G2 Communications Inc.-Medical Practice Marketing

We help physicians recruit, retrain & refer

Unshakable Marketing Principles for the Digital Age: Q&A With Marketing Consultant Kathryn Gorges

Kathryn Gorges (pronounced gorgeous!) knows how to spell out the core principles of marketing for companies overwhelmed by the present demands of content strategy: “The most important thing is who you’re targeting and how you’re solving the customer’s problem. You can’t create content for the masses; you need to speak directly to your target segments.”

Gorges is a marketing consultant and Social Marketing Diva with over 17 years experience. She works with brands to increase visibility and nurture customer relationships through web content, social media, email, and event marketing.

I spoke with Gorges to glean insights into how marketers and PR professionals can generate quality customer conversations and relationships in the digital age.

In the midst of constant changes in digital marketing, what are the core, unshakable marketing principles?

KG:  We’re still in the middle of a transition where we have these bright shiny objects and we’re not sure how to use them. People are throwing thousands of dollars away on marketing automation and blogging and images, and not knowing what they’re doing.

The truth is, at the heart of everything is still the story. People doing marketing strategy the right way are the ones that lead with the story of how the product or service is really making a difference for people. Out of that, all content is created. The story is the core, the touchstone.

Companies need to figure out, what is the central narrative? People are developing all kinds of content and wasting money because the content doesn’t match up to that central story.  It’s the story and behind that is the customer.

There’s a problem of focus these days. The focus is on lead generation and brand awareness and putting all that into these tools. But where you make money is with repeat business. Otherwise it’s a transaction. If you don’t have real customers and repeat customers then you’re not building relationships with those customers.

It’s not about one-way messaging. What is the reality like when someone calls your company for service?  If you know your job is to give them an excellent experience but the customer gets put on hold for 20 minutes then it doesn’t matter what your message is. Companies can’t rely on the artifice of messaging and phone scripts.”

What value does social media provide in all this?  Lead gen? something else?

KG: Customers talk to other customers. They can do a search and find out what others are saying about you. It’s all out there. Millennials have come through the recession and are really skeptical about vendors’ promises and one-way marketing. They want real relationships. They are going to build that relationship on top of the trust that gets passed on by knowing how other customers feel about your product or service, especially from people they know. That’s first, then the relationship with the company follows.

That means the real experience people are having is more important than the messaging. Customers won’t form a relationship with a brand because of the brand’s messaging. They want to know, ‘does this make a difference for me?’

Today there are so many places to find out about a product or service before customers even talk to a company. They want other people’s experiences first. Once they’ve seen that then they are ready to see what the company says about itself.”

Why does content strategy matter?

A content strategist figures out how to create a bigger view (and greater visibility) on the web.  This person develops a cohesive strategy that in every way carries forward the narrative, with different pieces of content for different platforms.  Companies need a content strategy where derivatives of the content are published on the companies’ social platforms as well as 3rd party media platforms.

Derivative content includes: press releases, infographics, blog entries, bylined articles/op eds, social channel entries, etc.  You can get your content in front of people directly but it delivers real value when you have a direct relationship with the customer.  Now you have this whole other mechanism of getting content out there.

Knowing how to develop and produce the most compelling content; knowing what resonates is now vital to marketing success.  Marketing people haven’t had to produce this content before.  There wasn’t this big content machine.

So there is an ever demanding content generation machine and your potential customers are consuming that content.  But there’s also Google – companies need to get decent search results to have social authority.  There’s this crushing need for generating content and putting it out on company websites.  But the company needs to be a subject matter expert, not a media company.

Don’t lose sight of the 2-way relationship with the customer.  That isn’t going away any time soon.

Images:

Kathryn Gorges: Kathryn Gorges

 

 

How to Bond with Today’s Freelance Journalist: a Q&A with Healthcare and Business Writer James Ritchie

With hybrid expertise on the business and healthcare beats, James Ritchie has earned himself job security at a time when journalism keeps changing. “Business journalism is never going away,” he explains. “People need business information to make decisions.” What’s more, Ritchie says, “I have a broad background in covering healthcare; that’s my competitive advantage.”

