Cori McKeever

Thank you to PRNEWS for publishing my piece on lessons brands and communications leaders can learn from the recent fallout at NBC News and the pitfalls of binary thinking. "This debacle is one of many scenarios that remind us of why deliberate, well-coordinated and consistent internal communications are even more important in today’s climate where sensitive information leaks are becoming commonplace." If you're so inclined, you can read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eSjSG26d

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I just got back from moderating an all-star panel on public affairs communications at the 2024 PRWeek Healthcare Conference in NYC. Huge thanks to panelists Ray Carson of The ALS Association, Ryan Anderson of HCA Healthcare, and Jake Farmer of Walgreens. After working with these experts on impactful state legislative and amendment campaigns, I can confidently say they’re among the nation’s most savvy government relations leaders. It was great having such a wealth of knowledge and expertise on one stage! Here are 6 public affairs tips and takeaways from our discussion — all relevant whether you’re advocating in healthcare or another industry: 1️⃣ Know Your Lawmakers Tailor messaging strategies based on knowledge your lobby team gains from their deep connections in the state capital, combined with insights from your PR team. Research key lawmakers to understand how personal experiences may influence their decision-making, such as work history or unique perspectives like military service. 2️⃣ Offer Clear Solutions Lawmakers don’t want to act as problem solvers for every issue. Ensure messaging offers clear solutions and positions your organization as a partner, not just another special interest group. Demonstrate how you’ve implemented private sector solutions and highlight the need for statutory or regulatory changes to overcome remaining obstacles. 3️⃣ Go Local Share local insights, relationships, and constituent stories when communicating with lawmakers. Identify advocates in each member’s district who understand your top issues and can speak on your behalf. Local perspectives can tip the scales in your favor, often outweighing the influence of capital insiders. 4️⃣ Build Coalitions National advocacy groups on the fringes of the political spectrum are increasingly using state legislatures as a farm system. Counter these vocal fringe voices by investing more time and effort in recruiting trusted coalition partners. 5️⃣ Be the Early Bird Public affairs is a team sport. Assemble your team – including lobbyists, PR professionals, and lawyers – early in the planning process. Invite them to strategy meetings to foster collaboration. Don’t wait until legislative session to activate your PR outreach and grassroots advocacy efforts. 6️⃣ Trust Your PR Team! Engage a PR firm that specializes in public affairs and gets how the game is played. Lean on them to help define a clear narrative, develop messaging, and provide ‘air cover’ with consistent positive messaging to combat misinformation.

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Navigating the complexities of technology markets can feel like wandering through a maze. Without the right guide, it’s easy to get lost. Many PR agencies might lead you in circles, trying to learn your industry as they go. You need a partner who knows the way, with a deep understanding of your sector and established media relationships. This knowledge can turn a daunting maze into a clear path forward. Seek out the experts who can guide you straight to your goals. Looking for direction? See what that might look like: https://lnkd.in/ejvu8yQE #PRStrategy #B2B #IndustryExpertise #RankinPR #TechPR

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Want to know what healthcare brands are thinking about for PR and communications in 2024? Check out the thoughts from my colleague Stephanie Fergione in PRWeek! #PR #Communications #Healthcare #AI

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PRWeek's great 2024 Business Report highlights the key challenge facing our industry. Communications is more important than ever. Comms and policy leaders are being asked to play far larger roles as business partners supporting ever more stakeholders. So why did the industry suffer so much in 2023 after many years of growth? As an sector, we are not adapting fast enough to the needs. Organizations are desperate for help but also under tremendous financial strain. They now need both senior level counsel and advisory support as well as deep domain expertise to actually produce. By and large, our industry is still split by this chasm - between strategic and tactical. Clients cannot afford to separate these, either in time or money. At Bully Pulpit International our goal is to bridge this divide, building a team that can both 'think and do' at the highest levels. It's not always easy. Last year was a challenge. But if you share this vision for the future, please check out some of our open roles: https://lnkd.in/dGQwJUSG

