PR Strategy & Tactics

Great Expectations

A survey by HealthNewsReview.org published in the current issue of PLoS Medicine shows that the media could do a better job at covering medical news.

An analysis of 500 stories on medical topics by U.S. consumer print and broadcast media showed that “journalists usually fail to discuss costs, the quality of the evidence, the existence of alternative options, and the absolute magnitude of potential benefits and harms.”

These observations may be right, but what do you expect from the media, particularly consumer outlets? Space and time is money, all information is dumbed down, long form pieces don’t sell ads and eyeballs, and there will never be this level of desired accuracy. That’s what blogs, Web sites and peer-reviewed academic journals are for.

Some findings:

Posted by Shawn Whalen on June 20, 2008 at 12:27 PM
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Ring the Bell

A quick plug for Schwartz Communications' award winning night at the Publicity Club's Bell Ringer Award ceremony. Among the 12 Bell Ringers and 15 Awards of Merit that we won were six for healthcare.  These include:

- Feature or Commentary Placement: Online—ResMed/Respironics
- New Media: Epocrates
- Print Feature or Commentary Placement - Regional Business Publication: Spring Medical Systems
- Print Feature or Commentary Placement - Regional General Interest Publication: Hologic/MammoSite 
- Product/Service Publicity: Healthcare: Cyberonics and Epocrates

Posted by Shawn Whalen on June 2, 2008 at 10:23 PM
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Don't Believe the Hype?

But Don’t Let That Stop You Promoting It ;)

A sobering case study for CDHP/HSAs. Financial services company T. Rowe Price adopted its consumer-driven health plan in 2004. You’d think they’d succeed, given the 5,000 financially savvy U.S. employees and a sophisticated benefits program already in place.  Enrollment in the plan hit 8 percent the first year, not bad.

Enrollment remained flat for three years, then rose in ’08 to 9 percent - too low to produce substantial savings. What could (maybe) make a difference? More incentives and tools for consumerism. A majority of consumer-driven plans today are stagnating like T. Rowe Prices. The most common plan designs don’t contain the seeds for their success.

It’s telling that when Towers Perrin wanted to quantify cost savings from CDHPs in a recent study, it found the CDHP landscape too small to do a credible survey.  PR folks at vendors or companies succeeding in CDHP’s may have a media story in that success, going against the grain of poor performance through the solutions or approach that you offer.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on May 30, 2008 at 11:12 AM
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Search and Destroy

A quick commercial on a new service the Agency is offering, search marketing. Search marketing is changing marketing. Google prints money from their search advertising business. It's inexpensive, effective and very measurable.

However, many companies treat search marketing as a stand-alone initiative. Figure out some keywords, search engine optimize (SEO) the site, maybe run some pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to generate leads. Inevitably, without any strategic context, the initiative putters out.

There's another, smaller group of companies that are navigating this roadblock by tightly integrating their search marketing programs with public relations. They tap the PR team to develop messages, turn those messages into keywords, use articles and other PR content to optimize the site and blast out strategic PPC campaigns coordinated with media campaigns.

This "surround-sound" approach hits key audiences with the same messages from two of the most influential sources out there--media (both traditional and social) and Google search.

Schwartz is sitting at the crossroads of PR and search marketing. For quite a while we've been optimizing releases, providing keyword advice and even figuring out compelling offers that will convert into qualified leads.

Today, we're diving in with a full-fledged search marketing offering. We believe PR and search marketing services fit naturally together. Contact me if you'd like more info.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on May 21, 2008 at 12:05 PM
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Health Editors Talk

A quick note to healthcare marketers, PR Newswire is offering a complimentary webinar on Thursday, May 8, 1:00 pm EST, on how to pitch top health editors.
 
Panelists include:

- Valarie Basheda, Managing Editor, WebMD
- Susan Cowen, Health Tab Editor, Houston Chronicle
- Carol Gentry, Editor, Florida Health News
 
They’ll discuss:
- How health reporting has changed in recent years
- Current and future trends in health and medical reporting
- How to truly get journalists' attention
- Pitching a feature: What to do - What to avoid

Click here to register. 
 
On another topic, I wanted to applaud the Consumer Focused Healthcare blog for covering the interesting topic of medical misdiagnosis and second opinions in their interview with Evan Falchuk of Best Doctors. The interview is here.   It’s worth a listen to.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on May 7, 2008 at 9:34 AM
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Health IT Week, June 9-13

Healthcare IT marketers should be aware that Health IT Week is June 9-13 of this year.  The week will feature a number of events in Washington, DC, along with possible media attention. Vendors who are HIMSS corporate members can become partners for free in Health IT Week, which means your logo gets to be on the Health IT Week Web site and you can leverage the Week for your own marketing purposes.

Following is more information on Health IT Week.

Continue reading "Health IT Week, June 9-13" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on May 6, 2008 at 3:57 PM
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Dipping Into the CDH PR Well Again

Employers like consumer directed healthcare plans because they can save money, but employees may not be so in love with them according to a recent Watson/National Business Group on Health survey.

