Reaching Underserved Communities When They Needed Care Most — Brand Strategy and Outreach for Planned Parenthood

Consciously engaged Planned Parenthood at a time when awareness and information were needed more than ever. While the current U.S. administrative policy hit the organization hard, the outbreak of COVID hit local communities even harder. To bridge the care gaps many communities were facing, we set our chief metrics as awareness, reach, and foot traffic. All three showed marked improvements, helping ensure that access is not limited by common barriers like wealth disparity, gender discrimination, racial discrimination, or a lack of acceptable local providers.

Planned Parenthood is one of the few organizations in the U.S. talking openly about reproductive and sexual health, and its intention is to serve all communities, especially ones where there are gaps in care provision. Part of their current goal is to reach not just low income and disadvantaged individuals but also those who may be denied adequate care in the health community, such as individuals who are transgender and non-binary, as well as those unsatisfied with the care provision available from typical private clinics. Some individuals are unaware of the range of care options available through local and regional Planned Parenthood organizations, and they may not know that the organization can bill insurance like any typical care provider.

One common misconception we were up against is that Planned Parenthood only serves reproductive health needs. While it is true that the mission of the organization is to provide access to birth control, emergency contraceptives, abortion referrals, and abortion services, the organization also serves many other reproductive and sexual health causes. These include HIV testing, specialized services for LGBT individuals, pregnancy testing, STD testing & treatment, gynecological exams, cancer screenings, patient education and also all forms of men’s health.

Consciously was deeply honored to be able to assist Planned Parenthood in their mission of care provision, advocacy, and education. We were engaged partially because of concerns that Planned Parenthood’s messaging would fail to speak to all audiences within the diverse communities that they serve. This included low-income communities, BIPOC communities, transgender communities, and a wide breadth of communities that may assume they are not part of Planned Parenthood’s typical audience. A prime example is that many individuals assume they must meet a level of need or must be enrolled in Medicaid in order to receive and benefit from Planned Parenthood’s care. In truth, Planned Parenthood can bill insurance like any provider, and they are eager to engage individuals dissatisfied with the quality or availability of care in their area.

It was critically important to determine a strategy for messaging and go-to-market as well as outreach during the time in which we were engaged. Initially, the organization was hit hard by funding policy decisions that affected their budget and threatened their operational model. The initial goal was to recover from these sudden changes by reaching out to communities, renewing awareness of services, and ensuring that people of all types felt welcome coming in through their local clinic’s doors.

This was before the COVID-19 pandemic had begun. Needless to say, that further disrupted the organization’s strategy and goals. However, our audience research and strategic planning positioned the organization to target individuals who could seek tele-health services instead of risking an in-person visit. Many individuals were foregoing care during this time, either because of a total lack of access or so many barriers to access that it seemed impossible. Working with Consciously, Planned Parenthood developed a strategy for reaching these individuals and encouraging them to get the care they needed to be healthy, happy, and relatively safe.

With some clients, you’re going in knowing that you have to do some values work and help them figure out who they are. With Planned Parenthood that is obviously not the case. They very much know who they are and what they’re about, and that is part of the reason we’re so excited to be invited to work with them as a partner.

RAI-MON NEMAR BARNES
CEO, Consciously

Despite these advantages, the project faced substantial challenges.

“Once Covid hit, the organization was making a big push into the telehealth, as foot traffic naturally slowed with the restrictions in place. However, patients still need services, and Consciously was tasked with strategically thinking through the challenges of reaching out to multiple local, state and regional markets with many different community types with the express purpose of being of service to those communities with the many services offered.”

Through Consciously’s efforts, the Planned Parenthood organization has been able to take a total audit and revamp of their branding as well as their visual style, tone, and messaging strategy. They have been given new tools for outreach and awareness, and new strategies for encouraging in-person and online visits through both digital and traditional media.

We look forward to continuing working with the organization in order to be a part of the outstanding work they perform — and, just as importantly, the example they set for care, compassion, and a desire for equity in communities of all types, sizes, colors, and orientations.

Pod of Conscious Marketing Architects