With the recent upswing of content marketing, forward-thinking companies are relying on experts to explain their highly specialized industries to discerning audiences.
In 2013, Toshiba America Medical Systems took this trend to its logical extreme and created a new position – Manager of Health Care Economics – dedicated solely to educating consumers. The first person to occupy this position is named Tom Szostak, and while he’s technically part of a marketing department, he doesn’t do anything we would traditionally call marketing; his role is to help people understand an incredibly complex law.
Szostak is a health-care economist who has published broadly within his field, and he’s also Toshiba’s go-to resource for navigating the complex twists and turns of the Affordable Care Act. Advertising Age calls him a “secret content-marketing weapon” in a recent profile.
Since taking the job in 2013, Szostak has published studies with respected medical leaders like the Gates Vascular Institute. He has also written white papers and a five-part introduction to the Affordable Care Act for the medical imaging industry. (The first installment is available for download here.)
It’s traditionally rare to see this sort of specialist operating under a VP of Marketing – but, given the importance of accurate, high-quality information required for responsible content marketing, we may see more companies following suit.
While Szotak is engaged in a very oblique sort of business-to-consumer content marketing, the field seems to be opening up even more in the business-to-business (B2B) space. A report from the Content Marketing Institute mentions that a staggering seventy-three percent of B2B marketers say they produced more content in 2014 than in 2013.
What does this all mean for your business? Whether you’re choosing a content management service or handling the process internally, the takeaway is clear: accurate, well-researched, original content is key to spreading your company’s message.
If you’re ready to talk about what strong content can do for your business, contact us today.