Intro: The following SHSMD Podcast is a production of DoctorPodcasting.com.

Bill Klaproth (Host): On this edition of the SHSMD Podcast, we talk about referral marketing, a team-based approach in the B2B space with Loren Farquhar and Shelly Caldrello. They are going to be presenting at this year's SHSMD Connections 2023 in Chicago. It's going to be a great session if you're wondering how do we amp up our referral marketing program. It's really important to really nail this, and Shelly and Loren are going to tell you how. So, let's get to it right? now.

 This is the SHSMD Podcast, rapid insights for healthcare strategy professionals in planning, business development, marketing, communications and public relations. I'm your host, Bill Klaproth. In this episode, we talk with Loren Farquhar from Loren Farquhar Marketing and Communications, and Shelly Caldrello, Director of Physician Relations at Phoenix Children's.

They will be presenting at this year's 2023 SHSMD Connections Annual Conference in Chicago. The topic is Referral Marketing: A Team-Based Approach in the B2B Space. You can catch it on Monday, September 11th. And please get yourself registered now at shsmd.org. That's shsmd.org/education/annualconference. It's going to be fun. Do that for me. Would you sign up? Thank you very much. Loren and Shelly, welcome to the SHSMD Podcast.

Loren Farquhar: Hi, Bill. Thanks for having us.

Shelly Caldrello: Thanks so much for including us.

Host: Of course. It's great to talk with you both. I love talking to session presenters, people who are going to be educating us at SHSMD Connections 2023. So speaking of that, Loren, can you just give us the quick Cliffs notes version of your presentation?

Loren Farquhar: Absolutely. So, we are coming in to talk about referral marketing, specifically B2B referral marketing in the healthcare space, and wanted to really share some best practices that we've learned along the way. Some that are higher level relationship-building sort of skills and others that get really tactical and strategic. How do you assemble the right team to do this? And then once you have the team in place, what does a really effective strategy look like? And how can you leverage resources that already exist in your organization so that you're not creating net new work all of the time?

Host: I like that. We're all so busy. We don't need net new work.

Loren Farquhar: Absolutely.

Host: Okay. So Loren, let me continue with you then. So when it comes to referrals, sometimes I wonder people are pointing in opposite directions. Whose job is it? So, is it marketing? Is it physician relations, the clinical team, all of the above? How does that work for you?

Loren Farquhar: It really works best when it's all of the above. And that's in the name of our presentation, a team-based approach. What we found was that when we pooled our resources, we could really attack the problem, the challenge, the opportunity that was ahead of us for multiple angles. And it was more fruitful that way. And frankly, it's a little more fun that way as well.

Host: I like that and I see you're just hitting us with some good knowledge, more fun and less network. So, so far, you're dropping some knowledge on us, Loren. We appreciate that. So, Shelly, let me ask you this then. I would imagine that building relationships when it comes to referral marketing is really important. Can you talk to the importance of building relationships, both internal and external?

Shelly Caldrello: Certainly. Well, Bill, I think that's really what Loren and I both bring to the table. We've had quite a few years of experience and we really enjoy working not only with external but also internal stakeholders, and that's really part of the referral process. It's like making sure that you create those relationships and figure out who best you should be targeting.

Host: Right. So Shelly, let me ask you this then. When it comes to who you should be targeting and working on those relationships, how do you work that out?

Shelly Caldrello: We leverage what we do independently and we work together. So, Loren really focuses on helping me get the message out to my providers. And then, I in turn do some of like the old tactics of going out in person and just reiterating that message over and over again.

Host: Right. Got it. All right. So Loren, you mentioned earlier leveraging existing assets. How should we do that? How should we leverage existing assets in provider content marketing?

Loren Farquhar: So when we're talking about provider content marketing, this is just rolling right up to our B2B strategy overall, because one of the things that we're trying to do is elevate their reputations. If people look to our providers as experts in their field, they're more likely to reach out. And so, we just said spam us. Spam us with everything that you have. And then, you have to start auditing it and figuring out how you can repurpose it. And that's what we'll get into in more detail in our presentation. But it could be research, it could be that they're going to speak at a conference, it could be live streaming a procedure. There's a lot of different ways we can leverage things that are already happening. And so, we're going to give folks some insights into different areas of their organization that they can ask and partner with as well as how you take it and get more than one piece of content out of it afterwards.

Host: So, Loren, let me ask you this: do you find then that people have good assets in place, but they just don't know how to leverage it, they don't know what to do with those things or maximize those things?

Loren Farquhar: So, I think it's a combination. I think in some cases, folks maybe are new to healthcare or they haven't worked in as many different areas within healthcare maybe. And so, they don't know all of the different folks that they can ask within their organization. And then, sometimes it just takes having a little experience under your belt or a little creativity or a group brainstorm to figure out, "Well, we have this one piece. How else can we use it?" And so, I think that there are ways that we can amplify and repurpose things that we just have to really be intentional about.

