Most sexual health campaigns are built with the best intentions—arming audiences with facts about STI transmission, testing locations, prevention methods, and available services. But facts alone don’t change behavior. What’s often missing is the human connection: an understanding of who we’re speaking to, why they behave the way they do, and what barriers are standing in their way.

Behavior change doesn’t begin with a billboard—it begins with empathy. An effective campaign doesn’t just inform. It affirms. It listens. It respects cultural nuance, reflects the audience’s identity, and lowers the emotional and logistical barriers that prevent people from taking the next step.

A truly audience-first, stigma-free campaign is more than a PSA—it’s a bridge between public health goals and personal motivation. And that bridge must be built on insight, inclusion, and intentionality.

Here’s a checklist of the critical elements that are too often overlooked—but essential if you want your campaign to not just be seen, but felt, trusted, and acted upon.

1. Know Your Audience: Develop Deep, Dynamic Personas

Too often, health campaigns rely on vague or outdated targeting categories—terms like “young adults,” “minority populations,” or “urban communities.” These broad labels may help identify high-level demographics, but they fail to account for the motivations, cultural values, barriers, and mindsets that ultimately drive decision-making. In behavior change marketing, relevance is everything. To earn trust and drive action, your message must feel personal, not transactional.

This starts with building rich, multidimensional personas—evidence-based archetypes that reflect real audience segments. These personas aren’t just composites of age and location. They represent attitudes, beliefs, lived experiences, behavioral triggers, and emotional drivers.

Go Beyond Demographics

Demographics are a starting point, not a strategy. To build personas that actually inform campaign decisions, you must layer in:

• Psychographics – What does this audience value? What fears or aspirations shape their choices? How do they perceive healthcare, risk, or stigma?
  
• Cultural context – What unspoken norms or taboos influence behavior? How do family, religion, or language factor into trust and openness?
  
• Access and environment – What structural challenges affect their ability to take action (transportation, digital access, clinic availability)?
  
• Media behavior – Where do they get their information? Who do they trust as messengers?
  

Use Mindset-Based Segmentation

Personas are most powerful when they’re built on shared attitudes, not just shared traits. Consider segmenting your audience by mindset or readiness to act, such as:

• The Empowered Proactive – Individuals who already prioritize their sexual health but need tools or encouragement to continue (e.g., regular testers, PrEP users).
  
• The Cautiously Curious – Aware of services but hesitant due to stigma, misinformation, or fear of judgment.
  
• The Silent Avoider – Often disengaged from care due to cultural or personal shame. Likely to mistrust health messaging unless it comes from a familiar or respected source.
  
• The Trusted Caregiver – Individuals who may not be the direct audience (e.g., parents, partners, peer navigators), but influence others’ choices and behaviors.
  

Creating messages for each mindset ensures that your campaign isn’t shouting into the void—it’s speaking directly to what someone is ready to hear.

Source from Real People

Avoid assumptions by grounding your personas in first-hand research. This includes:

• Focus groups and ethnographic interviews: not just what people say, but how they say it, what they avoid discussing, and what really matters to them.
  
• Community partner input from local organizations can offer insight into behavioral patterns, barriers, and trusted messengers that wouldn’t appear in surveys alone.
  
• Social listening analyzes unfiltered conversations across platforms to identify language patterns, trending concerns, and tone.
  

When done well, persona-building reveals what success looks like from the audience’s perspective. For one person, success may be attending a free STI screening. For another, it’s simply feeling safe talking to their doctor about sex for the first time.

Iterate with Feedback and Data

Personas aren’t static. As cultural norms shift, language evolves, or new health technologies emerge, revisit and revise your personas. Every touchpoint—website clicks, event attendance, social media engagement—can validate or challenge what you think you know.

Test messaging early. If a headline doesn’t resonate, ask why. Did the tone sound clinical when it needed to sound human? Did the visual fail to represent the target persona’s world? Feedback isn’t just a performance metric; it’s a development tool.

When personas are truly representative, your campaign becomes more than a message—it becomes a mirror. It reflects the audience’s needs, values, and identity to them in a way that builds trust, reduces stigma, and moves people toward action.

2. Include Inclusive Representation

Representation isn’t a box to check—it’s a strategic imperative. In sexual health campaigns, where trust, stigma, and identity are often intertwined, seeing oneself in the message isn’t just validating—it’s activating. If your audience doesn’t feel seen, they won’t feel spoken to.

