There’s many different ways that public relations is viewed by the healthcare industry. Overall, outside of the cosmetic industry, it is grossly undervalued and typically viewed as nothing more than an accessory. Unfortunately for hospitals, physicians with major offices; and the like, the pandemic has brought with it a series of major media crises that had to be averted or mitigated. There are a number of public relations firms that have thriving practices such as Josh Nass PR; but the reality is that a public relations agency truly has to have a comprehensive understanding of the elder care industry in order to be of value during times of such crisis.
The public relations industry is saturated with a number of different firms that offer crisis management services to folks in a myriad of different industries that don’t have a focus or a true understanding of the ways the healthcare industry operate. This is problematic to consumers and clients; and measures have to be taken in order to seek to change this problematic pattern. Josh Nass PR specializes in healthcare pr and this proves incredibly valuable to the various clients that the agency has used as a resource for, during times of media crisis.
For healthcare professionals or medical surgeons by example, there are tons of different ways they can get themselves and their respective practices engulfed in a media crisis. They have to be conscious of this and be sensitive to their practice’s media needs for this reason. A media crisis can truly have a potentially devastating impact on the survival and fate of their medical practice. Especially in this media environment where information is moving faster than the speed of light, it’s so important to take great attentive care to the way your company or medical practice is being portrayed.
A company’s brand is more powerful and important than ever before. Its relevance to the success or failure of a business no matter the sector it may belong to, is critical. There needs to be monies invested into effectively monitoring what’s being said about your healthcare business on the web and in traditional media environments. Of course, social media channels need to be carefully monitored for any and all mentions as well. The reason is simple. With the proliferation of social media, Twitter and Facebook, the ability for anyone to have a platform is now ubiquitous. This has led to empowering citizens for the purpose of citizen journalism and in some cases breaking news stories that traditional members of the news media haven’t been able to.
But this has just easily had a darker side to it ; with ordinary folks taking advantage of their social media platforms to defame and libel businesses in the healthcare space and beyond for a myriad of different self-interested reasons. For this reason, many businesses have chosen to make considerable investments into Search Engine Optimization, proactively creating content about themselves and their abilities and capabilities.
Others have been sure to keep capable public relations agencies like Josh Nass PR on retainer in the event a crisis were to ever emerge. Although the investment in such a proactive approach can be somewhat substantial for some businesses, it can truly mean the difference between life or death in the event of a crisis.
Josh Nass PR in Politico explained the importance of seeking a balance between too proactive an approach that could prove too costly and even ineffective if devoid of strategy, and one that has a proper balance between being not overly proactive but also not reactive. The worst thing to do when it comes to responding to a media crisis, is to wait for a crisis to hit and not have committed to any preparation as a company, organization or association in advance of it . This mistake can truly prove devastating and even fatal. Instead, those in the healthcare industry should look at their peers in other industries in the private sector and notice how carefully they’ve been in cultivating an image and brand that’s pristine and maintaining it accordingly. As there continues to be a dominance and evolution in the way the public consumes news; and as the social media and blogosphere environments continue to proliferate, the need for a properly coordinated public relations program will only continue to grow.
