Valley PR Blog

Grass is greener when it comes to PR in other fields

By Linda VandeVrede on October 27th, 2009 In People

I used to think other industries besides tech were “easier” for PR.   Go ahead, bonk me in the head.

Tech PR challenges, for example,  include startups that don’t always have solid financing, venture capitalists who pressure your company/client to become a star overnight, and self-important marketing executives who disappear as quickly as the drummer in “Spinal Tap.”  

Three Valley communication pros shared with me some of the issues facing them in their industries, so you’re not alone! 

Rachel Pearson, ABC, Director of Corporate Communications for the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau:

• While the general public loves to travel, they don’t always understand the benefits that the tourism industry brings to their community and to them as an individual resident via tax dollars and jobs generated, impact to quality of life, etc.  
• Most recently, we’ve dealt with negative media coverage as well as political rhetoric that underestimates the importance of business meetings, not only to companies and their employees but also to the destinations that host these events (for example, in Scottsdale, business meetings account for 60% of the business at our resorts and hotels).
• Legislation passed within our community and the United States (from guns in bars to national security) can negatively impact our industry – a ripple effect not often considered by legislators or citizens when these laws are passed.
• While Europeans consider vacations to be a necessity rather than a luxury, American travelers often feel the opposite, so travel is one of the first things to be cut or scaled back in a bad economy.

Debra Stevens, APR, Director, Marketing and Communications for the Phoenix Children’s Hospital:

• Communicating about pediatric healthcare means telling stories of children with a variety of health conditions. However, federal health privacy regulations – HIPAA – sometimes restrict our ability to tell these stories. We must sift through a huge number of great stories to find the ones that support our message strategy, then find the right physician expert and prep him or her for an interview, and receive signed parental consent – all on the media’s “need it now” timetable.
• Another challenge for the healthcare industry in Arizona is the impact of the state’s budget woes. Because more than 50 percent of our patients are on AHCCCS, any changes to state Medicaid reimbursement hurt Phoenix Children’s first and worst.  To date, our hospital alone has absorbed approximately $30 million in state cuts. Continued cuts will severely compromise our ability to respond to the growing need for pediatric sub-specialty care.

Paula Pedene, APR, Public Affairs Officer, Phoenix VA Healthcare System:

• I find hospitals don’t always understand how to use PR. We should first be looked at as the ones who can help make our employees and our patients our ambassadors. If they are empowered in the organization and can play a role in PR, it helps. My public affairs committee does community outreach, helps with events, writes stories for our newsletter, creates flyers etc. , so they help in many venues.
• In government the biggest challenges are the regulations against good PR, publicity and outreach. You can feel as if you’re jumping hurdles all the time and it can be frustrating.  In the federal government we need to look at changing the laws so we can do more for our customers.

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Paula, Debra, Rachel and I may be in different industries, but we share the same challenges: having to work through other people to get results, whether it’s executives, customers or media, and rarely having the right budget at our disposal.

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