A good health content writer knows their audience. Before you make a move towards your laptop or pen and paper, start by working out who you are targeting. I am a freelancer, so I get my clients to fill in a comms brief, which includes a section where I ask them to define their audience/s. If you’re an in house writer or comms person, you could do this yourself, or speak to the teams you are working with.

Once you have an audience defined, the next step is to try and understand their experiences and needs. This will help you develop goals for your comms and create content that meets these goals. Here are some quick tips:

1. Try chatting to someone or ideally a few people, in your target audience. Could you arrange a 15 minute telephone or video call? It helps to think of some open ended questions about their experiences, perceptions and any barriers they may face, for example in coping with their health condition. Read my blog for more tips on interviewing.

2. Find out where your users ‘hang out’ and see what they are talking about. Looking on online forums and groups can be helpful. If you have access to your audience via social media you could ask direct questions or use the poll features on the different platforms. I am currently running an online consultation using social media to explore what has helped people cope with the emotional impact of pancreatic cancer.

3. See if anyone else has done the work for you. No matter how niche your audience, someone else has normally done the work. Is there any published research or reports on this already? Check out Cochrane and GoogleScholar using some key words.

That’s a few pointers to get you started. I’m launching a health content training course in January, that will go into more depth. Keep up-to-date by signing up to my newsletter or drop me a line to register your interest in the course.