As all PR professionals know, it’s becoming harder and harder to get the attention of reporters in a pitch. Compound that with being tasked to excite consumer and mainstream media about a very technical product, and you have quite the job ahead of you.
Recently, our Toshiba America Medical Systems communications team took this challenge head on. With proven success in pitching our story to trade media, we set out to educate a new set of reporters at outlets like women’s books and parenting magazines about our diagnostic imaging systems. With careful planning and a strategic message, we were successful in not only scheduling interviews but also in scheduling desk-side briefings with some of the most prestigious media outlets in New York City. Here’s how we did it:
MAKE HIGH TECH UNDERSTANDABLE
This goes beyond speaking in layman’s terms. We understood that editors at women’s and parenting magazines wouldn’t be interested in how an ultrasound system or magnetic resonance (MR) machine works. What they would care about—and what we wanted to communicate—is how these diagnostic imaging systems impact patients’ lives. We focused our entire pitch on educating the editors about the role of imaging in healthcare and explained why it was important for their readers to understand imaging for themselves and their families.
HELP EDITORS EMPOWER READERS
It’s critical to show editors up front that you have packaged information they can easily share with readers. Keep in mind that even if a reporter finds your topic personally interesting, if the news you have to share won’t result in a story they can write, your chances of an interview are slim.
For our program, we created a package of materials that reporters could easily integrate into a story, all aimed at educating patients about medical imaging. For example, we developed tip sheets that reporters could use: “Top 10 Facts Patients should Know about Imaging,” and “Top Facts to Know about Imaging,” to name a couple.
We also developed a tool that the publications could share with readers, a patient imaging history card, to help patients keep track of their own exams and their families’ exams.
We made all of these pieces available on a Web site we created, myimagingexam.com—yet another place the reporters could direct readers for more information.
PARTNER WITH THE RIGHT SPOKESPERSON
Toshiba believes strongly that patients should speak with their physicians when it comes to healthcare options. Therefore, we partnered with a hospital physician to deliver the advice on what patients should understand about imaging.
He played a key role in all of the material development and helped us to create the tips for patients, the imaging history card, as well as other content on the patient site. Not only did this demonstrate our credibility with reporters, but it ensured our messages for patients were accurate.
TAILOR YOUR MESSAGES
When educating patients about imaging, there is not just one message that will resonate with all readers. For example, the women’s magazines were interested in imaging issues like breast cancer detection. The parenting books were interested in pediatric imaging. Anticipating these different needs, we were able to develop messages that spoke to both audiences.
Of course, all of our materials, as well as the Web site, included tools for these various audiences. This made it easy for the reporters to choose what to include in their stories.
MAKE CURRENT EVENTS WORK FOR YOU
Not only is healthcare a hot topic for the media these days because of reform, but we were also challenged with helping the press and their readers understand what an appropriate CT radiation dose is. We addressed the issue directly with reporters so that they could help their readers understand when CT is an important diagnostic tool, as well as the considerations patients should be aware of when CTs are recommended.
Having all of these tactics in place paid off, and the team was able to secure top tier deskside briefings with outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Parents, American Baby, Shape and Self.
To make the program even more impactful, we realized the value of the tools beyond this specific media tour. We integrated the pieces into our ongoing customer communication tool kit so that our customers could share this information and further empower and educate their patients. PRN
CONTACT:
This article was written by Charlene Jacobs, manager of corporate communications at Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc., based in Tustin, Calif. Jacobs can be reached at [email protected].