Telling the Story of Community Health Centers

As the nation’s attention turned to COVID, the healthcare community turned to Community Health Centers. In order to meet the needs of urban and rural communities, while relying heavily on accessible, affordable care, the PA Association of Community Health Centers (PACHC) realized it must advance awareness and understanding for the importance of Community Health Centers in serving the 1,000,000+ patients across the state. It was an essential moment in time to tell the story of how their network of Community Health Centers was the largest, qualified network of primary care providers poised to meet the ever-changing and growing needs of patients from every walk of life across the state. PACHC’s leadership team turned to Gavin to gain necessary insights into the lens of patients and the realities of perceptions amongst market influencers and funding sources to guide a statewide strategic campaign. The campaign would ultimately create a sustainable shift and supporting long-term momentum for the network of more than 330 Community Health Center locations.

Patient’s Point of View

Gavin’s marketing research team conducted phone interviews with patients in both English and Spanish to collect qualitative data on patient decision-making. While an online survey was distributed to all patients across the state through Community Health Center networks.

Research uncovered that patients were confused by some language used in marketing by health centers, and their decision-making was driven by affordable, accessible care delivered by a trusted provider and healthcare professional who knew their local community and treated them with respect.

A Unified Message

A statewide omni-channel strategy was developed to bring all Community Health Centers under an umbrella campaign with consistent messaging that was relevant to every patient set, no matter their geographical location. Creative was designed to be agile and easily adopted by health centers across the state to deliver a unified voice, while ensuring flexibility, locally.

Agile, Responsive Marketing

Covering the entire state of Pennsylvania required a comprehensive digital approach focused on each market’s unique demographics and target audience behaviors to drive awareness and trust to motivate action to connect with a location near them. Digital included display, social behavior targeting, SEO, SEM and mobile-first web experiences.

Marketing efforts included engaging hard-reach referral sources to educate audiences on the differences of Community Health Centers and other healthcare organizations, and the benefits to their patients.

Reaching Patients Where They Are

A statewide omni-channel strategy was developed to bring all Community Health Centers under an umbrella campaign with consistent messaging that was relevant to every patient set, no matter their geographical location. Creative was designed to be agile and easily adopted by health centers across the state to deliver a unified voice, while ensuring flexibility, locally.

An Influential Presence

Positive storytelling and thought leadership, across the state in creditable regional and local media outlets, produced an overwhelming sense of momentum and pride for Community Health Centers. Coverage included working with local health centers on market visits from the national healthcare leaders, publishing op-eds, opportunistic expert commentary on vaccinations and health topics, patient event promotion, and more.

Services Delivered

Patient Research
Branding
Creative
Marketing Asset Creation

Digital Marketing
SEO/SEM
Media Buying

Public Relations
Training Seminars
Website Development

Success by the Numbers

In a brief four months, at the start of the campaign, the outcomes were clear that an ongoing investment in a unified campaign offered an overwhelming benefit.