S1: EP 015: Enhancing your brand, reputation and credibility - being visible to new service users
Download MP3Hi. What the health tech listeners? I'm your host this week, Justine Abson. This is the podcast where we tackle some of the trending topics, ideas, and best practice in health and social care. This week, we're speaking to Rebecca Moss and Lauren Wheldon.
Justine Abson:Both are digital PR experts working at JBH, an an organisation which works with health and social care organisations across the UK to help them manage their reputation, raise their profile, and promote themselves to new patients or residents. Outside of work, Rebecca is currently working her way through the NHS Couch to 5 k running program and dragging her poor, long suffering dog, Bonnie, along for all her runs. I'm sure she's loving that, Rebecca.
Rebecca Moss:She's not.
Justine Abson:And Lauren is mum to 4 year old Millie, and as a food lover, enjoys sharing her experiences of local restaurants and events in her hometown of Cheltenham. She even has her own account on Instagram for this, growing out and up. I also hear it's Lauren's birthday today. So happy birthday, Lauren. 25 again, is it?
Lauren Wilden:Yeah. 25 again. Yeah. Yeah. In a row.
Justine Abson:So hi, Rebecca and Lauren. Welcome to What the HealthTech. It's great to have you both here.
Lauren Wilden:Hiya. Thank you.
Rebecca Moss:Thank you for having us.
Justine Abson:So in today's podcast, we're gonna talk about profile and reputation. So both the things, when it comes to health and social care, can make a huge impact on an organisation. But there's sometimes things that can get pushed aside when the day to day work is so important. So we're gonna chat around why this is so important for employees, patients, residents, their families, and anyone else that's involved within within the sector. So, So, Rebecca, I'm gonna come to you first.
Justine Abson:So for our listeners, can you give us a brief overview of who JBH are and what you do there?
Rebecca Moss:Absolutely. I just want to say thank you for having myself and Lauren on the podcast. Really excited to talk to you today about what we do for, our brands in their health care space. So, JBH, so we're the largest specialist digital PR agency in the UK. We work with the brands in the health care sector to help increase their visibility in Google search, as well as build that really, really important brand awareness and credibility too.
Rebecca Moss:So my role at JBH is digital PR director. So my role is primarily to oversee the whole function of the digital PR service and secondary to kind of help with the growth of the agency and do lovely things like this. I'll hand over to Lauren who can give you a little bit of an update on to, her role. Yeah.
Lauren Wilden:So hi. I'm Lauren. I'm digital PR manager at JBH. So what I do is I run my own sort of separate PR pod, which consists of a junior manager, 2 PR execs, our senior content lead, and an additional content writer. We currently work on 6 accounts, and as well as, obviously, the health care sector.
Lauren Wilden:We also work in technology, food and drink, beauty, health. We even got a hearing aid client. So never a dull day, and there's always lots going on. And I mainly oversee sort of the bigger picture stuff, aside as well as the day to day, accounts. So I ensure that all the projects are running smoothly into deadlines, that our clients' KPIs are on target, that our clients are generally happy with the service they're receiving and making sure that sort of their wider marketing plans, are fitting in with our PR goals and which makes a bit of a real extension of their team rather than just sort of an outsourced agency.
Justine Abson:I think that's really important as well, you know, being a, a marketing person that works with you guys. You know, having that kind of that teamwork is really important. And I think, like you said, you know, getting the market and plans to fit in with the PR goals as well, definitely helps with that with that success. And I guess it must be great to work across so many different sectors as well. You know, it kinda keeps every day different and and a bit a bit mixed up as well.
Lauren Wilden:It does, honestly. It could be sort of the morning you could be writing about, bottomless drag branches, and in the afternoon, you're writing a piece on Bluetooth hearing aids and, audit management, risk management, health care. So, you know, every day is their school day.
Justine Abson:Completely different. So focusing on the health and social care, So why do you think it's so important for health and social care organisations to look at digital PR, particularly when it comes to their reputation?
Rebecca Moss:It's so vital, honestly. I think it's such a competitive vertical. There's so many brands kind of vying for attention, not only just in the Google search results, but also for just general brand awareness. And from what we've seen in terms of doing research and working with other brands, is that I suppose health and social care, what the PR they do tends to be rooted in the most traditional PR function. So things like events and, you know, thought leadership and that kind of things.
