What Healthcare Organizations Risk When Cutting PR Budgets in Tight Times

How to scale your marketing efforts for maximum impact

If you feel like every dollar of your marketing or communications budget is under a microscope these days, you’re not alone. Across the healthcare industry – from hospital systems to pharma to digital health – budgets are shrinking, often released incrementally and facing intense scrutiny.  

While the decision to reduce spending may be coming from the C-suite, marketing and communications teams and agencies are being asked to deliver more with less. Cutting back too much can cost healthcare organizations far more in the long run, so now is not the time to take your foot off the gas. The good news is that healthcare marketers and communicators can still succeed if they focus on the right things in smarter, more intentional ways.

What can healthcare communicators learn from past recessions or economic downturns?

History shows that brands that stay present during downturns pull ahead. A Harvard Business Review analysis of 4,700 companies found that just 9% come out of recessions stronger. They typically do so by maintaining or increasing marketing while selectively cutting other costs.  

When healthcare organizations sustain marketing efforts during downturns, they tend to see real payoff. Maintaining – or even increasing – investment in marketing can help organizations stand out, especially when competitors may be pulling back. We saw this dynamic during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Organizations that maintained consistent communication, built trust and visibility that paid dividends as the world stabilized. Those who stayed silent were more likely to lose ground to competitors and be at greater risk of misinformation being spread.

What happens when healthcare organizations cut PR and marketing investment too far?

When PR and communications budgets are scaled back, healthcare organizations risk:

• Visibility when it matters most. You won’t show up in media coverage, thought leadership or search results when stakeholders are looking for expertise.  

• Control of the narrative. Your brand story may get told… by someone else. If you are not shaping your narrative, competitors, even those that may be smaller or less innovative, could shape market narratives that leave you out of the conversation.

• Momentum loss. Once visibility is gone, it’s not as simple as “turning it back on.” Rebuilding trust and attention takes time.

• Vulnerability in a crisis. Critical issues are inevitable in healthcare, and a pared-back PR function means you will scramble to respond when things go wrong.  

• Missed growth opportunities. Investors may overlook you entirely or assume you’re not a serious player, and you could leave growth-stage capital, partnerships and acquisitions conversations on the table.

Is there any upside to maintaining PR investment during downturns?

Here’s the upside: challenging times create opportunities. When others may be pulling back, healthcare organizations that remain visible can gain a larger share of voice. Downturns can also be a powerful time to demonstrate resilience and leadership to internal and external stakeholders — from employees to patients to providers to regulators to investors.

The key is focus. You don’t need to spend more – just do the right things well.

How can healthcare communicators scale efforts for maximum impact?

• Be Laser-Focused on Goals - Now is a good time to reframe what success in marketing and communications looks like. Align communications to a handful of measurable objectives that map directly to business priorities. That might include shaping policy conversations, driving patient awareness of a new therapy or protecting brand reputation in a highly competitive category.

• Adopt a Fewer, Bigger, Better Approach - Spreading resources across too many campaigns and channels can dilute impact. Instead, concentrate your firepower on fewer initiatives that can break through. For example, a biotech that puts its budget behind one disease awareness campaign is more likely to see measurable shifts in both provider perception and policy conversations than if they spread resources too thin.

• Hyper-Target with Data and Technology – Telling stories to broad audiences may help generate awareness, but it rarely moves the needle with the stakeholders that matter most. With advanced technology, we are finding greater success in reaching individuals, not just “audiences.” That could mean targeting oncologists with the exact data they need, connecting with caregivers in the right moment of decision-making or reaching policymakers with timely, trusted information.

• Integrate Paid with Earned - The days of “PR without paid” are over. Paid media is now a must-have multiplier. Whether it’s boosting earned coverage on LinkedIn to ensure the right stakeholders see it, placing a sponsored byline in a trade publication or running native ads to extend the life of a big story, paid ensures your most important messages don’t get lost in the noise.  

• Build Agility into Your Plans - Communications plans should be living documents that flex with industry shifts. That means setting checkpoints, evaluating performance in real time and reallocating dollars to what’s working best.

How can healthcare leaders make the case for continued PR investment?

Making the case to leadership means reframing PR, communications and marketing spend “cost” to “value.” To do this, healthcare communicators should:

• Link efforts to business outcomes. Show how visibility and engagement influence patient recruitment, payer coverage decisions or investor confidence.

• Highlight the risks of absence. Share examples of competitors gaining ground or organizations stumbling in crises due to silence.

• Bring proof, not promises. Use dashboards, KPIs and outcome-based reporting to demonstrate tangible ROI.

When leaders view communications not as a discretionary expense, but as a risk management and business growth insurance, the case becomes much clearer.

Healthcare communicators are used to weathering storms, and this current climate is no different. Budgets may be shrinking, but silence isn’t an option. The organizations that scale the right way with focus, precision and integration won’t just weather this moment. They’ll emerge stronger, with reputations intact and relationships deepened.

Because in healthcare, every voice matters – and the cost of losing yours is simply too high.