Using my storytelling approach, I offer the following services:
I believe branding is another form of storytelling. Creating all of the elements of your organization brand – tagline, logo, icon, fonts, colors, messages – is how you will tell your community who you are and what they can expect from you. Protected and strengthened, an effective brand helps people recognize you and remember you. Key in this process is making sure that members of your organization are involved in the brand development. Their feedback is invaluable, and their buy-in critical to reaching your goal – an organization brand that is meaningful to your audience and tells who you really are.
When I arrived as Director of Marketing at North Florida Regional Medical Center in late 2009, the hospital had no graphic standards or brand. Due to limited marketing resources, I led the brand development process without agency assistance and worked directly with graphic artist James Metlicka of Metlicka Designs.
Following discussions with senior leaders, managers and non- managerial employees, patients and community leaders, we created a brand that accomplished the following:
North Florida Regional Healthcare Brand
North Florida Regional Healthcare Brand Examples
North Florida Regional Healthcare Brand PowerPoint Template
Campaigns can be designed for external or internal audiences; use traditional and/or non-traditional advertising; come with a large or small budget or be created with little to no budget at all. As different as campaigns are, they all start with the same thing. Strategic planning. That planning is based on audiences, messages, goals and resources. Campaigns come to life with great storytelling. Here are some of my favorites.
Like any healthcare organization, North Florida Regional wanted to reach women because of their primary role in making healthcare choices for their families. With a strong reputation in place for its Women’s Center, how could we kick it up a notch? We offered a day-long symposium that quickly became very popular and grew in attendance. We called it Women and Wellness. Three years after our first symposium, we decided to create an online community for women in North Central Florida using the same name.
To heighten our reach, I negotiated a partnership with WCJB-TV20. TV20s role would be to promote the program through TV and web spots their staff would create. Our role was to create and maintain the program’s website with significant content. Content would be based on research about the biggest healthcare needs of women in our area. In addition to creating online content and communicating with members and potential members with frequent posts, we also made arrangements for monthly TV20 news coverage about our various healthcare topics. One example is our reporting on stroke, a condition that now impacts women more than men.
Responding F.A.S.T Made All The Difference
Women Have A Higher Risk of Stroke, But It’s Not Inevitable
The message of our online community? Improve Women’s Health. Improve the World. Only 18 months after launching the website, more than 2,400 women joined Women and Wellness.
North Florida Regional Medical Center’s robotic surgery program is advanced and high-volume. Performing twice as many robotic surgeries as its primary competitor, the program still had room to grow. My assignment? Create an effective campaign with almost no design costs, leaving as much as possible of our limited budget for advertising placement.
Our strategies? Emphasize high volume as an indicator of quality; introduce robotic surgeons in a unique and warmhearted way so that people would relate to physicians as people who care; capture attention by having surgeons use the robot to perform everyday tasks.
I hired a videographer to shoot and edit five 30-second television spots. All other videos for the campaign were shot and edited by me. I produced and wrote all videos. Design cost was held to $5,000. Placement was concentrated on broadcast television, Facebook and YouTube. The campaign launched in March of 2016.
All videos can be accessed by navigating to the Robotic Surgery campaign landing page.
As a member of Hospital Corporation of America, North Florida Regional was directed to spend a majority of advertising dollars to protect its ER. This created dissatisfaction among physicians and leaders of specialty service lines who felt their expertise should be promoted. We found an effective answer in our ER patient testimonial campaign that shared the stories of patients who came into our ER care but needed specialty care.
We met the ER advertising requirement but also promoted services lines, including cardiac, stroke, surgery and intensive care. Costs were limited to a still photographer and graphic artist. I shot and edited videos myself.
The ER patient testimonial campaign helped make possible annual ER patient volume growth of 12 percent. All videos can be accessed by navigating to Real ER Stories from the sidebar on the right side of the NFRMC ER web page.
North Florida Regional Medical Center never had a problem attracting patients. Volumes and profits were high. Expansion projects continued to go up. Unfortunately, patient satisfaction scores were low. So, we linked employee satisfaction with patient satisfaction and introduced the campaign I Am North Florida.
Through a combination of newsletter stories, facility banners, social media posts and online videos, the campaign grew and strengthened until it was adopted and incorporated into employee rewards and recognition.
