We’ve all likely traveled with someone who repeatedly asks, “Are we there yet?” Perhaps we’ve even been the person posing the question. It is usually a question rooted in sheer excitement for what the end destination holds, and it is a question that is often met with the answer, “Not yet, but we are getting closer.”
Ever since the ACR announced its inaugural public relations (PR) campaign, there has been a growing sense of excitement among members and leadership. There have been questions about how we will reach our PR goals and objectives, creative bumper sticker slogans shared on the list serves, and conversations about how we will get this effort to the finish line.
The launch of this campaign will be a truly monumental moment for the ACR and for the specialty as a whole because it will help us start to define ourselves, share our work, and—frankly—toot our own horns a bit.
Knowing what a PR campaign can do for our specialty can certainly lead to the kind of excitement that causes us to ask if we are there yet. But to get “there,” we have many steps to take: focusing to establish a starting point; preparing for a marathon, not a sprint; and establishing the willingness to keep going.
Our Starting Point
When the ACR began looking into goals, objectives, and potential audiences for this campaign, there were a number of options to explore. Should we focus on one disease? Should we focus on the general public and patients? Should we establish a presence for ourselves “inside the Beltway,” as the political environment in Washington, D.C., is commonly called?
With so many options, it quickly became clear that establishing one PR campaign that is everything to everyone is not only impossible for rheumatology, but impossible for just about any group. Successful PR campaigns are focused, and our campaign needs to be as well.
Through member research, we established our necessary starting point: educating the people and groups that make decisions affecting rheumatology—we call them influencers. We specifically identified lawmakers, administration officials, referring physicians, and advocacy groups as the influencers that should be targeted in the first phase of the campaign. However, the need for focus doesn’t stop with the audience; it carries over into the campaign’s goal and objectives: advancing rheumatology by elevating the importance of the specialty, increasing the understanding of the work of rheumatologists, and laying a foundation of awareness and understanding that creates more favorable public policy.
We’ve also learned that we need to focus on specific areas of rheumatology in this campaign. With the term arthritis used as an umbrella term for more than 100 diseases and conditions, we need to help our target audiences focus with easily digestible information that will show them the severity of our diseases, why we are the experts in diagnosis and treatment, and the importance of supporting our specialty. With this in mind, the campaign’s first phase focuses on how inflammatory rheumatic diseases attack, disable, and threaten the lives of those living with them, and it sheds light on the role rheumatologists play in rheumatic disease diagnosis and treatment.
The Marathon Ahead
Not only do we need to be focused in this campaign, we need to sustain our efforts—preparing for a marathon, not a sprint, will serve us well in the long run.
We know, through our ongoing advocacy efforts and through working with referring physicians in our practices, that a sustained effort is necessary to create change. We cannot visit Capitol Hill once every five years and expect great legislative outcomes; we cannot reach out to referring physicians the first month our practices open and expect they will remember why it is important to refer people with rheumatic diseases to us; and we cannot dabble in public relations and expect target audiences to value rheumatology. We have to sustain our efforts and provide regular communication, education, and outreach in all of these areas—thus the initial five-year commitment the ACR has made to this campaign.
When we see pink ribbons for Breast Cancer Awareness Month (and pink phones, blenders, t-shirts, etc.), we must remember that that is years in the making. … It will take time for our campaign to gain traction, and we will see small and large movements toward the end result during the next several years.
When we see pink ribbons for Breast Cancer Awareness Month (and pink phones, blenders, t-shirts, etc.), we must remember that that is years in the making. Organizations like Susan G. Komen for the Cure have been in the PR game for a long time. They all took first steps, launched inaugural PR campaigns, and (it is likely) they all came to understand that they’ve entered a marathon, not a sprint. As it did with these organizations, it will take time for our campaign to gain traction, and we will see small and large movements toward the end result during the next several years. Viewing this campaign as a sustained, focused effort will give us the patience needed for the long haul and the preparedness needed for our next steps.
A Willingness to Keep Going
In five years, with $3.75 million spent wisely, we expect to make good headway with these audiences. By this point, they should have increased knowledge of who we are, what we do, why rheumatology is important, and how to engage with us. How far do we go after that? I imagine this initial commitment will yield results that don’t take us to an endpoint but that will instead open doors to new PR opportunities for our specialty.
By understanding that this campaign is a place for us to start, not the final destination, we can create a culture of communication with different target audiences that will support us for years to come. Although this specific campaign will eventually draw to an end—or at the very least change direction—I see it as the initial step towards a long and successful PR program for the ACR. There are other audiences that need to hear our messages. There are other topics to discuss, goals and objectives to reach, and ways to raise the visibility of rheumatology. We’ve only just begun our public relations efforts, and there are many directions we can go at the end of this campaign. Our willingness to engage as members not only in this campaign, but in the future campaigns and PR work of the ACR will be vital to our long-term success.
So, Are We There Yet?
Not yet, but we are getting closer, and adding an official PR program to the ACR’s already established efforts—including a media relations program that positions ACR members as the go-to rheumatology experts for media, advocacy efforts, practice-management books and articles that advise readers on how to market their practices, and collaborative work with other organizations—will advance us greatly.
We have focused our efforts to determine where we need to start with this campaign, and we are preparing for a sustained effort. If we remain willing to keep going, looking for new ways to increase the visibility of rheumatology, we are likely to create positive changes that go beyond name recognition but ripple into other areas of the ACR’s work, such as building the workforce and fundraising.
I’m confident the ACR has moved into an era of using public relations to increase the visibility of our specialty. I share in my fellow members’ excitement to see how far we can advance rheumatology through this campaign, and I look forward to seeing where we can go in the years to follow.
Last month, the Communications and Marketing Committee started placing campaign materials on the ACR website. This section of the website will keep members informed of, and offer opportunities to engage in, the campaign. I encourage you to visit this section of the website often as it becomes more robust with campaign materials and updates and to learn how you can help advance rheumatology among influencers—getting us one step closer to “there.”
Dr. Borenstein is clinical professor of medicine in the division of rheumatology at George Washington University Medical Center, in Washington, D.C., and in private practice at Arthritis and Rheumatism Associates there. Contact him via e-mail at [email protected].
