How to Succeed at PR without Really Trying (Be a Co-op)

POCA has had quite the run of good press lately. Let's review:

1) It started out with a bang on May 2nd, when comrade Elizabeth Ropp got us mentioned on page A2 of the Washington Post. How in the world did she do that? She hosted one of Bernie Sanders' first campaign stops at her house, and she wore a POCA t-shirt. Not only did the Post spell out POCA's full name in the article, but the picture they took of her cheering his speech keeps circulating around the web whenever Sanders is mentioned (which is a lot). I like to think that zillions of people are subliminally absorbing the POCA logo.

2) Next, on May 12, Self Magazine published the online version of their June issue and it included an article titled “Should You Try Group Acupuncture?”  A freelance journalist who is a fan of Brooklyn Open Acupuncture pitched the story to Self, they agreed, and she interviewed me. Once again POCA's name was spelled out and a link to our website was included. Self is a Conde Nast publication that counts 4.3 million readers (on the way home from POCAfest, I noticed it was prominently displayed in all the airport kiosks — right next to the chocolate, right under the cash register). Self has 354,000 followers on Twitter, so when they tweeted a link to the article, “Hold up — group acupuncture is a thing?” I thought, OK, we're definitely a thing.

3) Then, on May 30, alert reader Gururas Khalsa spotted The Saturday Poem in the US edition of The Guardian: At the Community Acupuncture Clinic. If you haven't read it, go read it, it's beautiful. And it was written about a POCA clinic (if you want to know which one, and which of our comrades is the hummingbird, you'll have to check the forums). The Guardian US has a readership of over 1 million people per issue.

4) Finally, one of Cris' relatives sent her an article clipped from Cure magazine — Cancer Updates, Research and Education, for patients, survivors and their caregivers. Cure also has a readership of about 1 million, and is widely distributed to patients, cancer centers, and advocacy groups. The Spring 2015 online edition does not include the article which appears on page 11 of the print copy, “Considering Group Acupuncture”, so I'll have to quote:

The article begins: “Integrative techniques such as yoga and laughter therapy are typically practiced in groups, but does it make sense to administer acupuncture that way? Sure, according to study findings presented in April at the Annual Congress of Oncology Nursing Society. The study on group acupuncture found that this lower-cost therapy helped to alleviate pain, neuropathy and digestive problems in people receiving outpatient treatment for cancer.”

And it ends: “Group acupuncture clinics already exist around the country. An organization known as People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture, online at pocacoop.com, is dedicated to the concept, and may be able to help patients find group acupuncture providers in their local areas.”

If POCA were running a PR campaign, we’d be counting it a spectacular success. We got our name, and in some cases our website, in some high-profile, unlikely places. OK, our name might be a little long, but it’s inarguably distinctive (thanks, Nora Madden!). I guarantee some readers (especially of the Washington Post) thought “People’s Organization of WHAT? What the hell, who are these bolsheviks?” but the thing is, they thought about us. Next time their aunt complains about her arthritis maybe they’ll remember the bolsheviks with their funny name and their cheap, accessible acupuncture.

But you know what, we weren’t running a PR campaign.  We were just going about our business, being a co-op. Our run of press pretty much coincided with our May Membership Drive which I maintain is the universe trying to tell us something.

After POCAfest, Cris and I did an interview via Skype with a guy from Montreal who is studying multi-stakeholder co-ops. Jade was our tech wrangler but midway through the interview it became clear that she should be giving the answers, not us (Jade probably has more co-op experience than almost anybody else around here). Afterwards I begged her to recreate the interview for the next time somebody wants to interview us about why we're a co-op. If you ever have trouble explaining this to anyone, you should watch her excellent explanation.

Anyway, as she says in the video, ALL of POCA’s members participate in education. We're all educating the public, all the time, spreading the message that acupuncture is part of society and ordinary people can afford it. Next time some acupuncturist complains that POCA doesn't care about “patient education”, just tell them about our effortless PR campaign, Spring 2015.

It's just the way our co-op works. We treat all kinds of people, that’s our goal. When you treat all kinds of people, you’re going to make all kinds of connections. The word spreads and eventually it spreads into print. The activities of our members benefit each other. As a result, we didn’t have to hire a PR consultant, rack our brains to organize a campaign, or pay for a single ad. We didn’t have to worry about where our PR was going to appear.  Collectively we got the kind of coverage for free that none of us alone could ever afford to buy.  It's pretty cool to realize that you can do all kinds of things with solidarity alone.

And it just happened naturally. And it will keep happening. Because why would it stop?

p.s. at POCAfest a comrade told me that his wife ran across a romance novel where the main character was a community acupuncturist. When I get the details, I’ll let you know.

Author: Lisa Rohleder, L.Ac.