Introducing: Healthcare Idea Email from Hammock | Like Hammock Inc.’s popular Idea Email, the new Healthcare Idea Email briefly explores one topic, every other week. Learn more about the new Healthcare Idea Email at the bottom of the page.

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Idea: Publish or Perish

By John Lavey | Hammock President and COO

My friends who work in academia understand the importance of thought leadership. Publish or perish is the constant pressure faced by professors to further their own career—by writing papers, articles and books contributing new ideas that advance their areas of study.

Whether they are conscious of it or not, healthcare marketers find themselves in a similar position. Just as being a great teacher—often a professor’s core competency—isn’t enough; to be seen as successful, marketers also need to be engaged in a higher-level discussion of ideas.

I’ve had marketing directors approach Hammock out of a concern that they weren’t doing a strong enough job of engaging health system leadership. They weren’t standing out from competitors who were developing engaging content.

Thought leadership can be an effective way to add credentials to your company within the healthcare ecosystem. Doing it effectively means thinking less like a seller and more like an educator.

Healthcare marketers might want to pay attention to the following great examples of thought leadership:

KLAS has a helpful online content resource filled with engaging, high-level discussions of issues of concern to the ecosystem of health systems and suppliers.

Outside of healthcare, another great website that addresses marketing thought leadership topics is Think with Google. The site features topics of interest to marketers organized by media type as well as industry-specific discussions.

Both blogs avoid discussions that are promotional, but their dedication to constantly publishing engaging, high-level content enhances their brand in the eyes of their audience. And probably will keep both of them from perishing.

Photo | Library of Congress

About the new Healthcare Idea Email | As our popular Idea Email has a large number of healthcare marketers who subscribe, it did not surprise us that the No. 1 request we’ve received is to “offer more ideas about healthcare.” So we have. In addition to Idea Email, on other weeks you can receive the Healthcare Idea Email that is focused exclusively on healthcare-related marketing, media and content trends and topics. You can visit the Healthcare Idea Email archive and subscribe for your own copy here.