Healthcare reporters often roll their eyes and sigh when they get a cold call from a PR practitioner about "National [Pick the Disease] Week" or a press release filled with
jargon about FDA approval of yet another treatment for [pick the condition]. After hanging up, they forget the call or use the release for trashcan-basketball practice.
Want to avoid a similar fate? Start by shaping your pitch in accordance with the reader it's intended to reach, says Ann Fahey-Widman, corporate media relations manager for
Abbott Laboratories. When the information is technical, such as clinical trial results for drugs, the primary audience will be medical professionals and journalists with
specialized knowledge and vocabulary. When it concerns over-the-counter products (which target consumers), the news has to be as simple and jargon-free as possible. Of course the
Internet adds other complications. With the advent of electronic distribution services, a press release written to inform a physician audience will also reach Web surfers.
It's better to approach reporters before editors, and to package your idea in a way they can sell to their bosses, says Jackie Loeb, VP of media relations with Ogilvy Public
Relations Worldwide. The reporter is the one who will do the legwork and get committed to the story. When pitching to the broadcast media, look for the visuals. "You even have to
pitch with more visual words [in the cover letter]," Loeb explains.
Next question: how sexy is your hook? "How is what you're talking about put within the news context of the day?" Loeb asks. She cites a rather macabre, albeit successful,
example. When actress Nancy Marchand, from "The Sopranos," died of lung cancer this year, Ogilvy used the peg to draw attention to its client, Cancer Care, and the group's lung
cancer campaign. "In a world of support for cancer, there are a lot of voices out there, [so] we jump on every available thing we can," she says. After the news of Marchand's
death, the agency landed a placement on Lifetime. Loeb credits the somber event.
Beware the "BS Detector"
Whatever the medium, reporters look for signs that you understand their needs . In a multi-channel world, treat them as individuals. "Many times I receive materials that are
totally missing the target of what I'm trying to do with my publication," grumbles Joel R. Cooper, editor-in-chief of The Medical Reporter, one of the oldest healthWeb
sites (medicalreporter.health.org). One way to get his attention is to provide stories with a doctor in the byline. This lends immediate credibility, even if a PR practitioner
ghostwrote the article, he says.
Cooper admits he's more likely to pick up pitches that are supplied electronically - but with caveats. "I'm willing to give credit where credit is due. I have no objection to
including the client, address, contact, phone number," he says. "It turns me off, though, when something is obvious or deliberately hyped - I have a built-in BS detector."
As a former PR counselor himself, however, Cooper regrets he has little new to say about how to get reporters' attention.
"Most PR people are very bright people, they read excellent publications [and] they really hear the same stuff over and over again. It's like doctors telling patients, 'You
really ought to exercise regularly, give up fatty food, give up smoking, cut back on alcohol,'" he laughs.
"Somehow in the chaos of living, of trying to serve their clients, they forget some of those basic principles."
(Fahey-Widman, 847/938-6388; Loeb, 212/880-5200, [email protected]; Cooper, [email protected])
A Sweet Prescription For Press
Jackie Loeb of Ogilvy knows that "what's news to us isn't always news to [reporters]."
To wit: a pharmaceutical client was preparing to introduce a new AIDS drug which would combine two pills into a single dose. That was big news for patients taking the
medication, but only the very best AIDS journalists would realize its significance.
Ogilvy scaled this hurdle by sending a stash of jellybeans to top-tier health reporters, with directions to take them as if they were AIDS medication - so many at breakfast,
so many at lunch, this one on an empty stomach, etc. Loeb says the tactic was wildly successful, and generated millions of impressions.