How healthcare companies can use surveys to make headlines
Proprietary data - information that is created and owned by your organisation - can be incredibly valuable.
The right data can power evidence-based breakthrough campaigns that cut through the noise and change perceptions and behaviours. When the resulting healthcare PR campaign is built carefully around a health organisation’s core purpose, it can also add real substance to its positioning.
A recent report by the media monitoring platform Cision found that the majority of journalists want news pitches to include ‘compelling data or statistics’. New data, packaged into a compelling health campaign and narrative, can also help organisations to engage other stakeholders too, from politicians to healthcare professional associations to members of the public.
The power of surveys
One way to generate compelling data is through surveys. They can be conducted either with the support of third-party research companies or, if you are fortunate to have access to a large niche community, you can use self-serve platforms like Microsoft Forms or SurveyMonkey. Whatever the method, when done well, surveys can be an invaluable tool for collecting proprietary data and making your campaigns ‘newsworthy’.
At Evergreen PR, we have decades of collective experience in crafting impactful, rigorous surveys that uncover unique data, and in packaging these insights to create breakthrough health campaigns for healthcare companies, charities and service providers.
For example, working with the Royal College of GPs to drive uptake of their Veteran Friendly GP Practice accreditation scheme, we sought to understand veterans’ healthcare experiences through a carefully designed survey of the ex-armed forces community.
This survey was completed by 5,000 veterans and revealed that many struggle with their health but don’t visit their GP for fear of not being understood by a civilian - which could put them at-risk. By getting ‘Veteran Friendly Accredited’ though, GP practice teams can access education on veterans' unique health needs while also sending a strong signal to veterans that they will be understood.
This data formed the basis of our breakthrough health campaign, Taking Veteran Healthcare Mainstream, which made a persuasive case for GP practices to sign up for Veteran Friendly accreditation to better support their veteran patients.
The campaign secured some 170+ mentions in the media and across healthcare association channels, including 12-minutes on BBC Breakfast, 9-minutes on BBC Morning Live, and coverage from LBC, The Guardian, The Independent, the BMJ. The result was an extended four month spike in the number of sign-ups, resulting in 10% of all GP practices signing up to become Veteran Friendly accredited in the campaign period.
But how can healthcare companies and organisations use surveys to generate impactful data and underpin successful PR campaigns?
Creating surveys that make headlines
The Evergreen PR method for creating surveys starts with the end in mind. Before developing a single question, we work to develop an evidence-informed ‘hypothesis’ headline and narrative that can be built out through survey data.
To inform our predicted headline and narrative, we conduct extensive desk research and stakeholder interviews that give us a deep understanding of the topic we are focusing on. The thoroughness of this research not only gives us certainty that the issue we are addressing is an important one, it also gives us confidence to know what questions will help us to tell this story.
By keeping in mind the headline and data we want to generate, as outlined in this document, we can focus on targeting the right survey population and crafting the questions that will underpin each of our narrative arguments, while having clarity on the specific statements that we will be able to make as a result of each data point.
Other best practice tips
Keep it simple: For public or non-technical audiences, the language used should be as simple as possible.
Keep it short: The temptation to create long surveys with questions covering every aspect of an issue is strong. Resist it. Ideally, a survey should have 10–15 questions or less. Having the story you want to tell clear in your mind is helpful for prioritising which questions to include.
Keep it representative: When polling the public, a sample size of 2,000 nationally representative adults is considered the gold standard. It also allows you to break down your data by gender, ethnicity and religion to identify nuances in experience and highlight potential inequalities. For niche communities, that sample size can be lower.
Keep it open: When possible, create questions with multiple options, as they provide more data points that can be grouped or analysed further. Single-answer questions should only be used when a question has a definitive ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Final thoughts
Surveys are one of the most powerful tools in a health PR and communication professional’s toolbox for securing compelling proprietary data. This data, if packaged and shared in the right way, can be used to secure media coverage, earn stakeholder support, strengthen arguments, and ultimately drive tangible outcomes for a healthcare company or organisation.
But doing so requires thoughtful planning, insight gathering, and a keen eye for what truly makes a newsworthy statistic. And that’s before you’ve written a single question.
About the author
Chris Hayter is Research and Media Relations Officer at Evergreen PR, the healthcare PR agency that makes health happen.
Chris has extensive experience of driving forward programmes of activity that generate meaningful impact for charities, royal colleges, health professional bodies, and med-tech and health-tech clients.
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