Discussing research within the medical community and amongst peers can be straightforward enough but engaging the public with scientific, complex topics can be challenging.
Conveying complex medical messages to the public can be difficult if your audience can’t understand them in layman’s terms. This can alienate your target audience and make it challenging to engage with them.
The problem with science communication is nothing new, but the Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the existing gaps in science communication with the public. As public health guidance was updated according to the data generated with regard to Covid-19, some people questioned key health mandates (such as wearing masks) and even escalated into vaccine alarmism.
It is vital that the public understands how the scientific process is constantly evolving; initial recommendations are updated or changed not because they were false, but because experts have adapted to new information.
It’s not enough to merely provide a simplified and direct translation of scientific communications to the public. A distillation of medical research for the lay public is not a simpler, lesser version of scientific knowledge, it’s just qualitatively different.
More than the facts, the meaning and relevance of your data need to carry through in your scientific communications.
It’s crucial to create a communications marketing strategy that enables medical research organisations to create understandable yet expert initiatives that are educational and meaningful to their target audience.
Why complex science needs to be distilled in layman’s terms
Creating a strong communications strategy enables medical research organisations in expressing their progress and journey in the pursuit of scientific advancements and discoveries.
Being able to persuasively and confidently express your message allows your audience to make better-informed decisions about medical matters. This also prevents people from listening to unverified information online, which can often be myths or false misconceptions.
More importantly, distilling complex science can help key audiences understand the scientific breakthroughs for potential philanthropy and funding. At its core, medical research organisations must relay how relevant their research work is and why it deserves more funding and attention from the public.
Why medical research organisations should collaborate with boutique health communications and marketing agencies
Many medical research organisations lack the internal resources to create effective marketing and communications strategies, therefore outsourcing the work to independent freelancers because they believe agencies are too expensive, but there are expert options available at affordable prices.
There are different marketing areas in the healthcare and medicine sector that a boutique agency can help you with:
- Defining your communications goals and strategy
- Building brand awareness
- Encouraging audience engagement
- Securing funding
- Driving advocacy
As a boutique marketing agency within the healthcare and medical sector, QUAY Communications’ proven approach is cost-effective and efficient, allowing you to achieve your marketing goals.
How to develop and distil scientific information for general public consumption
The translation of scientific, expert knowledge to lay communications must be carefully planned and considered to ensure that the data and its core message are clear to the audience.
We’ve shortlisted a few strategies you can use to ensure that your messaging is clear and understandable for your target audience in the general public.
1. Develop a strategic framework
A key message framework can help you plan how to effectively distil complex science in a meaningful way for the general public. It can serve as a guide to ensure that your messaging is focused, consistent and accurate.
There are a number of marketing frameworks that your organisation can use, such as:
- 7Ps Marketing Mix – This is a popular and traditional approach wherein the seven Ps stand for product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. This framework ensures that you can optimise every business area in your organisation so that you can improve your marketing strategy.
- STP Model – This is a top-down approach focused on delivering personalised messages to the target audience. The acronym stands for segmentation, targeting and positioning. Segmentation allows you to divide your target audiences into relevant groups. Targeting helps you identify the audience segments that will be most receptive to your message. While positioning enables you to identify the best way to make your product the most attractive option to your audience.
- STEPPS – This is a modern marketing approach geared towards creating “contagious content” that motivates the audience to share it and talk about it. “STEPPS” stands for social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical value and stories. It enables organisations to have an interactive and engaging relationship with their audience while increasing brand awareness and recall.
You need to consider different factors before deciding on what framework to use, such as the role of marketing within your organisation and how you define marketing success. By having a clear understanding of your marketing communications objectives, you can identify the best framework to utilise for your organisation.
2. Create a content strategy
A content strategy details how to leverage the key messages across all content formats (e.g. articles, media releases, posts and videos) as well as where it can be used across communication channels (e.g. website, media, eNewsletters and social channels). This will ensure that your science communications effectively reach and engages your target audience.
Here are the key steps in creating an effective communications content strategy:
- Identify your goals – This will serve as the blueprint for your marketing team and ensure that your communications goals align with your organisational objectives.
- Know your audience – Understanding your audience, especially if they are segments within the general public, will help you tailor your messaging so that it is relevant and engaging to them.
- Create your key messages – Creating the fundamental themes and messages for your communications will ensure that your initiatives are clear, cohesive and meaningful to your audience.
- Choose the right communication channels – There will be different channels that are most suitable for different content formats. Your content strategy will allow you to create a lineup of varied communication initiatives and post them accordingly to the appropriate channels.
3. Monitor and analyse the outcomes
The ideal outcome for your marketing and communications strategy should comprise approved key messages that inform all content development via a consistent voice while raising awareness and building trust in the organisation’s work.
Tracking the performance of your scientific communications allows you to identify areas of improvement and leverage high-performing aspects, ensuring you are meeting your goals.
Your marketing communications efforts don’t have to be hit-and-miss; implementing a clear strategy and partnering with a knowledgeable team will help you formulate a distilled translation of your scientific data and ensure that your message comes across clearly to the general public.
We are one of the leading healthcare communications specialists in the sector. Contact us and we will help you translate complex science messaging into effective communication initiatives for the public. This will ensure that your target audiences will be better informed on medical issues that may impact them directly while increasing the visibility of medical matters that deserve community awareness and funding.
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