Challenge
The Problem Simplify ASC, formerly known as CyramedX, created a digital charting tool to help ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) integrate handwritten notes with the electronic health records (EHR) of their patients. Over several years, the company witnessed the struggles of surgery centers and listened to the complaints of nurses, other staff, and administrators about managing ASCs. They went to work and developed an ASC management platform, an integrated solution that empowers ASCs to quickly handle scheduling and registration, submit and track claims to insurance companies, keep track of surgical supply inventory, run reports, and of course, translate handwritten notes into the EHR. This new product showcased innovation in a competitive and entrenched market. The new platform was positioned to be a best-in-class disruptor. The Opportunity CyramedX needed a new brand that represented the company’s new movement and reflected the product. They commissioned Golden Spiral to take them to market. CyramedX needed to go to market. And they wanted to make a statement.
Solution
The Philosophy Golden Spiral gathered CyramedX’s leadership together to understand the history, pathos, and direction of the company. Next, we excavated the marketplace to discover who the true competitors would be for the new product. Through our Brand Foundation and Buyer MatrixSM processes, we learned the company had a fairly passive presence among trade news media. We also identified the unserved audience. For this new product, they didn’t need to reach the check writers; they needed to win the hearts of the administrators at ASCs. When we refocused the audience on administrators, the cosmos shifted. They renamed their company — and their integrated ASC management platform — Simplify ASC. The Solution We needed to reach the defined audience with a clear and differentiated message. Integrated with an entire demand-generation playbook, PR took the lead to meet nurse administrators where they work and learn. They were sick and tired of their day-to-day headaches and longed to solve their problems. They were reading and searching online, but no one was providing answers. Our public relations play had to shake up the industry and fire up ASC administrators. The Buyer Matrix process identified genuine needs of administrators and showed the weaknesses of the tired topics discussed in industry publications and the empty promises of Simplify’s competitors. So, we crafted content that asserted the administrators’ point of view and sought earned media placements. We established a cadence of six articles per month published on Simplify’s blog. Every article was optimized with keywords and metadata designed to be found by administrators. We re-purposed blog content into tailored articles that met the editorial criteria of ASC-specific publications. We pitched this contributed content, and in some cases, original byline articles authored by Simplify leadership, to appropriate editors and reporters.
Results
The Results In a three-month period leading up to the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) trade show, the PR campaign generated 15 pieces of coverage in Becker’s ASC Review, a leading publication exclusively for the ASC industry. We also generated traction for Simplify through outreach efforts to hyper-niche publications ASC Focus and Outpatient Surgery, plus broader healthtech publications like Fierce Healthcare and HIStalk. While competitors relied solely on press releases, Simplify shaped their web content into articles to target relevant trade publications either as opinion pieces or assertions by industry experts.
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