Aha Media Group writer Teri Cettina switched roles, from health copywriter to patient, when she was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Teri reached the end of her battle with cancer in July 2022. We are honored to carry her legacy of empathy forward.
I had just finished a project for a children’s hospital website. It was a tough job. After all, medical writing requires a delicate balance. We need to provide clear, useful information while conveying empathy for scared patients and families.
Less than a month later, I received my own scary medical diagnosis: pancreatic cancer. The day after my emergency room visit, I was on the internet trying to slog through information about the latest pancreatic cancer treatment options.
For the first time, I was on the opposite side of the medical writing process: the audience rather than the writer. Instead of crafting words to educate and encourage others, I was reading someone else’s words in hopes of saving my own life. To say that I was terrified and overwhelmed is an understatement.
As I researched and read health websites, there was copy that touched me and copy that frightened me so much that I immediately closed the page.
How can you write the first kind and avoid the second? These are my “insider tips” for using empathy in marketing:
Early on, I realized I couldn’t research pancreatic cancer by myself. The first paragraph of almost every online article highlighted the disease’s dismal survival statistics. I literally had to blur my eyes or cover those awful paragraphs with my arm so I could read through to the info I needed. Many times, I simply left a website if the information was presented in a frightening way.
Please, please don’t put scary statistics at the beginning of your articles. To use empathy in marketing, put them in a separate link that patients can choose to read only if they want to.
Being a medical writer gave me a slight edge when it came to research. At Aha Media, I work with a team of other excellent healthcare writers. So one of the first things I did was ask two of them to help me.
They immediately started researching the best U.S. hospitals for pancreatic cancer treatment and how to find clinical trials. They cut and pasted relevant information and emailed it to me, deleting scary statistics or other details I didn’t need — or want — to know.
If your readers might do the same — copy and paste from your site into a separate document — make sure your web URL is automatically pasted along with the text. This is known as automatic link attribution. It can help readers remember where they originally got the helpful information.
If your organization is a national leader in a particular treatment, help me understand why you’re so outstanding. Spell it out, even if you think everyone already knows you’re the best. I was amazed at how well-known hospitals talked vaguely about their top-level pancreatic programs.
By using empathy in marketing content, help me understand why it may make sense to go beyond my trusted local doctors and see you for a second opinion. Explain how your organization is up to speed on the most cutting-edge treatment options, some of which aren’t widely available.
As a scared patient, I don’t want to insult my local doctor. I’m afraid they’ll drop me as a patient if I mention seeing another expert. I need to hear that second opinions are smart and expected and won’t compromise my relationship with my primary physician.
In my case, I consulted with a pancreatic medical oncologist (chemotherapy specialist) in Seattle. I also traveled to see a pancreatic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Both of these national experts helped guide my treatment with my local oncologist in Portland, Oregon. They’ve also given me great peace of mind: I can rest assured knowing that I’m getting the best possible treatment for pancreatic cancer.
And in case you’re wondering, my local oncologist anticipated and supported my decision to get these second opinions. Reputable doctors don’t get insulted when you seek expert help. In fact, they welcome it.
My doc told me upfront: “My responsibility is to help you get the best possible care, even if that means sending you to see someone else.”
Staying informed helps you understand and support those affected by pancreatic cancer. To learn more about pancreatic cancer, early detection, and treatment options, visit these trusted sources:
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