Our Experience
Trusted support to make public, mental and sexual health services a success…
At Publico Marketing, we’re experts in marketing which enables local authorities, health authorities and other organisations to engage the public or community.
We’ve particular experience in health and wellbeing.
Provide CIC deliver NHS sexual health services for 1.8 million people in Essex.
They asked us to help create and deliver a comprehensive marketing strategy to promote their services and better engage young and vulnerable people.
The results of our marketing included:
- Essex rose 100 places into the UK top 10 for STI testing
- Overall web traffic increased 72.73%
- 58% increase in eC-Card app downloads
- Social media attracted more than 25,000 organic users
- Stakeholders proactively adopted the campaign marketing
Provide CIC won a new 7-year contract which praised the marketing and our work was a finalist at 2023 DMA Health & Wellness Marketing Awards.
‘Publico Marketing (formally Full Mix Marketing) have been exceptional in helping us connect with young adults and our stakeholders… reducing the rates of STIs and unplanned pregnancies in Essex. Their creativity, marketing knowledge and understanding of what we aim to achieve is excellent. We’re particularly proud that our combined efforts were finalists for a prestigious DMA award!’
Thinking About Sex?
With STIs on the increase, our campaign helped reduce the spread by encouraging home testing.
The rise affected many groups, so our campaign used ‘Thinking about sex?’ and ‘Spread the love, not the infection’ to reach all ages, genders and sexualities.
As a result, Essex rose 100 places into the top ten of the UK GUMCAD report for STI testing.
Feel Good Vibes
Feel Good Suffolk required an initial campaign to speak directly to their target audience and enhance brand awareness.
To reach people aged 35+, we tied the theme into their brand name by encouraging people to reflect on times they felt good.
Being relatable was key to success, so we used realistic people and case studies to successfully resonate with users.
Free Condoms Campaign
The eC-Card provides access to free condoms and lube for under 25s. However, use of the scheme was decreasing and a relaunch was needed.
We created a campaign around the catchy phrase ‘Swipe the app, to get a pack’ to ensure it was memorable amongst young people.
As a result, there was a 58% increase in visitors to the eC-Card website who downloaded the app.
Asking for a Friend
Sexual health is often a taboo subject and many young people stated they did not visit the Essex Sexual Health Services website because they did not want others to know.
To tackle this, we created a sub-brand and campaign called ‘Asking for a friend’. A new website, social media presence and adverts were all used to successfully appeal to under 25s.
Freshers Week
Each year, Sexual Health Week coincides with the first week of the new academic year at most UK universities.
Essex Sexual Health Service was keen to ensure new students were aware of their free, friendly and non-judgemental services.
To reach students, our campaign focused on freshers’ magazines, university publications, student events and handing out fun promotional items.
Suffolk’s district and county councils deliver Feel Good Suffolk – an initiative to help the 750,000 inhabitants quit smoking, lose weight and get active.
Feel Good Suffolk required a new strategy to help boost uptake and breathe new life into their campaign.
We created a strategy which:
- Set goals and aims, including outcomes and deliverables
- Evaluated existing marketing and other approaches
- Defined target audience, including features and preferences
- Identified the most effective mix of marketing
- Created key marketing messaging
- Produced a detailed marketing plan, including tactics for each marketing channel
- Detailed key performance indicators, metrics and results to chart success
‘I worked with Sarah, Sally and the team on a campaign to promote the Feel Good Suffolk service.
We received consistently high-quality support, and I felt the team took the time to understand the partnership and to develop an effective strategy to refresh and update our approach to branding and marketing. This included a partner toolkit and three campaigns which raised Feel Good Suffolk’s profile and engagement.
They worked well with our team and had a good understanding of the importance and complexity of our stakeholder relationships. I would have no hesitation in highly recommending them.
Websites
As our campaigns had led to greater users, Essex Sexual Health Services required an improved website.
With more visitors, new services and additional clinics, they needed an easy-to-use hub which could be used 24/7 to access information and services such as home STI testing kits.
From wireframing to the final design, clinical guides to imagery, we built an entire website and sought feedback from stakeholders at every stage.
Once launched, website traffic grew 227.46% in the first month. Mobile users increased 71.55% in the first year. The call centre began to deal with fewer non-urgent queries as online engagement rose.
Pharmacy Campaign
Stakeholder partnerships are vital when delivering public services and pharmacies play a vital role in health initiatives.
We created a successful campaign to recruit more pharmacies, using leaflets and posters to communicate directly with pharmacy managers and promote the benefits.
Schools Out
Universities and colleges take a long summer break which reduces students’ access to the health services they help provide.
We delivered a campaign from early July to help direct students and young people to sexual health services and educate staff on how to signpost them.
Powerful Content
Content marketing is increasingly key for successful campaigns, with benefits including boosting awareness and ensuring services appear in online searches (SEO).
We have created hundreds of thousands of words of content, including medical guides, engaging blogs, successful press releases and engaging web pages.
Our content is:
- Clinically accurate and ethically balanced
- Inclusive, non-judgemental and non-discriminatory
- Tailored for audiences including young, non-UK and low literacy
What we create:
- Never uses negative language or scare tactics
- Complies with easy read principles
- Embraces the 7 C’s of communication – complete, concise, courteous, concrete, correct, clear and coherent
Not Feeling Yourself?
Feel Good Suffolk required a new campaign to target those who may have overindulged or struggled to stay active during the summer months.
We created the ‘Not feeling yourself?’ campaign which used light-hearted imagery and messaging to be engaging and memorable.
The powerful campaign used visuals based on feeling ‘deflated’ to encourage people to discover services to help quit smoking, manage weight and get fit.
Need it, Click it, Get it
People increasingly want to engage with public health services online.
In response to this, we created a campaign to encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to use Essex Sexual Health Services’ new improved website and apps to access help.
The ‘Need it. Click it. Get it.’ slogan and logo were successfully used across all communications, including digital marketing, content marketing and social media.