So not surprisingly adoption rates are low and will remain so until the tools and education efforts become pervasively available to consumers. Not to mention a track record of success showing these CDH plans provide good care and value.

For PR practitioners with vendors who offer CDH tool, I recommend using this survey to generate conversation with media and interest in the topic of CDHP adoption. Illustrate how your tool or solution helps consumers navigate the complex world of CDH, be it from a financial, educational, or comparative perspective. Reporters particularly like hearing the real consumer perspective, so try to deliver real consumer references of your product.

According to the survey, by 2009, nearly 55% of U.S. corporations plan on offering a consumer-directed health plan.  The findings also show that 47% of employers currently offer a CDHP, an increase from 39% in 2007 and 33% in 2006.

Companies with at least half of their workforce enrolled in a CDHP had a two-year median cost trend of 3.6%, almost half that of employers without a CDHP. Companies with a CDHP witnessed a two-year cost increase of 5.5% versus 7% for companies without a CDHP.

Only 15% of employees at organizations that offer CDHPs are enrolled in the plans this year, up from 8% in 2006 and 10% in 2007. Yet only 6% of employers report 100% enrollment in a CDHP, which is expected to rise to 9% in 2009.

Today, 27% of companies offer CDHPs with a health savings account (HSA), while 24% offer a health reimbursement account (HRA). Notably, employers are three times more likely to add an HSA (9%) than an HRA (3%) in 2009.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on April 28, 2008 at 12:43 PM
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Good Business Writing: An Oxymoron?

Our Next Installment in a Continuing Series on Healthcare IT PR Tactics and Strategies

Despite the industry being run predominantly by English and journalism majors (I find public relations majors to be the most ill-fit for PR, but that’s a topic for another post), public relations is unfortunately prone to abuse of the English language. Creative obfuscation is rampant. The world of high tech PR is the worst offender.

There is a delightful book by Brian Fugere, A Bullfighter’s Guide: Why Business People Speak Like Idiots, that explores this problem. Yes, it is the business executives who drive much of PR’s language of meaningless buzz phrases. Eventually the PR people write this way themselves, the morass of corporate-speak overcoming any instincts of clear language they once had. Strunk and White are doubtless turning over in their graves.

If I had my way, press releases and other written documents would be very different. But I rarely get my way. Reporters however do, and I’d like to share this entertaining piece by Gary Baldwin, editor of HealthLeaders. His comments should be heeded by healthcare IT marketers. I say should be, but the sad truth is they won’t be.

“Say What?
 
Gary Baldwin, for HealthLeaders Media, April 15, 2008

Here in Chicago, I participate in a public speaking group, Toastmasters International. One of our goals is communicating without using clichés, jargon, and hyperbole. This is no easy goal for someone steeped in healthcare IT, as I am deluged with all three. By way of example, I offer the following excerpts from recent press releases. These appear in their raw, unedited form (with the exception of a hospital name I excised), bizarre capitalization and all. Welcome to my world of end-to-end, layered, and revolutionary solutions that are continuously enhancing quality improvement across the enterprise.

Complete and end-to-end
Perimeter eSecurity, the only provider of Complete Security On Demand, today launched their electronic Protected Health Information offering, ePHISecurity. ePHISecurity is the first and only on demand layered IT security solution for healthcare organizations. Entities covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 now have access to a complete, end-to-end security infrastructure, with over 50 pre-integrated security services, that traditionally only large healthcare organizations could implement and afford.

Gary’s comment:

To continue reading, hit the "Continue Reading" link below

Continue reading "Good Business Writing: An Oxymoron?" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on April 21, 2008 at 10:26 AM
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NY Loves RHIO

In a vote of confidence in regional healthcare information organizations (RHIOs), the state of New York gave out  $105 million in grants recently. Among the 19 grants, Brooklyn’s Health Information Exchange snagged the largest grant of $12.7 million.

The Empire state's HCIT goals include supporting Medicaid providers, streamlining public health reporting and monitoring, increasing patients’ involvement in their care, and improving the quality of care.

In a press conference, New York pointed out how they are giving more money out than the Federal government office headed by Kolodner. This financial support by New York is an example of how state governments can help increase adoption of technology.

From the healthcare IT marketers perspective, any vendors with New York customers part of these grants should consider ways of promoting their involvement, from a simple congratulations letter to a press release. Others ideas include pitching such customers to the media as case studies, as part of RHIO trend stories, for joint bylines with your executives or as speaking engagement case study submissions.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on April 7, 2008 at 2:54 PM
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PHR Privacy?

As summer rolls around so will the general availability of Google Health and Microsoft HealthVualt’s Personal Heath Records (PHR). These major players, plus the offerings from WebMD, Revolution Health, ActiveHealth Management and a dozen other PHR players raises the question of privacy and HIPAA.

These third-party PHR technology vendors are not covered healthcare entities according to HIPAA. Hospital and managed care associated PHRs do fall under the HIPAA privacy and security mandates.

As most readers of this blog know, HIPAA provides strict standards that classify medical information as a privileged communication between a doctor and patient. If the medical records aren't protected by HIPAA, the information could be used for marketing purposes.