Video: I am North Florida - Dr. Scott Medley
Tracking in the early months after the introduction of I Am North Florida confirmed its effectiveness in linking employee satisfaction with patient satisfaction. Although the program was in place for less than nine months by the end of 2011, North Florida Regional Medical Center saw a marked increase in patient satisfaction scores. When we ended the year 2010, our overall patient satisfaction score was only 65.4. As we began 2012, our overall patient satisfaction score had risen to 70.5. Those familiar with the difficulty in moving these scores will recognize an increase of five points in less than a year’s time as significant.
There were other measures of success. Nursing leaders asked to use the I Am North Florida brand in scripting tools for their staff. Human Resources asked to use it in their employee recruiting and rewards and recognition programs. Hospital senior leaders incorporated it into the new Mission, Vision and Values for the entire health system. The program earned an Image Award from the Florida Public Relations Association and Public Relations Society of America.
Video: I Am North Florida - Simon Flatt
Trained as a television journalist, I believe in the power of video storytelling. Is it the only way to tell a great story? No. Is it my favorite way? Yes.
I continued telling stories with video long after I left television news. The same video storytelling techniques I used for large healthcare organizations can be used for large organizations in different industries or small businesses and individuals.
Examples on this page include television commercials with companion videos I often produce for web, social media, presentations and events to enhance campaigns. Interested? Get in Touch!
Josh's Story: Cooling Technique Used After Accidental Drowning
Robotic Surgery Campaign: Dr. Daylene Ripley
Robotic Surgery Campaign: Dr. Greg Bailey
Robotic Surgery Campaign: Back Stories
Introducing the New North Florida Regional Medical Center
I have experience in writing for a variety of formats, including print, radio and television advertising; video stories, brochures, magazine and newsletter articles; websites, press releases and social media.
Writing Samples: Social Media
Robotic Surgery: It’s Something We Do Everyday
More About Cardiovascular Surgery
More About Vascular Surgery
More About Electrophysiology
The CyberKnife: A Patient Guide to Robotic Radiosurgery
David's Choice For Weight Loss Surgery
Jill's Choice For Weight Loss Surgery
NFRMC 2014 Community Report
My background in television news and healthcare marketing helped me to design effective ways to arrange for media coverage of organizations I work for, as well as having processes in place to respond to requests from members of news media. While I am experienced in seeking print and radio news coverage, I am especially successful with television coverage because of my background and experience in TV news. In the TV news coverage examples, some may appear to be mistaken double entries of the same coverage, but they are not. I often arrange for interviews on a topic early in the day with a reporter story on that same topic airing later in the day. That approach helps us double our exposure, and television stations like it because it allows them to tease later coverage.
Lung Cancer: Dr. Grow Interview
Lung Cancer: Reporter Story
DIEP Flap for Breast Cancer: Dr. Rosenberg Interview
DIEP Flap for Breast Cancer: Reporter story
Women and Heart Disease – Dr. Tulli Intros 20 Hearts on 20
Women and Heart Disease – 20 Hearts on 20 – Part One
Women and Heart Disease – 20 Hearts on 20 – Part Two
North Florida Regional Medical Center Unveils Its New South Tower
Robotic Surgery: Guiding the Way for Surgeons and Patients
Fetal Medicine Specialist Fills A Need At North Florida Regional's Women's Center
Father-Son Orthopedic Team Gets Leg Up On Hip Replacement With Special Table
My events experience includes everything from 60-minute presentations for smaller audiences to all-day symposiums that include exhibitors, out-of-town speakers and large venues; community events such as North Florida Regional’s Pond Lighting with thousands of attendees and local entertainers is another example of my varied events experience.
I can provide assistance in all aspects of event and presentation planning or just one particular area such as preparing an agenda or planning promotions. Whatever level of assistance you need, I can do that. When appropriate, I also recommend experiential marketing to get people talking about your event. Five hundred flamingos Standing Up to Breast Cancer is a great example!
Mythbusters Breast Cancer Event
Nag That Man: Getting Men to a Prostate Event
Nag That Man: Best Practice Presentation
Women’s Symposium Promotion
Pre-Diabetes Awareness Program
Expansion Open House Invitation
Expansion Open House Program
No matter what your needs, success begins and ends with great storytelling. If you’d like to talk about how I can help, please contact me by phone, text or email.
I look forward to speaking with you.
| Telephone | (352) 213-9524 |
| pamela.rittenhouse@gmail.com |