As the use of paid advertising to promote health organizations, services and products has escalated over the last decade, there has been an ironic decline in efforts to capture what used to be called "earned media" - coverage by local newspapers, TV stations and other news outlets.
The irony lies in the fact that this lack of emphasis on media coverage comes at a time when the health and medical news hole - the amount of air time and newspaper space allocated to health-related stories - has grown.
Media executives know that healthcare and medical news is high on the list of topics that capture the interest of their viewers and readers. Yet often they end up responding to that interest with wire service stories or even video news releases (VNRs) generated by healthcare organizations outside of their market.
Healthcare executives who were trained in business school marketing programs often have had little exposure to the role and value of earned media coverage, preferring instead to use more controlled promotional channels like advertising or direct mail.
And even marketing communications professionals who have a PR background and are familiar with the benefits of media coverage may tend to think of the technique as old-fashioned, without the glitz of advertising, web sites or other contemporary tactics.
Healthcare marketers find that the winning combination of media coverage to support, enhance and leverage the advertising message is key to developing a leadership brand.
To this end, here are some useful strategic tips for integrating your marketing/PR efforts:
- Assign a point person: Designate at least one staff person whose sole responsibility is to know the local media scene, maintain relationships with health/medical reporters, identify news opportunities and package the organization's stories.
- Localize the story: With today's 24-hour national news cycle, a savvy media relations person can spot a national story as it happens, and move quickly to offer a local expert or local angle. When a new arthritis drug is approved by the FDA, the local paper will pick up a wire service story - but if an enterprising PR person calls offering an interview with a local rheumatologist who can talk about the impact of the new drug on the lives of arthritic patients, then the editor or producer has an even better story.
- Identify potential media experts: Every healthcare organization should have a directory of experts prepared and circulated to media outlets before pitching any stories.
And while the directory should include physicians in a variety of specialties, don't overlook all of the other internal experts - counselors, therapists, nurses, dietitians and other professionals who can serve as expert resources and story sources. - Pre-train spokespeople: When a national story breaks, there's not enough time to put your expert through a good media training course. You should have a corps of trained experts who are ready to go with only a quick background briefing.
- Think like an editor or producer: Controversy, drama, human emotion, or something new or first in the market. Don't split hairs - reporters hate hearing "well, we know Hospital X has been doing this procedure, but we're the first tertiary care hospital to do it in an outpatient setting." Or "We're not the first to have this device, but our device is a lot faster than the other devices."
- Pitch in visual terms: Enhance your pitch with descriptions of what the story components look like for TV reporters. Ideally, have B-roll already available or offer to provide it so the reporter doesn't have to spend time shooting background footage.
- Follow up quickly: Especially when trying to get the local angle on the national story. The longer you wait to call the reporter or editor, the greater the chance that they've already got a local source or that the story is already finished.
When responding to a query on one of the online query services like ProfNet, speed is essential - it's like an on-air auction and whoever gets a bid in first gets the reporters' attention.
Media relations is an art - and a science. The science is being well-prepared; the art is in following the news around-the-clock, spotting a local angle and moving quickly to pitch it.
The payoff for healthcare organizations is continuous media coverage that builds a solid reputation and enhances other marketing efforts to build credibility and presence in the marketplace.
Why Integrate Marketing and PR?
There are a number of solid reasons why media coverage should be a key part of an integrated marketing communications program, including:
- Credibility - consumers say they find media stories more credible than ads.
- Effectiveness - consumers say that after personal sources like family and physicians, media coverage is their preferred source of information about health care.
- Reach - both to target audiences like seniors and women, and influentials, who tend to be heavy media users.
- Cost - even when expensive-to-produce tactics like video news releases are used, the price of an aggressive media relations campaign is far less than paid advertising.
Kathy Lewton is director of the national healthcare practice at Porter Novelli in Chicago. She is author of Public Relations in Health Care: A Guide For Professionals. She can be reached at 312/856-8888 or e-mail: [email protected].