Ask yourself: Do the people in your ads look, speak, and live like your intended audience? If not, the campaign will feel disconnected at best—and alienating at worst.

Reflect the Real World, Not a Stock Library

Campaign visuals should reflect the authentic diversity of your audience, not a curated ideal. This includes but is not limited to race, ethnicity, age, body type, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and socioeconomic background.

• Use real community members whenever possible, not polished stock models. A polished ad loses power if the audience doesn’t see themselves in it.
  
• Features nontraditional beauty, diverse family structures, and varied life stages. Avoid stereotypes (e.g., always showing gay men in nightlife settings or only representing Black women as caretakers).
  
• Include people with visible disabilities, different body types, and older adults, often overlooked in sexual health campaigns but are just as affected.
  

The goal isn’t tokenism, it’s authenticity. Inclusive campaigns signal that everyone deserves access to care and dignity.

Speak Their Language—Literally and Culturally

Language is more than translation, tone, cadence, and cultural resonance.

• Use bilingual messaging when appropriate, but don’t stop at translation. Adapt messaging for transcultural clarity, so it reads as if written for the community, not at them.
  
• Include signage or copy in the vernacular of the intended audience. That may mean conversational Spanish, Caribbean Creole, or nonbinary-inclusive pronouns in English.
  
• Whenever possible, hire community consultants or cultural insiders to review messaging and imagery before launch.
  

Inclusive language isn’t about political correctness—it’s about connection. When you get it right, people notice.

Prioritize First-Person Voices

One of the most powerful forms of representation is letting people tell their stories. Use first-person quotes, video testimonials, or written narratives from community members you’re trying to reach.

• “I protect myself by getting tested every three months.”
  
• “I started PrEP because I want to enjoy life without fear.”
  
• “I was nervous to get tested, but now I’m glad I did—it gave me peace of mind.”
  

These voices do more than convey information. They model behavior, normalize care, and reduce the perception that “this campaign isn’t for me.”

Model Empowerment, Not Shame

Health campaigns rooted in fear may grab attention, but they rarely build trust. Shame-based messages (e.g., “Don’t let HIV ruin your life”) may increase awareness, but they often reinforce the very stigma they seek to eliminate.

Instead, craft narratives that highlight:

• Pride in taking action (e.g., “I protect myself. I protect my future.”)
  
• Resilience and joy (e.g., “I get tested regularly so I can live fully.”)
  
• Shared values like love, family, community, and confidence.
  

One of our own campaigns—centered around a “sex-positive, affirming approach”—saw a measurable increase in engagement after shifting from risk-focused language to self-affirming messages. When people feel invited to act from strength rather than fear, they do.

Avoid Clichés and Stereotypes

Be intentional about what you avoid as much as what you include:

• Steer clear of fear-based imagery, such as gravestones, hospital beds, or shadowy figures. These may evoke urgency, but they also alienate.
  
• Skip generic slogans that sound clinical or moralizing. Instead, speak as an ally, not an authority.
  
• Don’t romanticize struggle. Representation means showing people thriving, not just surviving.
  

Instead of showing a crisis, show control. Instead of showing shame, show pride. Instead of saying “Don’t,” say “Here’s how.”

When people see themselves in your campaign—not just visually, but emotionally and contextually—they’re more likely to listen, trust, and take action. Inclusive representation isn’t just about fairness. It’s about effectiveness. It signals that their story matters—and that your message was made for them.

3. Transculturate, Don’t Just Translate

Translation is transactional. Transculturation is transformational.

Many campaigns make the mistake of translating English content word-for-word into Spanish, Creole, or other languages and assume that’s enough. But in behavior change marketing, especially when addressing sensitive topics like sexual health, language is not just a vehicle for communication. It’s a reflection of culture, trust, and identity.

To connect with diverse audiences in a meaningful way, campaigns must go beyond translation and embrace transculturation—the process of adapting messaging so that it fits within the cultural logic, values, and lived experiences of the target community.

Translation Tells. Transculturation Relates.

A translated message may be technically correct. A transculturated message is emotionally resonant. The difference lies in context.

• A literal translation might use correct grammar but miss tone, humor, or social nuance.
  
• A transculturated message reshapes the content so it sounds like it was written for the community from within it, not imposed from the outside.
  

Take a common slogan like “Get tested. Know your status.” A direct translation into Spanish might maintain accuracy but lose urgency or warmth. A transculturated version might instead say something like: “Hazlo por ti. Hazlo por quienes amas.” (“Do it for yourself. Do it for those you love.”)—connecting testing to cultural values like family and responsibility.

