Integrated communications is the careful execution of all communications channels in one's arsenal -- traditional, social media, advertising, email, events, and internal communications. Everything a practitioner has at hand is aligned and used to reinforce a message and communicate a story.
Successfully fitting the puzzle pieces together can be one of the most rewarding and exciting completions of any project.
Case Study
Doctors' Day in Alabama
SITUATION: In 2017, the American Medical Association released an economic impact study that revealed each Alabama physician supported an average of 11.7 jobs and contributed to 101,770 jobs statewide, for an average of $1.9 million in economic input and $16.7 billion in economic impact statewide. However, physicians were seen only as medical caregivers in their communities, not as economic drivers. In some of Alabama’s more rural communities, physicians are a considerable source of employment and taxable income for the city and county.
PLAN: I researched, wrote, and pitched localized editorials and articles to the media and booked media interviews for small and large physician practices during May. Each week I spotlighted a different physician using my "Physician Giving Back" feature series on social media. Media began to report on physicians celebrating them as caregivers and as civic leaders contributing to the economic health of their communities. I reached out to the Alabama Hospital Association, the Alabama Public Health Department, and the Alabama Nursing Home Association to partner in celebrating physicians in Alabama. For four years, I arranged for a gubernatorial proclamation signing/media event allowing further conversation in government affairs and in media on other Alabama health care topics, including Medicaid funding and rural health care issues.
RESULTS: Physicians are not celebrated for their community service or considered economic drivers in their communities. After the first Doctors’ Day in 2016 and continuing to this day, the program I established gave a more impactful platform for Alabama’s physicians to discuss how they contribute to the economic health of their communities while bringing much-needed attention to the shortfalls in the medical system they deal with in their practices every day.
The Medical Association continues to the tradition of celebrating Doctors' Day in Alabama.