Raising the Awareness of PSM

The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM), a public health group committed to the safety of prescription drugs and protecting consumers against counterfeit, substandard or otherwise unsafe medicines, sought to leverage its collective expertise to establish itself as one of the most creditable resources on the issue of drug safety.

Jones Public Affairs and our online partner developed a strategic program to raise the visibility of PSM and generate awareness about the risks and safety issues of counterfeit drugs.  Because “new” news on this issue can be sparse, JPA created a blog featuring original, expert commentary on current drug safety issues.  This content leveraged the impressive credentials and comprehensive expertise of the coalition’s Board of Directors.  The team also implemented several email campaigns to deliver regular updates on drug safety issues to Congressional staff and members of its coalition.  By integrating the content and timing of blog, emails and PSM’s additional offline communications, the team has extended the reach of PSM’s key messages across multiple channels.
 
Web traffic to PSM’s website, SafeMedicines.org, dramatically increased because of the email campaigns, blog entries and linking efforts.  In just over six months, PSM’s Google ranking for the term “counterfeit drugs” rose from 80 to number five.  The team has demonstrated its rapid response capabilities by reaching legislative staffers with “breaking news” about FDA reform and drug safety, while raising the profile of PSM.

Challenge

• Growing momentum within the U.S. Congress to allow drug importation

Insight

• Counterfeit and contraband medicines illustrate the dangers associated with importing pharmaceuticals
• PSM’s Board of Directors are renowned drug safety experts with impressive credentials and comprehensive expertise

Strategy

• Use digital media to deliver regular updates on drug safety issues the PSM to Congressional staff, partner organizations and consumers
• Leverage the partner organizations to carry messages to their constituencies

Success

• PSM website has seen drastic increases in traffic; Google ranking for the coalition using the search term “counterfeit drugs” rose from 80 to five

Testimonial

Thanks to the integrated communication strategy that Jones Public Affairs and its online partner designed and executed, our website traffic has drastically increased. In just over six months, they raised our Google ranking for the term ‘counterfeit drugs’ from below 80 to number five.
—Scott LaGanga, Executive Director, The Partnership for Safe Medicines