Ritchie has more than eight years of experience covering healthcare, including medical practices, health IT, insurance companies and hospitals. After working as a staff reporter for the Cincinnati Business Courier, Ritchie became a full-time freelance writer for a variety of media and corporate clients. He continues to write for American City Business Journals in several capacities.

I asked Ritchie about the role of PR in his day to day work as a journalist.

How has journalism changed for you in the last 3 to 5 years? 

“The pace has changed. Throughout the media world, you see a lot more short pieces on the web to break or update news. Headlines need to scream, ‘Read me!’ Quite a few stories can be told with infographics and bullet points. It’s harder to get and hold people’s attention, and if you’re planning to write a long narrative piece at many publications the bar is very high. It had better be a remarkably interesting story.

“Of course, it depends on your audience too. In the traditional daily newspaper you have sports, business, news, comics, etc. But now a lot of people are reading about what they’re interested in and tuning out nearly everything else. If I own a restaurant, I’ll read a trade publication on restaurants. And if you’re writing on business and particularly in specialized areas – in my case, usually healthcare – you’re more likely to publish the stories of 700 words or more, because the audience is hooked by virtue of the topic.

“But there’s still no room to be boring.”

What makes a great story?

“What I’m going for is something inherently useful to the reader. They’ll take the information and do something with it; it’s not a passing interest.

“There are a lot of ways to tell good stories. News today is often recursive, where one outlet is quoting – and linking to – another. If you can show your readers something interesting or useful in that way then you’ve done them a service. For investigative stories, you often see data journalism, where you’re trying to pick out trends from a big data set. If you can analyze the databases, you can tell stories that you couldn’t have gotten to in the past.

“But there’s still a place for going out and looking people in the eye and getting stories. We have to be careful not to move too far away from that. You need humans to tell the stories.”

How often do you deal with PR professionals? 

“Quite a lot. There are many cases where PR people help me to get in touch with executives, physicians or other sources in their organizations. And I listen to their pitches as long as they’re relevant to something I might write.

“Of course, you can’t respond to everything. A healthcare reporter shows up on all kinds of lists. When I was in a staff reporter job, I would probably get 200 emails a day. But most of them wouldn’t be relevant to me. They may have personalized the email with my name, but it was going to a whole lot of people. One time I got a pitch about a health screening van in a parking lot in Montana. I would delete that.

“Things that are pitched to me specifically, I read.

“I like Help A Reporter Out (HARO); I put queries out. If it’s a hot topic you get a lot of response both from PR contacts and directly from sources.”

What can PR people do to improve their relationship with you?

“Probably the main thing is to focus on the person-to-person relationship. Build a social bond. You might not be best friends, but you can position yourself so your email gets read. Send a sentence or two. Say, ‘I have a story I think you might like.’

“If you can provide an exclusive story that’s in line with what the publication does, that helps. Journalists work hard for exclusives. If a PR person says, ‘I’m going to give this to you first,’ that’s of interest. Barring that, at least bring a new angle.”

Do you value the PR-Journalism relationship?

I value the relationship. If you call an executive at a hospital or large company, in many cases they’ll refer you back to a PR person. The PR person can often get you the access you need. The second thing: They’re there, and people internally are feeding them stories that you might not hear about otherwise.”

James Ritchie image: provided by James Ritchie

 

Pitch the Extra Mile: PR Dos and Don’ts from Life Science Leader magazine chief editor Rob Wright

Rob Wright is Chief Editor of Life Science Leader, where he also pens a blog for healthcare and pharmaceutical industry execs. Life Science Leader is targeted to key players in the life sciences industry, delivering informative content on current events, technology, policy and regulations, and best practices for the field.

Though Wright’s day (and inbox) is full to the brim, he is remarkably available to people, including skilled PR pros. “I am striving to engage, network and learn with and from people, and you never know when that learning might occur,” he explains. “My biggest frustration is I can never get caught up on all the ideas I have for articles. So, I appreciate a PR person who can help me do this, without wasting my time.”

Wright offered me a few do’s and don’ts for life sciences PR pros who want to be the helpful type.

DON’T Recycle a Pitch

“First thing, PR people should understand that they are a valuable resource,” says Wright. “But when I can tell it’s a pitch that’s been recycled, such as my name appearing in a different size or color font, or they call the magazine by the wrong name, that is when they lose credibility.”

