For the last 9 summers, I’ve had the pleasure of living with a working broadleaf tobacco farm in my front yard.  Regardless of how you feel about tobacco and its uses (cigar wrappers for this crop), tobacco farming is a fascinating process.  In our house we mark summer milestones by the process, planting in June, mid-summer “topping”, and the late August harvesting, and the fall drying season.

So what does that have to with healthcare marketing?  It struck me as I watched the farm hands “topping” the tobacco (removing the flowers from the plants), cutting away those things that pull energy away from growing what is really important, that there are many parallels to the challenges facing healthcare marketers today.

As healthcare marketing shifts from low engagement, broadly targeted traditional marcomm strategies (traditional PR, print/display, radio,  and television advertising) to highly engaged, highly focused content marketing and social media they have to look at their objectives the same way a broadleaf tobacco farmer does.

Know Your Objectives and How You’ll Get There
Growing tobacco requires that you’ve got the right tools and resources at each step of the process.  For healthcare marketers, content marketing demands that you understand who you’re targeting, how they communicate, and what’s relevant to them before you begin.  Understanding how each communication tool and content resouce supports your objective – then delivering to your audience in the right context is critical to success.

Be Prepared And Adapt To Changing Conditions
Each growing season brings different challenges, to much or too little rain, pests, fungus, and catastophic hail, all conspire to limit crop yeild, so the broadleaf farmer has an arsenal of tools that are used depending upon the conditions presented.  The healthcare marketer needs to do the same – adjust their media mix as consumers move from traditional media to on-line, adding a blog or responding to a social media post, or letting the conversation happen and just listen.  They must continually measure and assess what’s resonating – developing the relationships with the target audience that helps them understand how their message is being received.

Constantly Cultivate - Don’t Let Weeds Compete
It’s long summer, so the farmer constantly turns the soil, preventing weeeds from taking root.  The same is true for content marketing – keep turning the soil by updated with valuable relevant content.  Consistent and reliable delivery is the surest way to grow a reliable loyal audience, and is the best way to combat negative dialogs.  The days of controlling the message are over – don’t let your voice be pushed out of the conversation because your not updating.  Lack of attention will lead to your voice being irrelevant, choked out by the weeds.

Topping Focuses Energy On What Matters Most
By ”topping” the plant, the farmer ensures the plant will focus its efforts on growing leaves and ultimately producing a viable crop.  The healthcare marketer needs to closely examine their communication arsenal – do the traditional broad target, low engagement, very expensive mediums (TV, radio, print, environmental, etc.) support your objectives, or do they pull energy and resources away from them.  “Topping” your marketing strategy may be required.

Don’t Be Afraid To Get Dirty
Broadleaf tobacco farming sometimes requires getting your hands dirty.  A successful content marketing strategy requires engagement, and engagement requires a continuous, interactive approach.  You have to listen as much as you communicate, and sometimes you may not like what you hear – but you need to listen, and more important, respond.  If your willing to wade in and interact, you will be successful.

So there really are a lot of paralells, know your objectives, be adaptable, keep on top of it, focus on what matter most, and don’t be afraid to get dirty.  Good advice for healthcare marketers – but sort of seems universal.

Oh… and how’s this year’s crop look?  Lots of rain.  Too much actually, so yeilds are likely to be down – but there is a lot of summer left and a few dry weeks could change that.