As a healthcare and biotech PR agency, we steer companies through highly complex, regulated markets with long adoption cycles. From medical devices and health information systems to drug development, we engineer credibility-building strategic communications programs that reach and resonate with a range of stakeholders, including clinicians, hospital leadership, procurement teams, investors and regulatory authorities.
Operating in one of the most highly regulated markets brings unique challenges to healthcare technology and biotech companies. It is a balancing act across all parts of the business, from adjusting to evolving FDA guidance to compliance with HIPAA and MDR to adapting to transformative innovations like digital care pathways and AI-enabled diagnostics.
Operating in such an ecosystem places a heavy reputational burden on any company, meaning public-facing information is factual, contextualized and evidence-based, while adhering to strict regulatory requirements. Added to this challenging mix is the need to reach and communicate with a very wide variety of stakeholders. Rightly, risks to reputation are always front of mind in the industry.
Thus, communication is central to the reputational integrity of any health industry company, acting as both a proactive and defensive function, aimed not just at protecting but also enhancing brand equity. It ranges from everything like targeted audience narrative development to highly calibrated media outreach around key milestones.
We offer our clients a senior-only PR team, with roots in journalism, to assist in navigating such complex environments, with many different stakeholders.
Let’s discuss the external audience challenges you have that are top of your to-do list.
In such a regulated industry, trust trumps everything. This means that communications isn’t for show or for hype in the healthcare sector; instead, it acts as a safeguard of brand equity.
Securing as many media mentions as possible isn’t the primary goal of corporate communications. It is a much more structured, thoughtful approach to how a healthcare company engages with its myriad of stakeholders and encompasses a wide range of actions like targeted media outreach, paid social and high-profile speaking slots. It also plans for both proactive and defensive activities for a brand.
The industry is spoiled with events to attend that can make a serious growth impact, from the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference to Bio-IT to HLTH to Bio International. A communications strategy, such as securing media interviews, needs to be shaped around events to ensure a brand sees a return beyond just conversations.
The old approach to content focused on defining keywords and retrofitting content with these words and phrases to rank in search engines. Large language models (LLMs) have upended this situation completely and now buyers and stakeholders find new ways to reach a brand’s key touchpoints, like its website. Priority is now being given to the trustworthiness of content and who is behind the content. Content strategy addresses all these issues and puts an approach together from producing content to identifying pillars that should be focused on.
Despite the advent of large language models (LLMs) providing decision-makers with important information for the buying process, analysts and their authority still matter greatly. From houses like Forrester and Frost & Sullivan, to newer ones, instituting an analyst program is a way to gain industry credibility that extends beyond headlines or social media posts.
Senior executives can now build a profile for both themselves and their organizations through regular, organic posting on LinkedIn. However, in the healthcare industry, with such a regulatory environment, strategic insights need to be prioritized over off-the-cuff observations. Executive social media management is a measured and structured approach that defines content pillars for key spokespeople, as well as creates content for posting on personal LinkedIn accounts.
Reputational credibility is hard-earned in the healthcare sector. This is why an unexpected crisis can be extremely damaging to a brand if unprepared. Given the stakeholders involved in the industry, from patients to policymakers, a crisis can often gain high-profile visibility, tarnishing a brand’s reputation overnight. Pre-emptive crisis management must be a central part of a healthcare brand’s business.
A PR team either has experience or it doesn’t. There can be no learning on the job when it comes to running communications campaigns in highly regulated industries. We exclusively staff our teams with veteran PR professionals who can advise both strategically and tactically on the best course of action for a brand in the healthcare sector. This means brands aren’t leaving their reputation to chance.
Former journalists understand exactly how the media works, what type of stories they take and what interests reporters most. We’re a team of ex-media members who pitch stories and spokespeople for interviews every day in our support of our clients. This means we have the skills to strategize a story and also tactically execute, ensuring the most important news lands with media.
Tailored PR programs are often what will work best for companies in the healthcare and biotech industries to achieve communications goals. We have much experience in creating such tailored campaigns that span a very wide variety of activities, from content creation to media engagement programs, to ensure a brand’s objectives are surpassed.
A good indicator of whether a PR agency will be a good fit is to assess if they have consistently built enduring client relationships. We’re an agency that has established many long-standing client relationships since we were founded and it is the foundation of how we operate as a company.