In most cases, each health profile, including medical history, prescriptions and allergies, will be password protected. Vendors will likely have their own privacy policies which could match HIPAA laws, however they are just policies and not laws. 

Smart PHR vendors will go the extra mile to assure customers that their data is private and secure. This issue should be proactively addressed by PHR vendor PR people.
 

Posted by Shawn Whalen on March 26, 2008 at 11:44 AM
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This is PR

Posted by Shawn Whalen on March 21, 2008 at 4:44 PM
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Forrester Webinar

Healthcare IT marketers may be interested in an upcoming complimentary Forrester Research Webinar. "Master Your Success Imperatives As A Technology Product Management & Marketing Professional” will be held on March 25, 2:00 pm EST.

Forrester Vice President and Research Director Eric Brown and Senior Analyst Ellen Carney will advise on how to:

• Anticipate and respond to emerging technologies and competitors.
• Target and win share in promising market segments.
• Boost sales through online channels and social networks.
• Develop products that exceed customer expectations.
• Maximize the return from channel and ecosystem relationships.
• Craft compelling messages and share-capturing campaigns.

To register click here.  

My advice on industry analyst relations can be found in the “PR Strategy and Tactics” category of this blog. 

Posted by Shawn Whalen on March 14, 2008 at 4:20 PM
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HIMSS Tips from Heathcare IT News

HIMSS is a few weeks away. I provided some HIMSS PR tips in a past post you can read here.

Healthcare IT News Reporter Fred Bazzoli sat down with colleagues Brian Bogie and Rebecca Phillips for a Q&A to provide his perspective on what the media is looking for during those few moments you have together during the show.

Q: Describe how Healthcare IT News covers HIMSS.

A: Because of the size and scope of HIMSS, it is a difficult show for the media to cover. It's typical for media staff to spend two to five days at the conference, and just like everyone else, we have long days at HIMSS. There's lots of meeting people, note-taking, writing at odd hours, late meals. Depending on responsibilities, reporters schedule zero to 12 meetings a day. In fact, our reporters will probably have 100 overall meetings with companies at HIMSS.

Given this hectic schedule, our time together is short. However, there are several things that companies can (but all too often don't do) to stand out. Your goal during the briefing is to build a long-term relationship with the media, one that begins at HIMSS and lasts beyond.

Q: What are your tips for standing out from the vendor crowd at HIMSS?

A:  Recognize that that each publication has a particular niche, specialty, or purpose. Some publications are looking for case studies from the provider standpoint; some are looking for vendor information; some are looking at how IT relates to specific modalities. Our publication, Healthcare IT News, highly values time-sensitive news. Know and be ready to provide the media with what they are looking for.

Q: What are some secrets to good briefings?

A: If you or your PR firm "pitched" an angle - an exclusive, a customer case study, a specific executive or spokesperson­ - make sure that is what you provide us with during the briefing. Not coming through, or baiting and switching, is the fastest way to burn bridges with the media.

Continue reading "HIMSS Tips from Heathcare IT News" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on February 7, 2008 at 4:05 PM
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Social Media - Get A Life

There has been much ado about the social media, the FaceSpaces and MyBooks and YouLifes and SecondTubes. I think it's a bunch of hype largely irrelevant to the intended HCIT vendor readership of this blog, who are selling to hospitals, medical groups and managed care organizations. All of these markets are well-known IT laggards who wouldn't know what was wrong with the first sentence of this post.

If you're selling to consumers under 30 it may be a different story. Or if you're in the insular and me-too world of high school, college or high tech. Even in those cases, it's still a lot media-driven hype. Most people are busy enough with real life and real friends.

It will take a complete generation for a majority of folks to care about or participate in social media, which by then will be very different. Very few of my peers here at Schwartz have Facebook pages (plenty of interns do, and about a quarter of the twentysomethings.) In the media, some reporters do if their beat happens to include technology and the Internet.

This perspective on social media shouldn't be confused with the Health 2.0 trend. As discussed in an earlier post, this is a new set of companies targeting consumers and as such their use of social media is expected and required. Indeed, many of these companies are social media in and of themselves. One client example is icyou.com, called the "YouTube of healthcare" by the San Francisco Chronicle.

But I'm a PR guy and the question comes up about how healthcare IT marketers can capitalize on this latest trend. So this week brings a guest blog post about Facebook by colleague Mark McClennan.

Continue reading "Social Media - Get A Life" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on February 1, 2008 at 11:06 AM
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Lists, Grids and Quadrants

Our Next Installment in a Continuing Series on Healthcare IT PR Tactics and Strategies

Industry analyst relations are always a popular topic, one which I've blogged on before. With the New Year underway, vendors look forward to the industry analyst leadership grids, wondering how they can get good placement on them. In this post, we'll look at the top three grids. In part two we'll look at how to get good grid position.