Rebecca Moss:But which is great. And you'll get kind of brand awareness and credibility within those health and social care circles. But I'm I suppose what you want is that you get all that benefit as well, but with the actual marketing function as well. You want to gain exposure within with those new audiences and also increase your search engine rankings. So I guess what you could call digital PR is like traditional PR with bells on.
Rebecca Moss:So you're getting all the all the audience and all that kind of credibility within your industries, but you also get in front of those new audiences as well. So what we do as an agency is kind of use those traditional PR techniques, but generate generate results on a on a on a digital platform. So it's kind of touching best of both worlds, really.
Lauren Wilden:Yeah. And I think also in terms of the traditional PR techniques that we incorporate here in j at JBH, sort of such as thought leadership articles, and expert features and opinion pieces, They lend themselves really well to clients who are operating in the health care sector. They give brands a chance to sort of educate audiences, build awareness and trust, and foster a strong community within sort of the niche sectors within the health care industry itself. So putting information, in front of people, and as as wide a range of people as possible to understand digestible insights of what can be quite an overwhelming and complicated sector sometimes.
Justine Abson:Yeah. And I think you've sort of hit the nail on the head there with you know, there is so much content. There's so much to talk about. And a lot of the topics within health and social care can be really, sort of complicated. There can be a lot of information, especially, you know, you read some white papers and things like that, and they can be some of them are 100 of pages long.
Justine Abson:So I think to be able to kind of get those down into sort of more bite size, manageable, bits and pieces is is really key as well to get people to to really understand what what they mean.
Lauren Wilden:I think that's why it's good sometimes that, obviously, as as PRs ourselves, it's not our expert, so it's not our Yep. Go to. So we need to be able to digest it down for ourselves to understand it, which then I think helps translate when we're sort of pitching into journalists and we're helping to sort of, engage with wider audiences. Because if it's if it's a client side, it's something that they're taking in day in, day out, and they know it sort of inside out, but that's not always gonna be the easiest way for other people to understand it. So we're sort of a good filter.
Justine Abson:Yeah. I was gonna
Rebecca Moss:say we're just like the filter, aren't we, between, the the big white paper information and how an audience will actually receive it. So we kind of the information gets passed through us and it becomes this newsworthy story, that journalists love and audiences are gonna recognize and kind of resonate with, I suppose.
Justine Abson:Yeah. Definitely. And I think it's really interesting that that you kinda use the traditional PR techniques but in a digital way because that's obviously the bit that's got the such a huge outreach now. There's so many different ways to to do that. So, obviously, moving on to to kind of the next question.
Justine Abson:JBH is is specifically digital PR. So why is it so important for private companies or local practices in particular to ensure they're present when it comes to patients or residents searching for them? From a market point of view, obviously, search engine optimization can be seen as such a big investment on time, but there's so much choice out there. It must be incredibly important for organizations to actually even be seen in the first place. What advice have you got for our listeners around the importance of this?
Rebecca Moss:Yeah. For for sure. I think it's it's absolutely so important and vital that health care organizations see this as an investment rather than just maybe putting money into PPC or paid search, where it's literally just going to be, you know, you spend your money, get you a little bit of visibility, and then it's gone again. You know, before I said that health and social care is a really, really saturated space when it comes to, like, traditional PR. But when it comes to things like digital PR, we're seeing that the really kind of early adopters are seeing the benefit really, really quickly when we compare it to kind of other sectors.
Rebecca Moss:Like Lauren said before, we work with loads of different sectors. But actually, where we see the benefit most quickly is within the health and social care sector. So it's a really, really good time to get involved. You know, we've been working with you guys at Radar for around 3 months now, and we're already kinda seeing the beginnings of those ranking increases and increased visibility. And that's really, really quick.
Rebecca Moss:You know, for some for some brands and some verticals, you don't see anything for 6 months. And that the reason for that really is because not a lot of brands are doing it. So you guys are the early adopters. You're kind of getting involved straight away. And you're gonna see the benefits of that long term, not just like putting money into PPC, putting money into paid social.
Rebecca Moss:It's it is something that you it is basically a marathon rather than a sprint is how I'd look at it.
