Doctor media relations retainer
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Personal-brand public relations for individual doctors — senior consultants, specialty heads, clinic founders and medical directors. Five lanes: media training, journalist pitching, byline placement, TV and podcast circuit, LinkedIn shaping. Every asset written to NMC Section 6, ASCI Chapter III and DPDP 2023. ₹35,000 to ₹2,50,000 per month. Feeds the DoctorBrand productised subscription for compounding personal brand.
What a doctor media relations retainer is — and why senior doctors run it separately from clinic PR.
Doctor media relations is personal-brand PR for a named doctor. It does not promote the practice — it promotes the individual. The doctor becomes the first name a health-desk reporter thinks of when the specialty question comes up. The doctor writes bylines under their own name in credible outlets. The doctor holds a broadcast circuit — TV segments, podcasts, YouTube health features — that builds sustained category authority. Coverage compounds on LinkedIn into a durable personal brand that survives a career move, a hospital switch or a location change. Retainers start at ₹35,000 per month (Starter — media training, 1 byline, 2 pitches, LinkedIn shaping), move through ₹1,00,000 per month (Growth — broadcast circuit, awards, 2 bylines, 4 pitches), and top out at ₹2,50,000 per month (Scale — dedicated pod, sustained category ownership, 4 bylines, 8 pitches). All prices inclusive of GST at 18 per cent. All copy runs inside NMC Section 6, ASCI Chapter III and DPDP 2023.
Five lanes of a doctor media relations retainer.
All five lanes are active in every tier — the volume changes, not the composition. A doctor personal brand built on one lane alone (usually LinkedIn) is fragile. All five running together compounds.
Lane 1 · Media training
4-hour workshop at sign-off (Starter, Growth); 2-day workshop for Scale. Quarterly refresh drills. NMC Section 6 language, DPDP-clean patient references, ASCI-clean cosmetic claims, hostile-question handling, on-camera composure.
Lane 2 · Journalist pitching
Category-mapped pitches to health-desk reporters across mainstream, business, digital-native and regional-language press. 2 to 8 targeted pitches per month depending on tier. Pre-cleared quote frames per specialty.
Lane 3 · Byline placement
1 to 4 bylines per month drafted from the doctor's own notes, run through the NMC Section 6 filter, placed under the doctor's name in credible outlets. No ghost-published content without doctor sign-off.
Lane 4 · TV and podcast circuit
Growth tier upwards. Earned bookings only — no paid placements. Health-desk segments, category podcasts, YouTube health channels, long-form conversations. Booking, prep, on-set liaison, post-appearance amplification.
Lane 5 · LinkedIn shaping
Weekly posting rhythm ghost-drafted from the doctor's notes; profile optimisation; engagement discipline; newsletter setup; connection strategy for target journalists, referrers and KOLs. Doctor approves every post.
Three retainer bands. Pick the one that matches the ambition.
All bands include a dedicated pod, monthly reporting, contract-length price lock and a 90-day minimum commitment. Six-month prepay unlocks 8 per cent discount, annual prepay unlocks 15 per cent.
Media training, one byline a month, two pitches, LinkedIn shaping. Right band for a senior consultant beginning to build personal brand outside the clinic.
- Media training (4-hour workshop) · refresh quarterly
- 2 journalist pitches / month
- 1 byline placement / month
- LinkedIn posting rhythm (2 posts / week ghost-drafted)
- Google Knowledge Panel setup + monitoring
- NMC Section 6 filter on every asset
- Monthly coverage report
- Email support · monthly strategy call
Broadcast circuit, quarterly speaker slot, rolling awards, 2 bylines, 4 pitches. The band most senior specialists land at once they want the personal brand to compound.
- Media training + on-camera drills · quarterly
- 4 journalist pitches / month
- 2 byline placements / month
- TV + podcast circuit (2 bookings / quarter)
- 1 credible-only awards cycle / year
- 1 speaker-slot booking / quarter
- LinkedIn shaping (3 posts / week + monthly newsletter)
- Google Knowledge Panel active management
- Fortnightly strategy call
Dedicated pod, sustained category ownership, 4 bylines, 8 pitches, full broadcast circuit, rolling awards. Built for the doctor who wants to become the reference name in the specialty.
