Refreshing a content strategy for a health care planning, design and construction conference

Content strategy, copywriting, graphic design (infographics), SEO

CLIENT: ASHE (AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR HEALTHCARE ENGINEERING)

The Challenge

Boost traffic and site engagement for ASHE’s national planning, design and construction conference: the PDC Summit.

The Outcome

Total page views for the PDC Summit’s website increased by 42%, with conference attendance trending higher than average.

In 2017, Clarke Creative presented ASHE with a new way to market its national conferences, including its PDC Summit, a team-building education and networking event bringing together more than 3,500 health facility planners, designers and contractors.

To compliment ASHE’s “push” marketing strategy of direct mail and email, Clarke Creative suggested the idea of a “pull” strategy - one that would develop a relationship with potential attendees over time and show value through helpful content hosted on a conference blog. Interested in the idea, ASHE created the PDC Summit blog.

What content will drive the most interest and engagement?
The team worked with ASHE to develop a content calendar based on its conference curriculum and top searched topics on its primary membership site, ashe.org. Blog post topics centered on addressing common challenges experienced by professionals in the health care planning, design and construction fields.

After finalizing the content calendar, Clarke Creative got to work. The team synthesized helpful ASHE resources, interviewed subject matter experts in the field, and tested various blog formats, such as infographics, list-structured articles and Q&As. To promote the new blog content, Clarke Creative crafted social media posts for ASHE to share on its channels.

Measuring success
Clarke Creative compiled a thorough report illustrating data showing the health of the new digital content strategy. The report helped ASHE identify which post formats and topics performed best to shape forthcoming marketing content.

Data in the report proved that total page views for the PDC Summit’s website increased by 42%. Plus, conference attendance trended higher than average. A win-win.

Today, ASHE adopts this content strategy for its two national conferences. The PDC Summit blog serves as a platform for the association to repurpose its resources and introduce new topics taking place at the upcoming event. ASHE also recycles content from its blog and integrates it across its other news platforms, including member e-newsletters and publications.