Journalist Draws From His Own Frustrations to Create Expert-Source Matching Tool; Benefits for Health Care Marketing Teams
// By Lisa D. Ellis //
Today’s latest expert-source matching tools can be a valuable part of any health care organization’s marketing strategy. One such expert-matching service called Expertise Finder was formed by a former journalist to help writers and media outlets find researchers and other experts with specific knowledge and data to share. Services like this—and many others in this space—enhance groups’ public relations efforts and help disseminate key information to a wider audience. For health care marketing teams, the benefits of using such services can be manifold, including:
- Making powerful connections with journalists to get more press
- Capturing the attention of conference hosts to share expertise more broadly
- Stretching increasingly tight marketing budgets so they can accomplish more with less
Stavros Rougas, co-founder, Expertise Finder
As a former TV producer, Stavros Rougas knows a thing or two about putting together a compelling story.
He also knows the importance of finding perfect sources. The trouble is that on a journalist’s tight deadlines, there often is no time to weed through the many options at multiple universities, health systems, businesses, and organizations to identify someone with the right expertise.
Fill a Niche That Exists
“I was a TV producer on a current affairs program called ‘The Agenda’ with Steve Paikin, which is on a public broadcast called TVO located in Toronto,” Rougas says.
“I was looking for experts with depth all the time, too often scrambling for deadlines and ending up with less than ideal guests. I thought there must be a better way, so I looked and looked and looked. But nothing beat the power of the Google sledgehammer,” he says.
This prompted him to create his own tool based on the way Google’s search engine works that could link media professionals with sources who have a wealth of knowledge on timely topics. “I teamed up with a software engineer with a similar passion for knowledge, and together we created the tool I wished for as a journalist,” Rougas adds.
Tap Into a Growing Trend
If the concept sounds familiar, it is. Rougas is one of a growing number of people tapping into the many opportunities the digital space offers that promise to help health care organizations peddle their experts to eager journalists looking to tap into the most seasoned sources while working on tight deadlines.
Think of commonly used tools such as Help a Reporter Out (often referred to as HARO), ProfNet Connect, and now Expertise Finder (Rougas co-founded the latter with the help of a software engineer), which uses the power of the cloud to store information that fills a niche for journalists, while also helping universities, health organizations, and other companies to share their research findings and subject expertise with a broader audience.