Gartner's Magic Quadrant is the best known, followed by Forrester's Wave. IDC has sporadic leadership grids; the Health Industry Insights group will be starting "Short Lists" soon. These highly coveted reports rank IT solutions using detailed technical standards, end-user feedback and analyst opinion. Excluded from this discussion are the popular survey-based KLAS rankings (arguably more valuable than all the analyst grids put together) and juried best-in-show contests from the likes of TEPR and HIMSS.

According to Gartner, the Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace. Gartner is careful to say the quadrant does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted (and relationship between paid clients of Garner and rankings is purely coincidental ;) Similarly, they coyly do not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant.

A list of Magic Quadrants to be published in '08 is here. In October there was a Magic Quadrant for U.S. Enterprise CPR, and the previous year a Quadrant for U.S. Physician Office Systems. Check with analysts, as the Quadrant schedule isn't always final.

The Forrester Wave is similar in intent but more interactive and, I think, useful. Forrester says their Forrester Wave is a detailed analysis of vendors' products and services based on "transparent, fully accessible criteria." It includes an Excel spreadsheet that allows you to easily compare products and get in-depth data and analysis about each one. In addition, there are tools to develop a custom shortlist based on your company's requirements.

For a schedule of upcoming Forrester Waves click here.
Check with analysts however, as some healthcare topics aren't on this though they may be covered.

A recent example of a Forrester Wave is their Jan. 17, 2008, Healthcare Claims Platforms Q1 2008. To continue reading about this and Health Industry Insights/IDC's Short List, click the "Continue Reading" link.

Continue reading "Lists, Grids and Quadrants" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on January 24, 2008 at 4:41 PM
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HIMSS Media Tips

With the big HIMSS show around the corner, healthcare IT PR folks are hoping to line up as many media interviews as they can.  So it's worth revisiting Schwartz Communications advice.

Before the show, do some strategic thinking in regards to your news. Do you want to pre-brief the media and issue news prior to the show in order to drive booth traffic? Or would you like to leverage news datelined at the show in order to get face time with reporters there? Once you've determined the goal, you can time your news accordingly.

When you make appointments before the show, be realistic about the reporter's schedule. Don't be surprised at no-shows. There's a good chance that a reporter who gets big news or a prized interview will miss your appointment. Try to get the reporter's cell phone so you can communicate on the show floor. Then fill in the gaps by recruiting interviews right there on the show floor.

Here are some more tips and techniques for PR at trade shows:

  - If your company has exhibit space, prep the booth staff on exactly what to do if the media drop in. Designate a spokesperson and make sure everyone understands to immediately bring the media to him or her.

  - Boil your pitch down to exactly one sentence. That's about how much time you'll have when you buttonhole a reporter on the show floor. Make it pithy, exciting and newsworthy. Remember that you're competing with hundreds of other companies for that reporter's attention.
 
  - To stimulate TV coverage, prepare a demo that's visual and exciting. For print coverage, be ready with news that will interest attendees of that specific show.

  - Be fearless. Walk the aisles looking for those press badges. Approach reporters with a direct, concise and confident pitch. When you get rejections from hurried and hassled reporters
(and you will!), shrug them off, so you're ready to approach the next reporter with confidence.

  - Become the reporter's friend. Instead of handing over a heavy press kit, consider a CD or offer to send the paper kit after the show. Help them find other (non-competitive) vendors to cover on the show floor to round out their story.

  - At major shows, the biggest coup is TV coverage. Here's a great tip for maximizing exposure. Put your attendee badge on and go outside the show floor about 20 minutes before the doors open. At the bigger shows, you'll see TV crews waiting to go in. Approach the one you'd most like for an interview, and offer to get them in early, if they'll take a few moments to meet with your company. Chances are they will jump at the chance to get a head start on their day. Escort them quickly past the guards with an authoritative "interview with the media." Then on to your big moment in front of the cameras.

  -Finally, at the end of the day, don't forget the parties, especially those sponsored by the media. They can be great places to make friendships with reporters and editors.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on January 17, 2008 at 10:12 AM
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SEO in PR - Best Practices

Stepping away from our usual issue-oriented discussion, here is Part 12 in a continuing series on PR strategies and tactics for healthcare IT marketers

This week's post brings advice from colleague and CrossRoads blogger Chuck Tanowitz on how healthcare IT vendors can get better placement in Google searches through search engine optimization (SEO) practices in your press release writing.

• Tighten the Messaging - Do your market research and understand the key words and search terms. Your messaging should reflect those terms. Also, the messaging should be tighter, so just saying that a company is a "leading provider of healthcare IT solutions" doesn't help the search results.

• Cluster - Put the relevant terms in close physical proximity to the links back to the your site. Google looks at how words relate to one another as a way to decide whether something (like your company or product) should be associated with it.

• Headline Help - Search engines pay particular attention to headlines, so try to include keywords where possible. Still, don't let the headlines get out of hand; try to stick to 120 characters where possible.

• Link - Links act like a highlighter pen for certain words and also help drive traffic and attention back to your your site.

• Don't Forget to Write - SEO isn't an excuse for poor writing. Be creative while still trying to do the best work possible. If it's done right, SEO just complements what you're already doing.

