Telum recently spoke with PMA Marketing Consultancy's Ada Li about how the health sector has been impacted this year by COVID-19 and the importance of thought leadership campaigns in medical PR.

PMA Marketing is focused on health clients. In the past year, health has become even more important with the current COVID-19 pandemic, how has this impacted the industry?
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it had a negative impact to the business of our clients. As some patients are worried about the risk of infection, they postponed or even cancelled their doctor appointment. Every party in the industry is looking for ways to maintain buzz and raise sales under this difficult time.

As a firm providing solutions, we strive to figure out efficient ways for our clients to reach their potential customers that reduce the frequency of going out and joining events. We transformed the format of planned offline events to online / hybrid format within short lead times, so as to help our clients to keep engaging the target audiences as part of their marketing plans.

How important is thought leadership in Medical PR? What is the change in the industry recently?
Thought leadership is important for the healthcare industry to position them as trusted sources of expertise. The building of trust could not be done with a one-off initiative, instead long-term commitment to the community is a must. Instead of solely chasing for coverage, PMA Marketing provides practical suggestions to clients while also looking into the bigger picture.   

Apart from media relations, our PR Team juggles thought leadership and issue management for our clients. As a trend in the industry, we also work with our clients for patient empowerment and advocacy work. A decade ago, patients still tended to rely on doctors for prescription and instruction. Nowadays, patients crave information about their diseases, treatment options and access to treatment. They are willing to be informed and involved in the decision-making on how they would be treated. The patients become more knowledgeable and vocal, making them capable to help themselves to better access to treatment via advocacy work.

Your career has seen you working at big international PR firms and you’ve now been with a small specialised firm for the past 3+ years. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of working in an independent firm?
Without a big name like the international agencies, we need to spend time and effort to build up our portfolio and reputation, especially at the start-up stage. As a PR, I strongly believe in the importance of reputation. Hence, the whole company pays attention to every single detail as it is a long way to gain the trust of clients. One defect could destroy what we have built for long in a second.

As an independent firm, it provides a good ground for optimisation with high flexibility for changes. The decision-making process is less complicated, without the need to pass through numerous layers and even the parent company. This allows the firm to react to dynamic landscape in a timely manner. We could steer our direction immediately whenever there is any new trend in the industry. Without the multiple approval process, it helps a lot to speed up our reactions to the changes.

Leading the PR team at PMA Marketing, what’s your biggest challenge and how do you overcome it?
My experience working in the international agencies equipped me with the necessary skills for communication and broaden my horizon indeed. I brought these with me when I joined PMA Marketing, and these help me a lot when confronting challenges at different stages.
At the start-up stage of company, we need to set up everything from scratch, including the operational flow, the templates, and the teams as the most valuable asset of the company.

As the healthcare industry is highly regulated, many clients currently aim to look for innovative approaches. Hence, the team needs to be equipped with out-of-the-box mindsets and able to push boundaries. But for sure, we are also the gatekeepers to avoid violation of regulation at the same time. The hiring process was not easy indeed as an industry newbie at start-up stage. Luckily after continuous hunting for talents with specific expertise, the current PR team consists of former journalists, content specialists and PR with abundant experiences. This allows the company to view things / issues and provide solutions from a holistic perspective.

Due to the diversity of team members in terms of background, many people may think it would increase the difficulty to “lead”. However, I believe in the philosophy that being a leader is about bringing out the best in others. People follow the ones who empower them and help them grow. We treasure the energetic talents with creativity and passion, who could inspire each other every day for big ideas!

What’s your go-to health-related publication?
Healthcare is an essential part of life to me and hence we are not only targeting the health-related publications. Instead, we also crave the collaboration with lifestyle and wellness media covering healthcare as part of their content. The PR team has established extensive network with the media, they also wander around various publication, electronic media and online platforms to explore new platforms and new form of collaboration for our clients. For any media who crave health stories, feel free to get in touch with me.