07 August 2009
The Power of the Mail
There is no doubt our media is becoming
increasingly fragmented. Due to the onslaught and inevitability of
the web our national newspapers are facing a year-on-year average
drop of 4.5% and according to the Guardian, witnessing a downward
trend that is accelerating. So, does this mean ignore your
newspapers and join the millions of others who have become
statistical unique users for the web teams each a
month?
Not according to our recent survey and experience. We recently
surveyed 2,000 people from across the UK about what media and
information influence their healthcare choices. 24% of respondents
read the Daily Mail which was only surpassed or matched by the
local free or paid for newspapers. Now, if you mention the Daily
Mail to a GP or clinician, it usually receives a sharp intake of
breath or an eye rolling expression though increasingly more are
starting to see the need to use its influence.
With its ABC-audited circulation of over 2.2 million, our PR
team regularly witnesses the power of the Daily Mail and Mail on
Sunday when promoting private healthcare services and treatments.
Recently the team has placed a number of high profile articles on
behalf of its clients on subjects ranging from bariatric and
cosmetic surgery, to age related muscular degeneration and bunion
removal.
For Spire Healthcare we recently placed an article to promote
the private practice of a bariatric surgeon. Mr Super and his
multidisciplinary team were being featured in 'The Hospital' a
Channel Four documentary about the NHS treatment of obesity. To
ensure that Spire Healthcare and Spire Parkway, the hospital where
he holds his private practices, would not miss out on his increased
profile, our PR team pitched a press release based on the fact he
had performed over 2,000 gastric band procedures. Less than two
weeks after the consultant led and case study backed article
appeared in the Mail on Sunday, and as a direct result of the media
coverage, Spire had received numerous telephone and email
enquiries, resulting in over 20 appointments being booked for
consultation. Mr Super is now booked to capacity for bariatric
surgery
over the coming months.
Similarly the European Foot Institute asked our PR team to
promote its pioneering two minute bunion operation introduced in
the UK by Dr Dieter Nollau, a German orthopaedic surgeon and
medical director of the European Foot Institute. We promoted the
two minute bunion operation in the Mail on Sunday using a case
study who had undergone the treatment, highlighting the less
invasive procedure resulting in a swift return to normal life.
Susann Parker from the European Foot Institute commented,
"Within hours of the article appearing in the Mail on Sunday our
phones started ringing with enquiries about the two minute bunion
operation. The article appeared in the Mail on Sunday in April and
we are booked to capacity until October 2009. The results have been
absolutely fantastic."