Off the Page with Megan N. Freeland, PharmD
David McCarthy
In her Off the Page interview, Megan Freeland of StockRose Creative talks fighting health misinformation, the need for strategy in content marketing, and the two qualities that she loves most in her teammates.
Meet Megan N. Freeland, PHARMD
Megan Freeland, PharmD, is a content strategist at StockRose Creative, an Atlanta-based agency that creates culturally relevant content for digital health companies and coaches health professionals on health content marketing.
A former CDC public health pharmacist turned content strategist, Megan has contributed content to healthcare content powerhouses like Healthline, GoodRx, Lemonaid Health, and Modern Fertility.
Her jump from practicing pharmacist to content strategist is far from predictable, but it was sparked by a desire to break out of the heavily regulated confines of technical medical content.
“As a pharmacist, I used my writing skills to support medication safety, antibiotic stewardship, and emergency preparedness and response. But I realized something was missing: the freedom to apply a creative flair to health writing. That’s when I set out on my own to build a healthcare content and copywriting company.”
Over the past five years, though, a new mission has emerged.
“Health misinformation is a poison, and my agency aims to be the antidote. We’re helping health brands dispel the nonsense online and inspire positive health change within communities that need it most.”
Learn about the content that is (and isn’t) inspiring her to tackle this ambitious, necessary mission in the interview below. (One humorous hint: it doesn’t include Tik Tok.)
What recent piece of content made you jealous?
One of the most emotion-provoking pieces of content I've run across in recent months is The New York Times' "The Primal Scream" series.
It blossomed out of the pandemic and focuses on the duress American moms have been under for at least 20 months now.
As a mom of a four-year-old and one-year-old, listening to and reading this series has been triggering in many ways and cathartic in others.
What content marketing skill or tool are you learning this year?
This year I've had many more opportunities to connect content marketing with earned media strategy which has been exciting.
Before now, I'd been primarily focused on content, so it's been fun to dive deeper into a complementary skillset.
“There’s no content marketing without strategy. ”
Which other brand’s content do you admire most?
NPR. I'm obsessed.
If you could recommend one book to every content marketer, what would it be?
It would 100% be Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller. Such a great book and I reread it often.
Which individual or organization would you love to collaborate with on a content project?
I'd love to collaborate with the Atlanta Birth Center.
What don’t non-content marketers understand about content?
Most don't understand the necessity of the strategy.
There's no content marketing without strategy.
Content marketing without strategy is just content, and pure content doesn't necessarily translate to the achievement of business goals.
What part of the content-marketing workflow do you wish went faster?
The review process, definitely.
What do you consider the most underrated type of content?
Thinking about health content specifically, brands underutilize video — both short- and long-form.
“But certain segments of the health industry aren’t taking full advantage of video. I’m always excited to work with clients who are interested in written content as well as video scripts.”
It's not that video is underrated; marketers have been singing the praises of video for years and years.
But certain segments of the health industry aren't taking full advantage of video. I'm always excited to work with clients who are interested in written content as well as video scripts.
What type of content marketing do you secretly hope goes extinct soon?
This is really specific to social content — specifically short-form video content like Instagram Reels and TikTok videos.
It kind of grinds my gears when people dance and point at the words and captions in their short-form videos.
I know that's such a weird thing, but it truly gets under my skin, haha!
Which content marketing talent would you most like to have?
I wish I were good at content design.
That seems like a fun, artsy piece of the content marketing process, and it truly does make for an improved user experience.
What is your most treasured content marketing tool?
I'm going to answer this practically: Google Docs!
What do you most value in your teammates?
I love when my teammates are creative and vulnerable — open to sharing and receiving ideas that might miss the mark but inspire everyone else to think outside the box.
When you hang up your content-marketing hat(s), what one word do you hope colleagues and clients will use to describe you?
Transformative
About the Off the Page series
Legend had it that Marcel Proust, a French novelist, had a list of twenty questions that could reveal a person’s true nature. Vanity Fair later adopted and popularized the questions for a series of interviews with cultural figures and celebrities.
Off the Page (probably) won’t reveal any of these have-to-follow marketers’ true nature. But it hopefully uncovers attributes, points of view, and experiences worth learning from.
Who else should Off the Page Feature?
Recommend a content marketer for a future edition of Off the Page.
