Improving Mental Health Access Through Digital Storytelling and Patient-Centered Branding
PROJECT:
Go-to-Market Strategy, Brand Launch, Omnichannel Marketing
Client:
LEAP
Skills:
Brand Development, Omnichannel Marketing, Market Access, Digital Innovation, Generative AI
THE SITUATION
Lifelong Empowerment ABA & Psychotherapy (LEAP), a mental health startup, offers all-encompassing clinical and behavioral services to families through online and in-person components. The company faced challenges other mental health startups commonly encounter, including:
- The stigma around mental health
- Mental health access-related issues
- Shortage of specialized therapists
I helped LEAP address these challenges through patient-centered branding, digital health integration, and omnichannel marketing.
THE SOLUTION
I. Brand Strategy and Visual Identity
We created an overarching brand strategy for LEAP, centered around empowering patients and caregivers through a personalized, hybrid, collaborative approach to mental and behavioral healthcare services. We aimed to paint LEAP as a top choice for accessible, inclusive, and personalized mental and behavioral health services.
Key elements of the brand strategy included:
- Purpose-Driven Messaging: “Empowering You” became LEAP’s main message, emphasizing its commitment to making patients feel cared for and empowered.
- Unique Value Propositions: We brought six key value propositions to the forefront, including a wide range of services, a hybrid model, personalized care, autism expertise, inclusive services, and partnerships with companies such as insurance providers.
- Visual Identity: The brand’s visual identity was purposefully designed to reflect its mission and values, incorporating elements that show empowerment, togetherness, and specially tailored care.
II. Personalized Website Design
We developed a compelling, user-first website for LEAP that changes based on its audience; involving a seamless design that captivates and engages users. Elements of this website include:
- Audience-Specific Personalization: The website utilizes AI-driven content, customized to offer the most relevant information and resources for patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. This is demonstrated through flexible layouts and content modules.
- Intuitive User Interface: Designed with a simple, user-friendly layout that makes navigation easy, improving the user experience. The design system has a uniform set of UI components, making sure that all pages are consistent.
- A Calming Color Palette: A color scheme featuring soft blues, greens, and warm neutrals invites users into a welcoming, calming online environment. This palette is a key part of the visuals, bringing up feelings of trust and serenity.
- Animated Graphics: The background featured faint, animated brain wave patterns, symbolizing mental wellness and highlighting patients who have felt the positive impact of LEAP in their lives. These graphics are part of the visual language, showing audiences how important mental health and positive outcomes are to the brand.
- Responsive Design: Verified that the platform would work seamlessly across all devices by using flexible grid layouts and responsive, adaptable components. These include:
i. Interactive Elements: Features such as a self-assessment tool and a virtual tour of LEAP’s facilities helped keep users interested in the page. These elements go hand-in-hand with the design system’s interactive patterns and animations, uniting all the elements for the user.
ii. Accessibility Features: Tools were used for resizing text, changing color contrast, and ensuring screen reader compatibility so all users could partake in the experience. These features are built into the design system to make sure every level of the site is accessible.
iii. Typography: A carefully selected typeface family helped balance readability with brand personality, contributing to the overall look and emotional response to the website.
iv. Iconography: A custom icon set represents LEAP’s services and values, making it easier to navigate the site and ensuring that the brand identity is known.
v. Micro-interactions: The use of responsive, subtle animations and transitions helped give feedback to the user and promote a more engaging experience.
III. Targeted Go-to-Market Strategy
We developed an all-encompassing go-to-market strategy for LEAP, focusing on a few key points:
- Target Audience Definition: Crafting relatable personas for patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals represented their unique needs, concerns, and challenges.
- Value Proposition: Placing LEAP’s unique services at the forefront helped promote its services, hybrid model, personalized care, and specialized expertise.
- Messaging Strategy: Campaigns like “Healing Together,”, “Empowering You,” and “Your Partners in Wellness” were tailored to relate to each other and resonate with each persona.
- Pricing Strategy: A competitive pricing model was put in place to demonstrate the value of LEAP’s services in audience affordability while also considering market conditions.
- Channel Strategy: A multi-channel approach was taken, combining digital platforms, community outreach, and strategic partnerships, to attract and engage more customers.
- Sales Process: Making the sales process simpler involved offering digital self-service options along with personalized consultations to meet the different needs of clients.
- Patient Support: A solid patient support system was established through a combination of technology and human touch to keep clients happy and coming back.
IV: Strong Employer Brand
To address the need for more trained therapy professionals, we developed a captivating employer brand for LEAP. This included components such as:
- Unique Value Proposition: Emphasizing LEAP’s valuable, extensive services and hybrid model as a way to bring in qualified therapists.
- Professional Development: Offering and reiterating ongoing training and growth opportunities, such as specialization in areas like autism care.
- Work-Life Balance: Promoting the hybrid model, which allows therapists to balance in-person and remote telehealth sessions.
- Collaborative Culture: Showcasing LEAP’s inclusive and supportive work environment promotes collaboration between different entities.
- Technology Integration: Pointing out how LEAP’s access to cutting-edge digital tools enhances therapist efficiency and effectiveness.
V. Digital Health Integration
We implemented a targeted digital health plan to make it easier for patients to access mental health services and personalized care using:
- Hybrid Service Model: Making it easier to access a combination of telehealth and in-person services made care flexible and convenient. This setup allows patients to get the support they need, whenever and wherever it works for them, helping them reach their mental health and wellness goals.
- Telehealth Services: Impressive telehealth capabilities helped provide remote access to LEAP’s extensive mental health services, allowing for greater and easier patient access.
- Personalized Treatment: By using digital tools to offer personalized therapeutic solutions, we could showcase LEAP’s commitment to providing patient-specific care.
VI. Omnichannel Marketing
A multi-touch campaign called “Healing Together” was launched, leveraging the brand’s narrative of personalized care. This campaign emphasized LEAP’s commitment to delivering tailored therapeutic solutions that meet the unique needs of each patient and family.
The centerpiece of this campaign was an innovative, machine-learning-powered song titled “Healing Together.” This unique musical creation showed the power of healing with family and caregivers through holistic mental health services. It featured stories inspired by real patients, connecting with audiences on a deeper emotional level. By using advanced AI technology to create this powerful audio, LEAP demonstrated its commitment to innovation in both the clinical and marketing spaces.
Key elements of the “Healing Together” campaign included:
Personalization: Focusing on the importance of customized care.
- Accessibility: Promoting a hybrid model using telehealth and in-person services to provide flexible, convenient access to mental health support.
- Empowerment: Strengthening LEAP’s mission to empower patients and caregivers through their mental health journey; perfectly captured by the AI-generated song.
- Comprehensive Care: Highlighting LEAP’s wide range of treatment options for various mental health needs.
THE IMPACT
KEY TAKEWAYS
- Emphasizing empowerment and patient-specific care in a brand’s strategy can make a big difference for a new mental health company in a competitive market.
- Combining virtual and in-person experiences plays a big part in working to improve access to mental health services and making patients feel taken care of.
- Clearly defining the unique benefits of a brand helps bring in more patients and specialized professionals.
- Intentional marketing plans designed to support a company’s goals can attract more customers and increase brand awareness.
