The Ottawa Hospital’s media relations expert explains the importance of communication
While reading a newspaper article, watching a news program, or listening to your favourite podcast, do you ever think about what goes on behind-the-scenes to make the piece engaging, entertaining and informative?
That’s where media relations, communications and knowing what is important for your audience comes in.
In our fourth Talk with HIROC episode, we sat down with Michaela Schreiter, Media Relations Officer, at The Ottawa Hospital, who took time out of her day to talk to us more about the importance of community building through storytelling, partnerships and of course, the media.
Michaela started things off with four great tips for those who may have to work with the media:
- Before responding to the media about a news story that is brewing, make sure you’re aware and understand the situation.
- Be honest with what you can provide the media and your response time. Think about things from their perspective – they have tight deadlines, and time pressures. Understand where they’re coming from and how you can help.
- Have and build good relationships – it will help build trust on both ends.
- Have you checked what other media stories have been published about this topic? Is your team the best people to speak about this media request or should another organization be able to provide a better response instead?
Michaela followed up the conversation by focusing on the value of open communication with your team, as well as with partners. She shared how fostering positive relationships have become so much more important during the COVID-19 pandemic - setting up a regular touchpoint, or a standing meeting where people can bring their expertise together and talk about what everyone’s working on is so important.
Going with the flow, she added how keeping partners informed on a regular basis about what is happening in case they get a similar request can allow both groups to present opportunities for collaboration with an open line of communication - seeing things from their perspective can go a long way for all.
Storytelling, whether it’s a podcast or written article, can fit into the centre of the big picture for what’s important.
Michaela shared how storytelling is one of the most effective and captivating ways to get information out there, and is so much more enjoyable than just listing facts. A good story will not only keep people engaged and involved, but is also a chance to inject some emotion into what’s being shared - people will remember how something made them feel.
“Good storytelling lets us view our goals from a higher level. It contributes not only to the reputation of an organization, but reminds us how each and every one of us can have an emotional connection to an organization.”
Instead of sharing a fact like how many surgeries a hospital performs each year, Michaela suggests that a better storyteller could talk about how a surgery changed their life. It’s what people remember and instills faith in an organization.
On what to do if you see a great story but your interview subject is shy:
“That’s a big challenge. I think the interviewee must ask themselves if a podcast or video is the right way to go. Talking to your guest before an interview can really help calm them down, but also gives me a chance to get to know them. Setting expectations and letting them know what to expect and putting their minds at ease can go a long way.”
On how to know your communication is working:
“That’s the eternal question for communicators. The internet has really changed things for us – our output is easily measured – how many people have clicked on it, how long someone’s read a story, where they saw our story, where they were coming from – was it social media or an organic search? However, the most important point is: what did our audience take from it? Did they get the message we were trying to convey?”
Want to learn more? Michaela will be speaker at the upcoming Communications in Healthcare Conference – HIROC is an educational partner of the event and registration is FREE.
Want to check out more episodes from the series?
Just head on over to HIROC’s LinkedIn page and you’ll find all the episodes under the “video” tab as well as in our feed.
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Some of the topics we’ve featured so far include:
- Innovation
- Insurance
- Human factors
- Claims and legal perspective
Truly something for all of our viewers – and we’re excited to bring you more unique topics and engaging guests over the coming weeks.
By Marco Ouji, Senior Communications Specialist, HIROC