Originally Posted in October 2006

I happened across the website DoGooder TV at the beginning of September. I looked around and was intriqued by what I saw.

I quickly shot off an e-mail to see if I could find out more. In the true beauty of the blogosphere and this delightful time of new businesses understanding the value of interactive marketing, I was delighted when I got a message back from Michael Hoffman, the CEO of See3, the parent company of DoGooder TV.

Now– Michael is no slouch (quite an entrepreneur and has significant nonprofit experience) and he’s got quite an impressive set of talent working with him. He also seems to be a nice fellow who really has a genuine passion for nonprofits, causes and the social sector. I think like many of us, he sees the exciting and emerging potential for interactive and social media to really transform how DoGooder’s do business.

So I’ll share our discussion…

Carol: Tell me about the business and philosophy behind See3.

Michael:I was a nonprofit fundraiser in Washington, responsible for about $10 million in annual gifts from mostly family foundations. What stuck with me was that there is a gap, sometimes small, sometime huge, between what a donor sees and what the hard-working people on the ground were doing. We had these study tours, where donors could go to the places where the work was happening, meet the people on the ground, get inspired. These were so powerful and the folks who went on these trips were always the most dedicated supporters, even if they didn’t start out that way. Of course only a small percentage of people were able to participate in these tours and I have always been thinking about how we can close the gap between the daily work and the information nonprofits get out to their stakeholders.

Post-bubble 2001 I [was] looking for something to do and my friends at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation asked if I could do some consulting about nonprofits and technology. Then I was asked to build a website and ended up building a web development shop, specializing in working with nonprofits, that now has 20 employees.

About a year-and-a-half ago my partner Danny Alpert and I had that eureka moment. I was telling him that the web is changing, that broadband will change how we think about the web and websites. That the broadband web was not the same as the web we have known until now. That what I do as a web development company for nonprofits will change quickly. I told him that, mark-my-words, we will be seeing video all over the web very soon.

Danny, an Academy Award and Emmy Award nominated filmmaker, [PBS film (A Doula Story) (http://www.adoulastory.org)] was telling me how film, emotionally powerful stories, can move people to action and be the centerpiece of campaigns to raise money, raise awareness and educate. See3 was born from this conversation.

The company combines my experience on the web and Danny’s experience as a filmmaker. Our philosophy is that organizations need to think beyond the gala dinner video and understand that the web opens up many additional opportunities to use video. That not every video needs to be super-produced, and that media materials – audio, video and photography – need to take more and more of those print budgets.

Carol: What is DoGooder TV and how did it come about?

Michael:Our clients have said to us, how do we maximize the investment we are making in video? We make a great video, and we show it at our events, and then what? Our answer to this question is what lead us to the development of DoGooderTV.

First, we tell people that when they produce video for their gala dinner, for example, that they also need to create additional videos from the same footage. For example, that dinner video might have three stories in it, and these three stories can live independently integrated into different sections of your website, or attached to your regular e-newsletter. Once they have this material, we show them how to bring stakeholders to these videos by integrating it into their existing communications programs.

We have answered that question in a couple ways. First, we help organizations get their video on YouTube and MySpace and Google Video and all of the other free places to post video. But lets be honest – if you don’t have a super-compelling, edgy, snarky, funny, video – then no one will see you on YouTube, except the people you send there.

Many organizations have raised another point about these sites; Does putting our video – which deals with serious subjects – among videos of stupid pet tricks and teenagers lip-synching to some heavy metal song, help us? Is this good for our brand? Is there a place where grown-ups who are interested in things that matter go to see video online?

That’s how we got to DoGooderTV. A place where the audience has a proven interest in issues and the organizations working on those issues. We can call them more qualified leads, to use marketing language. For us, the nonprofit is our client, and DoGooderTV is being created to service their interests.The primary interest of organizations in this regard is exposure to people who are likely to become interested, to act on policy questions, to donate, and to other wise get involved.

Carol: What can DoGooder TV do for nonprofits?

Michael: DoGooderTV is being built as a community for people who care about issues and organizations. Our goal is to bring this qualified audience into the work of organizations through. Once emotionally hooked by watching their videos, the audience will be able to act – to donate, sign-up or learn more.

DoGooderTV gives all of those gala dinner videos a new lease on life, and organizations a way to leverage the existing investments they have made in video material by getting it in front of new audiences.

• In addition, DoGooderTV will be supported through sponsorship. The sponsorship revenue will be split, 50-50, with the nonprofits who post video.

• Best of all… we will be syndicating nonprofit video content across the web! We are very excited about this. The DoGooderTV audience will decide what videos they like the most. These videos (and PSAs) will then be made available, at no charge to the nonprofit, across a network of video web sites. This video network currently has 50 million members and includes the sites of major media companies. All of our legal agreements are not in place yet, so I can’t give more details than this, but those organizations that take the time and effort to create good video content will be rewarded with large audiences.

