Improving Your Earned Media Strategy: Tips and Insights

The opportunities today for pharmaceutical companies to take advantage of earned media remain frustratingly elusive, even amid the explosion of digital and a seeming carousel of new content channels and options to target.

So how can drugmakers best revamp strategies in earned media to “cut through the noise” of industry coverage and perception?

Allie Karas

In a new Q&A series, Pharm Exec will capture insights and learnings on such questions from executive editorial leaders with parent company MJH Life Sciences. First up is Allie Karas, MA, vice president of content, specialty healthcare.

PE: What do you believe are the one or two main challenges for pharma and healthcare companies in getting earned media on consistent or desired levels?

Karas: One of the main challenges they run into when trying to secure earned media opportunities is lack of differentiation. From pharmaceutical companies and biotech startups to patient advocacy organizations and government agencies, the healthcare space is already at peak saturation with tons of competing voices.

Standing out as unique among the sea of press releases and promotional corporate messaging can be difficult. But if companies embrace storytelling and focus on sharing not simply what they’re doing but the real-world impact of it and the value it provides to stakeholders, they have a better chance of earning coverage.

Another challenge is establishing trust and credibility. Media outlets tend to be a bit naturally skeptical of pharma-driven messaging, so communicating with transparency and leveraging the primary investigators, along with real-world data, are more likely to help companies achieve earned media success.

PE: Despite data privacy concerns, social media still seems to be a largely untapped setting for pharma in recognizing these gains. As their social strategies evolve, what pitfalls in messaging/engagement should companies avoid?

Karas: One of the major pitfalls that many companies fall into with social media is not tailoring their strategies by platform, and instead blanketing all channels with the same message.

To gain true traction on social, companies should lean into the unique audience traits and consumption habits across LinkedIn, X, Instagram, Facebook, and even TikTok. Short-form video versus long-form insights versus infographics—these all play differently depending on platform.

Another way to maximize impact on social is to treat all platforms as two-way conversations rather than just one-way broadcasting tools. This encourages engagement and community building and also helps to boost a company’s authenticity.

PE: How can organizations build that authenticity out of industry coverage, where they have limited control of the narrative?

Karas: The best way to cut through the noise is for companies to position themselves as trusted, go-to sources for their respective specialties. One way to do this is to avoid simply publishing clinical updates; instead, work to leverage thought leadership into more data-driven insights, trend analyses, and expert commentary and perspective.

This mix of content will help strike a more impactful balance and also help to build that reputation for authenticity that we mentioned, increasing the chances of scoring earned media.

PE: Is there a need to rethink fundamental approaches in audience targeting?

Karas: Definitely. The traditional model of audience segmentation and targeting that many pharma organizations may still be using is likely too broad and too fixed.

Physicians, payers, patients, and other end users have come to expect personalized content delivery based on their engagement patterns, preferred formats, and behaviors, and pharma companies have to keep up just as media companies do. At the end of the day, we’re all still competing for attention.

I think there’s also a unique opportunity for pharma companies to construct micro digital health communities of very engaged audience members who have been touched by a certain disease in some way. This would provide another avenue to connect in a more meaningful and personalized way.