The MALPH Marketing Project

1. The MALPH Marketing Project Challenges and Opportunities for Communicators Gray R. Reynolds, MACommunications Manager/PIOWashtenaw County Public Health Department

2. My Background • BA, Journalism; MA, English/Communications. • 22+ years in for-profit, corporate: • Communications • Public relations • Media relations • Investor relations • Director of Corporate Communications for two large Detroit-based corporations. • Adjunct Professor at EMU. • Limited not-for-profit experience. • <1 Year in Public Health!

3. My Vantage Point • As I wasn’t involved in the development of the marketing toolkit, I can be objective. • As a former journalist, I can judge and comment on the receptivity of the media to this material. • As a former private sector (public company) employee, I can juxtapose corporate best practices with these marketing activities. • As a new, yet experienced employee, I can offer suggestions for future improvements.

4. What Works1 • This is a best practices strategy for marketing communications, and it is particularly effective when: • A larger, central entity desires to orchestrate a unified, multi-unit communication campaign. • Units/departments are geographically dispersed. • Units/departments have uneven talent and the capability to produce and distribute professional-level communications. • A centralized web infrastructure already exists from which to distribute communications.

5. What Works2 • As a message-centric strategy, it’s effective, because: • Each health department is delivering the same set of messages in a similar timeframe; everyone stays on topic. • Units/departments benefit from the synergy of dealing with the same topic in the same timeframe; they can collaborate with one another, if necessary. • The collateral has the same look and feel, creating a recognizable brand for the media; creates a monthly relationship between the LPHD and the media.

6. Words of Wisdom “It’s a lot easier to throw grenades than to catch them.” --President Lyndon B. Johnson “Critics are like eunuchs in a harem. They’re there every night, they see how it should be done every night, but they can’t do it themselves.” --Brendan Francis Behan

7. Issues and Obstacles1 • Discordant subjects intermingled. • Too many topics to cover with any level of depth. • Low or no news value for larger media outlets, unless hooked to national stories or localized to compelling countywide statistics. • Shifts us backwards from a two-way symmetrical model to a press agentry public relations model.

8. Issues and Obstacles2 • Can be perceived as health department propaganda, resulting in low/no coverage. • Usually doesn’t fill news holes. • This information is easily obtainable elsewhere. • Alters our relationship with the media. • Are we creating an expectation of “free ink?” • Should/does the media feel an obligation to comply? • The large amount of information makes surveillance difficult.

9. Issues and Obstacles3 • Creates news “clutter.” • Press release + 4-5 fact sheets pere-mail/fax/snail mail, is a lot of information. • Too much information overwhelms reporters with deadlines. The more concise the better. • Will “real news” get lost? • Each contact with the media should be a win-win; is it, when we try to control the agenda? • Will they respect us in the morning?

10. a Win-Win Credible Accessible Relevant Simple Suggestions for Improvement • Make it:

11. Suggestions for Improvement1 • Make it Simple: • Focus press releases on a single issue with highly related components. • Don’t overwhelm reporters with endless detail. Use a sniper rifle, not a shotgun. If they need more detail, they’ll ask. • Make it a two-way transaction with reporters. Listen for what they need first, give it to them, then volunteer additional information. • Prepare information that is even more concise for radio and TV media.

12. Suggestions for Improvement2 • Make it Relevant: • Tie the MALPH information to national or local events/statistics or news for your reportersto demonstrate its relevancy/newsworthiness. • Look for every opportunity to localize, localize, and localize the information to the reader- or listener-ship of your local media. • Open a dialogue with reporters/editors to discuss their needs in regard to the subject matter expertise your LPHD can provide.

13. Suggestions for Improvement3 • Make it Accessible: • Create electronic pitch letters with links to this information on your website. Prospect for news directors. • Distribute press releases with links to fact sheets. Create an electronic archive of useful fact sheets and advertise its availability to reporters. • Audit your media distribution list to determine how members of the media prefer to receive their information. Customize your distribution accordingly.

14. Suggestions for Improvement4 • Make it Credible: • Brand your LPHD as the subject matter expert on specific topics. Communicate your expertise to the media. Consider establishing formal media partnerships. • Volunteer you LPHD’s expertise in situations that warrant it. • Choose your “hill to die on” and pass up opportunities to push low-value, easily accessible information. Be the go-to source for health expertise and tough questions. • Develop techniques to distinguish your hard news from your soft news so the media won’t be confused.

15. Suggestions for Improvement5 • Make it a Win-Win: • Use the MALPH marketing project to introduce the media to your LPHD and its expertise. Build roads where none previously existed. • In smaller or remote markets without daily periodicals, your LPHD may become the health information provider/reporter. • Develop relationships based on trust to establish a truly symbiotic partnership.

16. Food for Thought • Additional Considerations: • Surveillance: Consider using “media listening posts” when you can’t afford to monitor your coverage. • Entrée: Think short-term first. Use the MALPH marketing project to establish contacts where none existed before. Parlay these contacts into fruitful relationships. • Modification: Consider a more drastic alteration of the press release to localize information up-front.

17. Final Thoughts • It’s only a tool, and it won’t make or break your public/media relations efforts. Treat it accordingly. • As a tool, consider the many different ways you can use the prepackaged information. • Have fun with it! If you use it wisely, it can only improve your efforts.

18. The MALPH Marketing Project Q & A