A Content Marketing Guide for Mental Health Awareness Month
Mental Health Awareness Month, observed annually in May, is a campaign dedicated to raising awareness about mental health issues, reducing stigma surrounding mental illness, and promoting access to resources and support.
It originated from Mental Health America's establishment of Mental Health Awareness Week in 1949. Since then, the initiative has evolved into a month-long observance, recognized not only in the United States but also internationally.
Throughout the month, various organizations, communities, and individuals engage in activities such as educational events, advocacy efforts, and outreach campaigns to promote understanding and acceptance of mental health conditions.
By amplifying conversations, sharing personal narratives, and advocating for policy changes, Mental Health Awareness Month serves as a platform for advancing mental health awareness, encouraging help-seeking behavior, and fostering support networks for those affected by mental illness.
As a mental health organization, this is an opportunity to reach more people who need what you have to offer. If you’re a for-profit organization, this is a good time to bring on new customers or clients who are looking for help through the services and products you provide. For non-profits, this is a great time to fundraise and build awareness.
Because this is such an important time of year for your mental health organization, you need to go into it with a clear marketing plan. Use this blog post to guide your strategy during mental health awareness month so you can make the most of this time.
Mental Health Awareness Month 2024
According to Mental Health America, The theme of Mental Health Awareness Month 2024:
Where to Start: Mental Health in a Changing World.
They explain, “The world is constantly changing—for better or for worse—and it can be overwhelming to deal with everything going on around you. While society is getting more comfortable discussing mental health, it can still be hard to know “Where to Start” when it comes to taking care of your own well-being.”
How does this translate into your marketing? Let’s get into the details.
Your Mental Health Month Marketing Strategy
A well-defined marketing strategy allows your organization to communicate your message and initiatives to a broader audience most effectively. You’re not just checking a box—you know what you want and need to say and when to say it.
What it really comes down to is this: your mission is too important to miss this opportunity. In order to amplify your advocacy efforts in the way that you need during this time, the storytelling has to be captivating, the educational content has to be well-branded, and the collaborations need to be impactful.
Finally, a well-executed marketing strategy during Mental Health Awareness Month allows you to drive action now and in the future.
Create a plan to leverage the power of storytelling, education, and advocacy, organizations to have an impact this May. Here’s how to do that.
1. Identify Your Message
There is a theme set by Mental Health America, but many organizations create their own version of that theme, based on who they specifically support or what they do. Before you do anything, what will be your version of this year’s theme that will most resonate with your audience and community? Identify this first and foremost.
2. Set Your Goals
The goals for this campaign will be different for every organization. This can also different based on whether you’re a non-profit or for-profit, Here are a few ideas to get you thinking:
Non-Profit:
Raise $X amount of money
Gain X new followers on X platform
Develop X new partnerships
Earn X number of engagements on content
Get X visits to the website
For-Profit:
Make $X revenue
Get X number of signups
Gain X new followers on X platform
Develop X new partnerships
Earn X number of engagements on content
Get X visits to X landing page
In many cases, you’ll have 2-3 specific goals and they’ll likely be a mix of all these. Remember to be specific in what you’re trying to accomplish so you can tell, definitively, whether you achieved it or not.
3. Determine Your Lead Stories
Sharing mental health resources during this time is important—but to make an impact, you need to go beyond that. That's why, before creating all your content for the month, determine what your “lead stories” will be. I bring one of these in each month and they’re pieces of content that we will know will resonate the deepest with our audience. This could also be the launch of something new on your platform, within your service offering or for your non-profit support services.
For example, during Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW), one of our lead stories for SEA WAVES was introducing our new theme for that month: What You Don’t See. We knew this content would be powerful and appeal to both our military and non-military audience. We posted it on the last day of EDAW to keep the momentum going.
For Project HEAL, another non-profit that we provide marketing support for, a lead story for them was announcing that they were going to double all donations made during that week. This supported their fundraising and served as a valuable collaboration to expand their reach.
