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Tag: communications

Our Approach to Promoting Science at Annual Meetings

Written by Staff on . Posted in Promoting Science.

At The Reis Group we are constantly innovating and evolving the ways we work with clients to promote important research coming out of scientific meetings. As publications cut their news staff in half, and the digital wave continues to transform the PR landscape, it’s important to stay ahead of the latest trends, while also recognizing when to stick to tried and true tactics.

Here are five communications trends to jumpstart the media potential of your next annual meeting:

  1. Ditch news conferences for media partnerships and live social events
  2. Expand coverage through embargo “waves” to appeal to the 24/7 news cycle
  3. Offer reporters an added visual perspective through video packages
  4. Highlight abstracts with click-worthy headlines
  5. Host informal roundtables with leading experts and media to discuss hot topics emerging from the meeting

In addition to managing the press room for scientific meetings, The Reis Group works with medical societies on consumer education campaigns, thought leadership, and positioning of important issues. Check out our case studies and services to learn more about our work in science promotion, public education, advocacy relations, and thought leadership.

The Bicycle Connection: Focus on the Top

Written by Beth Casteel on . Posted in Positioning Issues and Brands.

I ride my bike to work as often as the weather, my schedule and daylight will allow. After Daylight Savings Time this spring, I found my first opportunity since Thanksgiving to ride the 10 miles from my home in Virginia to The Reis Group’s office in Washington’s Dupont Circle. The ride home is particularly challenging. It includes some intensely difficult climbs, especially two consecutive hills known by local commuters as “The Twin Sisters.” In the years I’ve been riding in this area, The Sisters have been my big test. On some of my worst days, joggers have passed me by as I shifted to my lowest gear and labored toward the top. On my very worst days, I stop at the first lamppost halfway up the first and hardest of The Sisters and trudge my bike up the hill.

Heading home on my first bike commute this spring, as I approached that first hill, I couldn’t take my eyes off a huge puddle near the bottom. If no bikes were coming the other way, I could go around the puddle to the left where the water was lowest. Or I could ride right through it, and certainly spray water and mud up my back and all over the newly cleaned bike. When I reached the puddle, I made it through just fine at a spot where the water was low, but then I immediately had to stop, without the momentum or strength to go any further. I got off the bike and pushed it up the hill. Got back on at the top, and completed my ride feeling dejected.

It hadn’t been that long since I had been bike commuting at least two or three days a week. In the fall, I had even felt great on a week-long bike ride across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Over the winter, I had lost a few pounds and done yoga and mountain climbers in my living room to keep up my core strength and endurance. Now, on my first ride of the spring, I couldn’t even make it to the lamppost. I felt even more tired the rest of the way home. I calculated that if I rode at least twice a week through April, maybe I could get back on my game by the end of April or early May.

A week after that first discouraging commute, my schedule, weather and daylight cooperated again, and I got another chance. As I approached The Twin Sisters, there was still water on the trail. I decided this time not to focus on the water or getting past it. I decided not to worry about the darn lamppost either. My focus was fixed squarely on the top of the first Sister. This time, I made it. No problem. And then the second hill: No problem!

The rest of my trip home, feeling elated and strong, I thought about how this experience reminded me that staying focused on the primary objective—making the top of the hill without getting distracted by tactics—is critical in our communications work. Communications planning must begin with a clear vision of our goals that we remain focused on through any project. It’s easy to get wrapped up and diverted by the details, focusing first on the particulars of the press releases, social media and other tactics that are critical to our work. But to reach our primary objectives and remain energized and focused, we have to keep our eyes on the big picture communications strategy: What are our client’s goals? Who is their audience? What is important to them? Where do we want to end up?

Whatever we encounter along the way, we must always bring our energy and our focus back to the top of the hill.

Sharon Reis

Interview with Sharon Reis, Bulldog Reporter

Written by Staff on . Posted in Firm Culture.

