Provider access to accurate and robust patient data is crucial for effective care delivery. But it’s a jungle out there in the world of healthcare information. Accurate data access, processing, and insights are difficult for medical professionals to obtain—and, far too often, medical professionals rely on patients’ own memory of their medical history to make critical decisions. Our client, Health Gorilla, is supporting the healthcare industry with technology to enable the safe exchange of medical information that can be used to improve humankind.
Read on to learn more about Health Gorilla’s marketing and communications objectives, strategies, and partnership with V2 through the eyes of its Chief Marketing Officer, Ali Zaman.
For those not familiar, can you tell us about Health Gorilla?
We provide a platform that helps healthcare organizations safely access patient data from a national network of sources, including Electronic Health Records (EHRs), hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and labs. This network encompasses various types of healthcare data, such as labs, medications, ADTs, and social determinants of health data. Health Gorilla was also named as a candidate Qualified Health Information Network by The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, and once designated, we’ll serve as a national node for all health information exchange.
Traditionally, the process for gathering patient data manual can be time-consuming, often relying on phone calls, faxes, or patients’ memory – an expensive and error-prone approach. We offer software and APIs to streamline these processes, making it easier and safer for healthcare providers to access the data they need to enhance patient care.
What are your primary communications goals at Health Gorilla?
We have a few key communications goals at Health Gorilla. First and foremost, we aim to promote positive customer experiences with our products. We want our customers to have seamless interactions with our platform, ensure they’re getting value and satisfaction from it, and promote their experience working in using data to improve the quality of care.
Secondly, we are committed to promoting the value and utility of our products. Accessing healthcare data is not a new thing, but accessing all healthcare data on virtually any individual in real-time, and building automations around the retrieval of data, is a new thing, and we need to educate healthcare leaders on ways they can leverage our network. We want to ensure that our product messaging resonates with our target audiences.
We also see communications as a means to enable our executives to express their opinions and stances on critical healthcare interoperability issues. By doing so, we aim to position them as authorities in the interoperability space and foster relationships that accelerate our mission to democratize access to patient data.
Health Gorilla attended HIMSS and VIVE earlier this year, and will be at HLTH next month. How do events play into your communications strategy?
Events play a significant role in our communications strategy at Health Gorilla. They offer a unique opportunity to engage with customers, prospects, and partners in-person. During the pandemic, we lost the ability to meet people face-to-face, making events even more essential now.
In-person engagement allows us to have open, free-flowing conversations that are challenging to replicate through virtual meetings. We use events to reinforce key messages we’ve been promoting. For example, if we launch a new product before a major conference, we strategically hold live demonstrations and educational sessions about that product at the show, giving attendees the chance to experience it firsthand.
Events also serve as an opportunity to envelop customers within our brand. Our booth becomes a space where people can interact with our team, learn about our culture, and truly feel like they’re part of the Health Gorilla family. Additionally, we place our executives as speakers on panels, providing independent validation of our brand’s authority and voice in the market. For companies aiming to be authoritative, on-stage participation is crucial.
Speaking of HLTH, what are you most excited to see at this year’s event?
This year at HLTH, we are particularly excited about the trend of using a national network to access healthcare data instead of establishing individual connections with different data sources. Many organizations are recognizing that national networks offer a cost-efficient way to access real-time data through APIs. This approach is more affordable, involves fewer vendors, and is a win-win for healthcare product managers. It’s becoming increasingly mainstream, and we’re excited to meet with everyone in this space.
Additionally, generative AI has emerged as a significant trend since the last event, with numerous announcements in that arena. We wouldn’t be surprised if giants like Google and Amazon make announcements related to this field.
Of HLTH, VIVE, and HIMSS, which event best serves your communications goals?
Each of these events serve different purposes within our communications strategy:
- VIVE is especially productive for forming vendor and data partnerships.
- HLTH is ideal for connecting with digital health and telehealth companies, given its focus on the healthcare industry’s transformation.
- HIMSS, on the other hand, is way bigger, and is vital for engagement with large accounts, such as payers, HIEs, and government organizations. HIMSS also attracts a large international audience.
Regardless of our specific conference goals, our PR strategy consistently involves generating buzz with news releases before each event.
How has V2 helped Health Gorilla achieve its communication goals?
V2 has played a pivotal role in achieving our communications goals at Health Gorilla. Before V2, we lacked an organized program for press engagement. Our interactions with the press were sporadic, limited to occasional pitches for specific releases. V2 has transformed Health Gorilla’s approach by providing a structured, long-term strategy for earned, and strategically timed, media coverage.
Where we may have seen quick pops of coverage tied to announcements in the past, we now experience the real value of an integrated program that of combines news moments with thought leadership campaigns to build press relationships and authority with key audiences over time.
The media relationships we have established through V2 have had numerous benefits, such as securing articles in reputable publications or participating in sessions on the evolution of health tech. All this supports our organization.