23 Jul 5 Ways to Bolster Media Visibility at Your Medical Meeting
Medical meetings and annual conferences are a dedicated time for journalists to learn about treatments and procedures, cutting-edge technologies, the newest clinical studies and talk with leading subject-matter experts. It’s the perfect opportunity to leverage the vast amount of data announced to increase visibility and drive credibility for the profession. Is your meeting getting all the media attention it could?
Here are five tips to help bolster your organization’s visibility and expertise:
1. Build It & They Will Come
It may sound simple, but developing a strategic media plan helps you take the time to evaluate all of your conference assets so that you can build a comprehensive plan for media outreach.
Create a week-by-week timeline that outlines the activity, so your team assignments and goals are organized. This is the time to think through all assets, brainstorm every media pitch angle, identify potential influencers and determine the best ways to reach them.
2. Identify and Prepare Media Savvy Experts
Media will be looking for key trends and themes across all data coming out of the meeting. You shoudl have at least one, ideally multiple experts, that can speak about these themes. This may be your board president, members, or key researchers.
Coordinate schedules with these experts to make sure they are willing and available to take media interviews during the conference. Conduct media and message training in advance of the meeting to make sure they know how to appropriately highlight your brand.
3. Offer a Sneak Peek
Tailored invitations and ongoing communications about the conference are key to increasing registration numbers. Leveraging embargo strategies will also encourage media to register early so they can get access to materials in advance.
Follow up with media regularly to encourage them to attend the meeting or cover remotely. Personalized communications will help strengthen your relationships and keep your conference, and your experts, top-of-mind.
The amount of information presented during conferences can be overwhelming. Creating a dedicated online destination for media with a schedule of events, photo and video policies, press releases and embargoed information allows media to review conference assets and prepare stories ahead of time.
4. Give Media VIP Treatment
When on-site, make sure to have a functional, quiet press room where media can conduct interviews, review data and write stories. Have a staff member or two in the media room to help answer questions, coordinate interviews, provide materials and navigate the meeting.
This approach creates a positive conference experience, making reporters want to cover the news and come back year after year.
5. Bring Your News Hooks to Them
Outside of your organizational news at the conference, the breadth of data that is presented provides unlimited media opportunities. Breaking down the information will help increase your media angles, targets and coverage.
Select the most groundbreaking studies that could be of interest to national and consumer media that may be on on-site or covering remotely and pitch the data. Creating press releases, hosting events and arranging interviews to promote the research are also helpful.
As a meeting host, your organization has a unique opportunity to stand out and demonstrate your role as a leading authority in your medical specialty. A proactive plan that brings together compelling trends, data and experts will help position your organization as a trusted resource for media before, during and following the conference.