“I make very effective use of the delete key,” he warns, “especially if it’s been pitched 50 other places.  Do yourself a favor and get to know Life Science Leader’s audience, then “pitch something specific that is a fit.”

DO Follow Guidelines

Wright takes time to “provide some direction, as well as a submission guide, so [PR people] have the best chance of getting their articles published.” Understandably, he says it’s “frustrating when I receive an article where…it is obvious the direction was flat out ignored.  If I say, ‘don’t include references’ and they put them in there, or I give them a word count and they run over by 500 words, they aren’t setting themselves up for success.”

It’s not that hard to get it right with LSL. “Our focus is not on reviewing technology. It’s more about what spurred the company to create the technology or implement the strategy; how it was done, and what the company would have done differently. Our goal is to provide best business practice editorials with actionable information for our readers.”

DON’T be Long Winded

“Your pitch should be elegant,” instructs Wright. Elegant means concise–even more concise than you think. “Cover it in 2 sentences. Better yet, give me 3 or 4 bullets up front. If I need more information I will ask.”

“Telling me about how terrible a disease is and including a bunch of metrics on morbidity and mortality, and then how company ‘X’ has the revolutionary solution is typical and not required in a pitch. I want you to get to the point about why I should care about company ‘X’ or executive ‘Y’.”

The longer the pitch, the less likely he is to even skim, figuring “a long pitch was put together to be emailed to as many publications as possible and probably not a fit for the magazine anyway.”

DO Plan Ahead

“We frequently see PR professionals who will…contact me about a planned topic and offer a source,” says Wright. That would be a good idea, “except often, they are calling way too late. An article that appears in say, the August issue, may have had the interview conducted in June, so it can be finalized for layout the first week of July.”

Make that mistake once, and Wright will politely correct you. Make it twice, and your emails will end up in the trash. “One PR company sends me a monthly email referencing our ed cal, offering up a source when it is way too late,” he shares. “I don’t even bother to open their emails anymore.”

DON’T Just Self-Promote

Wright puts it plainly: “Press releases that promote the company’s newest offering (i.e., they moved a button so the product is new and improved) are not valuable to me.”

Other press releases that Wright can use share “quarterly results and the potential impact on the company’s stock,” or news of “the company winning an award by an independent organization” or “signing a deal with a major pharma.” (That is, as long as you can mention the pharmaceutical company’s name.) Ultimately, “press releases that have the most value have metrics, actionable types of information, and are not self-serving.”

DO Be a Connector

Wright is quick to affirm that “good PR people are really fun to work with.” What makes a PR person “good?” Useful connections, for starters. “One PR person introduced me to executives within their company at a trade show. I was able to get into deep discussions which can often lead to interesting articles. When I get in these discussions, it’s because the PR person was so good at giving me enough time to help me do this.”

A good PR person says, “‘I want you to meet so and so.’ Then they’ll come back in 15 minutes and introduce me to someone else. So they are helping me network.” And they “don’t hover and remind their client/executive what they should talk about.”

DON’T Send an Inappropriate Source

To pitch a great source, you have to thoroughly understand LSL’s audience and mission. “PR people who pitch to me that I should interview the CEO of a vendor or potential advertiser for a…feature story have obviously failed to understand our audience,” says Wright. However, “a vendor who can bring a pharma or biotech executive, or another type of key opinion leader to the table” can wind up in “a successful departmental article.”

The ideal source depends on the article type. “When I interview a CEO we’re looking at something very high level like the importance of innovation for the U.S. economy.” On the other hand, “for a particular strategy to supercharge the company’s [research and development] innovation engine, I want to talk to the VP of R&D who actually implemented and executed upon the CEO’s vision.”

Smaller companies can gain an edge by pitching an irresistible source. “I want a leader who is willing to be provocative and mix things up,” explains Wright. “I’m interested in people who are shaping the industry.”

DO Get on the Phone

One of the most surprising facts about Wright is that he likes to answer his phone. “I have been amazed what can happen,” he says, “as I have been delighted to have a reader call with a suggestion for an article, or a top industry consultant call me with an idea, or an entrepreneur share their story — unsolicited.”

