This presentation was given by Shelly Gordon of G2 Communications Inc., to the Silicon Valley-based Bio2 Device Group in July 2010. Find out how to turn scientific research into the most compelling stories to build awareness and demand for medical devices, procedures, treatments, pharmaceuticals, and more.

1. “Cracking the Media
Code”
Benefits of PR for BioTech
Companies
Shelly Gordon
G2 Communications Inc.
www.g2comm.com
(650) 856-1607 -- off
(650) 906-5698 -- cell

2. “THINK LIKE A WISE MAN
BUT COMMUNICATE IN THE LANGUAGE OF
THE PEOPLE”
William Butler Yeats

3. What is PR?
 Public relations seeks to identify, build, and
maintain mutually beneficial relationships between
an organization and the audiences upon whom its
success or failure depends
 PR uses the media (editorial) to tell your company
story & build your brand
 PR opens the door so customers are more familiar
with you when sales comes to call
 PR is the best way to build credibility
 When investors, doctors and patients are aware of you they
feel better about transacting with you
 PR is one of the most cost effective ways to
capture mind share, make you stand out

4. What PR Is Not
 Free advertising for your products
 A rolodex full of media contacts who
will write about your company
whenever you call
 Being the star of NOVA, the cover story
of Scientific American or Dr. House’s
new favorite diagnostic tool!

5. Role of PR
 Develop & tell a story that sticks with the
media
 Generate news to raise awareness and
excitement among target audiences
 Potential investors, partners, customers
(healthcare providers)
 Educate audiences to build understanding
 Articulate the unmet needs of the market

6. What Are Your Business
Goals?
 Map PR strategy on to business goals
 Funding
 Alliances
 Acquisition
 IPO
 Competition
 Reach customers… soften the market

7. PR divided into 3 Buckets
 Strategic planning
 Positioning and key messages
 PR plan – analysis, strategy, objectives, tactics
 Product launches
 PR campaigns to raise awareness, change
perceptions
 Combat competition
 Positioning for IPOs

8. 2nd PR bucket
 Written communications
 Company documents
 Backgrounders, fact sheets, bios, clinical papers
 Editorial documents
 Press releases, pitch letters, speaking
abstracts, bylined articles, letters to the editor,
case studies, POVs, Op-eds

9. 3rd Bucket
 Media relations
 Build awareness through traditional and social
media
 Convince the media your story is of value to
readers, viewers and listeners
 Newspapers, online media, digital media, industry
newsletters, blogs, radio talk shows, TV news, TV
medical shows, Internet radio
 Articles by experts for the media
 Social Media
 Influencer relationships
 Speaking engagements

10. PR Basics
 Press releases – Generating News
 Show your company is making progress, achieving
milestones of success
 Formation of company, vision for market, executive
“stars”
 Funding rounds
 Clinical trials, PMA application submissions
 Results of clinical trials published in JAMA
 New board members, speaking engagements at medical
conferences
 Medical study that’s tangential to your product

11. Press Release Pitfalls
 Medical device and therapeutic press releases often read like an
excerpt from a clinical research report
 Scientists say, ‘Here are our findings. Read it and believe.’
 Painful to read, lacks story
 It took researchers months (years?) of sweat equity to achieve
the results in the study
 Translating it into simple language would diminish all the hard work
that has gone into the research
 There is more concerned with the precision of language than
effectively communicating the message
 Scientists think facts should speak for themselves
 However, scientists must build their cases for nonscientists
 “They need to tell personal stories, tug at the heartstrings of people who
don’t have PhDs.”*
 Make it personal
*Wired Magazine, “Why Science Needs to Step Up Its PR Game,” May 24, 2010

12. Media Relations…
Pitching Your Story
 Develop human interest stories about your
treatments, implants, diagnostics, etc.
 Start at the end point – patient benefiting from
new endoscopic surgery
 Stories heighten awareness of the problem
 Stories educate patients
 Personal stories, case studies connect your
product with patients in need
 Start with trades & local media to build a
foundation about your company

13. Story Examples for Start-Ups
 You have a pre-market diagnostic imaging system that
detects melanoma lesions at its earliest stages within
minutes
 While the FDA prohibits you from making claims you can…
 Serve as media expert for related health trends and
problems, i.e., indoor tanning, summer & sunscreen
 Newspaper health columns, beauty blogs, TV interviews, radio
talk shows, Internet radio, comment and tweet
 www.thedoctorstv.com/, WSJ Health Blog, NY Times “Well,”
 Share a specific story of someone who ignored pre-
cancerous legion that turned into melanoma
 Include how your company is working to solve this problem

14. Tangential Stories About Your
Company
 What about the founders
 Turning CEO into rock star
 Genesis of the device
 Industry stories
 Biotech start-ups take development to
Europe for faster PMAs
 Story about startup lessons learned

15. Using Social Media
 Amplify your reach, build a following
 Tweeting
 YouTube
 Commenting on relevant articles, blog posts
 Blogging

16. Use PR to Change Image
 Pfizer known more for heavy marketing of
therapeutics
 Company conducted PR campaign to build
trust, emphasize scientific prowess & good
corporate citizenship
 Began offering scientists as media experts
 Publicized charitable donations
 Pfizer donated 200 million doses of Zithromax to
International Trachoma Initiative (Trachoma is world’s
leading cause of preventable blindness)

17. Timing for PR
 Communicating at the front end founders pitch the
finer points of scientific research
 VCs
 Peer conferences
 Medical journals
 Move up to communicating to patients - science must
be translated into simpler language
 Wall St. investors
 Science magazines
 Science reporters of daily newspapers
 Lifestyle media, television

18. Where to begin…
 Identify target media outlets, i.e., magazines,
newspapers, verticals, horizontals
 What do your customers read?
 Medical Device Daily, Xconomy, The Gray Sheet, Wall
Street Journal
 PharmaWire/Financial Times (HARO)
 Newspaper – sections
 Healthcare, business, lifestyle, local news
 Healthcare magazines
 Business, trade journals, lifestyle websites, digital media
 Broadcast
 News, public affairs, talk shows

19. Target media sources
 Read the masthead
 Learn journalists beats, what they write about
 Peruse editorial calendars in magazines
 Pre-scheduled features in each issue
 Target 2 to 3 journalists to start
 Learn what they cover – know what their readers
care about
 Research the Internet to read their last few stories

20. Press interviews
 Front-load answers, stating the important
facts first rather than building to a conclusion
 Never answer ambush questions directly
 Nothing gets reported after “but”
 Learn to direct the interview
 Talk in lay terms, use as little technical jargon
as possible
 Keep the answers short; the longer you talk,
the shorter the coverage
 A typical sound bite is 10 to 15 seconds