By Mark Macias
In the media, being first matters because it positions your news department as the leader. As a result, viewers and readers become conditioned to favor one news outlet over another when news breaks.
It’s no different with healthcare PR when it comes to getting your message on the media’s radar. Reporters and writers will instinctively look to industry leaders first when it comes to getting comments or analysis on timely news topics. But in health tech, this leader position is even more crucial with the media.
Healthcare News Stories Provide Momentum
The health tech industry is advancing rapidly with new patient and provider services hitting the market every month. In some cases, health tech leaders are waking up and realizing there is a new competitor, providing the same services at a better cost.
Earlier this week, I spoke with a health tech provider in the B2B and B2C space. I was very familiar with their patient services because their competitor has a huge presence in the New York area. Their competitor also owns the news cycle in this specific health tech service sector.
In the case with this health tech industry, it is easy for consumers and healthcare enterprise to believe there is only one service provider in this space because Google News only refers to one firm in this industry. But that’s not the case. Both the health tech company I spoke with and the firm dominating the news started their companies around the same time. Unfortunately, it will get harder overtime for this unknown health tech firm to get on the news because the media will continue to turn to the industry “news” leader over time for analysis since they have already established a track record.
Healthcare PR pushes your Story to Reporters
We all know the media can influence the public’s perception and drive new leads to most businesses, but in the health tech industry, this influence is even more pronounced. If consumers aren’t finding your healthcare product because your competitor is dominating the space, then you are naturally at a disadvantage. It doesn’t matter if you have more VC money and more clients in the B2B space doesn’t assure tomorrow will remain the same. What matters is how your clients are seeing your health tech or healthcare company positioned with the media. Take a closer look and see what your business and customers are seeing when they Google your industry.
Macias PR was named the 2016 “Financial PR Firm of the Year – USA” and the 2015 “PR Consultant Firm of the Year – USA” by Finance Monthly. We have launched and led media campaigns for clients in healthcare, finance, tech and the nonprofit sectors. The founder of Macias PR – Mark Macias – is a former Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. He is also a PR contributor with CNBC, providing media analysis, insight and crisis advice on timely business topics.