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With broader audiences, more competition and more opportunities than ever, PR professionals are facing new challenges when it comes to attracting media attention.
In a recent Business Wire webinar, “Out of the Lab and Into the Headlines,” biotech communicators shared the challenges they face when trying to reach and engage broad audiences — from reporters and scientists to patients and investors — with a complicated story.
Their takeaways are applicable to any communications teams looking to reinvigorate their current media relations and audience activation process.
GOAL: Generate a compelling story that brings new audiences along for the journey
CHALLENGE: Attract media and consumer attention
Biotech PR leaders struggle with getting media and analysts to see the potential of a company’s developments during early-stage trials, long before FDA approval. Their dilemma — how to break down a complicated story — requires balancing the fine line between hope and hype.
SOLUTION: Increase media and audience interest with these expert suggestions
- Simplify news release content to a high school reader’s level.
- Use analogies — especially visual analogies — to break down a complex story.
- Avoid jargon that is not useful to the reader who lives outside your space.
- Tell your story visually with images, videos or infographics that attract and educate.
- Include hyperlinks within your press release to drive traffic back to key landing pages.
- Amplify your news across social channels.
A well-written, hyperlinked release with visual and textual storytelling elements will generate results well past the distribution date. Using a news wire like Business Wire helps to deliver your content to the right media, bloggers, analysts and influencers quickly, allowing them to act now and to find and use your content in the future. We have dedicated teams nurturing relationships with audiences across the globe, building the local market relationships you need to build and maintain a presence away from your home office.
GOAL: Extend the company’s brand value in markets around the world
CHALLENGE: A lack of resources
Many communicators in the Life Sciences sector have small teams or are simply a one-man-band. They rarely have access to translators, media relations experts, or local market experts which can impact their global PR efforts.
SOLUTION: Maximize time and resources by relying on trusted providers
Business Wire understands how to reach and activate markets across the globe. We leverage local market partnership and global relationships to maximize the reach of your news within each market. Each release includes professional translations into local market languages, allowing you to show your commitment to a market by speaking directly to your audiences, in their preferred language.
We provide the opportunities to include multimedia assets, allowing you to tell your story textually and visually. For news releases with more complicated stories or that require larger overall results, our multimedia teams build interactive assets for our clients to trigger their key audiences through a series of visual and textual opportunities for deeper engagement, inbound traffic and higher results.
GOAL: Connect with all audiences on the platforms they use the most
CHALLENGE: Build social presence to increase amplification
For biotech professionals, social channels allow the opportunity to connect directly with your audience, however this can be a challenge for companies without large social followings. For brands with large audiences, sharing news releases and editorial content alongside scientific research, employee spotlights and industry trends can be a great way to connect. That may not be so simple for smaller companies.
SOLUTION: Maximize your relationships across channels
Our experts recommend creating a series of content updates that outline:
- Who your company is
- Your industry position
- Who represents you
Create a posting schedule to ensure continual content promotion. Supplement each status update with visuals, polls or engagement tools to increase reach and responses. Increase your brand presences in industry circles by participating in relevant industry discussions via hashtags, and share breaking or trending news.
To maximize the social impact of your news, use the social amplification tools Business Wire provides, such as the customizable embedded tweet (making it easy for readers to share and advocate on your behalf), your company’s live Twitter feed and links to any of your other active social platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook — all within the release.
As pressure to improve results increases, PR professionals must look at new ways to resolve their top challenges of connecting with customers. Simplifying language, leveraging partner expertise and participating in new communications channels are three easy ways to move your results in the right direction.
Looking for more ways to increase the impact of your PR Program? Download our complete webinar white paper today.
Serena Ehrlich is director of product marketing at Business Wire, and Diane Harrigan is an account executive at Business Wire.
