When The Rural Healthcare Program of the Helmsley Charitable Trust granted $14 million to support the purchase of new CT scanners across the upper Midwest, it was a game changer for 37 Critical Access Hospitals and their patients. And the story needed to be told. To share the good news through the media across 37 communities in seven states and in major markets, they came to HenkinSchultz for our public relations expertise. To make sure this important story was picked up by new outlets required a media alert for press conferences in four cities, relevant press releases that highlighted specific hospitals in 37 communities and 37 ads to congratulate the recipients – and timing was essential. According to HenkinSchultz account coordinator Jeremy Wingler, preparing the releases and ads was just the beginning of the process, distributing the press releases and media alerts to the right media people at the right time required lots of legwork, research and phone calls. “There’s no way to guarantee that a newspaper or television station will pick up a story; but if you don’t make the phone calls, send the emails and get out the press releases, you can guarantee they won’t,” said Jeremy. Public relations is the soft spoken sibling in a marketing family filled with more glamorous, colorful and vocal print, radio, television and billboard ads. That doesn’t make it less important. In fact, using unpaid media such as press releases and PSAs is often the best approach to telling your story and although it may start soft, it can make a very strong statement. Let us help you tell your story with a targeted PR campaign that makes an impact.