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Healthcare Media Coverage Matters

November 25, 2015

Positive media coverage is a low cost strategy that has a big impact.

Positive media coverage is a low cost strategy that has a big impact.

Rosewood Centers for Eating Disorders wanted to increase its brand awareness and reestablish itself as an international eating disorder expert. Rosewood is a fully accredited and licensed inpatient behavioral health facility based in Wickenburg, Arizona. Its experienced multidisciplinary team provides comprehensive care for all stages of recovery from anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and co-occurring addictions and mood disorders for men, women, and adolescents. To accomplish its brand strategy goals, Rosewood partnered with Quaintise in June 2015 and focused part of its marketing strategy on increasing media coverage.

Positive media coverage offers great exposure for any business—including healthcare. It provides a big impact for little cost. Media coverage builds brand awareness and credibility because people tend to trust information that they read from various publications and websites. Media coverage can also help healthcare organizations improve search rankings, differentiate themselves from competitors, dispel common healthcare myths, and support new business growth such as a new service offering, location, or product.

Here is an inside look at the results Rosewood achieved in just four months by focusing on media coverage and improving its article engagement through social media.

Media Wins

Currently, Rosewood has more than eighty media contacts in the eating disorder space. It developed strong relationships with editors and writers at targeted publications, including Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, and Yahoo Health.It also designated Dena Cabrera, Psy.D., CEDS, as Rosewood’s primary media spokesperson. Cabrera is the clinical director of the Rosewood Centers for Eating Disorders, and she oversees all clinical aspects of patient care, leads program development, and directs staff training and supervision throughout the Rosewood system.During our partnership, Rosewood has secured the following media placements:

  • Who Develops an Eating Disorder? This article ran in The Huffington Post on 1, 2015.The Huffington Post is an American online news aggregator and blog with more than 115 million unique visitors.
  • Student Returns to Eating Disorder Clinic a Fourth Time — To Support Other Patients.This article ran in TheState Presson Sept. 21, 2015.
The State Press is the independent, student-operated news publication of Arizona State University with a monthly circulation of about 90,000.
  • Your Food Choices Ultimately Influence Your Workplace Success.This article ran in
Entrepreneur magazine on Oct. 23, 2015. Entrepreneurfocuses onbusiness management through print and online publications. It has more than 5 million direct followers on social media, as well as an overall reach between 50 and 60 million people.
  • Rosewood will be featured in an upcoming article for the Recovery Campus magazine in February 2016. Recovery Campus is a print and online magazine that focuses on news stories around the recovery challenges college students face on a daily basis.

The Power of Social Media

We increased the reach of each of these articles by promoting them through social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We also used the online marketing tools such as Outbrain.com, a content-based advertising website platform that healthcare marketers can use to increase the reach of their content.

Rosewood’s Overall Media Coverage Results as of October 2015.
Rosewood’s Overall Media Coverage Results as of October 2015.

As you can see, Rosewood significantly increased its brand awareness with just three media placements in publications that reach roughly 140 million people. In addition, social media increased the number of article impressions for these stories, which means that nearly 800,000 more people read about Rosewood and its expertise regarding the treatment of eating disorders. But, perhaps, more importantly more than 6,000 people liked, shared, or commented on these articles. It is important for healthcare organizations to provide information and further conversations that will help people live healthier lives. The more people sharing and commenting on information that features Rosewood the more people will trust their brand and expertise.

When you are building your media coverage strategy, it is crucial to center it on your overall brand strategy. For example, who is your target audience, biggest competitor, and what are your differentiators? You will need to answer those questions before your can build a successful public relations strategy that secures the types of media coverage that your organization wants and needs. Make sure that article topics reflect your brands strengths by focusing on the following three questions:

  1. What makes your organization unique? Ensure the topics you discuss or services that you promote in the media focus on what makes your organization special.
  2. What information your clients or patients need? Conduct interviews with staff and consumers to hone in what types of content is most beneficial for your target audience.
  3. What publications are the best fit for your brand and target audience? Do your research and then target the media outlets that would suit your brand and connect with your audience the best.