Justine Abson:Yeah. I think that's, from, obviously, from our point of view, it's, you know, it's great to kinda know that we're a bit ahead of the game and and that's exactly what what we want to be doing, really. But also we kind of recognize the importance of it as well. You know, being seen by residents, patients, you know, kind of health care organizations, everybody, really. It's it's just so important.
Rebecca Moss:And another thing that I just wanted to add to that was that with digital PR, you're getting put in front of audiences that you wouldn't ordinarily be put in front of. So with traditional PR, you're probably going to be in kind of the industry publications, stuff that your colleagues and peers would read. But actually, the people that you want to speak to aren't meeting those publications necessarily. So it's great to kind of get more eyeballs on your brand, even if they're not necessarily in the publications that you traditionally would expect.
Justine Abson:Yeah. Definitely. I I couldn't agree more with that. And I think that's where sort of change comes in as well, you know, kind of being ahead of things and, you know, making sure that that you kinda know what's going on because because things do change so much. You know, it's inevitable across health and social care as an organization, and it can sometimes be difficult, I think, for people within the industry to keep up.
Justine Abson:So is there a way for companies like JBH that they can help with a, you know, a brand and communications point of view when it comes to this sort of fast moving industry?
Lauren Wilden:Yeah. I think sort of over the past 2 years, specifically with obviously COVID and the pandemic, we've sort of been thrown in at the deep end in having to change and pivot plans. Like, 2 years ago, when COVID first hit, I don't think you find a PR out there who was completely who wasn't completely blindsided, had to sort of rework all their plans and all their PR plans for the for what they had, in mind for their for their clients that year, in the next 2 years, really. So, I think it's now second nature to us to be able to cope with change, to be able to keep communications, whether that be on social media content, on-site content in the form of more traditional press releases to make sure sort of that your audiences, your stakeholders are kept as to date as possible, that the correct messaging is being circulated among the stakeholders, and just on part of you as an organization that, like, everything is focused on what's happening now rather than apologising for what's happened or not not, not, acknowledging the change.
Justine Abson:Yeah. And I think that, again, you know, COVID has kind of, I guess, pushed digital sort of even further, in terms of how important it is. You know, we can get things out really quickly. We can get things out, you know, we're not waiting for printed deadlines and and that kind of thing as well. So, you know, you can be really reactive to things that are really important.
Justine Abson:And especially with, you know, with things like COVID. I think that's really kind of transformed that a little bit.
Lauren Wilden:Yeah. Absolutely. I think for for the whole industry, for the whole PR industry, especially with health care, you know, you don't know what BBC News is gonna be reporting from one day to the next. So we have to just make sure that anything that we're planning for our clients is aligned with what's going on in the wider news agenda so it doesn't sort of come off as maybe insensitive or negative in any form. So, yeah, it's really important to keep on top of the news agenda.
Rebecca Moss:Yeah. And And I think it's why it's import sorry.
Justine Abson:No, it's
Rebecca Moss:fine. She's going to say, I think it's really important going back to what Lauren was saying about being able to pivot when you've got a strategy in place because, you know, when COVID hit, we didn't know what to do. So, you know, as an agency, I remember sitting down going through every single account that we had, every single story that we were about to pitch and say, you know, go through this filter. Is it tone deaf? Is it relevant?
Rebecca Moss:Are people gonna care about it? Is it gonna is it presenting a negative or a positive story? And literally doing that for every single brand and working out from there what we do. Because and it's not like we're not going to have this again. Things will continue to happen.
Rebecca Moss:So it's important that everybody is is aware that there will be a need to be flexible. And I think, again, COVID has taught us all that in every single industry. I don't think it's just PR.
Justine Abson:Yeah. And I think it's sorry. Go on, Lauren.
Lauren Wilden:I think it also just gives a lot of opportunities as well. It's not all sort of doom and gloom and name. I think having sort of that unknown territory means that you can be a bit more creative, and you can use sort of what's going on in the wider sort of world and the wider news agenda to to your clients' benefit as long as you do it sort of in a in a clever enough way, in a way that sort of benefits them as an organization and isn't just for the sake of it.
