Personal Storytelling Makes a Difference

We talked earlier this year about the importance of including the patient perspective in corporate messaging.

In last week’s Comm Convo, our guest speakers reminded us, albeit from a different vantage point, why this is important.

They said the most effective way to get our stories across is at the human level.

And especially with audiences like government officials who have contrasting perspectives flying at them from every which way, it usually takes more than once.

What we also heard from our panelists was that, more broadly speaking, consistent and human-centric storytelling is the key.

Yes, this certainly includes working hand in hand with smart and credible patient advocacy organizations.

But it also means tapping into the personal stories that propel our industry forward.

For example, why is your leadership team focused on a particular disease area or modality? What’s the tie-in with their personal experiences or motivations?

Or, what experiences can your lab staff or manufacturing team draw on to provide the full picture to external audiences?

Or, what about the job creation or workforce development story in the local economy? Are there new and different kinds of jobs your company or client is creating that maybe didn’t exist 10 or 15 years ago?

Of course our industry has its challenges and there are bad actors just like every other sector out there, but as our guests said last week, there’s a LOT to be celebrated.

We should be proud of the work we’re doing and proud to tell our story.

It can make a difference,  from Wall Street all the way to Capitol Hill.

Explaining the Science to Lay Audiences

It’s true that many of the corporate materials–like earnings announcements and medical meeting posters–we put out into the world are consumed by a lay audience, including patients, even though they may not be the primary intended target.

However, this should not preclude efforts to explain our science and technology in more accessible ways for patient communities.

These are a few of the opportunities we invite life science comms peers to evaluate.

Launch a dedicated patients and families section on your corporate website. Include content like community profiles and patient advocacy organization resources. Don’t forget to use lay language, and avoid jargon and acronyms.

When meeting with patient groups or welcoming community guest speakers onsite, think twice before whipping out the corporate deck. Take the time to develop a tailored presentation.

Create a version of your mechanism-of-action video that’s not overly technical and appropriate for a patient audience.

Partner with trusted HCPs and KOLs who already have established relationships with the community on a campaign or webinar series. You may also explore unbranded disease awareness campaigns, which sometimes can run in conjunction with a patient registry, but not always.

It’s never too early to attend PAO family summits and other community events, even if you’re not sponsoring. Establishing a consistent presence is key to building long-term relationships.

And, perhaps needless to say, work very closely with your medical, legal and regulatory colleagues to ensure compliance.

What strategies have you successfully employed to educate patient and caregiver communities and other lay audiences on your company’s or clients’ science?

Including the Patient Perspective When Working With Media

Reporters are always looking to humanize stories coming out of our industry that can otherwise be dry and technical. It’s quite common to be asked by a journalist to speak with a clinical trial participant, for example.

This presents a dilemma for us communicators on many, many fronts, one of which being that sponsors should not know, much less be connected to, who’s in their trials.

How can we ethically and proactively identify sources who can speak from this perspective?

Patient advocacy organizations can sometimes provide the patient perspective itself or help identify an appropriate person.

And, be sure to maintain relationships with individual patients and caregivers from the community that may have been previously established when hosting guest speakers or for materials like community profiles.

Not to be overlooked are the trial sites, starting with a strong med affairs or clin ops relationship with the investigator and study coordinator. Meet early with the institution’s comms team. Ensure they know about the trial and science behind it. Brief them on the sponsor’s comms and media engagement plans. That way, you can refer reporters to your contact onsite and maybe even give them a head’s up about an imminent inquiry.

It’s a good idea to align in advance with all of these parties on when and how you might work with them to incorporate a patient perspective into your broader comms strategy for any given investigational therapy, particularly for the media engagement piece.

What’s been your experience working with media to capture the patient perspective?

Best Practices for Patient Advocacy Communications

Oftentimes, a company’s early patient advocacy efforts stem from the thought that patients are another stakeholder group to communicate to. This might sound obvious, but it’s critical to CONTINUE prioritizing this audience as therapies advance.

Whether you’re just beginning comms efforts in this area, partnering with an established patient advocacy function, or already have great patient community relationships, here are our top five must-dos:

  1. Understand the environment: Are there several big patient advocacy organizations or a single foundation? Is the treatment landscape crowded or is your company developing the first new medicine in this space in a long time? Also, what are the dynamics like between patients, their caregivers and major KOLs?
  2. Be aware of precedents you’re setting. For example, the timing of your first email or meeting with a PAO sets expectations for when you’ll engage with other communities related to future disease areas of focus. Are you initially engaging when your company declares a new program’s research efforts or not until there’s a development candidate?
  3. Be transparent but intentionally. Although PAOs may not always agree to a confidentiality agreement, being up-front with your main contacts about a program’s status can earn trust and credibility.
  4. Share consistent updates. Frequency and format will depend as much on your company stage as your PAO relationships, and can therefore take a variety of shapes. Maybe you’re having regular Zoom meetings, monthly email updates, or using quarterly earnings as a springboard.
  5. Finally, consider how complicated your news is. Are there new terms or MOAs that need to be explained in a sensitive way? Assess whether regular corporate messaging is appropriate for this audience.

What else should we keep in mind when communicating with patient and caregiver communities?