Acting against COVID
Methods, skills, and techniques applied:
Market development, alliance building, and key opinion leader (KOL) engagement
Strategic planning & budgeting
Integrated content development — video, web, social, earned media, digital tools
Agency management
Returning to healthcare at a critical time
In 2021, I was returning to the corporate world as an independent consultant after taking just over a year to build a strong, sustainable foundation for my seasonal small business, Sleigh. I was looking to tap into my network and apply my healthcare expertise in a meaningful way. The healthcare industry was in midst of unprecedented disruption and innovation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and I was fortunate to be asked to help a company playing a central role in that national response.
I joined Quest Diagnostics for a long-term contract to help lead the development and launch of strategic COVID-related programs — most notably ACT Against COVID: The Alliance for Comprehensive Testing. ACT is a diverse alliance of organizations dedicated to promoting the importance of ongoing COVID-19 testing and other diagnostic testing for the good of public health now and in the future.
Here’s how we built the Alliance ...
Built our roster and reach
When I joined the program, ACT had about 30 member organizations. Within eight months, we had grown to nearly 70 member organizations including the NAACP, Siemens Healthineers, the National League of Cities, and dozens of local groups. We built a coalition using relationship building, public affairs outreach, and digital media. We engaged over 400 key opinion leaders and influential organizations who had a members and clients in need of ongoing, accessible COVID testing education. Our team built a foundation of professional connections and a digital presence to respond to the needs of community members regarding COVID and other diagnostic testing.
Established credibility
Along with our local and national outreach, we created original educational content for our member organizations, KOLs, and the general public. The facts about the different kinds of COVID tests were often miscommunicated, misunderstood, mistrusted, or misinformed. Our priority was to provide a channel of accurate information for the good of public health. One way we achieved that was by leveraging the diagnostic testing expertise of Quest with shareable infographics, white papers, social content, and interactive tools to help cut through the noise. We also knew that vulnerable communities would be more receptive to learning from their trusted local leaders. In a video series, we asked physicians, business owners, and community leaders to share their experience helping their communities through the pandemic and the critical role that testing played.
A growing wave of good information
When the Omicron wave peaked, we were encouraged to see that social and media stories about COVID testing were starting to be better informed. People and organizations were using the correct terminology to describe the differences between PCR, rapid antigen, and antibody tests. Streams of community misinformation persist, but I’m hopeful that with time, accurate information from reliable community-connected organizations like ACT will help bring clarity for the good of public health.