Work with Cultural Insiders, Not Just Language Experts

True transculturation requires more than bilingual copywriters. It requires cultural competency.

• Engage community partners, bilingual outreach staff, or local influencers to help shape messaging rather than just translate it.
  
• Involve these partners early in the creative process to review visuals, tone, phrasing, and placement.
  
• Ask: Does this message feel respectful? Does it sound like something our community would say? Or something an outsider would say about us?
  

Campaigns that fail to do this often find their materials technically accurate but emotionally irrelevant—or worse, unintentionally offensive.

Adapt More Than Words

Transculturation extends beyond language. It should inform visuals, media choices, tone, metaphors, and even the call to action.

• Visual style: Are the colors, symbols, and typography appropriate and appealing in that cultural context? For instance, certain colors may have symbolic meanings in some cultures (white for mourning, red for good luck).
  
• Tone and imagery: Messaging for a younger demographic may include humor or pop culture references, while outreach to older adults may center on family health or community leadership.
  
• Media selection: Consider where and how different groups consume content—whether it’s radio, WhatsApp, local community bulletins, or in-person events. A strategy that works on Instagram may not reach Haitian elders who rely on church newsletters or Creole-language radio.
  

Test for Meaning, Not Just Grammar

Once materials are created, validate them with native speakers from the intended community.

• Don’t rely solely on internal review. Run message testing with small groups before going live.
  
• Ask for emotional feedback, not just linguistic accuracy. Does the message feel empowering? Does it make sense in their day-to-day context?
  
• Be open to rewriting slogans or reframing concepts to maintain integrity and impact.
  

For example, one campaign we consulted on originally translated “Own Your Health” into Spanish. But the phrasing felt corporate and abstract to local Latina mothers. After community review, the message evolved into: *“Tú decides sobre tu salud”—*more relatable, actionable, and culturally aligned.

Avoid a “One Message Fits All” Mentality

Even within a single language group, culture isn’t monolithic.

• A Cuban-American living in Tampa may not respond to the same phrasing as a Dominican teenager in New York or a Mexican family in El Paso.
  
• Haitian Creole speakers may share a language but have different lived realities depending on whether they were born in the U.S., immigrated recently, or were raised in multi-generational homes.
  

Segment your messaging where possible—by age, acculturation, values, or regional identity—and give each group the respect of a message crafted with their context in mind.

When your campaign speaks the language of the audience, not just in words, but in worldview, it opens the door to genuine trust and engagement. Transculturation is not about diluting your message—it’s about making it land. It’s about replacing institutional voice with community voice, and in doing so, moving from outreach to real connection

4. Address Stigma and Cultural Pain Points

Stigma is the silent saboteur of public health campaigns, especially in the realm of sexual health. No matter how well-crafted your message is, if it brushes up against shame, taboo, or cultural discomfort, your audience may disengage, retreat, or shut down entirely.

To be effective, sexual health campaigns must not only deliver facts—they must disarm stigma, address emotional and cultural friction points, and reframe the conversation with empathy and trust.

Understand That Stigma Comes in Many Forms

To effectively break down stigma, you must first recognize how it manifests. Stigma is not one-dimensional; it exists across social, cultural, interpersonal, and internalized spectrums.

1. Cultural Stigma
This is often rooted in longstanding traditions, religious teachings, or intergenerational beliefs. In many cultures, discussing sex publicly—or even acknowledging sexual health—can be viewed as inappropriate, taboo, or shameful. This silence makes it difficult for individuals to seek information or care without fear of being judged by their families or communities.

2. Sexual Stigma
This form of stigma targets people based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or sexual behavior. LGBTQ+ individuals, sex workers, or people perceived as sexually active outside of marriage may experience discrimination or moral judgment, especially in conservative environments. When sexual health campaigns fail to reflect or support these groups, they reinforce exclusion.

3. HIV- and STI-Related Stigma
Those living with or perceived to be at risk for HIV or other STIs often face judgment, fear, or avoidance. This leads to secrecy, reluctance to get tested, and gaps in treatment. Campaigns must take care not to reinforce the harmful myth that only “certain types” of people get STIs.

4. Internalized Stigma
Individuals may carry personal shame or guilt related to their sexual health, influenced by upbringing, religious beliefs, or prior experiences with discrimination. Even well-meaning messages can trigger this shame if not handled carefully.

