If you’re one of the millions of Americans who read USA Today, you probably noticed an extra-special source featured in the March 31–April 2 weekend edition: Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nursing (APHON) President Kathleen Ruccione, PhD. Her piece, “Nurses Create a New Paradigm of Cancer Care,” detailed the role of nurses in health care—and of oncology nurses specifically in the treatment of patients with cancer, helping readers understand the impact of these integral members of the medical team and the future of cancer care.

The marketing team is always hard at work identifying new ways to discuss cancer care, but this particular opportunity to broadcast APHON’s important message came as a bit of a surprise to APHON Marketing Manager Stephanie Sayen.

Sayen received a call from Vanessa Rodriguez from Mediaplanet, an ad agency that works with USA Today, who had found the association through the Google grants program Sayen instituted—an initiative that enables 501(c)(3) organizations around the world to reach more people with their Google AdWords campaigns.

Looking for sources to speak about the future of cancer care, Rodriguez needed only one brief phone call with Sayen to realize that APHON’s unique perspective, and impact, on cancer care would be a perfect fit for the story. In fact, Rodriguez requested the association appear in even more places online and in print, offering them a place in a complementary digital panel of experts and an ad in the newspaper.

But the opportunity did come with some challenges: according to Sayen, the timeline for producing content was extremely tight, leaving Ruccione only a week and a half to produce her editorial and another week to answer questions for the digital panel. But the difficulties were well worth the final result: a free, full-page editorial highlighting the amazing work APHON’s members are doing for children with cancer and blood disorders and their families.

And from this special marketing effort also came an important lesson for marketing managers everywhere, said Sayen. “Don’t dismiss anything that comes into your inbox,” she said. “[Rodriguez’s] email looked standard, like a templated email, but after further investigation, it proved to be a unique—and very real—opportunity.”

What else can marketing managers do to make sure they’re ready for anything that may come their way? According to Sayen, keep an open mind and explore every avenue.

“Take advantage of those marketing opportunities that may seem broad or that are out of the norm,” she said. “You never know who may be paying attention!”

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