One of the easiest ways to promote your expertise and/or your advocacy or care management practice is to watch for requests from journalists, then respond appropriately.
That sounds too easy, right? “Oh sure. Like they are going to contact me and I’m going to answer them?”
Well – kind of. At least it’s not much harder than that!
Journalists, writers, reporters, authors – anyone who works to provide content for media is on the constant lookout for experts in every subject imaginable, including health and medical care, the healthcare system, specific diseases or treatments, the horrors of medical care, the cost of healthcare, and other topics that PracticeUP! readers are knowledgeable about. Especially in a world of the 24/7 news cycle, all media wants to respond to the news immediately, or go in-depth on subjects that will garner their followers’ interest.
So the question isn’t about whether there is opportunity to be quoted or featured. The question is only – how can you make sure they know to talk to you?
The simple answer is that you want to be notified, or want access to requests that address your specific expertise. You want a heads up when you are the right person to talk to the journalist.
I know of two different ways you can do that – both very simple:
Heads Up Idea #1:
Subscribe to HARO
HARO = Help a Reporter Out. With a subscription, you will get an email, three times a day, with references to media content provider (a fancy name of journalist) who are looking to interview someone on a given topic. The key here is to read through the many requests and make sure your expertise exactly matches the request. You also need to respond immediately (or sooner) because you will miss your window of opportunity if you don’t. HARO is free.
Heads Up Idea #2:
Watch the APHA Connect! Forum for +ADL Members
Members of APHA who have been approved for the AdvoConnection Directory also have access to the +ADL Discussion Forum (ADL = AdvoConnection Directory Listed). When APHA receives a request from a journalist, the request is posted for +ADL members immediately, and members are then able to reach out to the person who has made the request.
We get many of these requests, busier at some times of the year than others. They are often for high-end media like Bloomberg, Public Radio, New York Times, TV networks, and more.
You can see here how successful APHA members have been at getting press for themselves and their practices. Wowza! Hundreds and hundreds of citations, features, and quotes… contributing to their success.
Bottom Line
As long as you truly do have good, quotable information for the press, they want to hear from you; in fact, they are thrilled to hear from you! And you don’t need to be the person who judges whether what you have to say is useful. Call them, talk to them, answer their questions as best you can, and if they deem your words worthy of inclusion, they will do so.
It’s a great way to promote your work and expertise, and costs you no more than a few minutes of time each day to track.
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