What the experts want you to know about healthcare PR

What the experts want you to know about health PR

Understanding this PR niche through the eyes of Australia’s leading health PR agency

When you think about health PR, it is a niche that sits within the niche of PR, which is a niche of marketing. The narrowness of this part of the PR industry means that there are very few professional communicators who dedicate their careers to bringing campaigns to life that have an exclusively health-related focus.

These communications specialists are working on behalf of world leading organisations, such as pharmaceutical companies, emerging biotechnology companies, prominent not-for-profit organisations and large government departments.

Health PR is unique in its ability to communicate deeply personal lived experiences of illness and health conditions to wider audiences, promoting disease awareness and greater health understanding in the general community. Communications professionals who are deeply immersed in this space know the crucial element of telling people’s stories, through engaging visuals and interactive communities. It is critical to tell these personal stories in a sensitive, nuanced manner, and when well-executed, brings great benefit to brands or organisations as audiences feel connected to an individual’s personal story which encapsulates broader brand messages.

In Australia, one organisation has spent close to 30 years educating the health industry on what specialist health communicators do and the importance of their role in the broader marketing mix. Palin Communications, founded by award-winning health communications professional Martin Palin, is proudly focused exclusively in the health space. All of Palin Communications’ consultants understand the importance of encouraging meaningful, strategic conversations about what health-focused PR contributes and where it might fit in the overall marketing or public affairs mix.

Operating in a highly regulated environment requires true mastery of communications and understanding of the privilege of telling health-related stories in public platforms.

As part of its ongoing education efforts, Palin Communications recently launched its eBook, How to do Health PR. Martin Palin shares insights from close to 30 years of experience to drive greater understanding of this niche.

The following is an excerpt from the eBook, which is now available for download.

 

Table of contents

  1. What is healthcare PR?
  2. Public issues management
  3. Building a media package
  4. Sensitivity is key to good storytelling
  5. Challenges and misconceptions

 

What is health PR?

If you work in health PR, one of the hardest things to do well is to explain to your family exactly what you do. Chances are your parents think you are in advertising or some kind of corporate journalism and your siblings think you go to endless cocktail parties.

The reality is that people come across the handiwork of health PR practitioners every day of their lives.

If you stream TV news or read online stories about health developments, chances are there is a healthcare PR consultant acting as a conduit between the hospital, company or manufacturer on one hand and the media on the other.

Their role would be to:

So the PR consultant plays a very important role in what people see as health-related news on evening TV or other sources. Imagine someone whose eyesight is starting to deteriorate. They might spend quite a lot of time consulting optometrists or seeking a reference to an ophthalmologist. What role might the health PR team play in professional education for healthcare professionals who specialise in eye health?

It’s likely there have been professional newsletters developed, perhaps overseas experts have presented at industry conferences and all of this is likely to have been leveraged into the relevant healthcare professional media.

What about an investment setting? You come across news about an early-stage biotech startup that is developing a clever app, a new active ingredient, a machine to reduce back pain or a new way of delivering medicine to people in need. One reason you might be reading about it is because a health-focused PR consultant has been briefed by their client on a PR campaign to help raise capital.

What about when you see controversies, crises or issues playing out in the media? What role might a health PR team have in dealing with this?

You can bet there will normally be a specialised PR agency working hard behind the scenes to:

The aim in this scenario will be to mitigate the impact of the problem and get the business back to normal as soon as possible.

We all come across health-related news and information online. PR professionals play a key role in researching, sourcing, finalising, posting and monitoring social media content on behalf of their health-related clients. Our job is to help develop interesting content and then advise on ways to get that content shared, viewed, discussed and distributed. In some ways it is consistent with what PR people have always done – creating content that helps integrate our clients’ issues and products into the daily public discourse. It just so happens that much of that discourse now happens online.

Health PR people are involved in lots of things. From proactive media relations, to issues management, healthcare professional education, social media strategy, broader health promotion campaigns, health-focused capital raisings and a raft of other challenges. It’s a challenging, fascinating, interesting world. The consultants who work in it feel like they are doing some good – raising awareness of diseases, raising money for charities and educating healthcare professionals on new treatment options.

 

Why is good issues management about proactivity and continuity?

Good issues managementDuring COVID, multi-national pharmaceutical companies enhanced their global reputation by joining forces to effectively save the world from a devastating pandemic. It was common in Australia to see pharma spokespeople on TV in a positive frame during COVID, explaining how vaccines worked or how new anti-viral medicines were developed. But reputations ebb and flow on the whim of popular culture and there will always be some level of media attention that paints Big Pharma in a rather different light.

