G2 Communications Inc.-Medical Practice Marketing

We help physicians recruit, retrain & refer

Don’t Bury the Press Release Yet…

There are myriad opinions about press releases.  Are they dead?  Are they only to make the CEO – and his mother – proud?  Are they self-serving and lacking in any real news value?  Are they only good for SEO and digital link backs to the company websites?  Are we just keeping PR Newswire and PR Web in business (those people need jobs too…)?

While many continue to debate the merits and validity of our longstanding PR staple there are a few good reasons not to bury the press release just yet. Unless you’re looking for cheap wool socks, the first thing you might do when you visit a company’s website, whether you’re an investor, prospect, job candidate, or customer is head straight to the newsroom, even before you click on the product page.  Why?  You want to see the company’s news timeline.

If the last release was written six months or a year ago it creates a perception. Perhaps the company is stalled, losing money, has no new products in the pipeline. Or it has reduced the marketing staff down to a coordinator; again not a good sign.  Press releases indicate the health, the vitality and viability of the company.  You also want to see what disinterested third parties have reported because of your news release.  The mere presence of the press release timeline influences interested parties.

While it may be true that the long narrative style of press releases, interminably reviewed by executives, may be dwindling they are still a marker for company progress.

In a post by Tom Bishops, director of marketing and communications at KnowledgeVision Systems, he makes some good points about keeping the press release alive:

It acts as the official statement of an organization.

It’s front-loaded.

It’s flexible.

It provides content for some media outlets that are short-staffed.

Another writer Elizabeth Mitchell believes the press release still has its place but warns PR pros to only send them to people who would find it relevant, don’t trade clarity for pithy – get to the point, and lose the jargon.

The next obvious question? Are press tours a thing of the past… they are for me!

Photo: www.fannit.com/how-to-press-release

A Few Things You Should Know About Pitching Health & Science Journalists

I had a chance to interview a number of health journalists who write for business and consumer publications – with a few tech reporters sprinkled in. Some have gone on to greener pastures, hanging up their newspaper spurs and now blogging about subjects of interest.

First, if you want to know what health topics these journalists are covering in 2013 check out the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Tips Sheet page on the AHCJ website.  Know what’s relevant to these journalists before you start pitching in a vacuum and trying to get a free commercial for your client.  Perhaps you have clients that could be media experts on some of these topics, or you can be helpful with or without a client by providing credible sources.

Reporting on Health is another site by and for [primarily] health journalists.  Here you can get an inside look at what reporters say to each other about covering health and medical stories; what makes a great story; where to find good data, when to be suspect, plus lots of resources for covering new drugs, clinical trials, the latest mobile health apps, or the regular staples – obesity, diabetes, cancer, healthcare reform, to name a few.

http://www.healthnewsreview.org – another site by and for journalists covering health stories. Their mission? To improve the public dialogue about health care by helping consumers critically analyze claims about medical interventions with accurate, balanced and complete information. These people review health and science stories with their own rating scorecards.  Check out their favorite health blogs and news sites.

Let’s drill down to specific journalists I’ve interviewed. Here are some of their perspectives on PR peeps –ways to build and kill relationships:

This comes from a Huffington Post health policy reporter…

We both have a job to do: “I never lose sight of the fact that people I’m talking to have an agenda of their own.  Their job is to do what makes the people they work for look good.  That doesn’t mean we have to be combative with each other.  On the other hand it would be professional malfeasance if I took everything at face value and didn’t do my own reporting.”

Being helpful: “How to woo me on Twitter: if I put a thought up on Twitter or even inside a story I’ve written, and someone contacts me and says I know about this it helps build credibility with me.”

Does this sound familiar?  “I don’t need PR people as friends. I hate cold call pitches about things I never write about. You lose credibility instantly. Reporters are on these mass lists.  Among other things if you can’t be bothered about what my publication writes about or what I write about don’t bother contacting me.  If you care enough to pitch me a story you should care what I write about.  I’m too busy.  At the same time, even if your material is relevant to what I write about I’m not obliged to respond to every pitch I get.”

Angry Tech Reporter & Radio Host Personality (applies to health & science reporters too)

“I get 20-30 press releases a day.  They suck because people have no idea what a journalist does and they don’t have a story to tell.  A lot of people wouldn’t know story if it bit them in the arse.  They say, ‘I have to send out a press release so I can bill the client.’