· Be Consistent - An SEO effort, like a media relations effort, takes time to show results. Depending on the keyword(s) your targeting it could take 3 to 6 months to see significant results.

Continue reading "SEO in PR - Best Practices" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on November 16, 2007 at 1:09 PM
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HCIT PR Webinar PPT

Response to last Thursday's Webinar on Healthcare IT Public Relations was good. For those who weren't able to attend but would like the Powerpoint, please contact me.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on November 12, 2007 at 12:55 PM
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HCIT PR Webinar PPT

Response to last Thursday's Webinar on Healthcare IT Public Relations was good. For those who weren't able to attend but would like the Powerpoint, please contact me.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on at 12:55 PM
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Free HCIT PR Webinar

Maximizing Healthcare IT PR to Impact the Bottom Line

Date & Time: Thursday, December 6th at 12:30pm EDT.

Please join us for a complimentary Webinar, "Maximizing Healthcare IT PR to Impact the Bottom Line" on Thursday, December 6th, at 12:30pm EDT. In this informative, free Webinar, I'll demystify the PR process, explain what it takes to keep the media alive when news is slow, show how PR can impact revenue and offer real-world examples. To register click here.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on November 9, 2007 at 9:37 AM
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We Interupt This Blog

A quick commercial today that Schwartz Communications is seeking Supervisors and Directors (8-10 years experience) for our San Francisco office. Contact me if you're interested or know good folks for the position.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on October 8, 2007 at 3:26 PM
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HCIT Market Size Projections

Healthcare IT vendors love market size numbers, so the recent projections from industry analyst firm Gartner should be welcome. Healthcare is the most rapidly growing vertical sector, expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.7 percent through 2010. In 2006, healthcare IT in the U.S. grew 4.9 percent to $26.1 billion.

Gartner's Healthcare IT Summit is coming up Nov. 11-14.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on August 21, 2007 at 12:15 PM
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A Tip for HCIT Marketers

Part 11 in a Continuing Series on PR Strategy and Tactics

Forrester Research is offering a free trial membership on their Web site (http://web2.forrester.com/forr/reg/loginreg.jsp ).  The service offers access to free research alerts and other valuable nuggets that can help in marketing and PR campaigns.  Analyst Liz Boehm writes in a "First Look Alert" about healthcare consumerism, to see hit the "Continue Reading" link...

Continue reading "A Tip for HCIT Marketers" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on August 10, 2007 at 12:08 PM
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A Tip for HCIT Marketers

Part 11 in a Continuing Series on PR Strategy and Tactics

Forrester Research is offering a free trial membership on their Web site (http://web2.forrester.com/forr/reg/loginreg.jsp ).  The service offers access to free research alerts and other valuable nuggets that can help in marketing and PR campaigns.  Analyst Liz Boehm writes in a "First Look Alert" about healthcare consumerism, to see hit the "Continue Reading" link...

Continue reading "A Tip for HCIT Marketers" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on at 12:08 PM
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Issue Oriented PR - A Case Study

Part 10 in a Continuing Series on PR Strategies and Tactics

Many of you liked the last PR case study on Med-InfoChip, so this week brings another illustration of public relations tactics to help healthcare IT marketers.

Skyscape is a provider of interactive, intelligent mobile solutions for the healthcare community. The company brings drug and medical information to more than 250,000 medical professionals on their personal digital assistants (PDAs) in a context they can use, reducing medical errors and the time doctors need to spend consulting information and adding value by providing access to the latest diagnostic and drug interaction information. Continue reading to learn how our issue-oriented PR campaign landed the client a feature story in the Wall Street Journal, national TV coverage, and reams of trade press...

Continue reading "Issue Oriented PR - A Case Study" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on July 23, 2007 at 12:54 PM
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Ring the Bells

I wanted to take a rare moment for a self-congratulatory note about Schwartz Communications' award winning night yesterday. Schwartz swept the Publicity Club Bell Ringer Awards (the "Golden Globes" of the PR industry,) garnering 22 awards. Many of these were for healthcare. Details follow.

Continue reading "Ring the Bells" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on June 13, 2007 at 2:58 PM
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Ring the Bells

I wanted to take a rare moment for a self-congratulatory note about Schwartz Communications' award winning night yesterday. Schwartz swept the Publicity Club Bell Ringer Awards (the "Golden Globes" of the PR industry,) garnering 22 awards. Many of these were for healthcare. Details follow.

Continue reading "Ring the Bells" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on at 2:58 PM
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No News, No Problem

Since our first complimentary public relations Webinar was quite popular, Schwartz Communications is offering another next Tuesday, June 12, 2:00 pm.  Register here .

"No News, No Problem: Maintaining Healthcare Media Momentum" will demystify the PR process, explain what it takes to keep the media dialogue (and coverage) alive when news is slow, and offer real-world examples of success.

Continue reading "No News, No Problem" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on June 6, 2007 at 2:52 PM
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Ka-Ching

A quick agency self-congratulatory note on Scwhartz Communications largest client acquisition ever.  Client Cytyc, a medical device company that treats excessive menstrual bleeding, will be acquired by Hologic for $6.2 billion.  That is a "b" for billion. Hologic is paying $46.46 per share of Cyctyc, a premium of 33%.

