Ask anybody to define the media, and they'll probably name television, newspapers, even the Internet. But we can't be bound by traditional definitions of media. To PR
professionals, the media include every medium that connects with people. Advocacy groups are particularly important "media." Consumer, government, professional and allied
healthcare groups often share common interests with each other, and with corporations. People trust these organizations and they are as important to PR as the evening news or the
morning paper.
Frequently, a corporation's goals and those of other stakeholders involved in a healthcare issue are similar. Relationships with third-party groups can help client messages
reach the public throughout a brand's life cycle by:
- lending a credible scientific voice;
- establishing consistent messages;
- offering unassailable legitimacy;
- building brand or disease state awareness; and
- helping defuse crisis situations.
Targeted advocacy is a must across several healthcare PR disciplines. Consider crisis situations, science-based initiatives and campaigns involving sensitive, emotional or
controversial issues. Here, nothing can match the credibility, input, reach and authority of professional or allied healthcare organizations. Their advocacy transcends
disciplines and demographics, and can be used to advise, promote and protect a brand.
Advocacy At The Outset
In a program with a large news media component, carefully list, categorize and target news outlets from the beginning. Do the same for potential advocacy groups. Consider
these tips when developing a comprehensive healthcare alliance development program:
1. Assess all the stakeholders involved in a given issue.
2. Search for common goals.
3. Partner on their interests first.
4. Look for new opportunities.
5. Establish strong, ongoing relationships.
6. Work together, quid pro quo.
7. Interconnect your partner groups.
By networking your advocates, everyone will help hone and disseminate your messages, creating a web of interaction and motivation. The PR agency serves a central coordinating
role - encouraging, negotiating and instilling everyone with a mutually beneficial, results-driven approach. This is interactivity raised to a whole new level, not just on the
Internet but throughout the real world. You're connecting people to people.
Educacy
For the Pfizer Viagra advocacy relations program, Edelman combined our traditional PR business model with the peer-to-peer medical education model of our BioScience
Communications division, thereby creating a strategic combination of advocacy and educational programs called "educacy."
By working with global- and U.S.-based professional and consumer third-party organizations, we partnered with Pfizer to:
- "medicalize" erectile dysfunction in the minds of professionals and consumers;
- facilitate greater patient-physician communication; and
- encourage men and their partners to seek medical help and learn about pharmacological treatment.
To address cultural sensitivities associated with erectile dysfunction and establish local advocacy programs, we created an alliance development toolkit for each Pfizer office.
We also utilized our global network (including offices in China, Canada, Singapore and Germany), and leveraged our strong relationship with the International Society of Impotence
Research (ISIR) to assemble an advocacy summit on Viagra and erectile dysfunction.
Going Beyond Win-Win
The result of a complete PR program involving third-party advocates is a "win-win-win-win." It benefits your corporate reputation, product brand, the third-party organization
and the public.
Perhaps the most important beneficiaries are the people affected by the health issue. PR is not altruistic - business goals must stay top-of-mind. But good business is good
for everyone, and by aspiring to be do-gooders in business suits (or business casual), we create and discover initiatives that serve the public and the bottom line.
Remember advocacy is a tool, not a panacea. It won't close a sale, and it won't put your client's brand on a Times Square billboard or in a USA Today headline. But it
will open doors that traditional PR or advertising can't open alone.
Nancy Turett is president and global director of Edelman Health. She can be reached at 212/704-8195 or [email protected]. Her partner for this month's column is Kevin Sakhrani, vice president in the BioScience Communications
division of Edelman Health. He can be reached at 212/704-4579 or [email protected]