By definition, publicity and public relations is not the same as advertising. It is coverage by the media about people, events and issues deemed to be of interest to their audience. Advertising, by comparison is what you say about yourself. An effective publicity strategy is but one prong of many that should be included in your marketing strategy and execution plan. This might include speaking engagements, new and media interviews, and social media followers, among other activities. Another comparison between advertising and publicity is the you pay for advertising, while publicity is earned.
Take our CEO, Dr Maria Todd, for example. She speaks all over the world on topics related to the business of healthcare and medical tourism, She gets up every morning between 3:30am and 4:00am to write her blog posts, articles, work on proposals, and chip away at her next book manuscript. Her husband teases her that if she’s still in bed at 6am, he fears something is wrong and he checks for a pulse. She’s earning her publicity at the same time she’s doing what she loves, teaching and sharing and providing educational value with her posts and articles.
Get your share of over 907,000 opportunities for publicity
The endorsement of traditional media, even if it’s simply mentioning your name, has always been marketing gold to anyone trying to build a business or sell a product. If you can interest a journalist or talk show host to get interested in your story idea or topic, you might be interviewed for an article, asked to write an article for journal publication or a magazine, or be invited for an interview on a radio or TV show. Here at Mercury Advisory Group, we maintain a pitch list of more than 900 talk show producers around the USA, and each week, our marketing and publicity clients are tapped for their latest topics. These are then pitched to each talk show host. With all that is going on in healthcare reform, concierge medicine, physician integration and medical tourism, we are a rich resource for many ten-minute spots to be filled 24 hours a day, 7 days each week. If you do the math, there are over 907,000 opportunities on AM radio alone, plus all the internet broadcasting that is now popular, and all the local and broadcast and cable TV shows that need filler content of interest to viewers and listeners.
The public is wary of hyped up claims without substance.
Potential customers have more than ever from which to choose. They also have more scammers and con artists to worry about. What makes one business or professional more trustworthy and appealing than another? The implied endorsements of TV and radio show hosts, newspapers and magazines – and now, bloggers, news websites, and followers on social media, too.
Every day, I receive “pitches” from medical tourism fortune hunters in India, Europe and the Middle East. They have no ill will, and no nefarious intent that I can see, but they don’t understand the use of colloquial English idiom. As such everything they pitch is “world class” this, and “center of excellence” that. Nobody believes that In fact, when you go overboard and your message includes only what you want to sell (“features”) and not what you’ve researched to be perceived a a “benefit” to your target consumer, they turn off your message and go about their business. Go easy on super fantastic hyperbolic claims that are difficult to believe and lean more moderate in your messages, so that they are believable and easier to make people want to learn more.
Try writing your media pitch
Of course, we can help you write and send your media pitches to our contacts, but first, you try it for yourself. You’ll see that it isn’t an easy task to just wit and write a succinct, clear message. Your media pitch is your written communication to editors, reporters, bloggers, talk show hosts, and TV and radio producers, telling them what you have to offer their audiences. Press releases are one option, but a better option is providing content that media can use as is. Remember it isn’t what you can offer to them, it’s all about what you can offer that is of interest to their audience. Your pitch must be timely, relevant, and believable. You’ll have to research what each one’s show is about so you can know what their audience will be tuned in for. Try teasing them with a short story or a list of tips that address a problem. your email should briefly describe the issue, your credentials and what you can offer, plus a link to a breaking new story on the topic, in general – to show how this is relevant and timely.
Make sure your contact information is visible in at least two places. Include a telephone number that will reach a human at any time, not voice mail. Reporters sometimes have fill slots at the last minute.You may only get one opportunity to fill that slot, and if you don’t answer, they will likely never call back.
Be professional in your communications.
We receive so many emails with the letter ‘u’ instead of the word “you, and the letter “r” instead of the word “are”. We receive emails full of typographical errors, as if nobody care to proofread the message. If you don’t care about those details, how can the reader know you canre about infection control, patient safety, quality, and attention to detail? The fact is, they can’t. And so they won’t.
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Remember to focus on the basics. The concepts are simple but, the execution can be challenging and it takes practice. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t have the media blitzing your phone lines on the first day! Next we’ll talk about integrating online and offline marketing efforts.