The Reis Group was a Silver Award winner in the “Best New Agency” category in Bulldog’s 2018 Stars of PR Awards. This interview also appeared in Agility PR Solutions. 

Sharon Reis, Principal, The Reis GroupLength of PR career (so far): 25 years

Your most memorable campaign: Launching the first ever Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month

Number of 2 a.m. calls from a client this month: None!

Best thing about working at your agency: The culture of support, respect, and building on each other’s strengths.

Last time you didn’t do any work all weekend: I can’t remember! Is that even possible in this industry?

Most misunderstood thing about PR: It is not about being a people person.

Most interesting thing about your job: The issues we work on are truly meaningful and the leaders and scientists are mind-blowing smart.

Number of meetings you were in last week: Hmmm. Do I really want to share that number? Let’s say more than 20, including both internal and external meetings.

Your nightmare client in 3 words:  Disrespectful, lazy, uncaring

Rate your math skills from 1-10: 8

Best advice to a PR student: Work hard and give it your all. You get out of it what you put into it, so always aim for more than 100 percent.

What do you read daily? All the news I can get on my phone. My favorite news source is 60 minutes. I learn so much from their stories.

Sharon Reis, Principal, The Reis GroupFavorite way to de-stress: Meditation. It is truly a game-changer and takes practice and patience.

The moment you realized PR is more fun than you thought it would be: The day we opened The Reis Group, I realized that PR can be a lot of fun with the right team around you.

Worst PR crisis in the news this year so far: The college admissions cheating scandal

Favorite non-work hobby: I am surprising myself with this answer, but I love cooking healthy, gourmet meals for my family on the weekend and prepping meals for the first part of the week. American’s Test Kitchen is my go-to source for delicious and fancy recipes.

Cocktail of choice: Cosmopolitan with Ketel One vodka and Cointreau. I’ve been drinking it for years. When I find something I like, I tend to stick with it.

Childhood “dream job”: Marine biologist or a baseball announcer

Your next big adventure: A safari

Your ideal Saturday: Working out, spending the day with my daughters and having a nice dinner with my husband and friends.

Patient Education Materials: A Little Planning and Research Can Go a Long Way

Written by Kathleen Petty on . Posted in Increasing Awareness.

Developing patient education and awareness programs that are both engaging and effective is not always easy. It requires a lot of planning, and attention to detail. It also requires time to understand exactly who you want to reach, how you can best get their attention, and how you might be able to get them to change their behavior. There are various processes for developing patient education materials, depending on budget and time constraints, but there are some best practices that can help deliver a product that is well received.

When Possible, Do Your Research

In health education, it’s not usually recommended that you develop materials to increase awareness among broad groups of people – such as women in the U.S. or the entire U.S. population. Many segments of the population have diverse experiences, languages, beliefs, and challenges, across a variety of ethnicities, genders, geographic regions, etc. One piece of educational material will usually not effectively speak to all people.

That’s why it’s best to tailor your materials for a specific audience as much as possible, and the best way to determine who you need to reach is through research. However, in communications, there is not always room in the budget for this. Luckily, secondary research or a simple literature review can provide enough information to find out who your message needs to reach.

Know Your Target Audience

This may seem obvious, but it’s clearly the most crucial component in creating patient education materials. The more tailored a message is aiming for a specific audience, the more effective it will be. But the first step in understanding your audience is defining who they are. What language do they speak? What may be some cultural or economic barriers that will prevent them from receiving your message? And how should you address these variables in your materials?

It’s important to always remember that the people you are targeting must feel that they are represented in the materials in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender. This is crucial to assuring that your audience connects and engages with the content.

Test Your Materials

One of the most helpful tools in creating educational materials is pilot testing with your target audience. This can be done through focus groups with your target audience or even something as simple as creating an advisory group of experts to review and provide their input can be helpful. Receiving feedback allows you to make changes and address potential communications issues you had not previously identified. Doing this ensures the materials will connect with your target audience and incorporate the most effective communications strategies.

