Why subject-matter expertise is key to public health campaigns

If you’ve ever worked with a digital communications firm to build a website, you’ve probably wished that you could instantly transfer everything you know about your own content and processes to make that project go faster and more smoothly. If that website partner could inherently know your organization, then the effort to create a new site would be so much easier.

Now, imagine if you could hire a partner that already knew your agency inside and out—a company that offers in-depth knowledge, data insights, and a history of connecting government with those it serves—and moving them to take action—in ways that you and your team envisioned. In addition to building an effective new website, that kind of subject-matter expertise could also help reinforce, elevate, or rebuild public trust in your agency and its critical mission.

Subject-matter expertise is the secret ingredient

Within a specific area (such as health information technology or outreach to Native American urban youth), a subject-matter expert will have a much greater knowledge base as well as relevant skills and practical experience. A subject-matter expert uses their expertise to identify needs, analyze issues, provide advice or guidance, brainstorm solutions, and even create new approaches to achieve better, healthier outcomes.

At ICF, we think this subject-matter expertise is the missing piece that’s needed for research, campaigns, and messaging to be successful—truly resonating with audiences and building positive connections along with trust that influences them to make changes. The changes we effectuate can help delay the onset of type 2 diabetes, encourage more smokers to take advantage of tobacco cessation tools, and prompt more health screenings and uptake of lifesaving medications for those who are HIV positive.

In our health work with the federal government, we use our subject-matter expertise, formative research, evidence-based methodologies, and industry-leading data gathering tools to shape campaigns and drive audiences from awareness to action. The nation’s mental health crisis is one of the most pressing public health issues and we are on the front lines working to help the federal government save lives.

For SAMHSA’s 988 & Behavioral Health Crisis Coordinating Office, we are using our expertise in strategic communications, issues/crisis management, research, media relations, campaign management, and IT to create greater awareness of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and the services it provides 24/7. Through outreach to media, crafting speeches and messages for leadership in English and Spanish, monitoring and analyzing external communications efforts, and educating key partners, ICF serves as a valuable partner to SAMHSA in spreading the message that anyone, anywhere, can text, call, or chat 988 for help, any time. 

3 elements that positively influence public health communications

When it comes to public health changes, we know that individuals and families must have confidence in the messaging that federal health agencies share. To build this confidence, we consider many options including asking ourselves whether traditional approaches will move the needle from awareness to understanding to action in a digital world. Here are three of our favorite strategies:

1. Build trust with culturally sensitive subject-matter expertise. Asking people to change their behavior to improve their health requires trust in the agency and the messenger doing the asking. And, unlike in the past, messaging cannot remain stagnant. Messaging should be culturally relevant and shift and evolve as it works to build credibility and confidence with priority audiences. With industry expertise, data and science-backed information can quickly be incorporated into new campaigns or initiatives, making them flexible to changing conditions.

2. Micro influencers are essential to reaching key audiences. While large PR firms tout tier 1 celebrity connections, we have experience working with highly relevant content aggregators and micro-influencers who can reach an agency’s priority audiences. We do this effectively by allowing our clients to retain control over the content and the message. This strategy is also an efficient use of dollars as it is typically a smaller buy. With this method, we have data showing more engagement, including higher levels of true engagement, which leads to potential influence in key audiences.

3. Keep crisis communication in-house. As an alternative to costly external consultants, our experienced in-house issues/crisis communications practitioners have invested in predictive analytics that allow us to provide data-driven counsel in the heat of the news cycle. Our crisis experts work and practice in a fully integrated environment with our media relations, social media, social marketing, and research pros. We craft actionable crisis response plans and conduct crisis simulation exercises around discrete issues that pressure test an agency’s leadership, policy, and program leads’ ability to manage a spiraling public health event.

ICF’s federal health team is steeped in subject-matter expertise, research, and health communication best practices, so that the most relevant story is always told on the most relevant channels. Please reach out if you would like to know more about what we do—and the results we get—in the federal public health sphere.