The Art of Storytelling: Engaging Clinical Audiences

If you are a medical writer my guess is that you occasionally struggle to engage your target audience. Health professionals have less time and shorter attention spans, making it critical for medical writers to master storytelling techniques that get their audiences interested and engaged with content, whether we’re talking about slide decks, manuscripts, or omni-channel content.

My guest in episode 102 is Eleanor Steele, also known as MedComms Mentor, who shares how she transitioned from agency work to running a successful freelance business in medical communications. Join us to learn more about the gaps Eleanor identified in the market for specialized training and development and get practical advice from Eleanor about:

1. Storytelling frameworks that support a logical flow of information and answer audience questions
2. How to frame content around audience needs and interests
3. The skills you need to write "bite-sized" short-form content optimized for different formats

This conversation with Eleanor is part of our first Friday series, which profiles medical writers and how they have broken into the field. It's also the last episode of season 7.

Resources

Content Alchemy. Tip Sheet for Medical Writers

Connect with Eleanor

Email: eleanor.steele@medcommsmentor.com

Website

YouTube

Time Stamps

• (03:47) - Eleanor’s journey and transition into Medical Communications
• (06:02) - Some of the gaps she’s seeing in the training and professional development market for medical writers
• (07:39) - What Eleanor does and who she does it for
• (11:57) - What she encourages writers to do to learn a little bit more about the audience they’re writing for
• (16:31) - Navigating the challenges for writers with limited clinical exposure
• (20:03) - Storytelling frameworks
• (22:44) - The main challenges Eleanor sees in ongoing training and professional development
• (25:53) - Her YouTube Channel: MedComms Mentor
• (31:07) - Key challenges she sees for freelance medical writers
• (33:37) - The future of MedComms
• (36:15) - A shift towards not only engagement but outcomes in the omni-channel assets
• (38:47) - Where to connect with Eleanor

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Mentioned in this episode:

Fall Back to School Sale

We're running a back-to-school sale September 2 through 12. Standalone CME writing toolkits, business kits, and quarterly WriteCME Pro membership — all at the best pricing we've offered this year. Everything's at www.alexhowson.com. Link's in the show notes.

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