Justine Abson:Yeah. And I think that, you know, that sensitivity side and and kind of understanding the audience and and what's going on at that time is you know, that's where it really does come down to to knowing who you are, who you want to speak to, really, and what is happening in the industry at that at that time. And I think that's, you know, that's where this online presence is. It's clearly a huge must have, to be seen by every health corp health by every health care organization. And I think it's where you can potentially, you know, use that to build trust with with your communities online as well.
Justine Abson:You know, that kind of getting that information out and being trustworthy and and, you know, sort of speaking to people in the right way, really. So, you know, from from a company's point of view or from an organization's point of view, to be able to build that trust online is is kind of fundamental.
Rebecca Moss:Absolutely. Trust and credibility, I would say, is probably the most important part of digital PR for the health care industry. I would say it's less important maybe for some other industries, but in this industry, there's so much medical misinformation knocking about out there. You know, if you're asking doctor Google to help you with anything, then I think you have to be so careful with what you're absorbing and what you're reading. So everything that brands need to put out needs to be credible.
Rebecca Moss:It needs to be expert backed. It needs to be, you know, we need to be very, very careful about what publications we allow our clients to be present in as well. So for example, for in the health care industry, you wanna make sure that you're getting your experts and getting your brands into the most credible publications possible. Because that's what's that is what Google is looking at. It's what your audience is looking at.
Rebecca Moss:And, you know, it's essentially a vote for how credible you are as a brand as well. So it's absolutely so important to have this trust and credibility through every single thing that you do, whether it's a large scale campaign, news jacking, whether it's reactive content. You know, that's a bit of jargon there for using the PR industry. But for every single thing that you do, you always need to be thinking, is it credible? Will people trust me if I'm saying this?
Rebecca Moss:How can we capitalize on that even more?
Justine Abson:Yeah. And I think that one thing that I do really wanna chat about is, you know, I've I've worked in in the healthcare industry for the just for 6 months. And one thing I've noticed particularly is how passionate people are about what they do. You know, everybody really wants to make a difference. So in light of that, how can digital PR in particular help help with this one, Lauren?
Lauren Wilden:So I think one of the things that, I'm going back to again, that I'm most passionate about at JBH is introduce is, incorporating the more traditional techniques alongside the digital PR techniques. So by focusing on this, alongside our bread and butter link building tactics and SEO strategies, we can sort of offer up the reputation boosting sort of brag element of being able to say that you've been featured in these nationally read publications and these very sort of peer focused, publications too. And I think the health care clients in particular are fantastic, because they have such a unique insight on a wide variety of topics. So we can offer up, expert commentary, in-depth opinion led features, and there's often sort of confusing, like we said before, confusing and complicated, medical information and medical terms that audiences might not necessarily understand. So there's not really a day goes by when we don't see sort of, inquiries and requests from journalists who are looking to speak with specific health experts, doctors, psychologists, NHS workers.
Lauren Wilden:So I think that's sort of what we really try and focus on and and how we try and help sort of in the health and social
Rebecca Moss:sectors. It's a massive opportunity, isn't it, for brands to get involved on that level? Because they are qualified. They have the expertise. It's just that they need some body like us or company like us to help them shape it in the way that's gonna make them look the best.
Rebecca Moss:So they've got it all there in house. They've got all these experts, all this data. How can we create you know, how can they create that into stories that audiences are gonna care about and journalists are gonna going to want to care about as well?
Justine Abson:Yeah. And I think, you know, that is definitely one of the best things about working in health care for me. You know, there's always something to focus on. There's always something to talk about. There's so many interesting topics in general to discuss.
Justine Abson:It's, you know, I think, I think you mentioned it earlier, Lauren, there is never a dull day. And it's really clear from some of our previous podcasts about how passionate people really are. You know, we've had, people like Biggie and who does a lot of work within the care sector, you know, about how they really can help change things. You know, we spoke with Public Policy Projects a few weeks ago, and Lottie Moore, one of their policy analysts there said, you don't go into a role like this to just accept things. You go in to really make a change.