“Lots of PR people have never seen the products they are promoting and it shows in their work.  Now you can send out a press release and the client can look to see that they’re all over the Internet. There is a PRWeb mentality out there.

What gives journalists their impression of PR people? Static press releases.  Instead, labor over pitches that make a great story.  Hook them in the first sentence.  You can put your head on the pillow at night knowing you did a great job.  Even if the pitch fails you gave it your best.

What makes PR people do a spectacular job?  They sweat the story; they sweat the details.  It starts with a personal investment.”

Stay tuned for our next blog and more useful impressions about PR from journalists.

 

 

Using PR to Change Behavior

This post is based on my own pet project to change behavior around idling – drivers sitting in their cars with their engines running while texting, oblivious to the effects of the pollutant spewing vehicle.

Whether you agree or not with the cause, your company or non profit may want to initiate a cause and use PR to change negative behavior.  Think of nonsmoking PR campaigns, mandatory seat belts and motorcycle helmets.  Social media can certainly help spread the message.  Run a petition on Change.org.  Start with some fresh content, submit letters to the editor, build a Facebook page for the cause.

Here is my anti-idling article that ran in this week’s Sierra Club newsletter (and on the SJ Mercury online).  I’ll be tweeting it several times today and posting on Facebook.  Next step?  Approach my City’s environmental director to post “no idling” signs around busy parking lots with the backing of fellow volunteers, followers and fans…

Turn Off Your Engine!  I’m Trying to Breathe!

I’m a Palo Alto resident with an obsession about car idling.  Time and time again, I witness drivers parked in their cars texting away while their engines spew greenhouse gas and particulates.

Drivers in the US waste nearly four million gallons of gasoline and emit about 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide each day just from idling five to 10 minutes, on average.  Annually that’s about 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline and 13 million tons of carbon dioxide.  Why?  Because many drivers think that turning off and restarting their engines uses more fuel than keeping the engine running, or that they have to warm up their cars before they drive off.  In fact:

  • Your car uses more fuel when the engine idles for 30 seconds than when you turn it off and restart it.
  • Idling for more than 60 seconds wastes money and fuel, and produces greenhouse gases.
  • Idling tailpipes spew out pollutants linked to asthma, heart disease, chronic bronchitis and cancer.
  • The best way to warm up a car is to drive it, not idle it; idling puts wear and tear on your engine

Transportation represents roughly 50% of global carbon emissions, the major contributor to global warming, and idling contributes.  Turning off the engine of a parked car can help protect the climate.

Idling is also routinely shown to be bad for human health.  Exhaust from idling vehicles can cause or aggravate heart conditions, interfere with the production and maturation of blood cells, cause chronic bronchitis, asthma, severe blood clots, lung cancer, or, in large doses, death.

But what about hybrids and electric cars, you might wonder?  While hybrids and light-duty vehicles with advanced emission control technologies have reduced harmful emissions, the majority of vehicles are older are often poorly maintained; idling just contributes to wear and tear on old emission controls and diminishes the vehicles’ overall functioning.  And while those driving biodiesel-operated commercial vehicles may consider their vehicle “green” because it uses a CO2-absorbing biofuel, the diesel still spews particulate matter and is far worse than exhaust from unleaded engines.

We Shouldn’t Take this Lying Down

Reducing idling is one essential step toward reducing pollution and carbon emissions and improving our community’s health.  How do we do this? My research shows several options.  First, California does have a truck idling law. Diesel trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds are prohibited from idling for more than five minutes.  Why not a similar law for automobiles? We could adopt a law similar to the Ketchum, Id. ordinance.  In Ketchum, a tourist destination a snowball’s throw from Sun Valley, police officers can slap a $100 fine on drivers idling for more than three minutes.

Alternatively, we could adopt the Jackson, Wy. model: run an education campaign to wake people up about turning off their engine, using city funds to pay for signage and other advertising.  If towns in red states Wyoming and Idaho can pass local ordinances to protect the environment, surely Palo Alto could, too.

