Queensland Stay On Your Feet® - Toolkit Phase 2 Reach and Marketing

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Reach and Marketing

All project/programs need to work toward reaching their target group and key stakeholders through effective communication.

Reach

Reach is the extent to which a project/program attracts its intended target group [90]. As social marketing aims to increase the reach of your project/program and to change behaviour, reaching the target group underpins the project/program success. Communication and marketing are methods used to improve your success in reaching the target group to make them aware of and involved with your project/program [89].

To improve the reach of your project/program:

  • build relationships with your target group and community [93]
  • involve the target group from the beginning and seek their feedback on the development of program materials and messages [93]
  • take your project/program to the places that your target group are, for example: speak at local community groups rather than setting up a separate meeting [93].

There are also many marketing methods that can be used to maximise project/program reach.

To measure the reach of a project/program, gather the number, proportion, and representativeness of individuals who participate in the project/program [93].

Social marketing

Social marketing is the marketing model most commonly used to change public health behaviour. Social marketing uses the principles of marketing (product, price, promotion, place) to develop, implement and evaluate campaigns designed to influence voluntary beneficial behaviour change across populations [157].

Social marketing involves:

  • understanding your target group [158]
  • developing clear objectives [158]
  • deciding what information is of greatest value by turning target group motivators into messages [158]
  • deciding which marketing tools will best convey messages, for example: brochures, checklists, newsletters, television and radio commercials, websites, word of mouth, and media advocacy [158]
  • conveying simple, clear messages, many times, through many sources [158].

If you are undertaking a social marketing campaign, you will need to develop a clear written plan and consult with experts. To streamline your efforts, build your communication activities into your social marketing plan.

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Social marketing case studies

Queensland Stay on Your Feet® Wide Bay/Burnett trial project

The Queensland Stay on Your Feet® Wide Bay/Burnett trial project is an example of a local social marketing campaign. The campaign included a 30-second television commercial (provided free of charge by Northern Rivers Area Health Service) featuring an older couple playing cricket with their family. The key message was keeping active with family and friends. The commercial was aired on three regional television networks between June to November 2005 and January to April 2006. Supporting printed materials, including a series of physical activity brochures, were also produced and distributed [100]. Evaluation (post-CATI survey) of the trial project indicated that 29 per cent of respondents were more likely to have heard about falls prevention in the media. This was a statistically significant increase in media awareness [119].

Stay On Your Feet WA® social marketing campaign

Western Australia conducted a statewide social marketing campaign titled 'Stay On Your Feet WA® and avoid a shattering experience'. The campaign targeted West Australians aged 60 years and over, with a focus on those with a high risk of falling but low self-perceived risk and those with a high risk of falling but high self-perceived risk. The campaign aimed to raise the personal relevance of falls and the serious consequences of a fall but also to reinforce that there are solutions [160].

A range of methods was used to reach the target group including a mass media advertising campaign with a related brochure, booklet and checklist distributed throughout Western Australia, direct mail, website, publicity, resources, stakeholder liaison and community and volunteer events [160].

The campaign was very successful, with evaluation indicating:

  • two thirds (68 per cent) of respondents were spontaneously able to describe the Stay On Your Feet WA® campaign, with equal spontaneous descriptions of 'problem' (36 per cent) and 'solution' (34 per cent)
  • one in five respondents (19 per cent) indicated that they had made a change to reduce their (or another person's) risk of falling in the last month and 26 per cent intended to change in the next six months [160].

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Last updated: 7 August 2012