HOW LINN COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH’S CLINICAL SERVICES BRANCH CONNECTS ITS STI SERVICES WITH IOWA’S LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY

“I absolutely recommend the COMMANDO team. They are really professional, super smart, very responsive and flexible, trustworthy, and fun to work with.”

HEATHER MEADOR

Linn County Clinical Branch Supervisor

SITUATION

Linn County Public Health is the second-largest health department in Iowa. Its Clinical Services Branch provides a wide variety of health services to the public by assisting with disease prevention, health promotion, and health protection.

“We noticed a rise in sexually transmitted infections in our region, so we wanted to reach out to high-risk individuals so that they could get tested and treated without being stigmatized,” said Linn County Clinical Branch Supervisor Heather Meador.

Most importantly, Heather wanted to get more people tested and treated for HIV. The clinic already had resources and processes in place to reach that goal. If patients tested positive, the clinic helped them get into treatment, and if they tested negative, it encouraged them to take pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Additionally, the clinic made it easier for people to get tested for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) by helping them get free at-home kits. The missing piece was letting people know about these essential services.

“We knew dating apps were the best place to connect with our target audience, so we began reaching out to each platform individually to figure out how a campaign would work,” said Heather. “The problem was that working directly with each app platform was time-consuming and expensive.”

Heather knew there had to be a better way to accomplish her clinic’s objectives. After a short search and a discussion with another organization that found success in leveraging COMMANDO’s services, she decided to give COMMANDO a try.

COMMANDO HELPS ORGANIZATIONS REACH THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY

THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA AND DATING APPS BY BUILDING AND IMPLEMENTING ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS FROM START TO FINISH.

SOLUTION

COMMANDO specializes in targeted marketing that reaches the underserved LGBTQ+ audience, particularly men who have sex with men, on the most relevant social, web, and dating platforms with compelling ads that speak to them.

Commando formulated an ad campaign for the clinic’s target audience featuring a button that, when clicked, took users to a short survey. Based on the survey results, users might be offered an in-home testing kit or given a request to visit the clinic for education and treatment.

“Working with the COMMANDO team was wonderful,” said Heather. “They helped formulate the messaging. They produced all the graphics and gave us a range of pricing options. They worked with us until we created something we were all happy with and thought would make a real difference.”

Heather’s budget permitted her to run a one-month campaign with COMMANDO. However, she was so pleased with the results that she plans to continue working with COMMANDO to reach more of her target audience.

RESULTS + BENEFITS

COMMANDO HELPED LINN COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH ACHIEVE THE FOLLOWING:

EFFORTLESS MARKETING

“We’re on target to achieve sixty percent growth per clinic this calendar year,” said Jana. “Even the slowest clinics we have are growing from two to four patients per month.”

MORE THAN 13,000 STI SURVEY RESPONSES

“The results we’ve seen are nothing like I’ve ever seen in my twenty-year marketing career,” said Jana. “We have seen a clinic that was getting maybe two patients a month from search engine optimization to getting twentyfour new patients a month thanks to microtargeting and digital marketing.”

INCREASED KIT DELIVERY

“Our doctors want to advertise in glossy magazines and newspapers, but that’s not where the LGBTQ+ community is,” said Jana. “COMMANDO is the company to go to for finding, targeting, and really figuring out exactly who your audience is and how to get them.”