Social Marketing Whitepaper

8/17/2019 Social Marketing Whitepaper

1/14

Brogan & Partners has more than 25 years of experience marketing behavior change

to audiences in Michigan and North Carolina. Behavior change marketing, or social

marketing, is the term public health professionals use to refer to marketing that builds

awareness about a social issue and works to change people’s behaviors or attitudes

for the public good (like wear a condom, don’t smoke, get a mammogram and

recycle). A lifetime of experience has led Brogan to call this “OUGHTA” marketing.

OUGHTA marketing was once handled by God, Mom and dentists. As in:

• You oughta eat your lima beans

• You oughta not covet your neighbor’s lima beans

• You oughta floss; you just had lima beans

7 Strategies to motivate behavior change:social marketing the Brogan way.


2/14

These days, however, OUGHTA marketing is increasingly handled by schools,

the government, community organizations, public health departments, business

and environmental coalitions. OUGHTAS are usually taught publicly – on billboards,

talk shows, Facebook, websites, classrooms, TV spots, in church groups – rather

than discussed privately one on one. OUGHTAS are even legislated (rightly or wrongly

depending on your side of the fence). Consider New York City’s ban on sugary

beverages, the outlawing of smoking in public places like bars and restaurants,

and the list goes on. And OUGHTAS are being thought of as one of the solutions

to the healthcare crisis – when we adopt positive behaviors, we help control many

of the escalating healthcare costs around chronic diseases such as diabetes,

cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers.

The biggest challenge of OUGHTA marketing is that it is in direct conflict

with WANNA. As in:

• I wanna binge drink

• I wanna drive fast

• I wanna drink and drive fast

• I wanna have sex with lots of people

• I wanna have a cigarette…I just had sex with lots of people


3/14

The goal of social marketing is to figure out how to sell the OUGHTAS over the

WANNAS in order to positively impact choice. For example:

• AIDS prevention

• Obesity prevention

• Domestic violence prevention

• Smoking cessation and prevention

• Mammography screening

• Prostate cancer screening

• Problem gambling including teen gambling• Immunization

• Emergency preparedness

• Seat belt safety

• Reuse/Recycle

• Infant safe sleep

But social marketing is not messaging alone, it is the convergence of a complete

set of tools – laws, programs, hotlines, treatment as well as prevention programs,

accessibility, transportation, community outreach, and correct allocations of public

and private resources. This infrastructure can then be enhanced by marketing

communications programs in traditional media, digital media, social media,

mobile media, in-venue marketing, and guerilla marketing.


4/14

TheBIG SE V EN

OUGHTA strategies.Over our years of doing OUGHTA marketing we have identified seven strategiesas the most effective ways to sell behavior change.


5/14

1. Showing consequences

of risky behavior.Conventional wisdom says scare tactics don’t work on adults. But our experience

is that they can be effective for kids and young adolescents, if not to change behavior,

at least to create awareness of the problem. At times, scare messages can be

effective with adult target audiences, particularly when the possible outcome is death

or enforced laws that are forcefully marketed.


6/14

2. Using celebrities.Occasionally a celebrity can offer the breakthrough voice for a campaign. This is

usually a celebrity who looks and sounds like the target audience or has demonstrated

or proven himself/herself as someone with values or attributes that the audience

admires. Celebrity alone does not make a spokesperson credible. Most of the time,

celebrities are the lazy answer. Too often they are the wrong answer because the

celebrity is attractive to the advertiser but not accessible, relevant or believable to

the target. “Gee, the Speaker of the House knows James Earl Jones and he’s from

Michigan. So why not use him in our abstinence spot aimed at 13 year old girls!?”

H1N1 Awareness:“Flu Fight” Coach Tom IzzoColorectal Cancer TV:Meryl Streep

“Control” Screen for Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFQAKYqtuK0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCXtJz4nhMghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFQAKYqtuK0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCXtJz4nhMg


7/14

3. Taking responsibilit y for yourself.

This strategy appeals to the activist, and the self-reliant. And even if someone

lacks the resolve to tackle a larger behavior problem, they can be encouraged to takesmaller steps toward a goal (for example, pledging to lose 10% of their weight). From

these smaller steps, the target grows in confidence and the ability to tackle the larger

steps needed to disassociate from the negative behaviors.


8/14

4. A ppealing to an intervener to affect the situation.This strategy is a natural. And women—mothers, daughters, sisters, girlfriends,

wives—are the interveners naturally concerned about health and safety issues.

Besides appealing to the intervener through marketing, there should be information

made available to them on HOW to intervene—without nagging, scolding or

inviting abuse.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........

.. . . .

. .

. . .

. .

. .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

.

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . . . ........ .....

.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........

......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . ......

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

. . .

. . .

. .

. .

. . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . .

. . .

. .

. .

