Healthcare content chaos

Healthcare content chaos

Whitepaper, eBook, case study, blog, or byline – key differences and how to use them

Our inboxes and social media feeds are flooded with the latest eBooks, white papers, blogs, and bylines from brands and thought leaders –– so what's the difference, and what's the most effective medium for your healthcare content? In this blog (that’s a hint), we'll define and explore some of the many content forms that play a critical role in successful public relations (PR) and marketing campaigns across health tech, biotech, life sciences, and other healthcare sectors.

Whitepaper
What is it?

Often used as a sales enablement tool, a whitepaper is a research-based report that focuses on a complex topic or problem and presents the author's point of view and solution while leveraging peer-reviewed research and other published forms of evidence to support claims. Whitepapers are typically 1,000+ words and designed as a stand-alone document or PDF, often with a dedicated landing page to generate leads.

Best practices

• Credible author(s). Ensure the author has the authority to speak on the subject. They should be a proven expert with appropriate education or professional experience published previously and / or cited as an industry source. The author should have a strong opinion on the answer to the problem at hand and the credibility to offer it.
• Sell the solution. As a piece of marketing content, a white paper can be promotional in nature and should include mention of your healthcare or health tech solution.
• Founded in facts. While healthcare content in a whitepaper can be thought-driven, its research-based roots require reputable statistics that illustrate the problem and frame the solution.

eBook

What is it?
Largely utilized as a lead generation tool, eBooks are visual, portable, on-demand guides written in a casual tone that offer more digestible information than research-driven white papers. Often several pages or chapters long, eBooks are generally 1,000+ words. 

Best practices

• Visuals. eBooks should incorporate visual data that supports the content. Often spanning several pages, graphs, in-depth charts, full-page images, and call-out boxes can be included to break up text and highlight essential takeaways.
• Gated content.  By requiring website viewers to complete a form before viewing the eBook, the content is a tried and true lead generation tool.
• Actionable insights. After identifying a topic relevant to your audience, identify actionable insights. Framing these in a listicle format or as a guide ensures clear and concise takeaways, for example, "Three Best Practices for Emerging Biotech Companies" or “A 10-Step Guide to Life Sciences Market Entry.”

Case study

What is it?

A case study focuses on an in-depth, real-world account of an individual customer or facility’s utilization of a particular product or service. While often including a description of the problem, solution or approach, and results, marketing case studies generally range from 500-1,000+ words and are presented on 2-3 designed pages.

Best practices

• Include hard facts. While seemingly obvious, case studies should incorporate industry research findings paired with real customer or facility results. Avoid general statements such as “doubled ROI” and provide exact percentages or figures (i.e., a 54% increase in ROI).
• Frame the product as the solution. Target audiences respond to pain points. Ensure you’ve detailed the exact challenges your audience faces in parallel to how your solution enabled the audience to overcome these challenges.
• Tell a story. Once you’ve collected the facts to frame the customer's problems and solutions, engage your audience by telling a clear, concise, and compelling story. Don’t miss an opportunity to incorporate testimonials to help your narrative.

Blog

What is it?

Blogs live on a blog platform or website and are used to express opinions, illustrate an author or company's voice, and play a critical role in SEO efforts. Industry insights indicate blogs should be anywhere from 300 to 1,000+ words, based on campaign objectives.

Best practices

• SEO. If you're looking to boost SEO efforts, consider leaning towards the longer side, incorporating keywords, and ensuring, above all, that you're delivering value to your audience.
• A place to repurpose. After the investment in developing eBooks or white papers, companies can pull out a compelling fact or opinion, infuse their company voice, and repurpose this content in blog form.
• Simply answer questions. A valuable blog answers questions frequently posed by your target audience clearly and concisely.

Byline

What is it?

A key pillar in earned media efforts,  a byline is effectively a news article written by a third-party expert or thought leader and almost always needs to be vendor-neutral and non-promotional. Each outlet provides editorial guidelines, defining length and requirements for successful submission and publication.

Best practices

• Establish credibility. Earned media opportunities stem from genuine media interest in a topic solely due to its newsworthiness and the author’s expertise on the subject, inherently offering credibility that paid placements can't provide.
• Non-promotional. Because bylines cannot be promotional, they instead should focus on the author’s ideas for solutions or opinions. 
• A trusted endorsement. A benefit of combining the two points above is that target audiences view earned bylines as trusted endorsements from the publishing outlet.