Kathleen Wessel (Host): As consumer media habits continue to evolve, podcasting can help hospital organizations support their strategic priorities, including brand awareness, service line promotion, community engagement, patient education, CME testing, and physician referrals and staff engagement.

Welcome to AHA Associates Bringing Value, a podcast from the American Hospital Association. In this series of podcasts, we speak with AHA Associate Program business partners, check in on their efforts and learn how they support AHA Hospital and Health System members. I'm Kathleen Wessel, Vice President of Business Management and Operations at the AHA. And today, I am joined by Bill Klaproth, Director of Marketing and Production at DoctorPodcasting. Bill, welcome to the podcast.

Bill Klaproth, MBA: Kathleen, thank you. Good to see you.

Host: Hey, you know what? I want to dive right in and really learn from you about the work that you're doing. So, why are more hospitals turning to podcasts right now?

Bill Klaproth, MBA: Well, it's a good question. So, podcasts and video podcasts-- and by the way, that term is interchangeable. The consumer thinks of a video podcast and audio podcast just as a podcast, but podcasts give you a powerful platform to showcase your physicians and also tell the story of the care that that hospital provides.

So, I would say, in a world full of noise all around us, I want people to think about this a little bit differently. So, podcasts, audio podcasts, are kind of like your hospital's radio station, if you will. Video podcasts are kind of like your TV station. So, it really allows you, again, to control the narrative. It allows you to tell the story of the care you provide and really deliver that vetted, credible information direct from your physicians that the community needs to hear. So, it's really important in this day of age to have that outlet where you can really articulate your benefits and talk about the problems that you solve.

The other thing I would say is podcasts are not this little niche little format thing anymore. They are mainstream. They are everywhere. As you know, you can't turn on the radio or TV and not hear of somebody having a podcast nowadays. Just like 15 years ago, people were like, "Gosh, do I need social media?" Well, yes, people are going to have an audio and video component on their website. We're getting to that point where you just have to have it, because it is such a valuable platform to tell your story.

So, those are really some of the main reasons. For sure, there are many others that I'm sure we'll touch on, but it's really a great format for you to be able to articulate the solutions to your customer's problems. So, people are searching for solutions to their health problems all the time. They're on hospital websites right now. They're on social media right now. They're on YouTube right now. Podcasts give you that opportunity to actually answer those questions and really play a valuable part in the health of your community.

Host: I think that's a great background. And yeah, who would've even thought a year ago, two years ago, that podcasts would be so ubiquitous and such an important mechanism for sharing information. It's wonderful.

Bill Klaproth, MBA: That's a good word. I like that. Ubiquitous. I'm going to steal that word from you, ubiquitous. I like it. I'm going to give you credit too.

Host: Feel free.

Bill Klaproth, MBA: Okay, good.

Host: You know what? We've actually met several times before, but can you share a little bit of your background with DoctorPodcasting and what experiences led you to the role that you're in today?

Bill Klaproth, MBA: Yeah, thank you. I'm an old radio guy. So, I spent over 20 years in radio doing everything. I was a DJ as a morning man. Mainly in programming though. Music director, program director, traveled around the Midwest; small, small towns in Iowa and Minnesota, and Illinois, Ohio. So, you slowly climb the ladder when you're in radio, you kind of market hop, market hop, market hop. So eventually, I wound up back in Chicago, which is my hometown, working at a rock station in Chicago called The Loop. Maybe somebody in Chicago area would remember The Loop. It's no longer, it's been sold since.

So, my background is in creating audio formats, learning how to attract the biggest audience I can through audio and now video. So when you're a program director for a radio station, that's your job. You're trying to attract as many listeners as possible. Same thing we're trying to do in the podcast industry. So, my skills and my background in radio is the perfect transferable skill to the podcast world.

And I've been with DoctorPodcasting now for about 12 years, 13 years. Oh my goodness. So when my radio career ended, I hooked up with DoctorPodcasting. And it has just been a great marriage, because what I did in my former life translates perfectly to the podcast world. So, everything from production skills to coaching, podcast hosts to, again, attracting that audience, understanding how to market audio, how to market video, those types of things. So again, background in radio, which has now transferred into the podcast world.

