What’s a Healthcare Writing Model Information (& Why You Want One)

A writing fashion information outlines important dos and don’ts, giving writers and different key stakeholders a toolkit for creating on-brand content material that meets your wants and expectations—whereas eliminating repetitive or arbitrary edits.

Identical to your model fashion information helps folks use your logos and model colours correctly, a writing fashion information dives even deeper into how one can write content material on your model.

This deeper dive consists of fashion decisions for every thing from the Oxford comma (sure, or no?) to how one can spell your small business title throughout numerous areas.

I say “residing doc” as a result of your content material fashion information ought to by no means be set in stone. It must be up to date, refined, or added to as new preferences are recognized.

A model fashion information often consists of the fundamentals of name messaging (tagline, worth proposition, messaging pillars) and essence (voice, tone, and character).

So, in case you haven’t already, making a foundational model fashion information is crucial to cultivating model recognition.

Let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of a healthcare content material fashion information tailor-made for your small business.

The Desk of Content material for a typical fashion information would possibly embrace the next sections:

• Writing Objectives and Rules
• Voice and Tone
• Writing About Your Enterprise
• Grammar Guidelines and Mechanics
• Pointers for Numerous Kinds of Content material

Right here’s what you’ll be able to embrace in every of those sections:

Establish what you need each bit of revealed content material to realize on your model—and the way you purpose to realize these objectives.

For instance, when writing content material for the Healthcare Success weblog, we purpose to coach, information, and encourage our readers in a pleasant and useful approach. To realize these objectives, we work exhausting to make sure our content material is well-researched, related, helpful, simple to grasp, and relatable.

If not included within the model fashion information, it’s necessary to stipulate your model’s permitted voice and acceptable tone variations. Listed here are some insights for every:

Model voice is the distinct and distinctive character your model makes use of throughout all its communications to attraction to its audience.

Constructing a constant model voice throughout platforms affords peace of thoughts and builds belief along with your audience. The easiest way to stipulate your model voice in your content material advertising fashion information is to supply language and messaging examples that showcase your traits, terminology, and model values.

Listed here are 4 simple steps to create a model voice:

• Know your audience and construct affected person personas
• Set up your character traits (e.g., genuine, compassionate, reliable, useful, playful, and so on.)
• Describe what these traits imply to your model
• Establish clear do’s and don’ts

A model voice by no means modifications. However the tone varies relying on the goal persona, the subject, the place they’re within the purchaser’s journey, and which channel they’re on.

For instance, when writing copy on your firm web site, you might go for a proper tone that conveys heat, compassion, and understanding. Nevertheless, when speaking with followers on social media, you might pivot to a extra relaxed, casual tone that conveys the identical factor.

In each circumstances, your character and values stay the identical (model voice), however the way you talk shifts (model tone).

Each healthcare writing fashion information ought to embrace an inventory of dos and don’ts for writing about your small business.

This record ought to embrace the right option to check with your model (e.g., “Healthcare Success” vs. “Well being Care Success, LLC”) and merchandise, how one can check with your audience (e.g., customers, shoppers, or sufferers), and how one can check with your docs and specialists.

If your small business has a number of areas, you might also embrace most popular emails and telephone numbers for every location.

The College of Utah lays it out succinctly for its main model and 5 hospitals:

I’d additionally like to focus on the significance of getting clear pointers for extra delicate companies, akin to dependancy facilities for alcohol and substance use.

Compassion and therapeutic are paramount when writing content material for dependancy and restoration facilities. Due to this fact, a medical writing fashion information should embrace an inventory of phrases and phrases to keep away from (e.g., addict, drug addict, alcoholic, substance abuse, and so on.) and determine most popular options (e.g., an individual with dependancy, addicted particular person, substance use dysfunction, and so on.).

The Nationwide Institutes of Well being Model Information has a complete set of pointers for this business:

To maintain your writing clear and constant, it’s important to obviously define your “home guidelines” for issues like:

• Lively vs. passive voice
  Stress the significance and supply examples of energetic voice. Share examples of when passive voice could also be applicable.
• Punctuation
  Do you know that almost all punctuation guidelines are fashion decisions? Reply the age-old query of whether or not or to not use the Oxford comma and embrace guidelines for semicolons, ellipses, colons, apostrophes, and so on.
• Capitalization
  Define your preferences for specialties, diseases, situations, positions, or something that isn’t a correct noun. That is additionally a wonderful place to make clear your intention for phrases like electronic mail, web, web site, and so on.
• Hyphens
  Share whether or not you wish to use an en sprint (-) or an em sprint (—) in your sentences.
  Additionally, determine an inventory of phrases that ought to or shouldn’t be hyphenated (e.g., long-term, well-being, follow-up, C-section, and so on.)
• Abbreviations and Acronyms
  Maintain your expectations clear and constant on your writers. It’s finest observe to spell out acronyms the primary time you point out a time period in a chunk of content material, then use the abbreviation for all different references. For instance, as an alternative of writing ADHD, spell out consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction the primary time you employ it.
• Bulleted lists
  Present pointers for how one can format your bulleted lists. Do you wish to embrace a colon after each introductory sentence? Do you wish to add a interval on the finish of each bulleted record merchandise? Do you wish to start sentence fragments with a capital letter? Define these preferences to make sure they’re constant all through your content material.
• Dates
  Clearly state the way you need your dates to be offered to make sure they’re constant throughout all content material sorts and platforms.
• Numbers
  Establish whether or not you’ll use a % image or write the phrase share. Additionally, clearly state whether or not you wish to use intervals, hyphens, or parentheses when writing phone numbers (e.g., 555.555.5555 vs. (555) 555-5555)

A complete writing fashion information ought to embrace ideas for writing several types of content material and normal pointers for writing (e.g., hold sentences and paragraphs quick, use plain language, and so on.).

