The True Value of Medical PR

March 1, 2012 Leave a comment

As a physician, launching a PR and media relations campaign, you can have a number of objectives.  Your aim may be to bring in more patients, to establish your practice, to establish yourself as one of the primary experts in your field, or to separate yourself from the competition.  All those objectives are sound and can be accomplished through an effective public relations outreach.  Every physician has his or her own needs and goals and it’s important to tailor each media campaign to achieve those specific aims.

In the past we’ve placed physicians and health care professionals in a wide range of media outlets from local and regional media to such national outlets as Oprah, the Today Show, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and hundreds of other media outlets.  But, apart from reaching a physician’s target market, establishing their brand and establishing them as experts in their fields, perhaps the most rewarding aspect of health and medical PR is that by presenting informative and educational stories to the media, we’ve been able to impact people’s lives.

We’ve worked with a wide range of physicians including oncologists, cardiologists, pain management specialists, ob-gyns, and pulmonary specialists.  Each one has had unique patient stories to tell and each one has addressed issues that affect hundreds, thousands and sometimes millions of people.

By taking these stories to the media we in turn have been able to offer options and solutions for patients who were often unaware that new approaches, treatments or modalities existed.

These stories have offered hope and guidance.  After stories on a  physician or treatment have been published in a magazine or newspaper or have aired on TV, not only have new local patients decided to seek help, there have been several instances where patients have flown cross country or from foreign countries to seek help, guidance and treatment.

I’ve found this type of media outreach to be the most gratifying.  Whereas the campaigns are designed to reach a physicians target market, grow a medical practice, establish him or her as an expert and gain the credibility and validation which comes from being featured in the news, they are also designed to educate and inform

As a physician, one of the most important aspects to keep in mind when launching a health ormedical-oriented public relations campaign is how important the information you’re offering can be.  Through the media you are able to directly communicate with hundreds, thousands or millions of people.  Some may be directly dealing with the problem, symptoms or disease you’re addressing, others may know a friend or a family member who could use the information.  There will be treatments, approaches, and options you offer that may not be new within the medical community, but could be new to many patients.  The information you offer can often it can be a life changer.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2012

Filed under Medical PR Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PR for Complementary Healthcare Practitioners

March 1, 2012 Leave a comment

It’s taken the media and the traditional healthcare world quite a while to learn what the public has now known for quite a while.  Complementary and alternative healthcare is a huge force in the U.S. For example, a 1998 phone survey of 1539 adults found that 42.1% in the United States had used at least one form of complementary health care within a twelve month period.  That usage had increased since 1990 and continues to increase; the most used treatments were herbal medicine, massage, megavitamins, self-help groups, folk remedies, energy healing and homeopathy.

When I began working in the arena of health-oriented PR, trying to get the media to do a segment on herbs, acupuncture or bodywork was a challenge.  Those modalities were considered too alternative, too out there; not mainstream enough.  And if the media did do a story on acupuncture, it had to feature an acupuncturist who was also an M.D.  Times have changed.  Now CNN, the Today Show, Time and other mainstream media outlets all cover alternative and complementary healthcare.  If you work in the world of wellness or complementary healthcare, you need to know how to work with the media and how to launch an effective PR campaign, the media floodgates have opened, but you need to learn to control the message.

Years ago, we worked with the Rolf Institute and the Heller Institute and, even though both modalities had been around for quite a while, they were still considered quite exotic by the mainstream media.  We were able to launch effective campaigns, but it was a hard go.  The media was weary.  They were not used to covering stories that did not involve an M.D., unless it was to uncover some type of fraudulent practice.   Well times have certainly changed since then. From body work and acupuncture to nutritional supplements and yoga, more modalities are making the leap from the alternative to the mainstream.  Traditional hospitals now have wellness centers that cover a host of alternative modalities.  More physicians are melding traditional and complementary health care in their practices.

More than anything, the public’s thirst for knowledge about their healthcare has skyrocketed.  It can be confusing for an individual to understand which supplements and what modalities are best suited for them.  The press understands their readers, viewers and listeners are craving information on how they can best utilize complementary health care.  This time offers some amazing public relations opportunities.  If you can explain your field, discuss how it works, offer anecdotal stories and present yourself to the media as an expert in your field, you’ll be well positioned to ride this healthcare information wave.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2012

Filed under Complementary Healthcare Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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