Five years ago, Lazzaro Designs was retained to create a quarterly e-newsletter for Healthcare Leaders of New York (HLNY), the New York Metropolitan chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives, an international professional society of more than 40,000 healthcare executives. And for five years, we have been writing, designing and project-managing this popular communication tool that is released to the chapter’s 1,800+ members.
For the most recent issue, the client and we decided it was time to refresh the look of the piece especially in light of the organization’s launch of a new website. Here’s specifically what we did:
Voice: Editorially, the basic elements of the original e-newsletter remain, including messages from key leaders, links to upcoming events, member profiles, and useful advice for healthcare executives from the early careerist to the seasoned pro. We continue to interview the profiled members, write fresh copy, and provide editorial support for the organization’s leaders as they craft their messages.
Vision: Before she tackled how the piece would look, Maryellen recommended that HLNY consider using a template in Mailchimp (the organization’s mail delivery system). This eliminated a previously outsourced html coding step, making the redesigned e-newsletter more efficient to produce.
The new look features banners for each section, which were created using a combination of photos of HLNY members, images from their website along with stock icons. The new design complements the look of their website and translates well on any device.
Getting it Done: As they have for the past five years, Lazzaro Designs continues to project-manage the quarterly ongoing project, keeping the editorial calendar, triggering conference calls to brainstorm content, and ensuring that the e-newsletter gets delivered in a timely fashion.
> If you need help creating an e-newsletter with value-added content, give Lazzaro Designs a call or shoot us an email.
EXTENDED-CARE MARKETING EDITION
Sure, you can post a blog without featuring an image. But should you? NO. Relevant visual content in your extended-care blog entries strategically enhances your written content. Moreover, studies show that images (photos, videos, infographics, charts, quote cards) boost your content’s page views significantly—as much as 94% according to Content Marketing Institute.
Photos and videos are the easiest for extended-care organizations (such as rehabilitation centers and skilled nursing care facilities) to capture. Here, we’ll focus on those images; next week, infographics, charts and quote cards!
When mapping out your editorial calendar, think about how photos or videos can accompany blog entries. For example:
• “Testimonial from an outpatient rehab patient” can include an original photo of the patient with his physical therapist.
• “Music engages dementia patients” can feature an original video taken at your facility.
• “Tasting food again!” which discusses how residents benefit from being weaned from ventilator dependency, can include a free public domain image of flavored ices (one of the first foods given during the weaning process).
Here are some steps and tips to help you unearth interesting images for moderate costs or for free:
Use original photos and videos. Your facility is bursting with visual content just waiting to be captured. Cost prohibits frequent (or any!) use of a professional photographer or videographer, but you and your staff have access to smartphones and your facility may even have a digital camera. Here are some tips on capturing great original photos and videos.
• Since staff taking images aren’t professionals, provide them with a tripod (don’t spend more than $100 for a simple one) to avoid blurry photos from unsteady hands or fast-moving footage.
• Focus on a few people rather than a crowd. Tell your story through the personal interactions.
• Even if you’re showing off a newly renovated area, always include people in the shot for warmth and interest.
• Remove or reposition excess background and foreground items.
• Take images as much as possible in areas filled with natural light. However, don’t place your subjects directly in front of a window.
• Don’t use zoom. Instead move closer to your subject.
• Take numerous photos, and both long and short videos, so you have lots of choices.
• Don’t delete the raw photos and footage until they are uploaded to your facility’s image archives where the next step would be editing the featured photo or footage.
• Ask your legal department or administration what your organization’s policy is on getting signed photo release forms.
Edit original photos and videos. Once you decide on a photo for your blog entry, look at it closely to see it if needs to be retouched (perhaps, lightened to ensure that faces are easily visible or cropped to eliminate distracting background elements). Photographers and designers often retouch photos. Likewise, videographers take their raw footage and edit it to better and succinctly tell the story by adding cuts, text and more.
If you don’t want to purchase photo-editing software such as Photoshop, search the Internet for free photo-editing software. For example, gimp offers a free and open source image editor that is considered user friendly. Many free editing apps for videos taken with a smartphone can be downloaded from the Internet, too. To find a free app that suits your needs, search free editing apps for videos taken with phone.
Use free stock photos. Search free public domain images. Check out the search results and read the site’s fine print to ensure no attributes are required for use (for instance, that you don’t have to use a photo credit line) and that model releases have been signed. Pixabay is one of our favorites. Download the largest free file size so you can potentially feature it in your print efforts. You can also search free vector images or free clip art images for more image options.
Consider paying a small fee for a stock photo. There are numerous sites where a professional-quality image can be purchased for as little as $5 to $10 and sometimes less. Some of our favorites are thinkstockphoto, shutterstock and istockphoto. Again, download the largest file size so you can potentially feature it in your print efforts.
REMEMBER: Your time and cost investment in your original visual content will reap rewards because images can be used again and again throughout your other social media efforts and possibly print efforts.
> If you need help building or bettering a blog or using photos and videos, give Lazzaro Designs a call or shoot us an email.
> Coming soon: How to use charts, infographics and quote cards.
Lazzaro Designs was retained to significantly revise, redesign and consolidate a 100+-page annual report for the Department of Surgery at the Mount Sinai Health System. The department encompasses all the surgical divisions of the System’s seven hospitals: The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai West, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, Mount Sinai Queens, Mount Sinai Brooklyn, and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.
The project began in-house, but a change of on-staff marketing personnel required an outside team to swiftly bring it to completion. Lazzaro Designs agreed with the client that significant changes were needed, as well. The client’s core message of a vibrant present and a promising future built on a foundation of an impressive history dating back to the 1800s was a powerful one and we did not seek to change that direction. In fact, we were able to strengthen the department’s messaging and carry it more consistently throughout the book. Here’s specifically what we did:
Voice: The writer immediately recognized that various authors wrote the many stories and entries and the voice differed throughout the book. She thoroughly edited the entire report to make the copy consistent in style and tone as well as comply with the Health System’s branding editorial guidelines. She also brainstormed with Maryellen a major reorganization of all the sections to better present the information in a cohesive manner. By identifying fascinating stories to pull out of the larger narrative into featured sidebars and boxes, she was able to add both editorial and visual interest to the book.
Vision: Maryellen completely reorganized, redesigned and trimmed pages from the entire report. She also created a new cover to strengthen the report’s themes. Much of her redesign was also necessary to make sure the report complied with the Health System’s branding guidelines. Additionally, Maryellen worked with department and Marketing staff to locate images appropriate for print use, and culled additional photos from the System’s archives and other sources.
Getting it Done: Lazzaro Designs project-managed the effort, turning around a complete redesign and rewrite from start to delivery in under three months. The department’s and System’s top administrators are incredibly pleased and did, in fact, increase print quantities in response.
> If you need help creating a dynamic, must-read annual report, or a team to get a languishing project across the finish line, give Lazzaro Designs a call or shoot us an email.
Lazzaro Designs is pleased to announce that they have been retained to significantly revise and redesign a 100+-page annual report for the combined departments of surgery at the Mount Sinai Health System. The departments encompass all the surgical divisions of the System’s seven hospitals: The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai West, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, Mount Sinai Queens, Mount Sinai Brooklyn, and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.