Over the course of nine years Schwartz Communications drove market awareness and adoption for Cytyc's ThinPrep Pap Test among women to detect cervical cancer.  Schwartz' public relations efforts created a push-pull effect, raising awareness among consumers while driving physician adoption. These in turn pressured insurance companies to reimburse members for the test. Today the ThinPrep Pap Test is considered by most to be the gold standard test. Just ask Hologic.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on May 21, 2007 at 11:09 AM
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How Do You Do It? PR Case Study

Though this blog is healthcare IT issue oriented, I'm frequently asked for tips and tactics on the practical execution of public relations for healthcare IT companies. So I thought I'd share a case study to illustrate some best practices. Launched in 2003/2004, Med-InfoChip was a progenitor of today's much hyped personal health record (PHR) technology.  Read on to learn how we scored major ink and airtime for Med-InfoChip in such outlets as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Forbes, USA Today, Reader's Digest, major TV networks and affiliates, Bloomberg Radio, Travel & Leisure, and more.

Continue reading "How Do You Do It? PR Case Study" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on April 23, 2007 at 12:27 PM
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Hi Ma I'm on TV

A Guide to TV Coverage

Part Ten in a Continuing Series on PR Strategy and Tactics for Healthcare IT Marketers

Departing from the usual healthcare issue-oriented discussion, here is some advice on broadcast pitching from a Schwartz Communique Newsletter. Annoyed that television news always covers the raging house fire instead of your cool hospital technology? It's because house fires touch on what every producer wants: a visually appealing story.

Television news segments are a great way to target a broad consumer audience, but to land TV coverage your story needs to meet vastly different criteria than for print stories.

The TV news landscape is rapidly changing. With choices ranging from 24-hour news stations to local, national and morning news shows, to online video outlets, competition for viewers and stories that attract them is stiff. While this competition offers some expanded coverage opportunities, it also forces PR professionals to fit their story to the niche criteria that producers of a particular show crave.

Think your story may have an appealing angle to garner television coverage? Here are some tips from  assignment editors and producers on how to package a compelling, visual story.

- Keep it Short and Simple-An average segment lasts less then two minutes and is getting shorter. The constraints of a two-minute story make in-depth, thoughtful coverage nearly impossible for television producers. To help, provide a simple, high-level message and story line.

- Save Producers Time-Producers have limited resources and are always crunched for time. Anything you can provide to save a producer time, thereby making their day easier, will get more attention.

- Visual, Visual, Visual-Be very clear why your story is visual¬; vagueness is the enemy. Help producers visualize how the story will play out. They want to avoid a constant "talking head" at all costs.

- Human Element Required-Your story must appeal to a broad consumer audience. Most television segments have a human interest angle. If you have a compelling technology, approach the story from a consumer's perspective and not that of your company. For example, focus on ideas that convey concepts such as "this will help me save time" or "this will reduce mistakes" not "this is a milestone for the company."

Some tools you can use to help achieve your goal:

Continue reading "Hi Ma I'm on TV" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on April 2, 2007 at 2:52 PM
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Hi Ma I'm on TV

A Guide to TV Coverage

Part Ten in a Continuing Series on PR Strategy and Tactics for Healthcare IT Marketers

Departing from the usual healthcare issue-oriented discussion, here is some advice on broadcast pitching from a Schwartz Communique Newsletter. Annoyed that television news always covers the raging house fire instead of your cool hospital technology? It's because house fires touch on what every producer wants: a visually appealing story.

Television news segments are a great way to target a broad consumer audience, but to land TV coverage your story needs to meet vastly different criteria than for print stories.

The TV news landscape is rapidly changing. With choices ranging from 24-hour news stations to local, national and morning news shows, to online video outlets, competition for viewers and stories that attract them is stiff. While this competition offers some expanded coverage opportunities, it also forces PR professionals to fit their story to the niche criteria that producers of a particular show crave.

Think your story may have an appealing angle to garner television coverage? Here are some tips from  assignment editors and producers on how to package a compelling, visual story.

- Keep it Short and Simple-An average segment lasts less then two minutes and is getting shorter. The constraints of a two-minute story make in-depth, thoughtful coverage nearly impossible for television producers. To help, provide a simple, high-level message and story line.

- Save Producers Time-Producers have limited resources and are always crunched for time. Anything you can provide to save a producer time, thereby making their day easier, will get more attention.

- Visual, Visual, Visual-Be very clear why your story is visual¬; vagueness is the enemy. Help producers visualize how the story will play out. They want to avoid a constant "talking head" at all costs.

- Human Element Required-Your story must appeal to a broad consumer audience. Most television segments have a human interest angle. If you have a compelling technology, approach the story from a consumer's perspective and not that of your company. For example, focus on ideas that convey concepts such as "this will help me save time" or "this will reduce mistakes" not "this is a milestone for the company."

