So many white papers and sales sheets are boring that you could easily be forgiven for thinking they had to be. But they don’t. Set the bar higher with these three fool-proof ways to revitalize boring healthcare content.
1. Add Humor
A healthcare IT company once asked me to help explain their solution with animation. The goal wasn’t anything super polished, just funny. So I started with a script of a little animated guy walking through a hospital. The script wasn’t full of jokes, but it was funny just watching the cartoon move. Plus, the script emphasized awkward pauses, which the animation made even funnier.
The thing about humor is there are endless ways to be funny. Comics, images, GIFs, diagrams. And you’ve also got satire and irony. Even a simple knock-knock joke can get a point across in a humorous way.
Would my video have won awards? No, not by a long shot. But it was eminently watchable and got our point across. That’s a win.
2. Show Heart
I once had to create an ebook on the impact of nursing overtime on hospital budgets. To say it was a boring topic would be the biggest understatement in human history. Not only was the subject matter dry as can be, but I needed to give mathematical equations so readers could see how overtime costs were getting hidden by their scheduling.
The only way I could handle it was to turn it into a story. We all love stories; it’s universal. That’s why we tell kids bedtime stories. But how much of a story can you get out of overtime statistics?
Well, as it turned out, quite a lot. I started, as I always do, by thinking about my customer. What was their day like? What was on their desk? I could easily imagine them struggling to stay within budget each quarter. I could picture them dreading having to tell their boss that they’d gone over – again. But, happily, I could also picture their triumph if they used our solution and slashed their overtime costs.
3. Be Different
A few of my clients are in the rare disease space where detailed clinical descriptions are very common. So common, in fact, that you can often find the exact same wording on every single website for a given disorder. It becomes so prevalent that people think it’s the most important information to convey – but it usually isn’t.
When my clients are faced with this situation, I help them pull back and look at the bigger picture. I help them think less about describing the rare disease and more about being helpful. For instance, what would a family faced with this diagnosis need to know? What actionable information can you give them to help them navigate their new world? On the other side of the coin, what do researchers need to know about what is known – and what isn’t – about the disorder?
By thinking more broadly, you automatically create content that goes beyond the stale explanations filling up so many websites.
Healthcare Content Doesn’t Need to Be Boring
Despite the preponderance of evidence to the contrary, healthcare content does not need to be boring. With a little humor, some heart, and a wider point of view, you can create healthcare content that your audience actually wants to read.
Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash