Evolving inclusive marketing to reach every possible patient

When I think about inclusive marketing, I’m reminded of a famous quote from former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop in which he bluntly states, “Drugs don’t work in people who don’t take them.” While the 1980s Surgeon General’s comments are often associated with adherence, his sentiments also say a lot about how we as an industry create access to therapies. Every day we see how differences in language, culture and awareness continue to stand in the way of better health for many segments of our population. Consequently, our ability as marketers to reach, engage and connect with these populations on their terms can’t be understated. Putting it plainly as Koop would have, in many cases, we’re leaving the very patients who need to hear about our treatments in the dark.

The Power of Precision Targeting

Rethinking our approach to inclusive marketing begins with targeting. While ZIP code and census data are generally reliable strategies, they make huge assumptions about where and how patients receive care within that ZIP code. To reach and engage diverse and underserved populations, we should consider a more tailored approach — medical claims data. At PatientPoint we’re leveraging patient medical claims data to enable us to better understand the convergence of prescribers, patient demographics, disease burden and locations within our network to help marketers reach and engage every possible patient.

We can see the power of precision targeting for more inclusive marketing in a point-of-care campaign for treatment for type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes over indexes in Black women over age 55 and affects nearly twice as many Black women than white women. By analyzing medical claims for patients visiting healthcare providers within the PatientPoint network, we can clearly assess if Black women are filling scripts at double the rate of white women — an expected outcome given the disproportionate impact of type 2 diabetes on Black women. If we don’t see alignment between location, demographics and disease burden, we can make a reasonable assumption that Black women with type 2 diabetes are being underserved by current campaign messaging. Using inclusive marketing methods, we now have options to enhance performance by asking a simple question: Are we showing the right campaign message to the right audience? By leveraging patient medical claims data, we can identify additional locations to reach Black women who need to hear from us — either within or beyond the campaign’s contracted footprint.

Culturally Relevant Messaging Matters

Finding every possible patient who needs to hear from us is only the first step — we must next engage these patients in culturally relevant, meaningful ways that inspire trust and action. Messaging must be appropriate for a patient’s language and culture and connect in a relevant way that enables whomever we’re targeting to be successful in their care journey. Going back to our type 2 diabetes example, we want Black women over age 55 to not only see and hear themselves in creative; we want them to feel an authentic connection to the way they receive healthcare. Think critically about how your creative depicts the way different cultures see and receive healthcare and interact with physicians and clinical staff to determine whether it will resonate with your audience in a way that builds connection.

Getting channel, content and context right builds relevancy, and ultimately drives trust — the first pillar of every successful advertising campaign and a critical component of any inclusive marketing campaign. When we layer language and cultural considerations on top of the anxiety we all feel as patients — an insight we uncover in our annual Patient Confidence Index — we can quickly see the need for inclusive marketing to consider the whole patient and their individual care journey.

At the end of the day, inclusive marketing is still about driving access to therapy. To be successful, our marketing approach needs to evolve to reach and meet each patient where they are—literally and figuratively. All these years later, Koop’s words still ring true: Drugs don’t work in people who don’t take them. Now more than ever it’s our opportunity and responsibility as marketers to ensure every possible patient knows treatment is within reach and to empower them in those moments that matter to enhance their relationships with their provider, build trust and create better health for all.

Learn more about PatientPoint’s precision targeting capability to extend inclusive marketing strategies at the point of care.

Andrew Schultz is a healthcare product, strategy and marketing executive with a passion for creating a better way to deliver personalized healthcare across the entire care continuum. As chief product & strategy officer, Schultz is responsible for unifying and elevating the collective strategy and vision of PatientPoint. In this role, Schultz leads integrated strategy, product, marketing and content teams to deliver breakthrough solutions that positively impact the care experience for patients and providers.