. .

.

. . . ...........

........

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . .....

HELP YOUR TEENNAVIGATE REAL - WORLD

DRIVING . . . . . .

Car crashes are the#1 cause of death for teens. The Michigan Checkpoints Programcan help your teen shift gears intosafer real-world driving. Create aparent-teen driving agreement at

saferdrivingforteens.org .Checkpoints is atrademarkof U.S. DHHS


9/14

5. Showing consequences of risky behavior on others.For those who don’t care about the consequences to themselves, it is often powerful

to show how they affect those they care about.

Gamble Responsibly TV:“The Confession”Quitline TV:“It’s Like They’re Smoking”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZoEUCfzXb8&list=UUXKMpFxxCi7nMRgr_yuWotQ&index=10http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH-ZEOiYPgEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZoEUCfzXb8&list=UUXKMpFxxCi7nMRgr_yuWotQ&index=10http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH-ZEOiYPgE


10/14

6.Getting ’emwhile they’re y oung.

Kids form opinions early and decide on many standards for themselves between

the ages of 10 and 14. This is why many of our anti-smoking and abstinence

messages are geared to this group. Influencing the decision before the choice

is presented is often the most successful social marketing strategy.


11/14

7. Engaging them inthe conversation.

Social media offers the opportunity to invite participation in discussions around

positive behavior adoption. Social marketers have the opportunity to invite comment,

both supportive and combative. This conversation can positively and appropriately

support the target audience in a one-to-one engagement that, once shared,

may reach thousands.


12/14

Theright medium for

the message.Those are the creative approaches that have worked for us. The next question is:which media or communication mechanisms work best?

1. Research and tracking studies show that TELEVISION has consistently generated

the most awareness and inquiries for our OUGHTA efforts because it is mass media

Mind you, we mean paid television spots—not PSAs. PSAs cannot be placed in the

right programs or times to target the right audiences; they cannot deliver the reach

and frequency that effective marketing demands.

2. RADIO also works extremely well because of its ability to target certain programs

and timeframes where we can reach the audience.


13/14

3. OUTDOOR is appropriate if there is a powerful visual and a short

clear message. Examples include bus shelter ads, transit ads, smaller street

posters, telephone or lighting poll posters, and projection advertising.

4. GUERRILA MARKETING should be deployed to reach the hard-to-reach.

Examples include sidewalk chalk art, street teams, environmental takeovers

and flash mobs.

5. INTERACTIVE MEDIA is often a highly targeted, very effective media to deliver

social marketing messages, particularly when video is used.

6. SOCIAL MEDIA affords the opportunity to engage with an audience on their own

terms, and to create a community that can provide support.

7. CHURCHES, CULTURAL AND COMMUNITY CENTERS are places to reach

the opinion leaders and influencers of a community—the interveners.

8. IN-VENUE MARKETING can hone in on your target bars, casinos, sports sites,

crack houses, prisons, doctor’s offices, health clinics and hospitals. Posters,

flyers, giveaways, and restroom advertising can get the message seen.

9. MARKETING PARTNERSHIPS can be powerful, offering new opportunities

to reach the target, and often new incentives for change.

10. PROMOTIONAL ITEMS can get your message into people’s hands and homes.

Refrigerator magnets are perennial favorites for moms, especially the magnet that

can hold a photo. And premiums that fit the context, such as waterproof first aid

kits to promote boating safety, are more likely to be kept and used.

11. PUBLIC RELATIONS can reach mainstream and business audiences and today

should be integrated with social media.

12. WORKSITE MARKETING is a way to impact groups with intranet banners, video,

payroll stuffers, cafeteria table toppers, and more.


14/14

What OUGHTA marketing

OUGHT A be. Successful OUGHTA marketing, however, has to go beyond the right approachin the right medium:• Successful OUGHTA marketing has to be comprehensive – from mass media to one

on-one counseling. It’s the entire tool box of programs, laws, and communications.

• Successful OUGHTA marketing is patient marketing, long-haul marketing, endurance

marketing. It takes time, commitment and dollars to change behavior.

• Successful OUGHTA marketing is intensive and aggressive in community outreach.

It seeks all players – not just the usual suspects in social welfare, civic, health, law

enforcement and corporate communities, but also in churches, ethnic groups,

clubs, local sports, teams, merchants, small business, and schools as well.

• Successful OUGHTA marketing is accountable and proves through results and

research that state, federal, community, foundation, coalitions, marketing partner

dollars and resources have been used well and effectively.

Successful OUGHTA marketing can change behaviors, families, communities and soci

for the better. And if you need a proven team to make your social marketing successfu

you OUGHTA contact Brogan & Partners. Just call our Managing Partner, Ellyn Davidso

at 248-341-8211 or [email protected].

Documents

Social Marketing Whitepaper