I’ve submitted a proposal to several Palo Alto city council members, spoken to staff at Acterra, the California Air Resources Board, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and numerous other organizations and individuals.  In light of their responses, I believe that we should begin with an educational campaign to remind people of the merits of turning off their engines while parked. I am in conversation with Palo Alto’s Assistant Director of Public Works, Phil Bobel, about producing “no idling” signs and distributing them to merchants in high volume parking areas, where drivers leave their engines running while picking up their pizzas or drug prescriptions.

Get Involved

Persistence and lots of voices put new policies in place. I welcome ideas and collaboration with those who are similarly irked by idling drivers.  Please contact me at sgordon@g2comm.com so we can eradicate car idling together!

 

 

Your New Medical Treatment Could Change the World… But Not ‘Til the FDA Says So

Recently I attended a Media Panel for StartX and StartX Med founders.  StartX is a highly regarded startup mentorship and accelerator program, built and run by Stanford University students, with Silicon Valley executives, VCs, Stanford faculty helping the founders succeed.  These founders apply for a six-month program; less than 10% get in.  While the majority run tech startups, StartX Med, which kicked off in June 2012, has 11 newly minted companies, including a biotech outfit started by a 21-year-old who has figured out how to turn skin cells into beating heart cells, and won a $20 million grant from the CA Institute for Regenerative Medicine!  Another student is developing precision guidance implants to treat G-I diseases; think pacemakers for the GI tract.  How about a robotic manipulator that performs ultrasounds during cancer treatment?  These young founders are the future of healthcare.In a conversation with life sciences PR genius Rick Roose, of RCI Partners, we share some basic PR pointers for StartX Med founders…

When it comes to PR – and getting stories published about medical technology and the human body — beware of FDA marketing regulations and making premature claims.  Until your biotech, pharma, medical device or diagnostic product is commercially available proceed with caution on all external communication fronts.  Some products could be years in development before they’ve been proven safe and effective for patients.  These are hope-to-be products in the R&D pipeline, getting ready for clinical trials. They are investigational until approved by the FDA.

So startup communications must clearly state what stage of development the product is in, i.e., still in research, not yet approved, etc.  Founders need to stick to the science, share the pros and cons, and avoid selective disclosure of positive results data.  Talk about clinical data but don’t make inferences or implied claims for unapproved products.  For groundbreaking medical research journalists will accept: “Here’s what we know so far;” or “The data is very encouraging;” or “Doctors are excited about this new approach…”  If you’re running a clinical trial you can publicize positive results but your audience should know the product has a long way to go.

Some startups aim for a nice juicy story to attract investors and partners at this early stage.  But what happens after the initial excitement wears off?  Good PR maintains the media’s attention in a meaningful way with a plan that incorporates all possible elements, mapped out on a PR calendar and a budget allocated for execution.  While the stem cell treatment product is in development be available as a media expert to be called upon for articles related to this evolving technology.  You’ll have company news to announce along the way: new executive hires, new funding, new partners, a new advisory board, etc.   Without a sustained effort, PR is a hit-and-miss affair. You can get some big hits but it will be tough to keep the buzz going.

 

How To Recover From Negative PR

Before G2Comm arrived on the scene, Eden Medical Center, a San Francisco Bay Area hospital and medical center,  was beset by negative press coverage of labor union strikes, disgruntled physicians from its sister hospital, and controversy over Eden’s plans to build a seismically safe replacement hospital from scratch (which is now open, as of this blog post). Although the hospital did damage control when reporters called and seminars were held to educate the public, follow-up coverage was spotty and opportunities to counteract controversial news with positive stories were slipping through the cracks.

G2Comm jumped in to fill those cracks by building an image campaign with the purpose of restoring enthusiasm, trust and confidence from the communities served by the hospital, as well as instilling pride among hospital staff. We mobilized the staff to identify news opportunities, wrote press releases, counseled hospital spokespersons on media interviews, and arranged for two local newspaper groups to publish health columns which G2Comm wrote for physicians and specialists affiliated with Eden.

The Results

—Between 7 and 8 positive stories and health columns appeared monthly in daily and weekly newspapers, including two separate segments about a senior fitness program on the Bay Area ABC TV affiliate that yielded over 100 inquiries and 40 new members for one of its programs.

—PR brought in new patients, helped fill community seminars, increase sign ups for Eden outpatient programs and created so many calls from patients for one ob-gyn that she had to refer the overflow to colleagues.

sgordon@g2comm.com
(480) 685-3252 (office)
(650) 248-6975 (mobile)