icnmgrjill
12-05-2004, 08:24 AM
Atleast once a year, we have patients on the ICN organizing a campaign to write Oprah and the other talk shows with a desperate hope that they will cover IC. We've yet to succeed though she came close, once, with a story on painful intercourse. Yet, for all of these few failures, there are many more PR success stories! IC has had hundreds of major media stories in the past ten years, due in great part to the work of a legion of passionate, dedicated IC patients around the country .
Case in point is IC patient Marie Grimes, of California. Marie single handledly got an article in the Readers Digest after years of trying. That single article helped thousands of IC patients get diagnosed. What's important to understand, though, is that Marie is a very humble, down to earth woman who'd be the first to say "I'm not special." She doesn't have a lot of fancy college degrees. She didn't write a slick, fancy piece on IC. She just told her story.... and the stories of patients around the country who were suffering. That's what got their attention.
Remember this theme.... newspapers don't want to do fluff pieces on non profit organizations or businesses. They are bombarded with ridiculous press releases announcing grants and a whole bunch of boring nonsense. What they DO want are life stories. They want to hear how a life has been changed in their community... for the better or for the worse. They want a face to attach to their story... not just statistics. They don't want to promote a group... they want to help a person. That's PR 101.
So, perhaps the greatest gift that you can give this holiday season is to tell YOUR story to YOUR local newspaper.
#1 - Find out who the health or lifestyle editors are.
#2 - Write a brief letter sharing how IC has changed your life, how hard it was to find doctors who understood it. Let them know that there are thousands of patients in the USA who struggle, including many in your county who may not know that they can be treated. Tell them that you'd love to talk with a writer about your experience, as well as to gather the latest statistics on IC (I'll help you there). Ask them to call or email you if they are interested... and if they aren't... don't take it personally. Try another newspaper instead!
#3 - If you get a call back... then I'll help you gather the latest statistics, etc. etc.
Good luck!
That's the news from the ICN offices, where we're sneezing, wheezing and freezing!
Case in point is IC patient Marie Grimes, of California. Marie single handledly got an article in the Readers Digest after years of trying. That single article helped thousands of IC patients get diagnosed. What's important to understand, though, is that Marie is a very humble, down to earth woman who'd be the first to say "I'm not special." She doesn't have a lot of fancy college degrees. She didn't write a slick, fancy piece on IC. She just told her story.... and the stories of patients around the country who were suffering. That's what got their attention.
Remember this theme.... newspapers don't want to do fluff pieces on non profit organizations or businesses. They are bombarded with ridiculous press releases announcing grants and a whole bunch of boring nonsense. What they DO want are life stories. They want to hear how a life has been changed in their community... for the better or for the worse. They want a face to attach to their story... not just statistics. They don't want to promote a group... they want to help a person. That's PR 101.
So, perhaps the greatest gift that you can give this holiday season is to tell YOUR story to YOUR local newspaper.
#1 - Find out who the health or lifestyle editors are.
#2 - Write a brief letter sharing how IC has changed your life, how hard it was to find doctors who understood it. Let them know that there are thousands of patients in the USA who struggle, including many in your county who may not know that they can be treated. Tell them that you'd love to talk with a writer about your experience, as well as to gather the latest statistics on IC (I'll help you there). Ask them to call or email you if they are interested... and if they aren't... don't take it personally. Try another newspaper instead!
#3 - If you get a call back... then I'll help you gather the latest statistics, etc. etc.
Good luck!
That's the news from the ICN offices, where we're sneezing, wheezing and freezing!