Justine Abson:And I think that's, you know, that's something that I've certainly seen from everybody that I've worked with, over the last few months, especially. So public perception, you know, we've we've kind of mentioned public perception a few times. So it's really important for for care providers, hospitals, GP practices, you know, that that kind of, you know, everyone within health care. In terms of activity, you know, that that is the right way to talk about this stuff. I mean, we might might have already touched on it anyway, but is there anything specific that, you know, activity wise, that is is the best way to kind of get that that public perception out there?
Rebecca Moss:I think on this question, it's really, really tricky to talk in in really generally about it. But I would say on the top line of that would be being present in the right publications and producing campaigns that are talking about the right things. And that sound might sound like a little bit of a cop out, But I think it's very, very specific to different, different brands and different objectives that the brands have as to what that activity looks like. Does that kind of answer that question?
Justine Abson:Yeah. It definitely does. And I think it's you know, sometimes it's it is the the almost the obvious things, if if that makes sense, you know. But it's about, like you said, you know, when the campaigns are talking about the right things. Again, it comes back to what we mentioned earlier, I think, about understanding your audience and understanding what's going on and making sure that the messages are the right messages that you should be putting out there at that time.
Rebecca Moss:I think what you said before, Justin, was quite interesting about, you know, the people that work within the health care industry. They don't get into it just to accept things. I think it's our job as PRs to get that to get that across. The people are so passionate. And they are so they care so much about what they do.
Rebecca Moss:And I think that's really, really unique to what we've seen in the health care industry. That people do care so much. And they want to get that messaging out there and get their point of view across. So that is definitely something that is unique and can be used by brands in this sector to really kind of get ahead of the competition, I suppose.
Justine Abson:Yeah. And that's that's really good to know as well. I think, you know, like we've we've mentioned, people are There is that huge passion there. So, yeah, I kinda I can definitely see that how that works without a doubt. So, obviously, in health care, not everything goes right all of the time.
Justine Abson:You know, there's there are things that go wrong. So, you know, we all know negative PR can happen. It's inevitable. So what advice would you give an organization in the event of something happening? And, you know, what should they do?
Justine Abson:What should they how should they react in in the event of a crisis?
Lauren Wilden:So I think, obviously, it depends on the crisis, and it depends on exactly sort of the the level of seriousness. But I think, sort of, to give a a general overview, it's important to stay as authentic and transparent as possible, if if sort of particular decisions or actions are being questioned or having sort of negative repercussions, especially in the press or online social media. I mean, obviously, a big if you if you're in in that respect. I think in and especially instead of sort of trying to hide something or trying to sort of keep it from going public, that's obviously gonna have negative consequences, and that's all and I think, you know, a a brand or an organization admitting when they've done something wrong or when something wasn't the right decision or the right, measures to take, is key to maintaining trust or, you know, putting their hands up and saying, we we made this decision and it was the wrong one, or we we did this and it was the wrong thing to do. I think that's even more important for those operating in the health care sector because, obviously, you know, your your task is very important, complex information.
Lauren Wilden:You know, it's it's people's lives in some in some instances, so they're sort of trying to get their messaging across to the public audiences and to stakeholders involved in understandable make make it understandable, making it adjustable, again, that we were talking about before, and just really making sure that they're accountable for their actions and not trying to hide it. That that would be sort of the the key key takeaway.
Justine Abson:Yeah. I think that that, authenticity side of of that is is definitely really key. Yeah. I think that was a that's a really, really important important point there. So we've discussed lots of different things, today.
Justine Abson:So I guess, finally, what are the biggest benefits, of PR and health care that you would pass on to our listeners?
Rebecca Moss:Oh, Okay. So I would say trust and credibility are we've been going about it the whole podcast. But I do genuinely think those are the 2 things that are really, really going to help health care brands who have not done this before really see the benefit of it straight away. Again, search engine rankings, everything that we do, these traditional PR techniques but with a digital mindset, that is going to help with performance of websites no matter what you do. If you're getting links into the sites, if you're getting coverage that has links back to specific pages, which is something that we are very, very focused on at JVH.
Rebecca Moss:You know, the performance aspect on it, how is it going to impact your, like, businesses bottom lines? Those those are the things that, I would say the biggest benefit is you can literally measure them and see the impact. And then more broadly kind of thought leadership. So getting your experts into the press and getting them talking about things that they're most passionate about. So when we spoke to you guys when we first started, we had like an onboarding session.
