There’s a Better Way: Smart Talk on Healthcare and Technology

About Project

We launched our inaugural podcast, now in its second season, on July 14, 2022.
Surescripts’ production partner, Quill, conducted a competitive analysis that determined, there is space for a podcast that interviews health industry leaders about the challenges and future solutions facing the healthcare industry - using an optimistic tone that promotes positivity for the future. Quill found that Surescripts had the opportunity to share how its partners and other organizations in the health IT space are innovating, and in turn, position itself as a thought leader.
The podcast was developed to position the company as a thought leader in health IT, complementing our other media channels and platforms. The series targets current stakeholders but also aims to reach an audience of prospective business leaders within pharmacies, health plans and pharmaceutical benefit managers, health technology vendors, health systems and health analytics vendors. As a long tenured company in health IT, Surescripts uses the podcast to promote its brand as a leading innovator in the industry.
The guests represent leading businesses in health IT who can speak to the challenges they are experiencing and how they relate to the healthcare system overall. The guest's stories and experiences bring the topic to life. As engaging speakers with established careers, guests offer helpful insights and foreshadow the industry's better future. The topics identified are driven by current industry trends and guest expertise and are relatable to the ideal listener.
We have also endeavored to feature guests who provide a diversity of perspectives and life experiences.
Media Plan: Each season has had nine episodes, kicked off with a trailer that promotes the coming season.
Our episodes were available on every major podcast platform to include Apple Podcasts, Player FM, Castbox, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.
The episodes dropped every other week for the duration of the season. We promoted each episode with social media posts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, with a "recap" article on our editorial blog (and attendant social media on the aforementioned channels), as well as with paid social promotion. Our production partner, Quill, complemented our promotion with paid promotion and ads on Castbox, Player FM and banner ads on podcast platforms.
Each episode also appeared on a dedicated, Surescipts-hosted "podcast page" and "episode page," which we pointed to from our social media and editorial recap articles. We also shared each episode and the associated social media posts, episode page and recap with each guest once their episode had premiered, asking them to promote on their channels.
Our internal design team developed the creative approach, to include a dedicated color scheme, illustration style, title treatment and custom illustration of our host, Melanie Marcus, and each guest. This creative treatment was consistent across each social post (paid and organic), on each episode and podcast page, and on each editorial recap, providing a unified and easy to identify content experience for our listeners and audience.
For Season 2, we tweaked our approach a bit. We shortened our episode titles, began to provide transcripts on each episode page and crafted custom social posts for each guest, written from their point of view, with they intent to make it easier for them to promote their episodes on their respective platforms.
For more, please visit our podcast landing page (https://surescripts.com/podcast-landing); a sample episode page for guest Geeta Nayyar (https://surescripts.com/podcast-landing/podcasts/dr-g-battles-misinformation-in-healthcare-and-builds-trust-with-patients) and a sample recap from our editorial blog (https://surescripts.com/news-center/intelligence-in-action/interoperability/battling-healthcare-misinformation.)
Results: Season 1 began July 14, 2022 and finished November 22, 2022. Our original goal for Season 1 was to garner between 5,250-10,520 total downloads.
By December 15, 2022, we had reached 110% of our original goal with a total of 20,363 downloads and 16,830 unique (individual listeners). Our average consumption rate was 52%, meaning that listeners on average listened to 52% of an episode.
As of August 24, 2023, we have nearly quadrupled our original target for Season 1, reaching 39,219 downloads.
Season 2 began April 6 and finishes September 1, 2023. Our goal was to increase downloads by at least 5% (reach 21,381), increase unique listeners by 10% and increase our average consumption rate to 60% or better.
As of August 24, 2023, we have garnered 63,171 downloads, a 210% increase in number of downloads as of end of Season 1, our unique listeners now total 90,711 (an increase of 439%) and our average consumption rate is 67%.