Every February, health IT professionals from around the world descend on the annual HIMSS conference to learn about the next big advancements in healthcare technology, and to showcase their products and services to prospective buyers. In 2017, five of ARPR’s health IT clients including, Influence Health, the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC), Nuance Communications, Office Practicum (OP) and Vaporstream had a presence. As the agency of record (AOR) for each, ARPR’s challenge was to help all five clients cut through the noise of HIMSS Conference40,000+ attendees and 1,300 exhibitors to achieve specific goals and objectives ranging from lead generation, media relations and awareness building, among many other important priorities.
Beginning in late 2016, ARPR’s health IT practice group began regular one-on-one meetings with clients to collaborate and strategize on custom integrated communications activations that would support each company’s goals and objectives. While each strategy was unique, most clients saw value in ARPR’s recommendation to use a mix of media relations, content marketing, social media and digital marketing initiatives before, during and after HIMSS17. In addition to individualizing each client’s strategy, ARPR built out storylines that could benefit more than one client. For example, ARPR actively pitched media that Georgia, represented by MAC, was the only state with a presence on the show floor; in return, obtaining multiple pre-show interviews.
Leading up to the show, ARPR pitched clients’ news and key messages to attending media to secure on-site briefings and aggressively pitched bylines to drop in conjunction with the conference. Other tactical outputs included drafting custom social media content that capitalized on the appropriate HIMSS hashtag for each client, managing live social engagement, including content and video (Facebook Live, Periscope), and developing lead generating content, like blogs, that showcased top trends in real-time.