Keep it Simple

According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, 43% of Americans can only read at a “basic” or “below basic” level. When it comes to communicating health information, this is particularly critical. People can often misunderstand even simple terms that we are accustomed to hearing every day, so, it’s important to pay close attention to your choice of words, to ensure things are communicated as clearly and simply as possible. This is why the current recommendation from health education specialists is to create materials aimed at a 6th grade reading level.

While incorporating these elements into health education material development process can become time-consuming (and sometimes costly), they will help ensure that your materials will achieve the broadest and deepest impact.

Three Secrets to Successful Media Pitches

Written by Beth Casteel on . Posted in Building Credibility.

It’s easy to see why some communications professionals dread the task of pitching ideas to the media. Reporters can be brusk and impatient and often ignore emails, especially when they’re caught on deadline or being pressed to cover a story that’s clearly not in their wheelhouse. The PR pros who love pitching have a secret: they understand the journalist’s point of view.

The Reis Group has a strong record of getting media coverage that builds credibility for clients by finding that sweet spot between the story that’s good for our client and intriguing to the reporter. When I’m reaching out to media, I find it helpful to remember what it was like earlier in my career as an Associated Press writer to be barraged by unsolicited PR emails and phone calls.

Next time you’re reaching out to reporters, consider these three essential elements to successful media relations:

Target the Right Reporters

Just because a reporter is listed in a media contact database as covering “health” or “tourism,” that doesn’t mean they are interested in a story idea about a health-focused vacation locale. Consider media databases a starting place for building your outreach list. Sending the same pitch to hundreds of reporters who turn up in a search may seem like a good idea since it may reach a lot of journalists; but pitching stories that are irrelevant to most of the reporters on a massive list will only alienate you from the reporter who might be just the right match your next story. Take time to exclude reporters who obviously are not a good fit, then look even closer at names and outlets that remain. A quick online search of the reporter’s name and outlet will give you a sampling of what they’ve covered in the past and provide insights into what and how to pitch them. You can find reporters not in the contact database search by searching for articles on the topic and taking a moment to make sure the idea will be a good fit. Just because a city hall reporter wrote once about an education-related app mentioned at a school board meeting on her beat, doesn’t mean she would write about the homework helper app developed by a client.

Make Subject Lines Clear and Compelling

For any email communication, subject lines are key to getting your email opened. If sending a pitch by email, write a good subject line first. When you’re done drafting the email, look at the subject line again. The subject should be short and compelling. It doesn’t have to tell the whole story. Get the active verbs and engaging ideas into the first few words of the subject line. “Long Company Name is Pleased to Announce…” may get your company or client’s name in there first, but it doesn’t give the reporter a reason to open it. Reporters and editors skim their inboxes looking for good story ideas, and their eyes glaze over when they receive press releases and emails with that same headline and lead multiple times a day.

Keep the Pitch Short and Tailored

Journalists’ most common complaint about public relations professionals is that their pitches seem to indicate they don’t know anything about the reporter or the outlet. As you research reporters and create concise and relevant media lists, make note of each reporter’s specific beat and readership, and tailor the pitch accordingly. Pick out the angle that best fits the reporter and briefly say why you think they would be interested. A few well-written, well-targeted pitches are more likely to get results than mass mailings to reporters who would never write on your topic. When we do our job well, reporters see us as valuable sources and eagerly open emails from public relations professionals who have helped them identify and put together stories that are relevant to their audiences.

With a little imagination and some research, media pitching can be fun and productive for you and the journalist. Take some time to identify the right reporters, to create a compelling subject line, and to tailor the pitch so reporters can quickly see the relevance.

How to Build Effective Coalitions That Advance Your Health Care Cause

Written by Sharon Reis on . Posted in Building Credibility.

Whether you are promoting new scientific findings, advocating for a profession, advancing legislation or trying to change behavior, it takes a group of people working together to have a sustained influence. But finding ways to effectively collaborate as a team can be challenging. As Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning; Keeping together is progress; Working together is success.”

