Hi!

As journalists prepare for HLTH—where they'll face hundreds, if not thousands of pitches, according to Healthcare IT Today's John Lynn—we asked three seasoned reporters how they decide what actually breaks through the noise.

Our panel with Arundhati Parmar (MedCity News), John, and Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer (Endpoints) focused on the conference ahead, but their insights apply whether you're pitching reporters at a major event or from your desk on a random Tuesday.

Our top 10 takeaways:

1. Lead with specificity over superlatives. Editors automatically filter out adjectives like "breakthrough" and "game-changing," so pitch with concrete clinical trial results, economic utility data, and dollar amounts rather than percentage savings.

2. Context matters more than features. Explain how your product challenges the status quo and provides an alternative to what's currently failing patients in the marketplace.

3. Vision is important, even at early stages. Journalists value pitches from new companies that articulate a visible why, even from pre-revenue companies.

4. Timing between product and message is critical. "If the marketing gets ahead of the product, we have a real problem." (IBM Watson's cancer cure claims serve as a cautionary tale about overpromising before delivery.)

5. Demonstrate AI’s business impact with hard numbers. Journalists now want to see AI's financial implications in concrete terms (savings in actual dollars, not percentages).

6. Shift from disruption to coordination. Reporters are less interested in “breaking the system” and more in efforts to bridge its fragmentation.

7. Direct-to-consumer requires different leadership. Biopharmas entering consumer spaces need expertise beyond clinical experience, particularly in brand and behavior.

8. Match spokespeople to storytelling strengths. Not every CEO is the best representative. Reporters prefer those who can speak plainly and without heavy preparation, because "if you have to prepare a lot to talk to me, then I have either the wrong questions or the wrong person."

9. Interviews follow curiosity, not scripts. Media training matters because reporters will pursue whatever catches their attention during interviews, not necessarily your intended pitch. For example, one hospital CEO's candid comment about payer negotiations became the story despite different PR objectives.

10. Relationships outlast pitches. Even when a story doesn’t run, thoughtful sources are often called back later for perspective, quotes, or new angles.

A big thank-you to these three reporters for their many insights, and to our Media Minds Roundtable for putting this panel together.

Lynnea

P.S. Don’t forget to register for our October Comm Convo, “The Biopharma Communications Expertise Paradox,” next Thursday, October 23rd. RSVP here.

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