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Why do we do PR? Well, I would answer it's because trust and confidence among all audiences is at historic lows—an avg of 28%. With low/no trust, there is no commerce, there are no deals and business GRINDS to a halt. So, THAT is why we do PR. https://lnkd.in/g9M-_JQ4 #publicrelations, #pr, #trust, #credibility

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🔬 Delve into the pivotal role of Immedia in shaping the narrative surrounding the groundbreaking Human Genome Meeting. Learn how our strategic PR approach elevated understanding and dialogue around the ethical, legal, and societal impacts of genome research, driving innovation in medicine and beyond in our new Results blog. #Genomics #MedicalInnovation https://lnkd.in/eQVPMTcp

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Social media is fragmenting with greater velocity, making choosing the right places to both listen and get your message out ever more complex. This Wired piece is a good 4 min read on the ever changing social media landscape. When my daughter was 13 and itching to get on Facebook, I set us up with an account I monitored—only people I knew could be her friend, privacy locked down, training for her, my constant monitoring. I had it nailed. That summer she innocently opened an Instagram account and before I ever even knew what an Instagram was or that she was on it, she had more than 500 automatically suspicious followers. I hit the roof but learned quickly the pace of change in the social media world. And the value of educating and preparing kids to be social media savvy because we’ll never be able to keep up. We often think Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram are the be all end all of social media listening or presence, but take it all with a grain of salt and a shrewd analysis to inform strategy. Truth Social, Discord, and even Reddit are increasing fragmentation, echo chambers, and signal we must balance what we think is happening on social when we see a tweet or open our Facebook page. There’s more there than meets the eye.

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Beware the AI bear trap that turns thought leadership into thought laggardship. Don't get me wrong: AI is a transformational technology, but it's not a silver bullet. In this piece for our Edelman website, I'm looking at the AI pitfalls that companies must avoid. https://lnkd.in/e377u73i #thoughtleadership #ai #artificialintelligence #content #goodwriting

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The latest edition of our Compass for the Chaos newsletter discusses challenges presented by the unsteady and complicated election-year environment for brand marketers and corporate communicators alike. #webershandwick #compassforthechaos #brandsafety #corporatecommunications 

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Great insight from Alphonse Daudré-Vignier of Weber Shandwick in PRovoke Media on the challenges and real opportunities that generative AI brings for crisis communications, and the exciting ways we are embedding it at every step of crisis response and issues management. #crisis #genAI #crisiscommunications https://lnkd.in/eS-9zrbS

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Sixty years ago Marshall McLuhan made the bold suggestion that the Medium is the Message. I wonder what he'd say about today's media-fragmented society? To simplify McLuhan's theory: He argued the way we communicate a message (the channel) has a direct impact on how that message is received. In The Wall Street Journal this morning Suzanne Vranica writes about how brands are moving away from television advertising and redirecting those dollars to mediums that are more relevant to targeted audiences like TikTok. It's clear that Prime Time television in the U.S. is no longer "must see TV" but when advertisers leave it then decline is inevitable. The same thing happened to another medium - newspapers. In a mass media world, should the medium be dictated by what entertains the masses most? I worry that if we continue to go down that road the result will be little more than dumb show and noise. It all makes me think about this Edward Albee quote from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf": "Dashed hopes and good intentions. Good, better, best, bested” In this instance, prime time TV was once good, then cable came along and was better, eventually we had streaming and social media and some thought that was best. In the end maybe all it has amounted too is the message (and maybe truth) getting bested. If you want to be part of the conversation on attaining Relevance with key stakeholders subscribe to The Relevance Report. Subscribe on LinkedIn https://lnkd.in/dqccYc9z #BeRelevant #PublicRelations

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Much of this is born out of necessity (particularly the attribution space) with the unprecedented complexity brought about by so many marketing/consumer touchpoints and the desire to understand incremental return......the use cases are limitless. There is no platform - whether walled garden or purpose-built stand-alone solution - that solves for this. It requires "Triangulation" - or some form of multi-disciplinary approach.