Host: So, amplify and repurpose, that makes sense. So when you're talking about the team and relationship-building and things like that, Shelly, I'm just curious as we're talking, in today's age, it seems like people would rather email or text or IM. How do you relationship-build when people would rather not talk or pick up the phone? How do you do that?

Shelly Caldrello: Yeah. You keep going back. You continue, you continue to ask. And that's one of the pieces in our presentation that we're actually going to talk about, like how do you continue to network and ask to be a part of the team and to also be at the table when they're discussing some of the information that can help you in your marketing plans.

Host: Yeah. Got it. That makes sense. So, you just got to keep going back. You have to be persistent.

Shelly Caldrello: Yep. Yes, exactly. And also, sometimes that isn't in your nature, but yeah, just that persistence and continuing to ask and really feeling confident that you can ask.

Host: Absolutely. So Loren, do you have any best practices for us? And I know you'll share a lot of this in the session, but can you just share a couple now, maybe some best practices for provider-to-provider marketing messages? Because the message is so important.

Loren Farquhar: Yeah. So, this is one place where anybody who knows me will laugh when they hear me say this, but we can have a higher reading level, right? So, for years, we've talked about bringing the reading level down and writing an active voice and things like that. But when we're talking to a provider audience, we can be more clinical, we can be more complex, more nuanced. These are scientists and we can talk to them like they're scientists. And so, I think that that's one thing that we have to remember, and this is a fundamental, right? We just sometimes have to go back to the fundamentals. Know your audience. Frame it up appropriately.

Host: Right. So, meet them at their level.

Loren Farquhar: A hundred percent.

Host: Basically. All right. Well, that's good. And I would imagine in your session, you'll go into this stuff a lot more in depth about these messages.

Loren Farquhar: Absolutely.

Host: I love it. And then, Shelly, what else will people get out of coming to your session? What will they leave with?

Shelly Caldrello: I think one of the biggest things we're going to leave with is this can be fun, and really getting to know both your internal partners and looking at things with a different lens. And I think that it is been one of the keys that Loren and I have had. We really are excited to work with each other and we bring that excitement both to this presentation and also to working with our teams.

Host: And Shelly, I know you've been successful with this at Phoenix Children's. Do you think most hospitals, organizations can kind of duplicate what you've done and find success in it?

Shelly Caldrello: Most definitely.

Host: Okay. Well, good. I know you're going to tell us how to do that in this session. Well, as we wrap up, thank you both for your time. I appreciate it. Just one last question for each of you, I just want to see if you have any final thoughts or anything you want to add when it comes to your session at SHSMD 2023, Referral Marketing: A Team-Based Approach in the B2B Space. Loren, let's start with you. Any final thoughts?

Loren Farquhar: Yeah. So, one thing that I want to be sure folks know is that sometimes it takes time to get a seat at the table and we're going to start our presentation talking about that, because that's a key element of the relationship-building that we had to do internally, which is that marketing did not have a seat at the table. And in order to be effective at our jobs, you know, marketing is a business function, we have to understand the business product. And in this case, it was the Center for Fetal and Neonatal Care. I can't market something that I don't know much about. And so, I really had to have that seat at the table and going about that process took time. But it's ultimately the solid foundation from which all of the rest of this has sprung forth.

Host: Absolutely. You got to have a seat at the table. So, that makes a lot of sense. And then, Shelly, any final thoughts from you?

Shelly Caldrello: I would just suggest for anyone who's new to marketing, physician relations, this would be a great presentation for them to get a list of ideas and really how to audit their program and figure out next steps.

Host: So, they'll basically leave them with sort of a playbook, if you will, of next steps and a list of things on what to do to build their own B2B referral program.

Shelly Caldrello: Exactly.

Host: I love it. You're giving us some great information here and things we're going to walk out with out of your session. Well, thank you both. This is going to be great. The session is on Monday, September 11th, so make sure you come out and see Loren and Shelly in their session. Loren and Shelly, thank you so much for your time. This has been great.

Loren Farquhar: Thank you.

Shelly Caldrello: Thank you.

Host: And once again, that's Loren Farquhar and Shelly Caldrello. And make sure you check out their session at this year's 2023 SHSMD Connections Annual Conference in Chicago; the topic, Referral Marketing: A Team-Based Approach to the B2B Space. It's on Monday, September 11th. Get yourself registered right now. Go to shsmd.org, shsmd.org/education/annualconference. And if you found this podcast helpful-- and please, how could you not? Please make sure you share it on all of your social channels, and please hit the subscribe or follow button to make sure you get every episode because it's a chock-full of goodness, and we need goodness in this world. This has been a production of DoctorPodcasting. I'm Bill Klaproth. See you!