Some tools you can use to help achieve your goal:

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Posted by Shawn Whalen on at 2:52 PM
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60 Minutes is Knocking

Communicating in a Crisis

Part Nine in a Continuing Series on PR Strategy and Tactics for Healthcare IT Marketers

Despite the best-laid plans, a sudden disaster challenges PR pros to do their best thinking on their feet. The stakes are highest in the first few hours because the initial media coverage creates perceptions that linger. Let's discuss crisis communications with insights drawn from the Schwartz Communique newsletter.

Communicating information in a crisis is never as easy as it sounds, primarily because the information itself is often scarce. This leaves corporate and PR pros in a sticky situation, trying to satiate a hungry media with little to offer.

We at Schwartz have had first-hand PR experience with crisis communications. One powerful example was the aftermath of an explosion and fire at a plant owned by West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. By responding quickly, compassionately and responsibly to this terrible accident, we were able to help West weather a difficult time for the families of those hurt, the employees and the company itself. The West team stayed focused on three guiding principles throughout the ordeal:

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Posted by Shawn Whalen on March 6, 2007 at 4:33 PM
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HIMSS Media Tips

Part Eight in a Continuing Series on PR Strategy and Tactics for Healthcare IT Marketers

Healthcare IT's largest tradeshow, HIMSS, is fast approaching so it's time for some PR advice drawn from our Schwartz Communique newsletter. With advance planning and on-site chutzpah, you can use industry trade shows as a springboard for recognition. In fact, working the media at the biggest shows can yield a bonanza of press coverage. At one HIMSS show, Schwartz garnered 22 interviews for a client, based on pre-show scheduling and on-site facilitation. The payoff: the client was covered in more than a dozen articles.

Before the show, do some strategic thinking in regards to your news. Do you want to pre-brief the media and issue news prior to the show in order to drive booth traffic? Or would you like to leverage news datelined at the show in order to get face time with reporters there? Once you've determined the goal, you can time your news accordingly.

When you make appointments before the show, be realistic about the reporter's schedule. There's a good chance that a reporter who gets big news or a prized interview will miss your appointment. Try to get the reporter's cell phone so you can communicate on the show floor. Then fill in the gaps by recruiting interviews right there on the show floor. Here are some more tips and techniques for PR at trade shows:

  - If your company has exhibit space, prep the booth staff on exactly what to do if the media drop in. Designate a spokesperson and make sure everyone understands to immediately bring the media to him or her.

  - Boil your pitch down to exactly one sentence. That's about how much time you'll have when you buttonhole a reporter on the show floor. Make it pithy, exciting and newsworthy. Remember that you're competing with hundreds of other companies for that reporter's attention.

  - To stimulate TV coverage, prepare a demo that's visual and exciting. For print coverage, be ready with news that will interest attendees of that specific show.

  - Be fearless. Walk the aisles looking for those press badges. Approach reporters with a direct, concise and confident pitch. When you get rejections from hurried and hassled reporters (and you will!), shrug them off, so you're ready to approach the next reporter with confidence.

  - Become the reporter's friend. Instead of handing over a heavy press kit, consider a CD or offer to send the paper kit after the show. Help them find other (non-competitive) vendors to cover on the show floor to round out their story.

  - At major shows, the biggest coup is TV coverage. Here's a great tip for maximizing exposure. Put your attendee badge on and go outside the show floor about 20 minutes before the doors open. At the bigger shows, you'll see TV crews waiting to go in. Approach the one you'd most like for an interview, and offer to get them in early, if they'll take a few moments to meet with your company. Chances are they will jump at the chance to get a head start on their day. Escort them quickly past the guards with an authoritative "interview with the media." Then on to your big moment in front of the cameras.

  -Finally, at the end of the day, don't forget the parties, especially those sponsored by the media. They can be great places to make friendships with reporters and editors.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on February 7, 2007 at 1:25 PM
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Wall Street Journal Reporter Interview

Here is an interview with Amy Dockser Marcus of The Wall Street Journal, drawn from the Schwartz Communications Healthcare Newsletter. Useful advice for PR practitioners.

Schwartz: What makes a good pitch? What do you look for when evaluating a medical therapy or diagnostic to feature in Personal Journal section?

Marcus: To make a good pitch, you have to read Personal Journal. It is clear to me from a pitch when someone has never bothered to read the newspaper or the section and so has no understanding of what kind of stories we run.

Personal Journal is heavily oriented toward consumer service information. We want to break news, but it also has to be news that someone can use right then or in the immediate future. Diagnostics or new medical therapies that won't be available in the doctor's office for the next five years may be fascinating and work for some other section of our paper, but we won't write a story about them in Personal Journal.

I am interested in learning about diagnostic tests and new therapies that will transform in some way how diseases are treated. The pitch should explain why this is a significant change from what is traditionally done or what kind of major difference its use will make in the health of a consumer.

Schwartz: What is your view of disease awareness months? What are the requirements for making that kind of pitch newsworthy?

Marcus: Personal Journal in the past has rarely written about disease awareness months. We are interested in breaking news about diseases no matter when they happen during the year. We do not run general stories about disease awareness months. The only way we would consider this is if there is a genuine news story, emerging trend, new treatment, new diagnostic test, or some other news-related development related to the disease. Even then, we'd probably just run a straight news story about the development rather than focusing on the tie to a particular disease awareness month.