First was the popularity of the Netflix series Painkiller, which tells the story of the opioid crisis triggered in the USA during the 1990’s by the widespread prescribing of OxyContin. It sure makes for gripping viewing with the demonisation of the executives at the top of the company responsible. It is compelling, brilliantly produced, binge-worthy stuff that shows how the real-life management of the issue by the company left a heck of a lot to be desired.

Shortly after, Four Corners on ABCTV in Australia ran a BBC production that focused on the dependence potential of anti-depressant medications. A major aspect of the story was the role of industry during the 1990’s in the conduct of clinical trials and comments from specialists pointing out that the industry “marketing was massive” and that the key message was that “they [SSRI’s] were not addictive.”

So what lessons are in these media stories for big pharmaceutical companies? If these stories of questionable pharma practices are being told in a compelling, personal and high-profile way, then what leads does that give about an industry response? No-one who has been around for any time is pretending it’s easy. News outlets have pre-set framing for these stories and it’s pretty clear who they see as wearing the black hat. But there are also some recurring missed opportunities that seem ripe for proactive, personal, pro-industry story telling.

Some of the following points were touched on in the BBC story but they never seem to form part of any broader ongoing industry narrative:

  • The role of industry in maximising positive outcomes from medicines
  • Explaining the reality that some people will have rare and unusual responses to just about any medicine you can name.
  • Setting adverse events and reactions against the broader public health benefits. This is the kind of communication that happens around vaccines all the time – referencing the broader benefits against the isolated regrettable, rare reactions
  • Explaining the role of industry in long term monitoring of new medicines
  • Explaining individual differences in the experience of people coming to the end of their treatment or tapering their dose

In the BBC story there was a written industry response explaining that millions of people have taken the medicines, clinical trials show the medicines are effective, that they’ve helped patients globally and the medicines have a positive risk ratio. But where is the personalisation of that message via a sensitive, skilled industry orator? It was left to others to point out that anti-depressants are likely to have ‘saved the lives of many hundreds of thousands of people’ and that the overall public health outcome ‘might be a lot worse without them’.

All of these positive points are fair fodder for bold pharma story telling. The points feel intimidating when considered by industry and they invite an emotional response. So the inclination is always to be reactive.

But industry can’t expect their image to improve if messages about people before profit and patient-centricity are restricted to corporate LinkedIn posts. They should be communicated in the thrust and parry of public discourse.

Until the industry can communicate its role in a compelling and personal way (as it did during COVID), it will always be just one Netflix blockbuster, one well-promoted 60 Minutes exclusive or one Hollywood movie sensation away from being (once again) on the back foot.

 

Why is building a media package more important than the copy in my media release?

Clients get really hung up about the copy in their media releases. They spend endless hours bouncing them around for review, making minor tweaks to copy and tense. They change “holiday” to “vacation”. Then someone else changes it back to “holiday”.

People who do that don’t really understand that driving valuable earned editorial media is hardly ever about the copy in your media release. It is about the value in your news angle, the strength of your media package, the relevance of your “hook” and the appeal of your “talent”.

A media package is comprised of a number of elements. In a sense they help answer the questions that journalists and editors ask when deciding whether or not to do a story. Why now? What’s the backdrop? What case studies do you have? These are the “go to” questions that journalists ask. Let’s see how we go about getting prepared to answer them.

The key elements to the an effective media package are as follows:

  • Relevant backdrop: Has a new clinical paper just been released? Has a new product just been launched? Is it the start of a health week or a major medical conference? Why now exactly?
  • New research: What figures or metrics can underpin the story? Are they credible? Where do they come from? Will they impress my audience? Give me the stats!
  • Third party support: Who else is in this story? A Medical Association perhaps or a patient group? What are they saying? Are they supporting the general thrust and importance of this story? It’s not just you saying this is it?
  • Personalised with case studies: How is the impact of this story being personalised? Is there someone with a lived experience that my audience can relate to? Don’t tell me you don’t have a case study?
  • Coloured by celebrities: Is there someone with a “profile” who can shed light on this topic or add a little colour to it?  Please tell me there’s a personal link and it’s not just about a talent fee right?
  • Localised with references to ‘here’: I write for the Illawarra Mercury so what stats do you have about how this impacts Wollongong? We don’t care what happens in other states. You do have some local data or a case study from Dapto, don’t you?
  • Explained via great content: Is your Professor good talent? Can you confirm that they understand media and can deliver a message that the audience will understand and relate to their own lives? Will the Professor be available when I need them? What, you can’t find your Professor??
  • Linked to broader health issue: Is this a condition or issue that affects a lot of people or has been in the news recently? Will my audience know what this issue is about and/or perhaps know a relative or friend who has been affected. Please, nothing too rare, ok?