- Media training + 2-day workshop · refresh quarterly
- 8 journalist pitches / month
- 4 byline placements / month
- Full TV + podcast circuit (4 bookings / quarter)
- 2 credible-only awards cycles / year
- Rolling speaker calendar (industry stages + medical conferences)
- LinkedIn shaping (5 posts / week + fortnightly newsletter)
- Dedicated 2-person pod
- Weekly strategy call
- Priority WhatsApp support (business hours)
Media relations produces the assets. DoctorBrand distributes and compounds them.
Doctor media relations is the retainered PR practice — earned coverage, media training, byline placement, broadcast circuit. DoctorBrand is the productised subscription that packages LinkedIn discipline, Google Knowledge Panel management, video content and personal-brand SERP shaping into a monthly product. Many doctors run both simultaneously. Media relations produces the coverage; DoctorBrand distributes it into a personal brand that compounds beyond the coverage cycle itself.
Doctor Media Relations (this page)
- Earned press coverage · bylines placed under doctor name
- TV segments, podcasts, YouTube health features
- Media training and on-camera drills
- Journalist relationship building
- Awards submissions and speaker circuit
- Priced ₹35,000 to ₹2,50,000 / month
DoctorBrand (productised sibling)
- LinkedIn discipline and posting rhythm
- Google Knowledge Panel management
- Long-form video content production
- Personal-brand SERP shaping (own the first page)
- Website + biography SEO
- Productised subscription · four tiers with published pricing
Six ways doctor personal-brand PR goes wrong.
The compliance floor for a named doctor is more restrictive than for a hospital brand. Six patterns account for most personal-brand PR failure among senior Indian doctors.
1 · Solicited testimonials on LinkedIn
NMC Section 6 prohibits solicited testimonials. A patient thanking the doctor on LinkedIn is fine; the doctor asking for it is not. Every retainer runs a written LinkedIn discipline document that stays inside Section 6.
2 · Case study coverage without DPDP consent
A press interview mentioning a specific patient — name, condition, outcome — needs a signed DPDP consent. Family verbal consent for a conversation is not consent for national press. Every case-study pitch runs a DPDP consent workflow first.
3 · Superlatives on TV segments
"India's leading X" placed on a broadcast crawl by a producer becomes an NMC Section 6 exposure for the doctor. Pre-agreed lower-third framing is negotiated with the outlet in every media-training-cleared booking.
4 · Named-competitor comparisons
Comparing to a named doctor invites ASCI, NMC and legal risk. Category framing replaces named comparisons on every pitch, quote and byline. This holds for the retainer permanently.
5 · Paid awards presented as credible
Bought award trophies are visible to real referrers and hospital procurement heads, and they damage credibility. ICG chases only recognitions with named editors and verifiable juries. Growth gets 1 cycle, Scale gets 2.
6 · Off-script on-camera commentary
A specialty head, unprepared, saying one sentence that becomes the story. Every retainer includes media training. Untrained on-record commentary is banned inside a live engagement.
Who a doctor media relations retainer fits — and who does not need one yet.
The retainer fits
- Senior consultants with 10+ years of practice.
- Specialty heads at multi-specialty hospitals.
- Clinic founders in aesthetics, IVF, dermatology, cosmetic dentistry, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, oncology, cardiology.
- Academic-adjacent doctors publishing in peer-reviewed journals who want mainstream reach.
- Medical directors of hospital groups.
- Doctors preparing an independent practice launch after leaving a hospital group.
The retainer does not fit yet
- Doctors under 5 years of independent practice — media training first, retainer later.
- Doctors unwilling to invest 45 minutes a week in notes for byline drafting.
- Doctors wanting cure claims, before/after visuals or superlatives placed in mainstream press.
- Doctors wanting a named competitor called out — will not do it, at any price.