The healthcare sector offers unique challenges and opportunities in terms of PR: highly regulated and specialized, organizations need to reach and speak to a very wide number of stakeholders. A boutique PR agency will help healthcare companies handle communication sensitively, balancing business needs with regulation and patient health concerns. Our streamlined process enables onboarding in just 5–7 working days.
The agency partnership begins with a kick-off workshop, a consultative event that provides critical background information. The goals of this event are to review existing brand content, structure PR priorities, and establish audiences and program goals.
What comes first? Many healthcare organizations have urgent PR priorities (addressing a product launch, or patient topic, for example), and need a relatively rapid response. Help is geared towards supporting the brand with such day-one priorities.
Perhaps the most important early stage is meetings between the agency and the healthcare brand’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). These discovery meetings allow executives and specialists to bring their healthcare expertise into the process to establish narratives and thematic topics that will shape the campaign.
With the SME sessions and kick-off workshop completed, a planning document for the campaign is created. This helps to tightly coordinate the strategic approach: the document suggests a route forward for tactical execution and carefully maps audiences across owned media (blogs, social media etc.) and earned media (publications such as digital news outlets).
Balancing the unique needs of the healthcare organization (from stakeholder management to patient well-being), the program’s direction is finalized, with work focusing on preparatory assets such as a media list of journalists (both healthcare specialists and top tiers). The agency also audits and feeds back on core content such as executives’ public-facing backgrounders.
Now the campaign begins. The previous phases and the information about the healthcare organization’s goals and key audiences inform the program. This typically takes the form of securing interviews, media pitching and production of thought leadership content on both owned and earned media channels.
With the program well underway, a reporting suite is rolled out to measure success. This is done through regular phone or video meetings, along with tracking documents and monitoring of coverage in the media (both healthcare specialist and mainstream).
What succeeded? What needs refinement? A meeting is usually scheduled to assess the campaign, often at milestone points such as every three months. This highlights positive results and what activities need to be tweaked to optimize the campaign going forward.
A team that assists with media relations, social media and content creation to move your brand from bench to bedside.
Our Founder details his opinion on the communications mix for health care companies.
David Claxton
Founder of Wise Up PR
Healthcare PR refers to the management of communications programs for organizations in sectors such as healthcare technology, digital health and medtech. With healthcare organizations facing unique reputational challenges around patient trust, data privacy, and security, it is the function that builds the public image of a company with everybody from investors to consumers. It involves creating content, placing spokespeople and strategic PR planning of activities with media who cover topics such as medical technology and health systems.
Any healthcare PR agency will be able to help create technical thought leadership content to resonate with everyone, from those within the sector to patients. Thought leadership is a great way to communicate simultaneously to clinicians, administrators, payers, and regulators, starting with an interview with a subject matter expert (SME), which is used to develop technical thought leadership content to resonate with the right audiences. Wise Up PR’s PR executives are former journalists who have much know-how in turning technical content into impactful thought leadership.
Communications can absolutely help to turn attendance at a healthcare trade event into lasting and measurable value. This can be achieved by pre-booking meetings with media or placing spokespeople as expert commentators around the key issues of the trade event. With healthcare facing unique challenges in the form of highly regulated communications environments across FDA, HIPAA, MDR, and global frameworks and difficulty explaining clinical value without crossing into promotional or non-compliant claims, PR at a trade show can help solidify and amplify your messaging.
It’s never too soon to invest in healthcare PR. Healthcare faces long adoption cycles within health systems, providers, and procurement bodies, and faced with such lengthy cycles, it’s key to get the message out early to potential investors and other stakeholders. Staying ‘invisible’, regardless of whether you are in digital health, medtech, or health information systems, can impact growth potential and market share. Investing in a communications strategy helps build reputation and awareness.
A PR agency needs a deep understanding of the sector and its particular challenges, such as balancing regulatory, patient and communications concerns. Whether your organization is in medical technology or health systems, it’s key to choose an agency partner that is comfortable within the health sector, but also has the nous to reach out beyond medical trade publications and towards more mainstream titles. Wise Up PR offers a unique mixture of senior-level-only expertise, big client experience and a boutique level of care and attention.