Break the Silence with Strategy and Sensitivity

Normalize the Conversation
Treat sexual health as an everyday part of self-care, not a moral issue. Use accessible, plainspoken language—what someone might say to a friend or peer, not clinical or judgmental jargon.

• Incorporate relatable scenarios in your messaging (e.g., getting tested before a new relationship, discussing PrEP with a partner).
  
• Host community Q&A sessions with peer educators, faith leaders, or health advocates who already hold trust within the community. These safe spaces open the door to honest dialogue.
  

Use Positive Framing, Not Fear
Fear-based messaging may capture attention, but it often alienates and stigmatizes. Campaigns that emphasize risk, shame, or mortality can make individuals feel attacked or “othered.”

• Focus instead on the benefits of action: confidence, freedom, peace of mind, and relationship safety.
  
• Messaging that supports personal agency (“I protect myself because I deserve to feel good and stay healthy”) consistently outperforms scare tactics in long-term engagement and behavior change.
  

Highlight Shared Values

Link your message to values that transcend taboo, like love, family, wellness, and strength.

• Instead of “Avoid STIs,” try “Stay healthy for those you love.”
  
• Position sexual health as an extension of self-respect, resilience, and community responsibility.
  

Address Myths Respectfully

Misinformation is common, and defensiveness when it’s challenged is also common. Instead of correcting people abruptly, invite them into the truth.

• Example: “We’ve all heard that only certain people need to worry about HIV. Here’s what we now know…”
  
• Use a tone that’s collaborative, not corrective. Your campaign should feel like a conversation, not a lecture.
  

Show Support, Not Judgment

Create an emotional atmosphere of acceptance. Campaigns that offer reassurance—“You’re not alone,” “Everyone deserves care,” “Asking for help is strength”—are more likely to move people toward action.

• Avoid language that suggests fault or irresponsibility.
  
• Promote stories of people taking charge of their health as a source of pride, not consequence.
  

The Role of Imagery in Reducing Stigma

Visual language is just as important as verbal language. The wrong image can quietly reinforce stigma. Choose imagery that:

• Depicts confidence, joy, and connection—not isolation, fear, or illness.
  
• Shows real people in real settings, reflecting the daily lives and aspirations of your audience.
  
• Avoids overused tropes like sad faces, sterile clinics, or anatomical diagrams unless they are clearly reframed for clarity and empowerment.
  

Reducing stigma isn’t just a moral responsibility—it’s a strategic one. When campaigns acknowledge cultural taboos and emotional barriers head-on, they don’t just inform—they heal, empower, and create space for lasting behavioral change.

5. Overcome Practical Barriers

Even the most resonant message will fall flat if the next step feels out of reach.

Behavior change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. While messaging can shift perceptions and increase motivation, practical barriers—like transportation, cost, time, fear, or digital inaccessibility—often stand between intention and action. Many campaigns overlook this final, critical piece: making it easy for someone to act.

Removing friction from the follow-through process isn’t just a tactical adjustment—it’s a core tenet of behavior change strategy.

Make the Ask Clear, Actionable, and Immediate

Too many campaigns inspire the right intention but fail to guide the user to the next step. If someone has to dig, search, or interpret how to take action, momentum is lost.

• Use direct, plain language CTAs: “Get tested today. No insurance needed. Find your closest free clinic here.”
  
• Where possible, embed access into the campaign—QR codes, appointment scheduling tools, or one-click resource links.
  
• Consider geotargeted messaging: Deliver hyperlocal ads that provide directions to nearby clinics or events based on ZIP code.
  

Reduce Friction in the Access Experience

The more hurdles you remove, the more likely people are to follow through. This means anticipating and eliminating common deterrents:

• Offer flexibility: Partner with clinics to promote extended evening/weekend hours, walk-in days, or mobile health units that go into neighborhoods where access is limited.
  
• Normalize privacy: Promote at-home test kits or discreet pickup locations for condoms, PrEP, or testing kits. For those in small or close-knit communities, privacy is often the tipping point between action and avoidance.
  
• Subsidize or clarify costs: Even when services are free, people often assume there’s a catch. Be explicit: “No cost. No insurance. No judgment.”
  

Research consistently shows that financial burden and lack of insurance are the top reasons individuals don’t access sexual health services. Campaigns must take the extra step of not only naming what’s available but also disarming the assumptions that block access.

