What Does Healthcare Pr Do Best?

Everyone has insecurities about stuff that goes on at work.

My worry throughout 2010 was whether or not the maturing healthcare PR market in Australia was beginning to perceive PR as a commodity.

It seemed some relatively experienced people in the industry had begun to form the view that the PR briefs for agencies were all so similar and the skills of the various teams were all so transferable that the only thing that really mattered was price.

People who had been around for a long time seemed determine to reduce or "dumb down” PR to what they saw as its most basic tactical elements.

I’d been through a number of pitches and "request for tender’ processes where the tasks being described had barely left any room to think or reflect – let alone provide any strategic advice.

Never mind any strategic variations or opportunities to add value - the main focus was "how many hours the PR tasks would take”and how much it would all cost.

Now I did my undergraduate degree at that bastion of social research in the School of Psychology at the Uni of NSW ("rats and stats” as it was widely known). So I did what any self respecting graduate of that august school would do about an issue that was keeping them awake at night.

I did a survey

I asked 27 people who commission health-focused PR in Australia (via a simple Survey Monkey questionnaire) their views about the following statement:

Health focused PR services in Australia and the agencies that specialise in providing these services are basically commodities. You can pretty much select any agency with some experience and they will more than likely get the job done. Despite what the agencies might claim, the main distinguishing feature between them is what they will charge you to do the job

Only four people "somewhat agreed” and one "strongly agreed”.

So I’m looking at that as the glass is ¾ full.

It’s only a small sample (although probably not that small as a percentage of the total population of people who commission health-related PR in Australia – ah those undergraduate stats tutorials are coming back to me!), but in fact the majority of respondents (55%) "strongly disagreed”.

Phew.

I hope they disagreed because of what well-constructed health-focused PR can help achieve.

Basically it can help achieve big changes.

PR’s integration with social media and other tactics plus its almost total reliance on the input and support of independent third parties render it uniquely capable of driving the big public health campaigns that underpin major changes in community attitudes, public policy and medical practice.

It’s the kind of role that elevates its best practice well above the "commodities” of trade media releases and 250 words of advertorial copy.

If you look at the common features of ‘award winning’ health-focused PR campaigns in Australia most would have the following:

· They address some required change to a major issue, misconception or barrier to better health

· They have a long term view of the timeframe to exert this change

· They are not solely focused on a particular brand or product – ie, they have a key message that goes beyond the brand

· They involve a range of stakeholders, third parties and health experts in the public discussion or advocacy

· They are spectacularly successful at driving the required change

So you know what healthcare PR does best?

It does the big stuff best. The big category-changing, environment-shaping game-changing stuff that makes a star of marketing managers and heroes of those that manage stakeholder relations.

Like changing people’s attitudes toward weight loss surgery (http://www.palin.com.au/cs_surgical_advances.aspx), cough etiquette (http://www.palin.com.au/page18693633.aspx)

or psoriasis ( http://www.facebook.com/gotpsoriasisdonthide)

So if you are someone who tends to see PR as a tactical commodity, then chances are you’re never really going to be someone who’s capable of unlocking its potential as a business-building game changer.

Which is a shame, because the better consultancies are definitely up for it.

For examples of effective "game-changing” campaigns that make a lie of the view of healthcare PR as a commodity, go to www.palin.com.au

By: Martin Palin

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