Below are takeaways that are relevant for groups considering forming or joining a coalition to advance a cause.

  1. Find common ground and language through careful messaging research. Groups often come together because they agree an issue is important. More often than not, though, they do not agree on how to talk about it. In fact, they often disagree passionately. Market research can help address individual concerns and find the common ground and the precise language to address each organization’s worries, avoid turf issues and allay fears in an unbiased and data-driven way, all while keeping everyone focused on the main goal.
  2. Increasing awareness of an issue has to be emotion- and science-based. To achieve your goals, you will need to influence perceptions and discussions to include science and emotionally resonant personal stories to attract attention and motivate audiences to act.
  3. The issue and the ask need to be specific. Sometimes coalitions form for a general purpose and can get bogged down in politics. While coalition members won’t agree on everything, they need to remain in sync on the core issue. Being able to focus on one issue with such unanimity will ensure you do not get caught up in organizations’ differing priorities outside of the coalition.
  4. The consumer voice is powerful. It isn’t enough to talk about your point of view and simply explain the science or the rational thinking behind your perspective. Instead, it is critical to focus on putting a face to the issue and concentrate on the direct impact your goals will have upon the lives of real people in real communities.
  5. Allow organizations to tackle topics and activities on their own. Identifying specific areas of agreement is what will make the coalition successful. Recognizing in advance that there will be areas where you will be unable to find common ground is crucial. You will need to agree to disagree. Focus on working together in one area and then allow individual organizations to undertake efforts with their own perspective on related issues. Doing so will increase engagement among each organization’s individual constituencies.
  6. Honest, constructive conversations are a must. Having a group of smart, passionate people together sometimes can lead to heated discussions. A capable and credible leader within a coalition needs to play a mediator role and maintain a high level of professionalism.
  7. Building trust among the diverse groups is essential. To do so, everyone’s interests must be fairly represented and given sufficient attention. Convene regular calls and in-person coalition meetings to provide forums to share insights and opinions and build relationships.

Coalitions are a great way to work together to achieve goals and they offer many benefits–when structured correctly. Sharing resources, bringing passionate, diverse voices together, creating a force behind an issue and sharing successes with a team can be professionally and personally rewarding.

This article was originally published by PR News.

Advocacy & Communications on a Budget

Written by Stephanie Wight on . Posted in Increasing Awareness.

Associations large and small grapple with a wide variety of advocacy issues. The Advocacy Leaders Network hosts a series of workshops targeted toward public affairs and government relations professionals to facilitate discussions around various strategies, trends, and case studies important to the field.

A recent workshop, “Advocacy on the Cheap: Changing the World on Any Budget”, aimed to share strategies that could help attendees develop successful campaigns without breaking the bank.

Here are some of the key takeaways that I found most useful for PR pros:

1. Advocacy and communications teams should collaborate on their efforts

This may sound obvious, but several attendees voiced frustration about the communications/marketing team at their organization not always including the advocacy team in conversations or plans surrounding public-facing campaigns. Teaming up on efforts like a national health observance month can be more cost-effective because materials can be re-purposed or cross-promoted to help each team meet their goals.

2. Capitalize on opportunities by repurposing content

It’s important when budgets are tight to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to creating content or leveraging in-person opportunities. For example, if you are interviewing a spokesperson or thought leader around a certain issue for blog content, consider how you could easily turn the interview into a Facebook Live video, or develop bite-sized clips or quotes to cross-promote on social media. Additionally, if you are attending an event, like an annual conference, make sure you are capitalizing on in-person opportunities – through photos, personal stories and listserv contacts for future use.

3. Utilize free or freemium tools for cheap bells and whistles

A great aspect of this workshop was the collective sharing of a variety of tools and tricks that attendees are using to develop materials, graphics and animations for free or almost-free. Tools like thinglink and piktochart help display content in an engaging way, while storify helps curate content to tell a story around a specific hashtag or topic. We also heard great feedback about Lynda.com, an online educational site that offers tutorials for getting started with things like Google Analytics or WordPress, which may be tough or time-consuming to figure out on your own.

