Three Things to Include in Your Funding Round Press Release

Press Release WritingINTRODUCTION

Congratulations, your healthcare IT startup has raised a round of funding. Now, how do you get media coverage? One tip for announcing a round of funding includes writing and distributing a press release. This is important because it’s a cost-effective communication method, and it creates brand awareness among your target audience and next round of potential investors.

Don’t let writing a press release be a daunting task. Include the following three things in your next funding round release.

1. Include all relevant details in first paragraph

An informative title isn’t enough. Journalists expect the most important information be included in the first paragraph, so include the who (your company), what (e.g. raised $1 million in its Series A financing round), when (e.g. that closed on Monday), why (e.g. to grow staff and expand marketing efforts) and how (e.g. HealthX Ventures led the round). Give the media basic information of the investment, supplemented with the investors who participated in the round. Use words like “largest funding” or “record setting” to keep readers’ interests.

2. Supply a useful quotation

Keep in mind that quotations that list simple facts are worthless. Your health tech startup’s CEO or founder should use pre-determined talking points in a quotation, and those talking points should stress value. Bad: “We had three investors in a round that lasted five months.” Good: “This money will further our mission of helping providers reduce costs.”

3. Include additional background info

Don’t assume every reporter knows the entire history of your company. After the quotation, consider including a paragraph to recite major points (e.g. “since completing the Pulse@MassChallenge accelerator program in 2016, [your company] has raised $2.3 million, grown to 12 full-time employees and increased annual revenue to $4 million”). From there, add information that would support a story (e.g. statistics, immediate next steps, new hospital clients, etc.).

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Revelation PR, Advertising & Social Media offers healthcare IT companies and startups services related to media relations, email marketing, investor relations, tradeshow marketing, content marketing and social media management. Please contact Brian Lee, brian [at] experiencerevelation.com or 608-622-7767.

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How to Position Your Staff as Subject Matter Experts

INTRODUCTION

Does your hospital or health tech expertcompany want to have the reputation as being the best in certain areas? Perhaps your hospital is renowned for orthopedics, or your startup’s CTO has special insights on interoperability?

Positioning a staff member as a subject matter expert (SME) will earn your company credibility among your target audiences. That’s because people want to do business with experts. In other words, would you want to go to an OB/GYN who knew the least about women’s health?

Your SMEs also will serve as the “go-to” person to answer questions from the media, if you brand them correctly. Following are tips for positioning your staff as subject matter experts.

WHO SHOULD BE SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS

To maximize the effectiveness of subject matter experts, choose ones that matter to your target audiences. Let’s take a look at an example for a health tech company focused on helping radiologists: No offense to the developers who created your SaaS, but the radiologists probably prefer to hear from a DO than a programmer.

Make sure the SMEs are experienced and/or hold some type of management position (vice president, professional services team, etc.). They also need to know about the mission and business objectives of your IDN or HIT company. Each month may be different, but generally, you need to find SMEs that can allot 2-3 hours/month to carry out their duties.

HOW TO USE SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS

The value of your subject matter experts comes from being able to use them in a variety of ways, such as media relations, content marketing and public speaking.

Prior to any kind of interviews, each SME needs to go through a media training session, in which they will learn how to succinctly respond to reporters’ questions while working in your key messaging strategy.

Use subject matter experts in content marketing to add credibility and authenticity. They are likely already keeping up with what’s going on in your industry–for example, MACRA, Affordable Care Act, telehealth, etc.–so it shouldn’t be too hard to have them provide insights on those topics.

Similar to media interviews, you should have SMEs go through presentation training before you send them out in public. Tradeshows, conferences, TED Talks and symposiums are ideal venues for you to showcase your SMEs because they can talk in technical detail with audiences or attendees.

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