B2B Events Healthcare Marketing

Anderson Interactive: Agency of the Year & Why 2021 Isn’t the Year to Hold Back

With the 2021 Medigy HITMC Awards launching this week, we wanted to take a look back at some of our 2020 winners.

One of the top awards each year is the HITMC Award for Agency of the Year.  The award honors outstanding achievement by a Health IT-focused agency that has demonstrated industry leadership, produced results for clients, grown their business/portfolio and contributed back to the healthcare marketing community.

We caught up with Dave Anderson, President at Anderson Interactive, who took home that top spot in 2020 to see what his team have been up to since their win and what winning has meant for them.

The HITMC Team – What did winning the 2020 HITMC Award for Agency of the Year mean for Anderson Interactive?

Dave Anderson – It meant the world to us. We do very little promotion for our own agency. We don’t apply for other awards, send out press releases or do much advertising. Over the past ten years, our growth has solely come from referrals, and we’ve never taken the opportunity to stand on a pedestal. But getting a taste of industry recognition has really changed things. We’ve seen the dramatic effect it has had on our growth – even during a down year. We’ve had several new business prospects specifically reference the award in why they called us, and I’m convinced it has contributed greatly to our growth – both in terms of new clients and new employees.

The HITMC Team – What does it take to be a top agency?

Dave Anderson – It’s all about the team. Small virtual agencies can’t afford to swing and miss when it comes to bringing in a new face. We added two employees in 2020, but it took the review of nearly 4,000 resumes and dozens of interviews to get it right. We’ve also been very lucky when it comes to our clients. We’ve turned down plenty of new business opportunities and even parted ways with a client or two when the relationship just didn’t feel right. Through the years, we’ve learned that a one-sided relationship can really sabotage team morale, so we’ve followed our gut on when to nurture a partnership or when it’s time to cut bait.

The HITMC Team – Have the qualities/characteristics of a top agency changed in light of COVID? Are there things that top agencies must do now that they haven’t had to do in the past or are the characteristics timeless?

Dave Anderson – The importance of a work-life balance has never taken on a greater importance than in 2020. The year our team was separated physically was the same one that brought us closer together. More and more of our time was spent focusing on the personal and emotional challenges of getting through this fight together, and I feel we became stronger for it. It just became clear that the more we leaned on each other, the taller we became to support our clients.

The HITMC Team – What’s next for Anderson Interactive? What are you focusing on in the next 6 months? 

Dave Anderson – We hope a lot more of the same: Working with our clients to help them survive and thrive within a challenging market… Leveraging our team and resources to efficiently expand into new healthcare sectors… And share some of our health IT marketing guidance on our radio show Overrated and Underused!

The HITMC Team – What is something Health IT marketers should start doing right now?

Dave Anderson – Be ready because our industry needs us. Health IT marketers have the solutions that can help change the prospects of this industry, so it’s up to them to bring this economy back – from the associations to the conferences to the media outlets to the tech partners.

The HITMC Team – What is something Health IT marketers should stop doing right now?  

Dave Anderson – Stop waiting for others to make the first move. Stop holding back on event participation because you’re waiting for an answer as to virtual or in-person. Stop delaying sponsorships and other promotional expenditures until the world is perfect again. Sometimes you need to just get out there and be that change you want to see.

Anderson Interactive is an award-winning, healthcare-recognized, media-requested agency force. Their firm blends public relations tactics and marketing innovations with social media expertise, while adding in a heavy dose of digital, broadcast and interactive communication strategies to advance the brands of emerging and leading healthcare and health IT organizations. Learn more at: www.andersoni.com

Interested in nominating someone for the 2021 Medigy HITMC Awards? Visit our awards page to see all of this year’s categories and how you can nominate an organization or individual who did outstanding work last year.

About the author

Brittany Quemby

Add Comment

Click here to post a comment

Learn Together

Whether you’re looking to for coverage of important healthcare marketing news or sharing a best practice so that others can learn from your experience, we’d love to have you as part of the community.

Subscribe >