4. Set Partnerships and Collaborations
Make the most of Mental Health Awareness Month by setting up some collaborations and/or partnerships. This is a powerful way to expand your reach during a time when more people are talking about mental health. A good goal is to have one of these each week and here are a few ways this might look:
Facebook, TikTok or Instagram Live collaboration
Collaboration Instagram post (tag them as a collaborator or vice versa)
Short- or long-term organizational partnership, announced via email and social
Email campaign collaboration
Podcast guest episode to be published during the month
Host an event with another mental health care organization; locally or virtually
Engage with your local community for small business partnerships or awareness events
Set a partnership with a university or healthcare facility
Raise money for a non-profit, like the Suicide Crisis Lifeline, also called the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, or Mental Health First Aid.
This is just a starting point—there are so many ways to set up a collaboration or partnership that brings more awareness or support. Keep your community in mind; focus on what would benefit them the most and help you reach even more people in that subsect of the audience.
If some of the collaborations or partnerships don't work out, keep them in mind for World Mental Health Day or Mental Illness Awareness Week, both of which take place in October.
5. Create Your Content
With theme, lead stories, and partnerships identified, now it’s time to create content for social, email, website, and wherever else you’re present. As you do this, keep in mind the many sub-themes of your monthly theme—and as always, stay relevant to your audience so they’ll be more likely to engage with the content and take action.
Whether you’re asking for donations or growing your client or user base, remember to provide value in addition to asking. A 50/50 split of hard ask and value-add content is a good way to stay front and center while also giving your audience interesting and engaging content.
As you start creating content, consider these questions to guide you:
Is there a specific mental health condition(s) or mental illness we need to focus on?
Do we want to speak about mental health care?
Will we talk about suicide prevention?
What aspects of health equity are important to touch on?
Is substance abuse a topic for us to cover?
How will we talk about behavioral health in a way that resonates with our audience?
Can we encourage peer support with our content?
What do we want to include in a piece of content filled with mental health resources? Ex. The NAMI Helpline or the Crisis Text Line.
Your answers to these questions will all come from your audience and community—and what you know they need and want to hear from you.
6. Engage, Engage, Engage
If you don’t already, it’s critical that you set time aside each day during Mental Health Month for community engagement. In most cases, this means going on social platforms and commenting, sharing, and highlighting the work other organizations are doing. Some other simple but powerful engagement tactics include:
Asking questions in your caption to generate comments.
Using Instagram polls to get people to engage with your stories.
Create a hashtag to be used during the month and re-share anything posted with the hashtag.
7. Stand Out for the Right Reasons
This month was invented to bring awareness to mental health—which is why it’s so important to be aware of your message and content. Things like avoiding stigmatization and harm and being conscious of your language around inclusion are always important. With more people looking at your content during this month, however, it’s especially critical that you don’t miss anything.
This is especially important to impress upon influencers and partners who will be creating content on your behalf. During 2023 Mental Health Awareness Month Biore had an ad backfire.
In it, “Max-Brown [influencer] described her struggles with anxiety after a gunman opened fire on her college campus in February, killing three fellow Michigan State University students. Critics said the video, which featured upbeat music and product placement, overtly capitalized on a devastating incident and trivialized survivors’ trauma.”
While it’s important to prioritize authenticity and transparency, it’s also critical that it’s done in a way that’s conscious of how it will be received. You may even consider providing mental health awareness training for influencers, in addition to screening all of their content as best you can.
Get Ready for Mental Health Awareness Month
Mental Health Awareness Month is a great time to use your platform and community to raise more awareness and bring attention to such an important cause. To make the most of this opportunity for your organization, take time to create a strategy that includes key themes, metrics, and partnerships. This isn’t a time to post and ghost or send emails without a plan.
You can keep this strategy for other important mental health awareness campaigns like National Suicide Prevention Month, National Depression Screening Day or Mental Health Week. This can serve as the foundation for all other similar campaigns in the future.
Do you need a strategy for mental health awareness month—or beyond? Let’s talk!
