SKILLS FOR SUCCESS
November/December 2006
Community Marketing: Critical to Patient Education Success
Kelley Connors, MPH
Principal, KC Healthcare Communications
It’s past peak autumn color here in New England. From my women’s healthcare marketing lens, though, it couldn’t be more colorful, because still visible, year round, are the colors red and pink representing heart disease and breast cancer, thanks to cause marketing efforts initiated years ago by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the American Heart Association, and the Komen Foundation.
These campaigns have done much to mobilize patients, family members, caregivers and community leaders, and to focus the public’s attention on two important diseases affecting women.They have generated not only visibility and funds for education and research — but expanded their influence so that partners, including retailers, hospitals, the government, and grassroots patient advocacy groups became sponsors and engaged their own constituencies with educational programs to reach the target audience of women where they work, live, shop, and travel.
These efforts show that education and community marketing are interrelated. As the consumer gains more responsibility for his or her health decisions, pharma must capitalize on the interrelatedness between community marketing and patient education to create programs that lead to a more informed consumer.
Think about your brand’s vision in the context of community marketing, which is a step beyond cause marketing. (Cause marketing may not have enough relevance because the level of “consumer engagement” in your brand is too low.)
Get Inspired to make a Difference
We are fortunate in our positions to be able to make a difference by touching patients and their families.In thinking about community, you must connect your brand or organization to a vision that is inspirational without glossing over the sensitivities associated with the condition.
Communities are built by inspiring others who have the same goals and want to make a difference. Whether you are looking for influential partners to join your own campaign, or you wish to join an existing community marketing effort, the opportunity to make a difference is compelling. Daria Blackwell, Director of Multicultural Communications at Sudler & Hennessey is co-founder of SAIL4Kids — an organization that connects acutely ill children and their families and caregivers through a day of sailing, relaxation, and interaction. This enables nurse educators and young patients to have educational dialogue and make emotional connections, something difficult to do in today’s time pressured healthcare environment.
Build Your Foundation
To build community, you need a strong foundation of trusted, credible voices that can take a stand on behalf of your brand’s or organization’s vision. These are your trusted partners who are already connected to organizations or other individuals important to building community. These partners should have experience, knowledge and insights into reaching the target audience or patient with education.
Think of a hub of key opinion leaders in the center of a wheel consisting of patients, advocacy leaders, government employees, or healthcare professionals. Together you can agree on a plan of action to expand your influence and reach patients, their families and caregivers.
Identify Avenues of Influence
Once you have a foundation built, you will want to reach out to partners for additional financial support or simply to help you engage with your intended target audience.
One example is (PRODUCT) Red Campaign recently launched by Bono and Bobby Shriver in the US to raise funds to treat AIDS in Africa. The campaign has attracted the support of American Express, Motorola, and Apple — companies that are interested in attracting consumers who actually want to do something about AIDS. The effort attracts a “psychographic” (not one target audience) through information and education on progress being made through the Global Fund for AIDS and its civic, government and commercial partners.
Some healthcare industry players have already joined forces with the Fund. The peer-reviewed Lancet has “become red,” by recently adopting a red jacket cover. Corporate partners BMS and Merck granted the International Partnership for Microbicides a royalty-free license for use of their compounds to develop microbicides for countries that receive support from the Global Fund for AIDS.
Connect with the Consumer
To create effective community marketing campaigns that educate patients, you need to understand who you are trying to reach, which educational messages will be effective given their life stage, and how to reach them. Age is only part of the picture, as is sociocultural context, gender and lifestyle. Diversity is about reaching out to people in their own environment.
Conclusion
Community marketing programs must be approached with the same diligence as other long-term business and branding strategies. To be a leader in today’s highly competitive economy, it is imperative for companies, brands, or organizations to “stand for something” beyond the bottom-line while generating a relationship with the consumer or patient through education and advocacy.