Chapter Spotlight July: HBA Milan's HBA Academy Program

What makes HBA Milan so special?
It’s the first and unique HBA Academy program for volunteers only. The academy is the first educational program for Italian volunteers. 

We all know that sharing expertise and supporting each other in different healthcare disciplines makes us better and stronger in every single aspect of our everyday work. Offering a "learning by doing experience" helps us form a stronger and longer-lasting dialogue with other colleagues. In order to reach this goal and potentiate our knowledge, we developed our first multi-step program in digital marketing and communication. 

Why did we choose to start our academy with this topic? 
The main purpose of a marketing and/or communication strategy is branding. With this program, we wanted to share the best ideas to strengthen the institutional image of the HBA. To achieve that, we used the tool of public and/or institutional relations, implementing effective relationships with stakeholders as well as increasing expansion of the value and mission we work for, focusing on the loyalty of business professional contacts. 

Recently, new ways of interacting and communicating have upset and modified some of the traditional structures. People's needs have also changed, particularly their perception and reputation of a brand. That is why it is so important to increase stakeholders’ awareness of the HBA vision and mission. All this, in order to understand the real "brand sentiment" with a view to continuous improvement of our offer. 

Starting from this idea, we built a program and we experienced it as very satisfying and powerful. We successfully addressed various topics: 

• digital transformation 
• public relations and communication 
• social media

Participation was very high with 10-20 people on average per virtual meeting and sparkling with constructive discussion and a rich Q&A session. Well done, HBA Milan volunteers.