Bottom Line

Many of us are out there hitting the pavement, social media channels and PR circuits to build a following for our brand, organization or product. An exchange relationship: Person A does something for Person B only because B has provided equal benefits in the past or will do so in the future. A shared relationship: Person A and Person B both act out of genuine concern for the welfare of the other and value the relationship without expecting anything in return. You might have 1,000 people who are peripherally aware of your company and its products, but those numbers don’t matter much until you can convince you audience to go our spend money on your product or service, or actively support your efforts to build a larger following.

We want to send our stories to anyone and everyone who might be interested, but with limited time in the day, trying to send hundreds of emails out can lead to poor results – obvious errors, wrong names and impersonal BCCs can limit the success of your releases. Reporters often specialize in certain beats, and knowing these beats can make your media relations strategy more effective. A reporter focused on business likely won’t be the best target for a story about your art show, and a healthcare reporter won’t know what to do with your release about a financial management tool. Researching reporters’ and editors’ focuses and beats through publication website or databases like Cision or Meltwater shows the contact you respect their time and makes them more likely to want to work with you.

Hospitals and health systems that offer bundled pricing may be in a better position to service their patients and offer more accurate price estimates. To accurately communicate pricing information, the American Hospital Association advises providers and staff to: * Notify patients of cost changes that may occur based on a patient’s health or complications Some healthcare systems have developed more of a retail approach with tools that gather pricing information on outpatient services and links the data to information on financial planners for consumers to use before, during and after the services. Putting transparent, accurate pricing information into the hands of patients and providers can help health systems direct patients to lower-cost clinicians and alternatives within the health system

When it comes to the role of experts, public leaders often view highly trained experts as the only reliable source for the development of sound policy decisions. The logic of this approach to decision-making is clear and familiar: trained and specialized minds are the best suited to crafting public decisions, while the most organized and influential groups are those with the best shot at translating proposals into public policy. Stimulating broader awareness and momentum for change and decisions While broad-based public engagement is not possible or appropriate for every decision, variations of the theme can be the right move for addressing many kinds of public decisions and initiatives We use this model to help us define together which type of engagement is appropriate for this project or for particular stakeholders or segments of the community affected by the project.