• And, last but certainly not least, DoGooderTV will allow nonprofits to embed their video, without sponsorship, within their own websites on a pay-as-you-go basis. Meaning, organizations can post all their video to DoGooderTV and any piece they want on their own site can be moved with a few clicks. This high-quality hosting (built on the Akamai network) will be available to organizations so they can have a single integrated hosting source.

Carol: What is your biggest dream for DoGooderTV?

Michael:My biggest dream is that DoGooderTV leads to a kind of renaissance in nonprofit support in this country, attracting millions of people who otherwise would not be exposed to the great work being done and moves them to donate and get involved.

A smaller dream is to move the nonprofit world to understand the benefits of video and, through DoGooderTV, see a real increase in nonprofit investment in this kind of communications program.

We want to be able to say, look at what our work did for this organization. See how they grew, see how they were able to achieve their mission through the support of people who experienced their work through video.

~~~~~~

Michael was quite generous with his time and I have much more to share with you– so please stay tuned for for part 2. In the meantime, if you are a nonprofit organization interested in looking into this new way of getting the word out about your organization, please drop by DoGooderTV .

Please know that more features will be launched in November 2006.

Tags: DogooderTV, Michael Hoffman, YouTube, Videos, Nonprofits, Social media, charity

Originally Posted September 1, 2006

What is a medical advocate, you ask… A medical advocate is a person who helps patients navigate our complex, fragmented healthcare system. With last week’s announcement by Wellpoint about their widespread launch of consumer driven health plans (Read my thoughts here), it is likely that this service industry is on the edge of becoming really huge. Just this week, The Philadelphia Inquirer ran an article that highlighted the growing medical advocate industry.  According to the article, more and more employers are adding this service to their benefit menus.  According to the article:

Health Advocate, which is contracted by employers nationwide, has increased its client list from 10 businesses in 2002 to 1,700 today, the Inquirer reports. Large corporations pay a $1.25 monthly fee per employee, and small businesses pay $4.95 per employee.

Typically being highly trained nurses, medical or patient advocates assist patients by finding and getting appointments with the best doctors for certain diseases/illnesses, translating complex doctor speak so that patients are empowered to make good health decisions, working with the patient to complete complex insurance certification processes, promoting healthy lifestyle changes, and handling claims and billing problems– just to name a few things.

The benefits to employers likely are worth the small monthly cost as they enable the worker to focus on his or her job. So in essence, the productivity of the employee is preserved.  Additionally, patient advocates also create the potential of saving the company hard healthcare dollars by reducing the risk of misdiagnosis, unnecessary procedures, office visits, and duplicated services.

With the patient empowerment and self-education requirements of consumer-driven health plans, patient advocates do fill a very real need.  They will also likely help physicians and facilities bridge the gap that will occur as patients begin to switch to these plans. With their ability to really recommend facilities and providers, facilities and medical practices would be wise to be proactive in developing plans to coordinate and collaborate with patient advocates.  Afterall, they will likely help in reducing some of the obstacles of care and reimbursement, as well as, encourage patients to follow treatment plans and take action to improve their health.

Tags: patient advocates, healthcare, consumer-driven health plans, patient empowerment

Originally Posted in November 2006

Once the decision has been made to start a blog, the next question that comes to mind is how will I get people to read it. If seeking to garner a national or a global audience, one can find a plethora of advice on where to register a blog and how to promote it to a internet savvy audience.

However, if the blog is a healthcare business blog or a blog to educate your patients, the more appropriate goal is to seek a local readership. Here are a few tips that can help you to focus in on this specific group of people.

1. Include the blog URL on appointment cards, stationery, email signatures and printed materials.
2. Have staff and providers recommend content and give patients the URL (of course this means that you need to consider the content needs for staff, providers and patients)
3. Place brochures, posters, and flyers in waiting rooms
4. Consider a direct mail campaign to known customers that positions the blog as a value added service.
5. Contact local bloggers (including reporters who have blogs) and ask them to announce the blog or review the content.
6. If you have e-mail addresses for customers, consider an email marketing campaign to announce the blog.
7. Craft a press release and distribute to local media outlets.
8. Be sure your blogroll links to prominent local blogs.
9. If you have a website, be sure you announce/link your blog on the front page.
10. Attend local health/wellness events (healthfairs, tennis tournaments, 5K Run/Walks, community education workshops & etc.) to distribute information on your facility/practice along with cards with a brief description of the blog and the URL.

Please feel free to add to this list by leaving a comment or linking to this post when you craft your own list. Also consider coming to the Healthcare Blogging Summit in Washington DC to find out more.