Rebecca Moss:We went through everything. We asked you kind of what your experts are most passionate about? What do they care the most about? And if we can tap into that as a PR agency, we're gonna look at that relationship between client and agency. We're gonna be able to extract those really, really interesting bits out of you guys.
Rebecca Moss:So it's a little bit of a technique that we use to make sure that we're doing things that your experts really care about and you care about as a brand. So that's another thing that I would say is a really big benefit is finding out what you're passionate about and using that for you, for your PR. Again, things like traditional permits, like share of voice. You know, there's not a lot of brands in this space doing in your particular space, for example, there's not a lot of brands doing the digital PR side of things. You know?
Rebecca Moss:So there is an opportunity that basically within the trick, I would say. I mean I mean, like, you know, crisis comes. Lauren spoke at length about that before. It is something that happens and how you deal with it. And then again, educating educating and sharing information.
Rebecca Moss:I would say that is a really, really big benefit because not a lot of potentially, not a lot of people know what these brands do as a business. You might not be out there. You might not have a huge amount of brand awareness out there. But by continually doing the digital PR and working on your visibility, working on your search engine rankings, it will eventually get there. So I would say, overall, those are the key things that we really, really care about, for brands in the the health care sector.
Justine Abson:And I think they're, they're all really, really useful things for our listeners to to take away from this this podcast as well, which is exactly the the kind of point in it. So at the end of each episode, we ask everybody to share what the health tech moment. So this question is a bit of fun. It's all about us here and not everybody's weird and wonderful stories or things that you might have experienced in particular within the health and social care industry, or any kind of life changing moments, I guess, that you've had that relate to health and social care. So, Lauren, I know you've got a what the health tech moments.
Justine Abson:I'm gonna gonna come to you on this this last
Lauren Wilden:question. Yes. Obviously, when you say life changing, it probably was the most life changing day of my life. So, mine is when I gave birth to my daughter. So, that was in 2018, she was born, and it was a bit of a drama filled day in term in in terms of I couldn't have the initial water birth that, I originally wanted.
Lauren Wilden:I won't go into details why. And I can actually have her in the hospital that I originally wanted at the birth center, so I had to go to Gloucester Gloucester Royal Hospital. And, obviously, you know, as you speak to any expecting them, you have a very sort of clear birth plan and idea of what you wanna, what the process you wanna go through when you're pregnant, and it basically just did a 360. You couldn't do what I wanted to do initially. So I was obviously panicking in the car going over to Gloucester Gloucestershire Oil.
Lauren Wilden:But, honestly, it was the most amazing experience. The midwives there that I I I was lucky enough to, have look after me that day were incredible. They were so kind. My main midwife, Jade, who, my partner sort of been there for so long, and she wanted to sort of help, the birth help me with the actual pushing section, so I say. And, yeah, it was just sort of a I mean, they were just so kind, so lovely.
Lauren Wilden:They put sort of myself, my mum, and my partner at ease because, obviously, we were all sort of really scared. And, yeah, they were just a huge source of support and comfort the whole way through from when we got got admitted at half past 2 in the afternoon till lunchtime the next day. Everyone was just sort of so lovely. And, yeah, I can't I can't, speak highly of them enough. I know midwives can get a bit of a bit of slack sometimes, but, yeah, our our experience was amazing.
Justine Abson:Oh, that's so lovely. That's a really, really nice story to hear. And I think, like you said, you know, midwives are amazing. You know, I think it comes back to that, what we're talking about earlier in the podcast as well about how passionate people are. You know, the fact that Yeah.
Justine Abson:Your midwife wanted to stay to kinda see you through the the the main bit, if you like, that, you know, she really wanted to kind of make sure you were you were okay. So, yeah, I think that's a a really lovely story to to end on for our our listeners. So thank you very much for that, Lauren, and thank you both for for joining us this week. It's been a really good episode. Thank you everyone else for listening.
Justine Abson:So next week, we're gonna speak to Chloe Weatherhead, who is head of customer experience at Radar Healthcare. Chloe Chloe's gonna be talking to us about the top tips when it comes to a successful implementation, so don't miss that one. Don't forget to rate and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you have any questions for us or our guests, please email what the health tech at radarhealthcare.com.
