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Airfoil explores digital media’s impact on health care policy reform
The spirited dialogue around health care policy reform is occurring in a fast-moving, dynamic and digital theatre, and Airfoil has an opinion on how to keep pace with digital PR. Our most recent Point of View publication, “Engage, Embrace, Empower: Influencing Health Care Policy in the Digital Era,” explores digital media’s impact on the speed, volume, risks and rewards of policy reform dialogue.
The health care policy reform discussion transcends the business-as-usual approach that may have worked for other types of reform, and today’s digital media platforms both advance and complicate the debate. Bringing to bear our deep understanding of health care communications, public affairs and how to leverage digital media as an agent of influence, this POV identifies the need for organizations to define their policy reform positions, voices and approaches to digital audience engagement.
Topics covered within “Engage, Embrace, Empower: Influencing Health Care Policy in the Digital Era” include:
- The first steps to constituency mobilization: issue definition and agenda setting
- The “small acts” of social media engagement that have great impact on policy reform
- The importance of both offensive and defensive digital PR strategies in order for a message to be heard during the policy change process
- A five-point plan of action that recommends a strategic combination of fundamental communication practices and digital and social media engagement
The Airfoil health care POV is part of the agency’s series of Points of View issued regularly to keep clients and our other business associates advised of the latest trends impacting companies of all sizes.
Health care IT marketers: 'meaningful use' of health care IT begins, ends with patient care
Health care information technology service providers understand that the definition of “meaningful use of electronic health records” will pervasively impact both the business and practice of health care for many years to come.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is expected to publish a formal definition of “meaningful use” by Dec. 31, at which time the public will be offered the opportunity to comment on the definition in early 2010, prior to its finalization. Last month, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, David Blumenthal, issued an open letter to clarify what the federal government means when referring to the “meaningful use of electronic health records” in the HITECH Act (PDF).
Among Blumenthal’s assertions in his open letter:
- “By focusing on ‘meaningful use,’ we recognize that better health care does not come solely from the adoption of technology itself, but through the exchange and use of health information to best inform clinical decisions at the point of care.”
- "'Meaningful use’ of EHRs, we anticipate, will also enable providers to reduce the amount of time spent on duplicative paperwork and gain more time to spend with their patients throughout the day.”
- “Meaningful use, in the long term, is when EHRs are used by health care providers to improve patient care, safety and quality.”
What does this mean to health care marketers looking to position their health care IT organizations for success? Despite the health care reform debate’s predominant focus on cost cutting, messages from health care providers and IT service providers alike must focus on the power of their products and services to positively transform the patient-care experience. By shifting the technology public relations focus from saving dollars to improving lives, consumers are offered the opportunity to tell their health care providers what technologies will most improve their patient-care experience, giving their organization’s technology the best chance for sales success.
Fashion, beauty brands embrace social media to connect with consumers
Fashion, beauty and medical aesthetic brands are quickly realizing the potential and immediate ROI by connecting directly to their customers and biggest fans via social networks.
If you think it’s a just a few companies with money to spend to experiment in social media and interactive public relations, check out the New York Times Style Magazine blog list that shows the top brands, stores and designers on Twitter. It’s an impressive list.
According to a recent Nielsen survey, 17 percent of all time online is spent on social networks, up from 6 percent in 2008. Besides connecting to friends and colleagues, consumers are using social media networks to get product recommendations, read reviews and make purchasing decisions.
With fashion styles changing quickly and consumer tastes evolving every day, fashion and beauty brands know that they must keep a constant pulse check while staying one step ahead of upcoming trends. Having instant access to loyal customers via social media channels can help companies quickly gauge sentiment and test upcoming products and services.
For example, L’Oreal USA uses creative social media strategy on Facebook to post videos and provide special offers to its fans. Clarins is using Twitter to promote events and new products. In October, spas of all sizes were promoting Spa Week specials to draw in new customers.
With Nielsen reporting that 18 percent of the population uses social media to replace search use in information navigation and discovery activities, the time is ripe for consumer brands to engage with their customers via strategic social media and digital PR campaigns.
Blanketing the earth with solidThinking
Airfoil client solidThinking, a global industrial design/styling software company, recently announced the launch of solidThinking 8.0, a suite of design tools for advanced 3D modeling and rendering available on both Windows and Mac operating systems. solidThinking also announced the release of its InspiredTM software, which includes morphogenesis™, a new technology dedicated to providing industrial designers and architects with the capability to explore virtually countless design options.
Drawing on the principles of biomimicry, the product mimics processes and physical laws in nature to help designers and architects generate forms and structures in response to environmental conditions, and leverage the results to stimulate their designs.
Our technology and software PR agency worked diligently to advance this announcement and garnered great media response in both traditional and new media spheres. The team had briefings with the New York Times, Reuters, Automotive Design & Production, Machine Design, Oakland Press and Architosh among others. The announcement and outreach resulted in more than 12 feature stories in four weeks, including an in-depth piece that ran in the print version of the New York Times on Sept. 21, a Time Magazine blog post and coverage from key international and trade outlets such as Wired UK, Cadalyst Magazineand Core77.
Additionally, the release received wide newswire placement including influential publications such as: CAD CAM News, Crain’s Detroit Business, Creative Mac, Forbes.com, MarketWatch, Reuters.com and Yahoo!/Yahoo! Finance.
To date, the launch has secured more than 2.8 million earned media impressions, with future expected coverage to place in additional national and key trade publications, including Reuters and I.D.Magazine (International Design).
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Welcome to Airfoil's Boarding Pass, an update on news, views and trends from Airfoil Public Relations. See the full version online.
Airfoil attends Government AUSA conference
Airfoil Public Affairs Co-Managing Directors Bret Wacker and Larry Ayres attended the 2009 annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Oct. 5-7 in Washington D.C. Approximately 400 vendors exhibited everything from body armor to missiles to advanced heat sensors. In addition to exploring opportunities to help these innovators grow their businesses with the federal government, Wacker and Ayres met with leading policy strategists and defense technology investors to further Airfoil’s collective understanding of critical issues and avenues for collaboration.
Airfoil CEO serves on PR Week health care roundtable
Airfoil Public Relations sponsored and attended a PR Week health care roundtable held in Philadelphia in October. Airfoil CEO Lisa Vallee-Smith served as a panelist alongside nationally renowned health care PR pros, and Bret Wacker, Airfoil’s director of public affairs, delivered the event’s opening remarks. At the invitation-only event, Vallee-Smith, Wacker and other health care thought leaders discussed best practices for communicators surrounding health care reform. See PR Week's December issue for full coverage.
Airfoil to promote new client Metafile through Higher Thinking
Metafile is a leader in the paperless workflow automation space and seeks to elevate its profile and business. For more than 25 years, 3,500-plus organizations have translated Metafile’s content management solutions into enterprise-wide value and competitive advantage. Metafile Information Systems is headquartered in Rochester, Minn., and markets its solutions through its own sales office as well as an impressive worldwide partner network of respected resellers and leading system integrators and application developers. Airfoil will be boosting Metafile’s brand awareness among key audiences and positioning Metafile executives as thought leaders in the industry.
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