The following is an interview with Anne Zieger, freelance health IT journalist. If you’d like to know more about her work, one place to start is to review her portfolio at https://anne415.contently.com. Call her at anytime at 571-494-7418 or write her at anne@ziegerhealthcare.com.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work in health IT.
I’ve been around computers since I was a little girl, thanks largely to my father’s involvement in the computer industry in the early 70s. Back when I was in kindergarten, my father used to bring home a terminal that printed out transactions on thick piles of paper. He connected the terminal to a mainframe by sticking our phone handset into a toaster-sized modem. That certainly made an impression!
I began writing in college when I studied marketing at New York University. Given my early exposure to computers and networking, getting involved in writing about technology seemed like an obvious choice. By my mid-20s I was covering enterprise tech, including the very beginnings of the commercial Internet.
Eventually, in the early 90s, I began writing about health IT specifically. One of the earliest health IT pieces I ever wrote was a description of how the US military was using the Apple Newton to test out telemedicine options. Over the last few decades, I’ve tracked virtually every major health technology and health IT trend.
How does your background as a reporter inform the writing work you do for health IT companies?
After working as a reporter for decades, I’ve developed a skeptical view of what my former colleagues want to read. I’ve often found that what plays as news inside of a company has no value to editors, particularly if the news can’t be said to have any impact on the industry niche as a whole.
So, when I write news-style pieces for clients, it’s important to me that they read and feel like news, offer something of real value to readers. I also like to see pieces use Associated Press style guidelines and any facts cited in the story are double-checked for accuracy,
I suppose that in establishing these standards, I may come across as a bit harsh or unduly picky, but I see building my client’s credibility as job number one. If the content they’re asking me to produce doesn’t enhance their reputation with their media audience, they need to know it.
What’s the best time to consider working with a freelance writer? What use cases are most powerful?
One of the best times to work with freelance writers is when you need someone to deliver broad industry content on the product or service you’re selling.
Even the most talented and experienced in-house marketing and content experts aren’t likely to have this broader view of what’s going on in the industry given their need to burrow into the products and services their company offers.
Some the most popular use cases for bringing in freelancers include having them write case studies or trend pieces that leverage the writer’s deep understanding of industry issues as well as their ability to take a step back from the marketing process. Another popular use for freelancers is to have them create and manage a new product with an ongoing presence, such as a blog, rather than burden insiders with another workflow.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of working with a freelancer as opposed to doing the writing in house?
One of the biggest advantages that comes with hiring a freelance writer is that freelancers are often some the most informed and flexible content professionals you’ll find out there. This is not to suggest that staff writers aren’t good at their jobs, but rather, that they may not have been exposed to as many ideas and technologies as an independent writer. Any successful freelancer must have a knack for absorbing a huge range of ideas and fitting them together successfully.
On the other hand, a disadvantage to working with such folks is that they don’t come cheap, or at least they don’t if you want top-drawer work. Also, depending on the individual writer, freelancers may not be as available as you’d like. We are juggling many balls at a time, and that may have an impact on our availability.
If you need routine work done on a highly predictable basis, and the content needs to keep up with regular shifts in in the company’s products, services and strategies, having someone do the work in-house problem often makes more sense.
What should you look for when hiring a health IT writer?
If you’re hunting for a freelance health IT writer, one of the best things you can do is see how well the writer understands the issues clients are struggling to address. For example, if you create medical practice management software, you may not need someone who has written about this type of platform per se, but you do want them to understand what challenges medical practices face overall (such as, say, coding concerns or practice marketing.)
Usually, it is much easier to train someone who knows about an industry to develop knowledge about your product than it is to teach them about what worries your customers.
It’s also smart to hire someone who intuitively understands what makes your product or service special. You can certainly spell out what the differentiators are, but if the writer already gets it about your company, they are likely to turn out content that hits the mark the first time.
What is the usual flow for working with a freelance writer? Do you have a preferred way to get the content you’ll need to write effectively?
First, before I agree to a start a project, I try to find out not only what needs to be done but also why. That helps me understand the work involved. For example, if someone wants me to write a white paper, it will almost certainly be used to generate inbound sales leads, but they may also want to use it to put a “stick in the ground” regarding their overall vision and that will call for a lot more (time-consuming) consensus building.
When I begin work with the client, my usual flow is to begin by taking a deep dive into the company’s content and see what themes emerge. Are they stressing efficiency? Are they showcasing their clients or their products and services more conspicuously? Also, especially if the company is small to mid-sized, I hope to meet with at least one member of the leadership team to get a first-hand sense of their vision.
Perhaps most importantly, I try to find out what kind of communications have already worked well for you and why they were successful. (It also wouldn’t hurt to know if there are some approaches that failed and what went wrong.) My goal is to understand what you see as successful before I attempt to reinvent the wheel.
What are your biggest pet peeves with other health IT writing you see?
Perhaps my biggest pet peeve about health IT writing out there is when thought leadership articles are shallow or predictable. I believe that when a reader sits down to take in what you have to say, you need to offer a new insight into a problem or even a solution that nobody’s heard of before.
If you’re going to develop health IT content, your job is to offer some leadership and guidance to the industry. If you haven’t done this, your article may need a reboot. Do more research on the topic you propose to write about, think hard about what value you can offer and come up with something that makes a difference.
My other pet peeve is when companies create dry, dull copy, often in an attempt to demonstrate how serious they are about their business. Now, to be sure, I don’t recommend being imprecise or excessively flip, particularly when you’re describing what makes your product useful. On the other hand, there are times when being, er, colorful can be valuable. (Check out this Lady Gaga parody from NueMD for one extremely entertaining example)
Where can people learn more about you and connect with you?
If you’d like to know more about my work, one place to start is to review my contributions at HealthcareITToday.com (https://www.healthcareittoday.com/author/anne/). I’m always happy to schedule a call at 571-494-7418 or set up a Zoom meeting. Also, please feel free to write to me at anne@ziegerhealthcare.com.
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