4. Find your most engaged audience and help them help you

One of the speakers at the event shared how a moderated listserv he runs serves as an important and simple tool in his advocacy work. The listerv, a basic, text-only email chain, keeps engaged advocates up-to-date on what’s happening on The Hill. Often, the members answer each other’s questions and motivate each other before the team even has a chance to craft a response. In this way, the advocates, or engaged members, are doing the work themselves. This example provides a reminder for PR folks—what tools or community channels can you offer your audience that will encourage them to rally together, facilitate change or take action?

Whether it’s through better collaboration or smarter tools, get to know the right strategies and tactics in order to reach your audience and drive change on a small budget.

How to Stay Informed and Ahead of the Political Game

Written by Kathleen Petty on . Posted in Increasing Awareness.

The dizzying pace of change in the Washington health policy climate under a new administration presents unpredictable challenges for those of us working in health care communications. Rapid-paced executive orders and seemingly contradictory announcements can create a chaotic information environment.

But as communicators, we can’t let this hold us back from doing what we do best. We must be prepared for anything that could impact our clients. And that’s why, even if we don’t work specifically in public affairs, it is important to stay on top of the swirl of news coming not only from the White House, but from the Hill as well. I’ve outlined here a few tactics that have been helpful for me in navigating the political landscape:

Closely Follow the Issues that Matter to Your Clients

In public relations, we are surrounded by news, whether it’s CNN playing in our offices eight hours a day or regularly monitoring The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other sites. However, it’s important to make sure that you prioritize the topics and issues that your clients care about. For hospital or health system clients, for example, start your day scanning health care outlets and sign up for email subscriptions from sites like STAT or Kaiser Health News. This way, you’ll always be on top of the most important health care news of the day and will be prepared if there is any breaking news that could impact your client.

Subscribe to Political Email Blasts

Subscribing to specific issue-oriented email blasts is a great way to stay informed of industry news, but now that we have a new administration and new majorities in Congress, it is important to touch all bases. One of the best ways to do this is to subscribe to POLITICO or The Hill newsletters and email blasts. These allow you to choose which topics are most important. They provide a narrow lens so that you can cut through the noise and focus on what matters to your clients, such as policy developments in areas including energy, cybersecurity, finance, and education.

Draft a Weekly Policy News Round-up

Another way to help your clients stay informed of relevant issues is to write a weekly round-up of specific industry news, with a focus on congressional actions or influence. Even if there isn’t a piece of legislation up for a vote that week, Congress holds hearings and briefings on many issues, or makes statements about plans for legislation. No matter what, there’s bound to be a good amount of relevant political news for your clients every week. It can be very helpful to gather all of that into one source for your clients. When I’ve done this in the past, our clients valued it. In fact, our weekly listserv newsletter grew to over 200 people and we were consistently reminded of how much our clients relied on it.

Follow Congressional Leaders on Twitter

More and more, senators and representatives are using Twitter to communicate with the public. Following legislators from committees that are pertinent to your clients could help you receive important policy updates as soon as they happen, which will allow you and your clients to respond sooner rather than later.

Taking these actions will help you stay ahead of the political chaos and make you all the more valuable to your clients.

newspapers

Long Live the MSM!

Written by Peter Perl on . Posted in Promoting Science, Building Credibility.

The conventional wisdom of the digital age long ago declared that nobody really pays attention anymore to the mainstream media…that mainstream media had become irrelevant…that the MSM was dead!

But as the great Mark Twain said after a newspaper erroneously reported that he had died while touring Europe: “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

The Washington Post and The New York Times, in particular, have broken story after story after amazing story about the unprecedented historic events, the serious threats to democracy, and the downright bewildering weirdness of American politics and government in 2017.