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Let me know if you would like an introduction.

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Kickstarter campaign to consider from Michael Miller - new book on health misinformation: I’ve spent most of my time over the past 4 years on vaccine confidence and misinformation. And for the past 18 months, I’ve been working on a book about how people can reverse misinformation in their family, friends, and community. I strongly believe that if we don’t act soon – to both reverse misinformation and prevent it from spreading in the future – we will be unprepared for future microbial and civil disruption outbreaks.   The three levels of value the book will provide to readers are: -Reducing friction in relationships with misinformed people -Decreasing the spread of misinformation -Loosening people’s grip on misinformation, which will lead them to do things like getting vaccinated   To accelerate availability of the book – and raise awareness of the toxicity of misinformation – I recently launched a Kickstarter campaign (https://lnkd.in/g7az793S), which includes 2 videos and other information. Please check out that page – and support it to the extent you are able.    A major reason for this Kickstarter campaign is to gauge real-world interest in the book, so please share the link and your perspectives on the seriousness of misinformation with people you know so they can provide comments and potentially support the campaign. Since the plan is to have the book available in August, the scope of interest in the Kickstarter campaign will determine the amount of outside help I get in refining and finishing the book.   Let me know if you have any questions about the book or Kickstarter campaign. And in case it’s of interest, the press release is here: https://lnkd.in/gvCbaBdb   Thanks & Best Wishes, Mike p.s. A podcast interview I did about vaccine misinformation will be dropping soon.   Michael D. Miller, MD

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“I just need a few key messages that I should hit.” It’s a common request that every communications pro has encountered many times ahead of a media interview. And if you’re anything like me, you roll your eyes. Why? Because key messages are fine and good, but only if they are used to form a broader narrative. More often than not, they’re seen as a license to be repetitive, robotic and focused only on your own outcome. Brute-forcing key messages down a reporter’s throat doesn’t help them do their job. Media opportunities are a two way street - you give value, share expertise and contextualize whatever you’re talking about in exchange for the profile the media outlet can give you and your business. The best and only way to respect this duality is to shape a simple and memorable story which contains the messages you want to hit, and which shows instead of telling why what you’re discussing is important and meaningful. I used to keep a folder of video clips that could’ve been titled “when key messages go wrong” - often depicting some hapless executive or politician stumbling through a repeated response straight from the message sheet he or she was handed. They universally looked silly and unprepared, and the interview did nothing but undermine trust and damage the speaker’s reputation. Next time, before the camera starts rolling, think about a story instead of a key message. Your brand will thank you.

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Transparency, AI, Prevention: WHA Learnings On The Future Of Healthcare PR - may:be's PR oped wrap-up from #WHA77 is now live in PRovoke Media. The landscape of healthcare communications and PR has changed drastically in recent years, and the transformations we’ve seen so far are only just the beginning... this is the sentiment I shared with many PR & comms colleagues last week in Geneva for #WHA77, hosted by the World Health Organization. Read our collective insights and prepare for the future of healthcare PR. #callmemaybe #PR #healthcarePR

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Great insights from Jack Murphy on Waystar's S-1 filing! As the IPO market heats up with Waystar following #Rurik, #Reddit, and #AsteraLabs, it's essential for comms teams to understand the strategic elements in these filings. Check out how Waystar uses various levers like customer testimonials, AI integration, and its diverse client base to help build investor confidence. A must-read for anyone navigating the path to public markets. If you have an IPO on the horizon, check out our IPO Playbook: https://lnkd.in/gc-VvN5h ....or get in touch with the Brands2Life team. #IPO #CommsStrategy #Waystar #AI #CustomerSuccess #InvestorRelations

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