One of the key benefits of having a content calendar in place for your medical marketing team is the ability to have a structured workflow. You know who is responsible for doing what as well as when the task is due. It also allows you to visualize how and where the content will appear for at least several weeks into the future. With a content calendar, you can say goodbye to missed deadlines, random lists, and sending endless emails to follow-up with the rest of your team.

Producing regular content enables your target audience and even your competition to see your organization as an expert in your medical specialty. Many healthcare organizations start out enthusiastically producing a weekly blog only to see the project lose steam. It doesn’t leave a favorable impression when your website visitors see that you haven’t posted new content in two years. A content calendar makes producing the posts part of the regular schedule so you can continue to inform patients and keep your healthcare company fresh in their minds.

When you’re new to creating a content calendar, start by making a list of important dates and events to coordinate with planning new posts. For example, perhaps an important seminar is coming up about managing chronic illness. Since your hospital or clinic routinely treats people with chronic illness, writing several posts leading up to the event is a good idea. It will pique people’s interest in the seminar as well as the services your organization offers to help manage their symptoms.

A Few Tips to Help You Get Started

One of the first decisions you face is whether to create a monthly or quarterly content calendar or to use some other interval. Be sure to schedule a deadline to create the next content calendar after you have made the first one to avoid overlooking anything. As an administrator of a healthcare company, you probably already have a good idea of your target audience. Learning as much as you can about their demographics and health concerns helps you to create highly valuable content for them.

When you have done your homework and you’re ready to get started, be sure to incorporate all of the following information:

• Weekly time periods for planning purposes
• Specific events of interest to a healthcare audience
• Other information relevant to your specialty, such as new products or medications
• A timeline of when to publish each piece of content according to topic
• A strategy to promote the content on social media.

If you feel that neither you or any member of your team is up to this task, outsourcing the work ensures that it gets done.