So, why go to all that trouble?

I’ll tell you why. Because news is competitive. Every day. You are up against stories and people who CAN provide all of those elements. If you can’t, yours is the story that will get spiked. Remember, you only see the winners on TV, on the home page of national news websites and in your news feed. You never hear anything about all those pitches that get rejected (and there are plenty of them) because they didn’t have a case study or couldn’t provide the right talent or source the local stats at the right time.

You might decry this approach as “the same old formula” that has been doing the PR rounds for decades. But remember, it’s not the formula of PR agencies. It is the formula used by news outlets. And if you can’t deliver it (or you don’t have the time, resources or corporate will), then you need to wind back your expectations about driving high value earned media outcomes.

Because those who win in earned media are those who consistently deliver the package that journalists need to build a story.

 

Why is sensitivity the key to good storytelling in healthcare?

Story telling seems to be the key to good corporate communications and positive PR, based on all the LinkedIn posts, Keynote speakers and conference presentations dedicated to the concept. However, doing it well in healthcare requires a particularly sensitive approach*.

Not everyone wants to share their medical history with the national media or be the Awareness Day “pin up person” for some particularly painful and unsightly disease.

When we tell stories in healthcare that involve people providing personal accounts of their own lived experiences, we tread carefully. The challenge is to place people at the centre of narratives, ensuring authenticity, compassion and honesty.

 

Why Sensitive Storytelling?

Storytelling should never be merely transactional. It needs to be intentional, with people at its centre. From a corporate perspective, is there alignment on what storytelling is? Are there gaps in current storytelling practices? How can content skew storytelling? Are unconscious biases affecting our narrative? Sensitive Storytelling can provide important natural links between activities like launching new medicines, disease awareness campaigns, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and reputation-building.

 

The Sensitive Storytelling Approach

  1. Put People First: Sensitive Storytelling prioritises the experiences and voices of individuals. It is about conveying stories with compassion, honesty, and authenticity, being mindful of biases and stereotypes that may unintentionally influence the narrative.
  2. Use Multiple Lenses: In the pharma industry, storytelling involves diverse stakeholders with varying perspectives. These include corporate goals, the lived experiences of patients and the strategic objectives of marketing, legal and medical teams. Balancing these perspectives is crucial for authentic storytelling.
  3. Enjoy the benefits of Sensitive Storytelling: Implementing this approach offers several benefits, including better access to contributors, a stronger connection between content creators and audiences and a more inclusive and purposeful communication strategy.

 

Challenges and Misconceptions

Healthcare companies face unique challenges in storytelling. They need to balance honest first-person accounts with compliance considerations, often in the context of a  misunderstood therapeutic area that might already be underpinned by a range of misconceptions. The importance of Sensitive Storytelling is not restricted to highly stigmatized diseases. In reality, Sensitive Storytelling should permeate all levels of the organization and address various layers of influence, including community, industry, corporate, disease and personal narratives.

 

Six Steps for Implementing Sensitive Storytelling

So how do we do it well?

  1. Distinguish between what is strategic and what is tactical: Differentiate between strategic and tactical elements. Align internally on the desired impact and create an environment where all parts of the business buy into the Sensitive Storytelling approach.
  2. Be Transparent: Set clear expectations internally. Define the impact of content and communications, reduce the risk of dilution and ensure that all parties understand the process and objectives.
  3. Emphasise Language: Adopt language that supports Sensitive Storytelling. Educate journalists, media contacts and the broader community on the best practices for sharing stories. For example, avoid the assumption that everyone is a “patient” and use appropriate language for sensitive issues like mental health and suicide.
  4. Be inclusive as you plan content: Avoid turning content from being “curated” to “censored.” Include case studies and storytellers as partners in being strategic with content and ensure the strategy development process is inclusive.
  5. Empower Storytellers: View consent as an opportunity to bring storytellers on the journey. Allocate sufficient time and budget to capture content thoroughly and think long-term about collaborations.
  6. Collaborate with Experts: Lean on content producers and communication experts to map out a process that ensures Sensitive Storytelling. Consider extending the internal team to include these experts, who can help shape the narrative and educate external stakeholders.

 

Think of the person who is helping you tell a particular story from their personal perspective. Put them first. Avoid making assumptions about them or expecting them to magically know what your plans and objectives are. Take them on the journey and invite their input. You’ll make the most of your efforts and end up telling authentic, impactful stories that are respectful of those involved, ring true with your audience and build trust for future engagements.

That’s what sensitive story telling can do.

 

*This section is largely based on an industry webinar prepared by Karina Durham and Maya Ivanovic from Palin Communications in 2023 on the topic of “Sensitive story telling in Pharma”

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