Build Trust Through People, Not Just Platforms

Access isn’t just about logistics. It’s about emotional safety. If a person doesn’t trust the source, provider, or system, they won’t engage, regardless of convenience.

• Introduce peer educators, health navigators, or community liaisons as guides. People are more likely to take action when they see someone like them taking it first.
  
• Include first-person quotes or testimonials that remove doubt: “I didn’t think it would be this easy, but the staff made me feel completely at ease.”
  
• Position navigators as helpers, not authorities. A warm human presence can be more influential than a well-designed website.
  

Translate Information into Action

A campaign’s accessibility depends on how well the information architecture supports it. That includes:

• Multilingual materials that are not only translated, but also localized and easy to follow.
  
• Step-by-step process guides: What to expect during a test, what happens afterward, and and how to get results.
  
• Visual cues that reduce reliance on reading level or tech fluency. Use maps, icons, video walkthroughs, or infographics when appropriate.
  

The easier it is for someone to see themselves in the process, the more likely they are to take that first step.

Make Behavior Feel Routine, Not Exceptional

Health behavior becomes normalized through repetition, visibility, and social context. Make it easy for people to encounter your message more than once, and tie it to moments in their lives.

• Time outreach around life moments: back-to-school season, holidays, dating app spikes, or graduation.
  
• Use text alerts or targeted social posts that nudge gently: “Haven’t been tested in 6 months? Here’s a quick, no-cost option.”
  
• Bundle services: Offer STI testing alongside other routine services like vaccinations or wellness checks. This reduces stigma by making testing part of the broader health conversation.
  

Empowerment without access is a missed opportunity. True behavior change happens when motivation meets feasibility, and your campaign’s job is to make that intersection feel effortless.

6. Iterate with Data and Feedback

No campaign should be static, especially in public health, where audience needs, perceptions, and cultural context shift rapidly. The difference between a one-time message and a sustained impact often lies in what you do after launch.

Data isn’t just for reporting. It’s for listening. It’s your campaign’s compass—and the key to staying relevant.

Measure What Matters

While metrics like impressions and clicks offer surface-level indicators of reach, they don’t tell the full story of behavior change. Instead, aim to track deeper, more telling forms of engagement:

• Testing and appointment data: Did clinic visits increase during the campaign period?
  
• Referral and call tracking: Are people calling the hotline or using the online locator?
  
• Survey response shifts: Did perceptions or attitudes around STIs, PrEP, or testing change from pre- to post-campaign?
  
• Social sentiment and engagement: Are people talking about the campaign—sharing, tagging friends, using your hashtag, or commenting?
  

The campaign might not resonate, regardless of reach if you’re not hearing or seeing the conversation.

Use Feedback Loops, Not Guesswork

Community-based campaigns require community-based refinement. Instead of guessing what’s working, build in mechanisms to learn from your audience in real time.

• Use pulse surveys or intercept feedback during outreach events or via SMS.
  
• Conduct mini focus groups at regular intervals to test new messages, images, or taglines.
  
• Monitor qualitative feedback from field staff, peer educators, and partner organizations. They’re often the first to spot a misalignment or breakthrough.
  

And remember: discomfort is data. If a message feels flat or sparks resistance, examine it—not just to remove it, but to understand why.

Let Personas Evolve

Your audience is not static, and your personas shouldn’t be either. As trends shift, attitudes evolve, and media habits change, update your understanding of who you’re talking to.

• Review persona accuracy every 6–12 months using new data and community insights.
  
• Look for emerging subgroups or mindsets—especially those that may not have been prioritized before.
  
• Adjust tone, visual identity, and call-to-action based on how different audience segments are responding.
  

Think of your campaign as a living system—one that grows stronger the more it listens, adapts, and responds.

Ready to Move From Awareness to Impact?

If your campaign includes deep personas, inclusive representation, transcultural relevance, stigma-lifting storytelling, clear pathways to action, and ongoing iteration, you’re well on your way to building a sexual health campaign that connects and converts.

But knowing the strategy is one thing—implementing it is another.

That’s why we’re inviting changemakers, public health professionals, creative leaders, and community advocates to join us this fall for our Behavior Change Marketing Workshop.

Whether you’re launching a new STI awareness campaign or refining an existing program, this workshop will equip you with the tools, frameworks, and insights to lead with empathy, data, and impact.

Visit evokhealthcaremarketing.com to learn more and secure your spot. Let’s build the future of public health together—one conversation, one story, one empowered action at a time.