How a Pitch Becomes a Quote A 12-Step Media Engagement Primer July 19, 2016

Identify the Newshook July 13, 2016 Sometimes, you are lucky and your story IS the news of the day. For instance, on July 13, CMS released its annual ‘look ahead’ healthcare spending report. It was clearly the major health care news story of the day in the New York Times as you can see here, as well as ever major news outlet in the country. In a perfect world, you will want to plan your release around these happenings, but sometimes, it is unavoidable, and you will need to figure out what your newshook is. How do you make news, when you are going up against something like Zika? Well, we had to do just that. Health Affairs is a client of ours. This health policy journal is on a schedule that can’t be changed based on the news of the day. A recent issue included studies on vaccines. In order to get coverage for the issue, we used the existing Zika news cycle and became a part of it. July 13, 2016

Be Strategic About Tactics

Plan Your Pitch Just as you package and prepare your release and data, you will also need to prepare and package your pitch for reporters in order to get the most coverage possible – if that is you want. The first step to planning your pitch is determining what success looks like. A few things you should do for every pitch: Start with an environmental scan. Take a look at the news that is happening around you. If you need to get the attention of insider-the-beltway media, maybe don’t release during recess. However, if you are putting our a report with data that affects the health and well being of constituents in Indiana, you may want to put it out in late August or early September, when legislators are back home in their districts. Next, you’ll want to do a media scan. Reporters are always changing beats or changing outlets. But you’ll want to especially pay attention to this for the rest of this election year, when you will see people who don’t typically cover health care writing about it because it is now a campaign issue or because they are simply helping out because outlets are short staffed. Lastly, you will want to determine the best vehicle for your report – is it a traditional news release, a telebriefing, a pitch email with a link to the study?

Write So Reporters Can ‘Cut & Paste’ When deductibles are being raised seven times faster than wages, it means people can’t pay their rent. If you have no risk for breast cancer and want a mammogram at age 35, your insurer is under no obligation to cover that.

Tell a Story, Not a Data Point We want to tell a story and not a data point. When it comes to healthcare and health policy, there is a lot of jargon and data that comes with it, but reporters are going to want to know why this is relevant for their readers. The best way to show them why is to give them the full package – a story from the head and from the heart. For instance, if you are talking about rapidly rising drug prices and drug x has increased by 300 percent, you will also want to show how this affects a real person. The woman who goes to the pharmacy only to find out her drug is too expensive and she has to either forgo her medication or groceries that week. By giving reporters the full package, you will also save them leg work and time finding their own real world example, which increases the likelihood that they will cover your story.

Use Visuals to Tell Stories

Identify What the Reader Can Do Another way to make a story relevant for readers is to give them new they can use. Sometimes, it is as straightforward as providing them with a call to action. For instance, asking them to call a public official, or offering patients tips and resources so they are able to get the quality care they deserve. It might also be in the form of a quote in your release, where the spokesperson offers advice for consumers. “This enrollment season, consumers will need to carefully choose their plans , because of X, Y, Z.” This all becomes news the reader can use, and material for a good consumer story.

Leverage Social Media

Be Relentless About Follow-Up Follow-up is the thing most people either think they don’t need to do OR just really don’t want to do. But here is the thing, follow-up is absolutely necessary for getting coverage. I can’t tell you how many times I have followed-up with a reporter the day before an embargo lifted and they said “XXXX”. All this said, we also have to be respectful of the reporters time. Too much follow-up becomes nagging and that isn’t good either. We have to find the balance. As part of follow-up, be sure to make note of all of the things you learned during the pitch. This reporters likes email only, this reporter is no longer there, and so on. It will make the next pitch easier and hopefully even more successful.

Leave No Stone Unturned

Assume Success Always assume success and have a plan in place. You’ll want to have at least two people on standby to take interviews. One of those should be the person who is quoted in your release. News is 24/7 these days. Reporters need their information now, so they can get their story up and out. Making them wait too long or worse – not having anyone available – doesn’t look good for the organization, and EVERY release is an opportunity to build trust with these folks. If you do that, if you keep up your end of the bargain, they will come back for more.

Evaluate and Adapt