If you had the time | Medical Marcom

4 min reading time

If you “had the time,” what would you do?

You know, the wish list you’ll never realistically get to unless something materially changes?

I have a huge and growing list.

If I had the time

Create an annual report. You’re familiar with the Big 100, yes? Or Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends report? These are extremely valuable resources to their audiences. And they are both money makers: The former sells ad space, the latter furthers its thought-leadership position which they convert into six-figure engagements.

So, if I had the time, I’d create a report I could refresh with new insights each year. Plus, with the same name and URL all year, I would build up the inbound links so important for search engine indexing and optimization.

A related but smaller idea would be interviewing some of you and publishing video excerpts to my audience. Would that be interesting for you? Who should I have as guests?

So what’s the equivalent “big thing” for your company?
Drip more. I’ve only begun to understand the capabilities of my email provider. I can have conditional logic for virtually every action or inaction. Setting up the logic takes time, more than I presently have.

As an aside, I am surprised you haven’t explored Drip yet. (Why haven’t you?)

Just this week, we got a 67% open rate – the highest I’ve ever achieved – on a list targeting critical care surgeons, nurses, and other influencers. Perhaps even more remarkable are the 87 clicks or replies we got.

It was a follow-up email to last week’s campaign. We selected people who clicked on an email link last week (tags include fluid challenge visited) and who did not accept the challenge (campaign not subscribed to fluid challenge). We excluded current customers.

I don’t know how I would have performed this with my previous email provider.

The message used conditional logic. If we knew their name, we used it. If we knew their hospital, we used it; otherwise, generic language. I asked them why they didn’t accept the challenge. Did I do a poor job explaining it or was there another reason? I wrote, “I’m genuinely interested to know.”

We got so many responses, some of them extremely detailed; all of which helped us get closer to a conversation. Many gave details we can use in future messaging. Some even said, “Sure, I’m interested, set up a meeting.”

It was glorious.

Anyway, I’ve been using Drip for just over three months so I’m a relative neophyte on the system. So much more to learn.

When I have time.
Learn more. I have hundreds of hours of unwatched online courses and webinars. These always settle to the bottom of my list. I want to take courses on persuasive copy writing, influencer marketing, landing pages, and today’s most effective lead-capture techniques. Matt introduced me to a great time saver, though: How to speed up my media with the Playback Rate Controller. (You can comfortably understand 160 words per minute. Most people speak at 120 words. Throw in a few um’s and you’ll understand why you can listen to playbacks at 1.3x speed and have practically no loss in comprehension.)

Those of you who grew up in the 70s will recall the FedEx Guy. What ever happened to him? This:

One more and I’ll get back to the main point. Lucia and I made this video of a key opinion leader talking about hemodynamic ultrasound at a symposium hosted by ImaCor. We sped this up by 30% with no loss in comprehension. Enjoy my “voiceover voice” for the introduction. (I captured my voice using Zencastr, it’s free and Lucia-endorsed.)

Okay, so that entire digression was about cramming more knowledge in my head, faster. And I hope you’ll use the speed-up trick both on videos you make and those you watch. (Works on podcasts, too!)

Now if only there were an app to expand time.

Fast Round

Survey says: Last week, I asked if you anticipate my weekly email. 30 kind subscribers answered and it was just about 50/50. The unscientific results (combined with the feedback from the “no” people) reinforced my theory that weekly consistency is worth it. And, yes, I did win a new client engagement based on the effort. Might you try a comparable effort? I’d love to hear about it.

Whopper Neutrality. At its heart, this is an instructional video. But this one compels you to watch until the end. A hilarious stab at Ajit Pai at the end. How can you make your communication more entertaining?
The Unofficial LinkedIn FAQ. Andy Foote’s 50 Answers simply aggregates the most frequent questions people ask him. A worthwhile read for any LinkedIn user, the article illustrates yet another way to showcase your expertise. Why don’t you make one?