There’s been a lot written about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its potential impact on key industry players — i.e., pharmaceutical and device companies, clinicians, health plans and patients. But, what about the PR professionals who work alongside these players?

Whether we work in-house or on agency teams, PR professionals know that everything that affects clients affects us too. . . eventually. We can be reactive and wait for the ACA dust to settle  or we can proactively help clients navigate the new landscape.

Now, there’s a huge opportunity for us to be proactive and to expand the range of internal and external stakeholders with whom we work.

Historically, health product companies have been organized around departmental “silos” – e.g., Patient Safety, Advocacy, Product Management and Access. For decades, health care PR and marketing teams focused on product/service promotion. Our goal has been to demonstrate clinical outcomes; our opinion leaders have come from academia and science.

In the wake of Medicare reform and the ACA, a new mandate has emerged: to help health decision-makers understand the relative outcomes and costs of available treatment options.  The goal is now to demonstrate total value as our opinion leaders include health economists, payment authorities and policymakers (in addition to clinicians).

To help clients succeed in this new environment, PR teams need to make five key changes:

Continue reading " Five Ways the ACA Will Reshape Health Care PR "

The world continues to change so quickly. Using technology to connect with target audiences is essential in penetrating the cluttered atmosphere, especially in the field of healthcare. Social media has expanded our professional coordinates and positioned communicators to participate in the real-time conversations shaping the marketplace of ideas.

For the last 20 years, I have seen how successful policy and campaign workers use technology to transform outreach and activism. Those who embrace the effort, become early adopters, build their critical mass and consume the environment like a tidal wave.

At first, it’s overwhelming, but eventually you find your groove. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Groupon — initially, it did not occur to me to join them. However, for career insight or to get a better deal on frozen yogurt, it is essential to be plugged in. Patterns definitely emerge, and information management becomes key.

I’ve seen the impact firsthand at my organization, the Oncology Nursing Society. We’re engaged in a multitude of membership advocacy efforts that educate decision-makers on nursing and cancer.

Continue reading " Building a Grassroots Army on the Internet: A Guide for Adopters at All Stages "

“That headline seems improbable, if not impossible, right?!?!” As public relations professionals, managing expectations is a daily challenge. We’re working in real time within a relentless news cycle, where the communications demands of our organizations have become greater and more complex. Budgets and staffing haven’t kept pace, and every day seems like a battle just to tick off a few more items from our ever-growing “to do” lists.

Realistically, how do you map out your yearly PR plan when communications is the department everyone turns to and assumes will get the great hits because “press coverage is ‘free media,’ right?”

I’ve been there, and want to let you in on a little-known secret that will help you wrangle the many, varied communications messages, audiences and events into a seemingly unrealistic, but actually quite workable, plan. First, let me set the stage and explain where I’ve seen this done exceptionally well.

Continue reading " “Oldie But a Goodie: Use of Radio Can Dramatically Expand the Impact of Your PR Plan” "

Join Brian Wallace for Using Infographics as a PR Strategy at the PRSA HyperConnections Summit, presented by the Technology Section in Atlanta, Sept. 27–28.

In a day when content is king, it is no surprise that infographics have most certainly had their reign at the top. Now, with Google cracking down on what should and should not count as good content, the importance of infographics is coming into question. Some feel they should be eliminated from the SEO chain altogether. Others believe there is still quite a lot of value in infographics, granted they are done correctly. So, what side are you on? Is there really such a thing as a good infographic? And if so, have they been devalued?

Continue reading " Infographics: Marketing Gold or PR Nightmare? "

Join Joseph Grove for “What Readers Want: Defining Techspeak to Verticals That Care” at the PRSA Technology Section HyperConnections Summit in Atlanta, Sept. 27-28.

I admit it. I can be a real jerk.

I don’t respond to your emails. I don’t return your voicemails. If your call happens to catch me at my desk, I’ll  know within the first five words that you’re a public relations person — maybe an intern — who is pimping a press release, I immediately I will begin to wonder how fast I can get to goodbye.

But I also have to say that some of you kind of deserve it. And for every editor who’d just as soon hit the delete button on your message than read or listen to the whole thing, there is a public relations professional who could use a few pointers on how to convey her message in such a way it might actually make the news.

Let’s face it: We need each other. I asked one of my editors how much daily news she gets from press releases and other forms of public relations. Two-thirds, she said. Among all our sites, we published 4,177 news items for the first six months of the year. Assuming her percentage holds true for our other editors, that’s 2,785 pieces of public relations we picked up. Was yours one of them?

Here are a few things you can do to make sure you are part of the next 4,177 we publish.

Continue reading " Five Ways to Become More Than Just a Necessary Evil "