Schwartz: What do you think of the use of celebrity spokespeople?

Marcus: It doesn't matter what any of us think, they are here to stay. It won't make a pitch more appealing if a celebrity is backing the use of a particular product. But if there is an unusual or newsworthy reason why the celebrity got involved, that might be interesting to know.

For more PR strategy and tactical advice, please click on the "PR Strategy and Tactics" category to the right.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on January 29, 2007 at 3:30 PM
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Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Though Twain had his doubts, marketers love statistics. So to help out healthcare IT marketers here are some stats from the Census Bureau, CMS and analysts.

The U.S. spent $2 trillion on healthcare, or $6,697 a person, in 2005.

Healthcare costs account for one-sixth of the economy, compared with one-tenth in the early 1980s.

In 2006, 61% of businesses offered health benefits to at least some employees, down from 69% in 2000.

Young adults are the most likely to be uninsured. Those between the ages of 18 and 34 account for 25% of the population, but 41% of those without insurance. Texas has the largest percentage of uninsured citizens (24.6%), followed by New Mexico and Florida. Can you say que?

According to Forrester Research, CDH enrollment will reach 12 million, or seven percent of the commercially insured market, in 2007.

Up to 98,000 Americans die each year from preventable medical mistakes they experience during hospitalization, according to the Institute of Medicine.                                                                          

Mistakes in healthcare are costly.  A wound infection costs $21,000 on average. A post-operative infection costs more than $25,000 and re-opening a surgical site will cost more than $36,000.  The Juran Institute and Midwest Business Group recently quantified the direct costs of health benefits for poor-quality care over $1,300 per employee per year with indirect costs of lost productivity from poor care at another $500 per employee per year. 

Posted by Shawn Whalen on January 12, 2007 at 5:39 PM
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The Importance of Being Earnest

Part Seven in a Continuing Series on PR Tactics for Healthcare IT Marketers

Over drinks recently with some PR folks, we got to talking about a frequent question from companies.  What characteristics make up a good PR program?  Among the top factors are PR thought leadership, skill of spokesperson, topical products or service and occasional news.

Public relations thought leadership can be critically important, especially for smaller companies.  I've seen many start up and emerging growth companies do a PR dance around larger competitors because they are more nimble, hungry, and have a CEO who exhibits thought leadership.  Often times the larger the company, the less impressive the CEO, stricken by  conservatitis from lawyers and CYA handlers.  Reporters favor executives who offer bold, earnest and contrarian opinions, executives who are available at the reporter's notice and will discuss broader context than just his own product.

Commenting on industry trends and events is a great way to demonstrate this thought leadership.  I've had several clients capitalize on such news as the announcement of CHITT, Brailer's resignation, and Stark Law reform by offering fast, quotable value-added opinions. Many of the clients' larger competitors were left with no seat at the table of discussion, to their loss.  Building this thought leadership helps your relationship with a reporter, who is more inclined to write about you when you want your own company coverage.

Another outlet to demonstrate your thought leadership is bylines. These are executive-authored, issue-oriented articles; while not overtly promotional, they point to solution types offered by your company and you receive the reflected thought leadership glory as the author. 

Beyond thought leadership, there is of course company news, products, customer case studies, trend stories and hard news.  These are foundation elements in any PR program.  To whatever extant you can, put your company news in the context of larger industry trends.  How does your product fit into CDH, or healthcare transparency, or some other big trend?  Can your customer reference discuss the benefits of your technology at length for a case study? Is your news big enough that an offer of an exclusive to a media outlet will help your cause?  Think about this contextualization for your next news announcement and it will help separate your pitch from the run of the mill.

For more PR strategy and tactic advice, please click on the "PR Strategy and Tactics" category to the right.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on December 27, 2006 at 3:32 PM
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Six Sigma PR

Part Six in a Continuing Series on Healthcare IT Public Relations

          Today brings a guest blog post from my colleague Mark McClennan, APR, on Six Sigma practices applied to public relations.

          While PR professionals focus a good deal of time and effort measuring the results of their campaigns, they typically spend relatively little time examining internal operations and measurement unless something goes wrong. If an agency stays within its billable hours, a department stays within its line item budget, and objectives are reached-- they often declare success, and the team moves on to the next project.

          But that is a limited view, and it assumes that the current way of doing things at your organization cannot improve. Internal measurement, when done correctly, can significantly improve operations and program results. It is just as important to apply rigorous measurement standards and best practices to internal processes and operations as it is to scrutinize PR campaigns.

          For many companies, just measuring campaign activities is not enough for senior management. Reporting that the PR team called 20 reporters, held a special event or secured five articles does not meet management's needs. They want to understand what business objectives those activities accomplished.

          It is relatively easy to measure activity and output. Unfortunately, that does not give a complete or accurate view. Many internal areas are ripe for quantitative measurement, including:

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Posted by Shawn Whalen on October 20, 2006 at 4:42 PM
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