Host: I did recently listen to another podcast that you hosted, I think it was fairly recent. And there was a music connection in that one. So, that definitely explains and connects a few of the dots for me. So. thanks for filling that background in for me.

Bill Klaproth, MBA: If anybody wants to talk music with me when you see me at conferences, happy to talk. Let's do it.

Host: Noted. I'll remember that. So, members are always looking to connect with their patients community or staff. So, how can podcasts help stay relevant and accessible to today's audiences, particularly patients?

Bill Klaproth, MBA: That's a good question. So, you said relevant and accessible. So when you talk about relevant and accessible, those are podcasts, one of the hottest marketing tools right now because you are relevant. You're speaking directly to your audience from the people on your staff. So, it's very relevant, and podcasts are very accessible through audio. You can listen on the go, you can listen while driving the car, you can listen while taking a walk. Of course, video podcasts, on YouTube and other platforms around your website. So, those things are really, really important.

Ultimately, you want to start a relationship with your community. That's what's most important. So, podcasts allow you to do that. Hearing a physician on a podcast, seeing a physician on a podcast, starts that knowing, liking, and trusting that we talk about in marketing so much. You buy from people you know, like, and trust. Think about yourself when you go to a party, a big party, and there's a lot of people you don't know, but a few that you do know. What do you do? You gravitate to the people you know, like, and trust. You go right to your group and you kind of hang out there. So the more you know about a physician or a healthcare system, the more you understand, the more you like, the more you trust. So, hearing or seeing a physician talk about a condition or a need starts that knowing, liking, trusting. "Oh wow, she really knows what she's talking about. I kind of like her. I like how she talks. You know what? I'm going to make that appointment with her. So, relevant and accessible, that's what video and audio podcast can do for you.

And then, just very quickly to touch on the repurposing angle of this, with one podcast, you can repurpose into many forms of content to even be more accessible and more relevant. You can take that podcast episode, you can turn it into an article or blog-- very, very important. You can take that audio podcast, turn it into what we call an audio to social, turn it into a video that you can put right on social media. We can do things like physician bio pods where you actually interview a physician and humanize them, understand what caused them to become a doctor, why they chose a medicine as a profession. And sometimes when you hear the stories of why they do what they do, it's really humanizing and heartfelt, and you really understand why they do what they do, really important.

Another big thing with video podcasts is turning them into what we call vod clips, little video snippets for Instagram reels, TikTok, YouTube. Those things are really important. Short form video is becoming a powerhouse in marketing. With video podcasts, you can easily repurpose that 10-minute interview into a 60-second clip for Instagram or TikTok or YouTube shorts. So many different things you can do. You can create Spanish content from an English transcript. You can do medical minutes, which we do for people where you turn that podcast into a radio commercial. Things like podcasts on hold, when someone calls in to make an appointment, instead of hearing music, they hear a promo for the podcast. So, there's so many ways you can repurpose one single episode. It really is a content building machine.

Host: Oh, I love that. Yeah, that really gets your mind thinking about all the different ways that you can really leverage the information. So, great examples. Thanks.

Bill Klaproth, MBA: For sure.

Host: How can podcasting align with the broader hospital goals like physician marketing or service line promotion or peer podcasting for referral business and patient education?

Bill Klaproth, MBA: It can cover all those, there's no question about it. So, every hospital has their own business objectives that they're trying to reach, service line goals that they're trying to reach. So, podcasting can help you achieve those goals. So if you're trying to raise the number of people getting colonoscopies, if you will, or orthopedics, if you're trying to increase the number of people getting knee surgeries, having their knees replaced or, obviously, cardiology is a huge one, heart health. Having a series of podcasts on those service lines is really, really important.

So again, I think I said earlier, people pay attention to you really when you offer solutions to their problems. So, people are coming to hospitals for solutions to their problems. So, having a podcast which addresses their problems, which is speaking to their concern or their need for information is really valuable. And then, putting those podcasts on that service line page can only help because, again, you're showcasing your physicians your credible knowledge on that condition or that need or that surgery. And again, when people get to hear that physician right on the service line page, it starts that knowing, liking, trusting again. And that's where we feel it really helps in having that someone make that appointment to see that physician for that service line. So, those are really important.

