With all the opportunities that exist during this time of year, there also are obstacles. Here are some things to think about before you start creating your program:
- Competition: During the holidays, you are competing for column inches and air space with other healthcare marketers as well as those promoting holiday gear.
- Exploitation: There is a fine line between a relevant holiday-theme program and crass exploitation of the holiday. Don't generate cheap publicity that's deliciously effective this week, but creates a bad taste in reporters' mouths for the rest of the year.
- Skeletal Staff: Journalists you normally work with who handle regular beats are often on vacation. You may think that this is a drawback because the replacement may be totally new to your issue. Use this to your advantage: a journalist who is less familiar with the subject may be more receptive to your guidance in shaping their stories. And reporters who weren't interested in a story six months ago now may be singing a different holiday tune.
- Short Window of Time: Try not to pitch a story that requires a lot of legwork. In the holiday rush, reporters don't have time to do new research and development. Think about pitching your story the week between Christmas and New Year's because traditionally this is a slow news time.
Nancy Turett is president of the healthcare and consumer division of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide. She can be reached at 212/704-8195 or [email protected].