Dos + don’ts during Pride Month: best practices for healthcare marketers

(+ major pitfalls to avoid)

Pride Month is an important time for organizations and companies to show their support and allyship with the LGBTQIA+ community. However, it is important for healthcare marketers to approach this celebration with authenticity and respect–or stay out of the conversation. Posting about Pride without having inclusive policies and practices in place can be perceived as an empty gesture. Audiences are looking for genuine support that is reflected in both words and actions. To help navigate this month, we’ve compiled a list of key pitfalls to avoid and best practices to follow, which will ensure your Pride messaging is both meaningful and impactful. 

Here are a few key pitfalls to avoid: 

DON’T post about Pride Month if your organization does not have inclusive guidelines and policies in place that seek to ensure equity among LGBTQIA+ individuals.

• Posting about Pride without substantive LGBTQIA+ inclusive policies in place at your organization may be perceived as an empty gesture. Audiences like to see words backed by concrete actions. Before publicly voicing allyship during the month, ask yourself if your company has programs, benefits, and a truly inclusive culture that supports LGBTQIA+ employees, patients, or customers.
• For instance, if you are a marketer at a pharmaceutical tech company, highlight your company’s commitment to diversity and supporting LGBTQIA+ organizations or initiatives in meaningful ways. This could include supporting research on LGBTQIA+ health disparities, supporting advocacy efforts for LGBTQIA+ health rights, and partnering with organizations that provide services to the community.

Without accompanying context about why Pride matters, simply incorporating a rainbow into your logo likely signals performative allyship.

DON’T reformat your company logo to appear supportive without acknowledging the importance of Pride Month in queer communities.

• Without accompanying context about why Pride matters, simply incorporating a rainbow into your logo likely signals performative allyship. 
• If you work in the biotech sector, consider sharing stories of LGBTQIA+ scientists or initiatives your company uses to promote equity within the life sciences industry.

DON’T use Pride Month as a way to promote or sell a product. 

• Healthcare marketers should not treat Pride Month as a vehicle to hawk products or services — it will alienate the LGBTQIA+ community it’s intended to celebrate. 
• For example, if you are a marketer at a biotech company, don’t launch a new product with a Pride-themed marketing campaign solely to increase sales. Use this time to support and uplift the community by highlighting your company’s ongoing efforts to support the queer community. This will show a genuine commitment to the community rather than exploiting a celebration for profit. 

Pride-driven social media should focus on education, awareness, celebration, and sharing your organization's authentic inclusion journey. 

DON’T use Pride Month as an opportunity to gain likes, comments, and increased engagement across social media platforms. 

• Pride-driven social media should focus on education, awareness, celebration, and sharing your organization's authentic inclusion journey. Audiences can easily identify when the goal of a post is to merely generate engagement or jump on a trending hashtag.

• Instead, you can create posts that share stories of LGBTQIA+ employees, highlight partnerships with LGBTQIA+ health organizations, or provide valuable information about LGBTQIA+ health issues and your company’s efforts to address them. This approach shows your support and will help create a deeper connection with the community. 

Best practices for healthcare marketers during Pride Month:

DO recognize the importance of Pride Month and the historical impact of the celebration.

• Pride Month commemorates the Stonewall riots in June 1969, which sparked the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement. Use your platforms to educate audiences on this history and why it's important to continue championing increased visibility and rights for this community. 
• For example, if you are the marketing manager at a dental health tech company, you can share historical content about the contributions of LGBTQIA+ individuals in the field, along with advancements and challenges within oral health. 

DO share messages that reflect the personality of your organization - stay true to your voice and tone when discussing Pride.

• There's no need to fundamentally alter your brand's authentic voice and communication style. In fact, audiences likely will better receive messaging if it aligns with the personality they are familiar with from your organization. 
• If you are the social media manager at a health tech company, consider developing a campaign around your company’s employees and how they celebrate Pride Month. This will give your audience a chance to see the personality of your company and its employees.  
  

DO share information that is factual and educational with your audiences. Take time to do your research and make sure that you are providing the best resources possible.

• Share accurate and reliable information with your audiences. If you engage with false information or spread misinformation on social media platforms, you lose credibility. It is important to ensure that you are providing your audiences with meaningful information.
• If you are in the life sciences sector, you can create infographics based on scientifically accurate information about health disparities faced by the community and how your company is working to address these issues through research and / or advocacy. 

As healthcare marketers, it is meaningful to publicly share support and allyship for the LGBTQIA+ community across our owned platforms. However, it is critical to ensure that such posts are genuine and backed by real action at your organization.