivery. 

Step 1: Start with strategy

It’s tempting to dive into creating content, but we need to have an idea of where we’re going before we set out on the journey. In other words, strategy comes first. It usually starts with a kickoff meeting where we align on the purpose of the content we’re creating by discussing four key elements: 

• Your organization: We want to leave this meeting understanding the nuances of your voice and your internal team, who is responsible for what and what the approval process will look like. We also want to understand how you measure success. Knowing your goals will help determine our strategy. 

 

• Your audience: Different audiences have different content needs, so it’s important to tailor your messaging to whoever you’re trying to reach. Demographics we like to consider include geography and environmental factors, age, sexual orientation and gender, socioeconomic status and social drivers of health. 

 

• Your current marketing and communications: What are you doing now? What’s working and what isn’t? How do we fit into this equation?

 

• Our partnership: How do we work together? We get into the nitty-gritty details like article format and word count, distribution, supplemental content, delivery cadence and more.

 

Step 2: Build a plan, work the plan 

When we’re aligned on strategy, we build the road map: an editorial calendar. Our editorial calendar is a living document that lists article ideas and headlines, the practice group or service line being featured, subject matter experts and interviewees, content type, due date, the assigned writer and status.

We have regular content meetings with our clients to discuss current service line initiatives, upcoming awareness days and months, trending topics and new ideas. We’re usually working one month ahead of the publication date to give time for reviews and approvals—although we do have the flexibility to spin up content quickly if it’s trending or time-sensitive. 

Scribewise comes to content meetings with at least a few topics to cover; we’re always building the editorial calendar. Consider us your healthcare beat reporters—we stay up-to-date with industry news, silly TikTok health trends, research breakthroughs, etc. Personally, these meetings are often the highlight of my week (and clients seem to share the same sentiment). 

We also don’t shy away from bringing breaking news to clients to help them stay ahead of the pack. We’ll often send emails about timely news articles when we think it’s relevant and important to chime in.

Step 3: Topical research  

For each piece of content we create, we begin with secondary research—news items, medical journals, etc. Often, we interview subject matter experts (SMEs) identified by our clients— physicians, other providers or hospital employees—and include quotes from them in our content.

For the latter, our clients determine the appropriate SMEs and connect them with us to schedule a phone or Zoom interview. The assigned Scribewise writer does their own research to gain some background knowledge and creates a discussion guide before the SME interview. After the interview, the writer may do some supplemental research to beef up the story as needed. 

Step 4: Creating “1 percent content”

We live in a world where robots can create content. But our writers bring the human touch that is needed to create content to outshine the robot-written crap that’s flooding the internet.

One of the most difficult aspects of content creation is taking information from disparate sources and weaving it into a cohesive, compelling narrative. We combine our background research, interview transcripts and notes to craft a story. Each team member at Scribewise has their own distinctive writing process, and we encourage them to embrace that. 

Personally, I like to start by outlining the structure of the story, after which I cut and paste my notes and research into each section to make sure it flows well. Once I have a basic outline for the story, I start to write from the beginning. And when my rough draft is done, I read through it to ensure brevity, flow and thoroughness. 

Not all topics are meant for regular articles, and we love to play with format and theme to keep readers interested. Some formats that work particularly well for some topics are listicles, Q&As with physicians, myth-busting articles, ghostwritten opinion pieces, infographics and social media carousels. 

Every article written at Scribewise goes through two internal peer reviews before being sent to the SME or client. This is why we’re able to deliver publication-ready content, and how we make our clients’ lives easier. (Name a freelancer who gets two peer checks on every article they send—I’ll wait.) 

Step 5: Delivery and approval 

In most organizations, approvals can be difficult; getting the attention of busy doctors to bless a blog post requires persistence. We know this can be a pain in the neck, so we take it off our clients’ plates. 

This process looks different for every client. For most, we will send the article directly to the SME for approval and make any necessary changes before sending it to the client. Sometimes we need to reach out multiple times, but we always get it done.

Now, you’re ready to publish and distribute.