Doctor media relations retainer · pricing and scope FAQ.
What does a doctor media relations retainer actually do?
A doctor media relations retainer is personal-brand PR for a specific doctor. It runs five lanes: media training so the doctor can go on-record without triggering an NMC issue; journalist pitching so the doctor becomes the first name a health-desk reporter thinks of; byline placement so the doctor authors 1–4 pieces a month in credible outlets; TV and podcast circuit so the doctor holds category authority across broadcast; and LinkedIn shaping so the coverage compounds into a durable personal brand.
How is doctor media relations different from clinic PR?
Clinic PR promotes the practice — brand, locations, specialty offering, awards. Doctor media relations promotes the individual — point of view, expertise area, category commentary. Two different pitches, two different journalist relationships. Most senior doctors need both.
How much does doctor media relations cost per month?
Starter is ₹35,000. Growth is ₹1,00,000. Scale is ₹2,50,000. All prices inclusive of GST at 18 per cent.
Does the retainer include media training?
Yes, in every tier. 4-hour workshop at retainer sign-off (Starter and Growth), 2-day workshop for Scale, with quarterly refresh drills. Covers NMC Section 6 language, DPDP-clean patient references, ASCI-clean cosmetic claims, hostile-question handling, on-camera composure, and pre-cleared quote frames per specialty.
How does ICG make sure the doctor stays inside NMC Section 6?
A written NMC filter on every asset before it leaves the pod. No solicited testimonials. No cure claims. No superiority claims. No before/after in patient references. Every byline drafted from the doctor's own note, then run through the Section 6 filter, then submitted.
What is the TV and podcast circuit?
Growth tier upwards. Health-desk segments on business news and mainstream news channels, category-specific podcasts, YouTube health channels with credible reach, long-form Substack or LinkedIn Live conversations. Booking, prep, on-set liaison, post-appearance amplification. Earned bookings only, no paid placements.
What kind of doctor is this retainer built for?
Senior consultants with 10+ years of practice; specialty heads at multi-specialty hospitals; clinic founders in aesthetics, IVF, dermatology, cosmetic dentistry, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, oncology, cardiology; academic-adjacent doctors publishing in peer-reviewed journals; medical directors of hospital groups.
Does this feed the DoctorBrand product?
Yes. Doctor media relations is the retainered PR practice — earned coverage, media training, byline placement, broadcast circuit. DoctorBrand is the productised subscription that packages the LinkedIn discipline, Google Knowledge Panel management, video content and personal-brand SERP shaping. Many doctors run both simultaneously.
How long before doctor media relations shows a business result?
Coverage arrives in weeks. Recognition in the specialty compounds over 6 to 12 months. Real business result — consult conversion lift, referral-pattern shift, RFP inclusions for hospital roles, invited speaking — is 12 to 24 months.
Can ICG name my competitors in a pitch or byline?
No. Never. Every ICG doctor pitch, byline and quote uses category framing — anonymous benchmark against the specialty, not against a named colleague.
What does the LinkedIn shaping actually include?
A weekly posting rhythm ghost-drafted from the doctor's notes; profile optimisation for search discovery inside the specialty; engagement discipline; newsletter setup and monthly issues; connection strategy for target journalists, referrers and KOLs. Every post is NMC Section 6 clean before it goes up. Doctor approves every post before publish.
How is a doctor media relations retainer measured?
Six numbers monthly. Coverage volume by outlet tier. Byline placements landed. Broadcast appearances. LinkedIn follower velocity. Google Knowledge Panel accuracy score. Journalist recall pulse. A green quarter is coverage inside plan, at least one broadcast slot, LinkedIn followers up, and at least one journalist follow-up quote landing organically.
Deeper into personal brand and healthcare PR.
Pick a band. Sign one page. Media-train inside 30 days.
The Discovery call is 45 minutes with a Co-Founder or the Head of Doctor Media, free of charge, no obligation. You leave with a tier recommendation, a byline-topic map for your first quarter and a written scope you can compare against anything else in the market.