Peer-to-peer podcasts, you're trying to build a relationship with the referring physicians in the community. So when they run into a problem, they know who to refer that person to. So, you can do what we call peer podcasts, which are basically physician to physician podcast, physicians talking about conditions at a higher medical nature that really only other physicians will know. We do CME podcasts where physicians can listen to a podcast and get continuing medical education. So, all that helps the referral business in the community. So, there's the service line marketing we talked about. The referral marketing is really important as far as physician relations. When they're in a podcast, they feel that the marketing department has got their back. "You're helping to promote my practice. Thank you. You're helping to bring business into me." "You're allowing me to help educate the community," which is another factor as well, which is patient education, which is so important in today's day and age. So, whatever the need is, you can target that audience with a podcast for that need.

Host: That's great. All of those examples, again, were really helpful. Thinking about members and how you work, how does the turnkey DoctorPodcasting system help AHA members?

Bill Klaproth, MBA: Well, if you've been around me at all or talked to me at all, I like to say in a land of shrinking budgets and shrinking staffs, we play a really valuable role because we cover so much ground in podcasts, in general, not just us, but podcasts in general for the repurposing that I talked about. But we make it easy. It is a turnkey solution for people wanting a podcast. We do everything from hosting. I'm not talking about providing a host asking questions. We do do that, but we actually become your podcast host, we will create an RSS feed for you, which we will then send out, and we'll get you set up on platforms like Apple and Spotify and iHeart and Pandora and all those different types of places. So, we become your podcast host. We will provide a host for a hospital. A lot of times hospitals don't have a person to actually interview their physicians. We provide those hosts. We'll do the audio and video podcasts at the same time. So, you're getting two pieces of content. You're getting an audio podcast for the aggregators, as we call them, apple, Spotify, et cetera. We will also provide you with a widget, which is like a podcast page, which you can easily install right on your websites. You can display this really cool library of podcasts from your physicians right on your website, which is really cool. When we do a video podcast, then we'll take that video and then we will edit it for you as well. And that can go up on YouTube, which is really, really important to have content on YouTube. And then, you can do all that cool repurposing that I talked about.

So, we do all of that. Everything from guest scheduling, to the recording, to the editing, to the distribution as well. And then, we also have what we call a content buffet where we will repurpose for you into articles, into audio, to social players, into those vod clips I talked about. If you want Spanish content, we can do that too. If you need radio commercials... That all comes with the platform. It's all built in. So, you create the podcast and then you can choose what other form of content you want, and it's all done for you.

So, it is fully turnkey. We work with about 120 clients across the country from the biggest names of the biggest health brands in America to small rural hospitals. So, it really doesn't matter the size. We are there to help you and help you get your message out and, again, take control of your voice, take control of your narrative, and you get to showcase and tell the story of the care that you provide.

Host: Wonderful. And I also saw in some of your materials that you're able to leverage AI in some of this as well, kind of bring in, you know, some other suggestions or other ways to frame content.

Bill Klaproth, MBA: Yeah, for sure. So in our portal, we call it, when you submit a guest to be interviewed, we have AI built into that where it'll help you come up with questions to ask the guest. We also have AI built into the approval process. So, nothing gets approved without the hospital's approval. They get to review everything. If there's an edit, we'll also make that edit. And we feel the best time to actually title a podcast and give the episode description is at the approval point when the podcast has been done. So, we have AI that actually will turn that podcast into a transcript, and then it will suggest titles and episode descriptions for us, which is the best way we feel to do it.

And we're always thinking of, you know, AI is becoming so huge and can be so helpful. So, we're always thinking about ways to incorporate AI into our processes and make things easier. We're always thinking of that. We have a little advisory board at DoctorPodcasting made up of our clients, and we'll run ideas past them from time to time. "Hey, what do you think of this? What do you think of that?" "Hey, if we were to do this, would you like that?" So, we're always trying to think of new ideas to make it, again, just easier and more turnkey for our clients.

Host: That is amazing. bill. I want to thank you so much for joining me today, sharing some of your takeaways with AHA members. For listeners, if you'd like to learn more about DoctorPodcasting and the AHA Associate Program, please visit us at sponsor.aha.org. This has been an Associates Bringing Value Podcast, brought to you by the American Hospital Association. Thanks for listening.