I will here confess my bias: I spent 33 rewarding years as a reporter, magazine writer, and editor at The Post, retiring as Assistant Managing Editor in 2013 at a time when it seemed that conventional journalism was on life support. I sadly helped preside over an unprecedented shrinkage in The Post newsroom from roughly 800 people to less than 600, drastically diminishing our ambitions and abilities.

But America has once again become a news-hungry nation, and the MSM—at least the leading news outlets—have risen to the occasion by producing what my onetime boss, Bob Woodward, called “Holy Sh-t!” stories. I was proud to have written and edited some of those amazing stories over the years, and I am greatly encouraged to see The Post regain its greatness in the field and adopt a new motto: Democracy Dies in Darkness. There’s a message here for communications professionals:

If you have a story worth telling, don’t give up on working with the MSM.

  • Learn how to improve your technique in trying to pitch stories there,
  • Closely observe which reporters and editors are involved in your primary subject areas,
  • And take note of how they operate.

Modern-day journalists are inundated with information and totally overloaded with demands to instantly turn complex stories into 140-word shorthand summaries. Usually, they just don’t have time for your stories or your op-eds. So you need to constantly sharpen your thinking about what is really new and potentially interesting to mainstream readers, and how to craft your approach.

Today’s top journalists do not want or need to be spoon-fed. They are energetic and aggressive, and they need only to become intrigued by new ideas or new data to propel them to produce eye-opening stories.

Introducing…You

Written by Sharon Reis on . Posted in Elevating Reputations.

Introducing yourself in a meeting seems easy enough. Then why do so many people fail to make the most of it, and sometimes even leave a bad impression? Some people talk incessantly about all their experience and accomplishments in what ends up putting off rather than impressing their listeners. Others give only the bare minimum, stating their name and organization so quickly or meekly that if you don’t pay close attention, you just might miss it.

The way you go about introducing yourself is essential for establishing not only your expertise and credibility, but also your all-important likeability.

I am a stickler for short introductions that convey just the needed information, but I wasn’t always that way. Early in my career, I took part in an important presentation that had the potential to be really, really successful, but ended up being very, very bad. Terribly disappointed, I was determined to learn from it.

It was one of my first new-business presentations at a new agency. Our team had drafted a very strong proposal, made it to the finals, and were competing against one other firm. We were given 45 minutes to present our recommendations, and we brought a five-person team. Three of my senior colleagues spent a solid 20 minutes introducing themselves. This was not part of the plan, but their nervous energy got the best of them. And, since the first person gave their entire work history, the second person felt compelled to follow suit. These inflated introductions left very little time to present the meat of the proposal, and it gave exactly the wrong impression. The team came off as arrogant and boastful, talking all about themselves, rather than conveying competence and capability, focusing on client needs. Long story short, we lost the business. In fact, the potential client told us that while we had the best proposal, by far, the presentation just did not support it. That defeat left a huge impression on me.

Below are a few tips to consider next time you need to introduce yourself.

  • Short and sweet is best. An introduction doesn’t need to last more than one minute, and depending on the circumstances, getting it done in 30 seconds might be even better. Start, but don’t end, with the obvious: name, title and organization.
  • Focus on your role. This is where people often get lost. After introducing yourself, immediately pivot to your role in the meeting. Are you leading, taking notes, facilitating a section, or learning as much as you can about an organization or issue?
  • Highlight your specific area of expertise. You may be an expert in many things, but the people in the room want to know why you’ve been asked to attend this specific meeting, and how you are going to contribute to this specific discussion. In other words, what do you bring to the table that others around the room will value? This could include a case study or an example of your prior work, but it should be brief and focused.
  • Share your excitement. If you are happy to be at the meeting, then say so. Tell them what you hope to get out of taking part in the discussion, and say it in one sentence; no more.
  • Find the sweet spot. Take a few minutes to rehearse and get it right. This is something you will do over and over in your career. Spend some time to fine-tune, tailor, and get it right.

Your introduction is usually the first impression people will have of you. Make them want to talk to you and learn more about you and your expertise. Maybe they’ll even like you–and hire you.