Your company could benefit from media coverage. Scrambling to find ways to make announcements for the sake of coverage is not best practice and is oftentimes frowned upon.
Don’t fret. There are still a number of ways to gain publicity for your company without having the latest or greatest solution or product to hit the market.
In media relations, we often link creative storytelling about a company’s brand through much trial and error. What worked for one brand in the past, may not work for some.
Listed below are four ways to help brainstorm pitch ideas and deliver media success for your health IT company:
You can’t pass GO without mutual agreement
Pitches sent to a reporter should be mutually agreed upon. If pitches do get picked up, the company needs to be ready to deliver, in the form of a live interview or written article. Transparency on where a company is headed in the next three months, or five years is important to linking the company’s brand to future stories.
Stay in the know
Keep your eyes open and ears to the ground. Understand what’s currently reported on and how you can contribute to a story that is unique, or takes a story further. Take note of the discussions around you; are there commonalities often discussed in your industry that require a solution? Don’t limit your research, listen to conversations peers are having and even eavesdrop on conversations. Physically write down what is being said. Those conversations can be applicable to how your company can tie into those stories and service those needs.
Learn from the past, jot down for the future
Unlike previous years, pitching for news coverage in 2020 was a bit like swimming through murky water. It took thinking outside the box to secure coverage with targeted media. Using a media monitoring tool and setting your search by date and keyword is one way to see what types of stories were picked up prior to the flood of Covid-19 news. By doing so, you can bring back some of those conversations, add to the story, or demonstrate how the story has changed.
Timeliness
Keep a working calendar of any upcoming events, health observances, holidays, seasonal/cultural events, and especially for critical healthcare dates and deadlines. If your company is linked to any of these, this should be included within your pitching strategy. Pro tip: You should be pitching these in advance, at least 3-4 months out. Depending on the topic, reporters can receive a number of inquiries and you don’t want your company’s subject matter expert to be the runner up for their story.
Does your company have a unique story to share? We’d love to help you bring those ideas to your key audience!