I have been counseling pharmaceutical and other healthcare brand managers about public relations for 35 years. And while brand managers today are much more sophisticated and analytic than they were back in the 70s and 80s, I continue to be at least a bit dismayed about the way they perceive public relations and how it fits into the product marketing mix.
Perhaps what follows are the musings of a public relations person who is past his prime and ready for whatever ultimate fate awaits people who do what I do for a living, but the biggest mistakes I still see healthcare brand managers make about PR are as follows:
- Bringing the PR Consultant in too late
- Failing to accept that all products (and companies) are flawed
- Underestimating the power of patients
- Stinting on evaluating the impact of PR on audiences
- Assuming that PR is a commodity
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