Make headlines

News flow is the backbone of any corporate media relations programme. News is either created or it happens – it's a precious commodity. Putting it in the right hands can work wonders…

Getting your message across
Despite the ever-expanding media universe, particularly in online media, competition for news coverage is greater than ever, especially in the health sector. Truly health focused journalists are also becoming fewer and far between, many stepping over the fence to work on the consultancy side or in an advisory capacity. And with the appetite of the health pages often occupying extreme ends, it's difficult to ensure that corporate and product news messages reach the target audiences with accuracy. A whole other discussion may be happening online that you are not aware of too, so managing your news needs even more delicate handling.

Internal approval and regulatory guidelines have to be negotiated too; particularly when targeting the health or consumer press. The more 'newsy' elements of a story are often softened, making it difficult to cut through competing news stories, and timings can be delayed affecting some of those more creative campaigns.

And it goes without saying that if something big or unexpected happens on the day of your news, you can find yourself struggling for coverage, despite best laid plans, and cost and effort are wasted.

Taking a business approach
It's important not always to hang your hat on a product or campaign launch, or data announcement, and be at the mercy of the health pages. There are many other ways and opportunities you can get to your target audience.

Healthcare companies, as listed or sustainable companies, are underutilising business media for communicating their messages. Business journalists want to hear, and more often than not, write about company news. They are happy to learn more about a company, to speak with the key personnel and spend time getting to know a business. They will be well networked too. They will be in regular dialogue with the analysts who write about your business. They will speak with investors and the financial community. This will all add flavour to the story you are trying to tell.

However, first things first. In order to be effective it's important that in-house teams and their agencies ensure that communication efforts are joined up; particularly if the company has corporate, research and development, brand, as well as investor relations communications personnel. Each department will be working on its own communications plan, with its own ideas, and there may be some overlap and opportunities for joint working.

Maximising opportunities to communicate

• Financial results – even if your company headquarters are not local, you can still publish the results with your local media
• Senior executive engagements – when your chief executive officer or chief scientific officer is in town, make use of it. Aim for top tier media outlets
• Research & development updates – work your research and development communications. Provide regular updates on the back of news announcements or financial results   
• Site visits – give journalists some background on your company. Arrange a visit for a group to visit a manufacturing or research and development site.

Pharmaceutical communications professionals should liaise with their counterparts internationally to understand and plan news flow, both from a product and corporate perspective. Take time to understand each other's priorities and learn to work together. You never know when you might unearth a gem of a good story. As a CEO of a leading international diagnostics company said (name witheld for confidentiality reasons): "Interacting with the business media is not all about working around your financial calendar."

Clinical trial results and data results announcement can make excellent business news. You don't have to be in the health pages. However, you will want to craft a business focused press release which will require some different facts and figures (obviously you would want to develop a different press release for each of your target media sectors). If a key company executive is in town at the same time as a results announcement then even better. You can find many examples of where a CEO or CSO has been interviewed by the business media on the back of or in participation of an important data milestone for the company.

News toolkit
There are some essential tools of the trade:

• Company factsheet – background on the company, key milestones, key personnel, facts and figures
• Corporate story track or message sheet – an essential document for all key executives, that provides the essential narrative of the company, bringing together all aspects of the business
• Pipeline chart – this will be updated on a quarterly basis by company headquarters
• News flow calendar – sounds simple but make sure that the essential news at a local and global level is mapped out for the year
• Corporate presentation – a global version will be available, but you should aim to localise it too
• Ensure business pages are targeted with business information and written in a business style.

Summary
Media relations will forever be the essential component of the communications mix, whether that is in the traditional news space or online media. But it's important to think creatively, exploring all opportunities and options, when planning how and when to get your message across. There are many ways to skin a cat.

The author
Nick Francis is a Consultant at M:Communications and can be contacted at francis@mcomgroup.com or +44(0) 207 920 2330