He also uses the phone to vet and connect with new social media contacts. “This can be very time consuming but can pay huge dividends,” he reasons. “Someone tweeted me about connecting on LinkedIn. We scheduled a phone call. This person then connected me to an executive, who connected me to a best-selling author, who contributed an article, who connected me to a communication consulting expert who has consulted very high level folks including Hillary Clinton.”

Help Wright Help You

A good PR person makes everyone’s job easier. Their “pitch is concise and on target…they follow through when they say they will,” and, “if something falls through the cracks, they let me know.”

In summary, Wright says “a good PR person (1) knows our audience, (2) follows through, and (3) helps me beyond what is in it for them.” Whether it’s paying close attention to guidelines; planning ahead with his editorial calendar; sharing valuable metrics and information; helping him make industry connections; or getting on the phone; that extra step can be worth miles of PR success at Life Sciences Leader.

Photo: Life Science Leader

 

 

 

Have Fun Communicating Science to the Masses

Oftentimes in the world of public relations, medical treatment press releases read like excerpts from a clinical research report. Scientists say, ‘Here are our findings. Read it and believe.’  The pain caused by reading them might require treatment from the device being announced! Why such pain? Because the press release lacks the human element – the patient that could benefit from the treatment.  Remember reporters write stories – about people.

According to an article in Wired Magazine, titled, “Why Science Needs to Step Up Its PR Game,” clinicians grumble about conveying results in simple language. After all, it took months (or years) of sweat equity to achieve the study results.  Translating it into simple language would diminish all the hard work that has gone into the research.  Precision of language takes priority over effectively communicating the message.  The scientists think facts should speak for themselves.  But what about reaching the laypeople?  After all, more than 60% of patients are researching their symptoms, diagnoses and treatments online these days.  So scientists must build their cases for us non-scientists.  They need to tell stories that move those of us who don’t have PhDs.

Make the news more personal.  Let’s say you have a pre-market diagnostic imaging system that detects melanoma lesions at their earliest stages within minutes. While the FDA prohibits you from making specific claims you can serve as a media expert for related health trends and problems.  Think of the dangers of indoor tanning, sun worshippers who still ignore sunscreen – issues surrounding your product.

With all the health and life style blogs, TV shows, blog radio shows, etc., there are numerous opportunities to educate patients about the risks and dangers of the diseases your product is being developed to diagnose or treat.  Think of health columns published on magazine websites that you can link to your website; press interviews about tangential subjects, guest blog posts. Share a specific story of someone who ignored a pre-cancerous legion that turned into melanoma. Include how your company is working to solve this problem.  Remember you’re communicating to patients – the beneficiary of your forthcoming product – not just your science peers.

 

How Facebook Ruined My Life

I remember when that dinosaur MySpace had parents reeling from seeing their hardware-pierced teens show and tell all on the worldwide web.  You would think these deeply disturbing exposes would have mobilized moms and dads against the digital freedom fighters to render the netherworld of MySpace a shriveled up version of the Wicked Witch of the West, with virtue making a big comeback.  Alas, the universe had other plans… a far superior, G-rated phenomenon called Facebook took toddlers, teens, parents, grandparents, friends and coworkers on a liking spree half way around the globe.

But those likes quickly became commodities, monetizing and advertising multi-media messages.  Social media turned public relations on its ear.  Hits and features were replaced by likes and fans, and thought leaders were made from Klout, not essays in a trade pub.  It’s just no fun for us old fart public relations peeps.  I recall the days when text in a newspaper print story was all the rage… when journalists, although they still thought of us as a necessary evil, at least had a phone number — and you could find it in an obvious place on a website!  And occasionally they even answered your call – from a telephone on an office desk!   Crazy I know!

Now journalists have to report, write, produce, upload, storify, glorify, tweet, dig, post, blog and Pin up their own stories.  Talk about no respect.  Who has time to pee let alone answer my oh so carefully crafted email pitches, complete with the most compelling story angles, stats, links and video clips all packed into 50 words.  Can’t they at least commend my brevity?!

Still, cracking the code, finding that hidden jewel of a news hook, landing an interview for a client, and a story that not only makes a client’s day but actually has some value for the audience.  Getting  tweeted, posted and trended is nice too.  That’s still where the juice is for this PR gal… and in the words of Fred Astaire (talk about great old farts…), They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”

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