Mass Media for Health Care Marketing: Not Dead Yet?

Does the rise of the Internet, and its attendant ever-growing roster of social media channels, signal the end of mass media as a channel for health care marketing?

Ross Goldberg

Not necessarily, says Ross K. Goldberg, president of Kevin/Ross Public Relations and former chairman of the board of trustees of Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Southern California.

“It was just a blink of an eye ago when corporate America understood, some albeit begrudgingly, the need for a solid media relations program as a way to get their organization’s story told,” Goldberg says. But now the tide has dramatically shifted: “Why work through the media or engage media relations professionals to reach your audience when you can touch them directly through websites, blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and assorted means of self-publishing?” he asks rhetorically.

There are still several good reasons to do so, Goldberg concludes. He notes that while media delivery methods may be changing, “The New York Times delivered online is still the New York Times…these are still newspapers that hopefully still ascribe to journalistic principles and responsibilities.”

For this reason, “online coverage in respected media outlets” remains incredibly valuable, Goldberg argues, “and I would no more trade away such coverage than I would trade Manhattan for a string of beads.” Furthermore, “[m]ass media still has the ability to deliver numbers that, except in rare (usually celebrity-based) cases, individual social media efforts simply cannot match,” he says.

Get more of Goldberg’s thoughts on how to leverage the still-formidable power of mass media in your health care marketing efforts, in our new article, Is the Mass Media Still Relevant for Health Care Marketing?

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President