For instance:

This part lays the groundwork for content material advertising that educates. It ought to embrace the popular forms of academic content material your small business builds and shares (e.g., eBooks, YouTube movies, webinars, workers coaching supplies, tutorials, and often requested questions) and any parts that should be constant all through.

When crafting electronic mail communications, it’s necessary to concentrate to element. On this part, figuring out the next parts will assist hold your electronic mail communications constant, which helps construct belief along with your viewers:

• From title: Select a reputation that or title that will likely be recognizable to your viewers and hold it constant throughout all enterprise communications.
  Topic line: Define whether or not all caps or emojis are acceptable and determine the goal character size.
• Preheader textual content: As with the topic line, it’s necessary to stipulate whether or not all caps or emojis are acceptable and determine the goal character size.
• Physique copy: Share your expectations on goal, size, imagery, and format.
• Name to motion: Establish particular calls to motion and the way they’re capitalized (e.g., Schedule an Appointment, E book On-line, schedule a go to, and so on.).

This information also can define permitted electronic mail signatures for inner and exterior communications. UCLA Well being does an awesome job of explaining how one can create an electronic mail signature and what it ought to seem like:

Social media can really feel just like the Wild West at occasions. For that reason, it’s important to put out guiding ideas that may hold your messages clear, constant, and out of scorching water.

First, define which social media platforms your small business will use, their official character limits, and your finest practices for every. Subsequent, determine an inventory of dos and don’ts to maintain your content material skilled (e.g., keep away from extreme exclamation factors, by no means ask customers to share your content material, and so on.).

It’s additionally necessary to obviously state your hashtag technique. Embrace an inventory of most popular hashtags (and hashtags to keep away from), the utmost and minimal variety of hashtags every put up ought to embrace, and whether or not together with trending hashtags is appropriate.

Your online business wants a complete content material fashion information to maintain content material constant and on-brand throughout all platforms. This information is crucial for manufacturers trying to scale their enterprise.

This doc eliminates guesswork when creating content material—from the preliminary draft to posting on-line.

Giving executives, account managers, writers, and different content material creators a information that clearly outlines how issues must be written or offered helps hold everybody on model. It additionally eliminates bottlenecks throughout every part of the evaluation and approval course of.

Model consistency additionally gives a constructive person expertise on your audience.

The way to Create a Content material Model Information for Healthcare Manufacturers

1. Peruse different official fashion guides
   Earlier than you start writing, evaluation the AP Stylebook, Chicago Guide of Model, NIH Model Information, or different healthcare-specific fashion guides. They can assist you perceive what is usually included and determine parts you would possibly wish to have.
2. Develop or construct upon your Model Model Information
   A model fashion information is a complete set of requirements for your small business (e.g., model voice and tone, brand utilization, colours, visuals, standpoint, and so on.).
   1. Develop your model messaging (what your model communicates)
   2. Develop your model voice and tone (how your model communicates throughout platforms)
   3. Develop purchaser personas (who your model communicates with)
3. Perceive your content material
   Earlier than attending to the writing part, you should audit the forms of content material your group creates, the formatting ideas it follows, and the place they’re publishing. From there, you’ll be able to develop pointers for blogs, printed supplies, social media posts, movies, and the like.
4. Collaborate with decision-makers
   Whereas the advertising division is the possible proprietor of this residing doc, the “homeowners” should get enter from different groups and people that will must check with it often. Some groups and people to contemplate embrace
   1. Writers and editors,
   2. Design
   3. Social Media
   4. Buyer Help
   5. Builders
   6. Companions
5. Talk about and make sure
   As soon as you already know your content material and whom you should collaborate with, it’s time to start. Sit down with all involved events and make a laundry record of things that want clarification and course.
   It may be something concerning content material.
   After you have a complete record of issues, you’ll be able to work collectively to find out and agree on the “normal” for your small business and guarantee nothing is neglected.
6. Create the content material fashion information
   When you perceive your content material, and content material sorts, and have recognized preferences out of your key collaborators and decision-makers, it’s time to start writing.
   1. Create a shareable Phrase or Google doc
   2. Begin with an introduction that explains
      1. The aim of the content material fashion information
      2. Whether or not you favor AP or Chicago fashion for something not listed
      3. This file must be added to as wanted to incorporate new or up to date preferences
   3. Make it scannable with a desk of contents
      1. Handle all the principles mentioned and finalized in Step 5, guaranteeing every thing is evident, concise, and free from ambiguity.
      2. Embrace crucial sections akin to:
         1. Naming conventions for your small business (spelling of the enterprise and placement names and addresses)
         2. The way to write about your merchandise, providers, or remedies
         3. Your most popular approach of spelling physician names
         4. Your most popular approach of referring to your docs, medical and administrative workers
         5. Your most popular approach of itemizing and spelling service strains (e.g., orthopedics or orthopaedics)
         6. Generally misspelled medical phrases related to your small business
         7. Pointers for writing several types of content material (e.g., academic, electronic mail, social, and so on.)
   4. Create a vocabulary listInclude appropriate or most popular spellings on your business, enterprise, merchandise, and audience.
7. Overview and distribute
   As soon as a draft of the information is full, get buy-in from all involved groups. Earlier than publishing and sharing the writing fashion information along with your groups, evaluation every thing once more to make sure it’s error-free and that every thing was observed.

Now that you already know what a content material fashion information is, why you want one, and how one can do it—it’s time to get to work.

When carried out effectively, a content material fashion information is instrumental in producing impactful content material that engages high-value sufferers, builds belief, and persuades them to transform.