Make no mistake. If you’re a hospital, a private practice, concierge medicine network or a digital health brand, your healthcare organization needs consistent content creation.
There’s no better way to build trust, create brand awareness and close more deals. And if you have physicians, they too should be a part of the process.
Yet doctors should never write content. Here’s why, and what you should be doing instead.
1. Doctors don’t know content.
Even if your doctors have published New York Times best sellers, are contributors for the Huffington Post and have been published in medical journals, they’re probably not experts in content marketing.
It’s unlikely that’ll know how to write stories, attention-grabbing headlines or how to optimize content.
2. They may have an agenda.
Despite having an editorial calendar, your physicians may have their own ideas about what makes for a great blog post or which client should be featured in a case study.
They may disagree with the story that’s been approved and suggest what the real story should be. Although their story might be just as amazing, you see the bigger picture—your content marketing strategy.
3. They won’t like it.
I once conducted an interview with a physician that lasted for nearly an hour and gave me enough information to write about 6 blog posts. Yet after he read them, he said they weren’t something he wanted his name on despite essentially being the author.
So although your team may allow physicians to make edits or even require that they approve content, the less time they have their hands on it, the better.
4. They’re too busy.
Doctors are short on time so expecting them to write content isn’t reasonable. Do your own research, set up interviews with them and then write the content yourself. Or hire a freelance healthcare writer to save you time and a lot of headache.
5. Your project won’t get done.
Even if you handle the content, once you share it with your physicians it’s bound to get delayed, regardless of where you are in the process.
You may need them to review it for accuracy, but they may go overboard with input and revisions and may even take the project in a completely different direction. And when there are too many cooks in the kitchen, the project can drag on for months. And your customers? They’ve already moved on to your competitors.