Is it too bold to suggest messaging doesn’t change behavior?

A colleague of mine shared an article titled, Should Public Health Campaigns Change Their Messages? based on a study by Statistics Canada. The study shares interesting insights on the relationship between messaging and behavior change based on its 12 years of longitudinal data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey among Canadians aged 50 or older with a chronic disease. Findings show that:

• 3 in 4 smokers with respiratory disease… do not quit smoking
• Most people with diabetes or heart disease… will not become more physically active, and
• For people diagnosed with cancer, heart disease, diabetes or stroke… virtually, no one will increase their intake of fruit and vegetables.

Indeed, the reviewer of the study shares: “As many experts in health promotion are well aware, knowledge and warnings are the least effective measures to change health behaviours.” Craig Lefebvre even dubs this The 5% Solution citing Leslie Snyder’s research. Yet–our bromance with messaging continues.

Social Marketing vs. Social Messaging

httpv://youtu.be/IECY9LJvTf4

Fast forward to 7:52 in the video above. Bill Smith, legendary social marketer, lays out the difference between social marketing and social messaging. He highlights how here in the United States, we’ve gotten ourselves enthralled with social messaging–missing out on key opportunities social marketing offers.

The key here is to remember that social marketing has four P’s – price, product, promotion and place, not just your promotional P. Read the latest social marketing manifesto from Social Marketing Quarterly for added thought on the full value of social marketing.

DTR the Bromance

The study and its review scratched an itch that’s been on my brain regarding messaging and (dare I say) our over reliance and investment in it. As, a messaging bromance can rapidly lead to awareness fever and trust in a one-and-done campaign. Hint: Our work is never done…

Sure–messaging has it role, and it’s important to pay attention to what types of messaging can be more effective than others. But perhaps you need to DTR it. Define the relationship. Put it in its due place and get back to work rolling up your sleeves and serving people.

No, this is no re-mix of Social Media Club, but it’s a potentially Global Social Marketing Association, speaking in terms of behavior change.

I was prompted to write about this topic when I received an email from Craig Lefebvre on the Social Marketing listserv announcing a new petition–a call for global engagement. Though I had created a humble petition of my own on iPetition over a year ago, I am very excited to see this one having momentum, both online and offline.

The petition has just almost 100 signatures and anyone is welcome to support it. The great (and strategic) piece of this petition is that is was launched with the buy-in of the Social Marketing Quarterly’s Editorial Review Board, which consists of many of the field’s thought leaders. The petition states:

*********

We, the undersigned, agree that the moment has arrived for the development of a social marketing organization. We will support, in words and actions, the creation of a global social marketing organization by July 2010. To work towards this end, we share the following core principles:

• Social marketing starts from the personal perspectives of the people with whom we work.

• Social marketing is a well-established professional discipline with a strong academic and practical foundation.

• Social marketing is a systematic approach to large-scale behavior and social change.

• Social marketing is a “community of practice” that is open to all disciplines and types of practitioners and can be applied to a range of environmental, public health, and social issues.

• The development of a professional social marketing organization should be a widely participatory and transparent process.

• A social marketing organization should represent the views of practitioners, organizations, academics, researchers, donors, policy-makers and others who advocate for, practice, and support the use of social marketing applications to address social problems.

*********

Other steps to move forward have been outlined and consist of:

• Create an Ad Hoc Guidance Group of no more than 20 members.

• Establish a date for convening a “Congress” for the social marketing organization prior to the 2010 National Conference on Social Marketing in Public Health.

• In next four months, the Guidance Group will oversee a process that solicits Delegate nominations from the social marketing community.

• We suggest that work groups be created from this group of delegates to achieve certain objectives.

• The outcomes of this Congress will then be presented for discussion and affirmation to a larger group of the social marketing community attending the social marketing conference in Clearwater Beach, FL in June 2010. Officers should be elected at this time and the organization formally announced to colleagues, stakeholders and professional communities.

*********

I’ve signed it. And so has the legendary marketer himself: Philip Kotler! Won’t you join us? At the very least, I’m going to do my best to get to next June’s 20th Anniversary of the Social Marketing in Public Health Conference, where it’s hoped that the association will officially be launched. Go here to sign the petition directly.

flickr credit: Gataen Lee

I highly encourage discussion because as another expert I love, Chris Dorobek would say, “all of us are smarter together than each of us individually.”

1. When is it product marketing and when is it social marketing?

This conversation can roll into a number of conversations, but I feel the question is really getting to “What is social marketing and how to you define it?” WIkipedia has it’s answer, and I know Stephen Dann has developed a wonderful definition as well. In sum and in brief, I would say that social marketing begins with influencing behavior change for social good. And on that same note, I would strongly encourage diving into more research beginning with the Social Marketing Quarterly, Andreason’s Social Marketing in the 21st Century, and some of Stephen Dann’s research.

2. What is the size of the social marketing market?

Now, we don’t have an association. We don’t have full, formal degree programs (at least in the U.S.) yet. But, I would still argue that the social marketing market is quite larger than most realize. I propose that social marketing is a much wider umbrella than it has been characterized in the past. Social marketing encompasses public health, but also civil safety, social change, environmental issues, non-profit causes, and as I proposed in my master’s thesis, even has strong similarities when it comes to strategies, tools and ehical frameworks of journalism and advertising.

3. What are the 3 major issues in social marketing?

In terms of the field itself, I would say there are three persistent issues. These include the branding of the field, creating formal education programs, and providing avenues for collaboration and best practices such as an international or national association.

4. What are the red flags for who does, or does not, design and implement social marketing programs?

This list could be very in-depth, but I think the most common red flag given is when some confuse social marketing with social media marketing. Blogger Andre Blackman had a great post this week distinguishing between the two. Social media can be applied within the social marketing framework, but social marketing is a much bigger net than social media.

5. How many social programs (or what percentage of them) are evaluated?

This might depend on how you define “social programs,” whether government funded, community based or non-profit driven. I might have to call on some of our other social marketing people to respond to this question. As an educated guess, I would say most programs have some sort of benchmarks that they are evaluated on. I do not have an actual percentage on hand though. To what extent are they evaluated and/or should be evaluated may be other good questions.

6. What are some of the more sophisticated methods used in these evaluations?

Both this question and the next depend largely on what is actually measured and why. And thus, deserves a much larger conversation than these lines can provide. For example, as many communications leverage social and mobile technologies, data analytics will be critical. Once the new tools are so “new,” people will be wanting to show results and extract meaning. Thus, programs like Salesforce, Radian6, and others are largely being researched to bring programs full circle so that analytics drive strategy.

7. What types of methods are used in formative research?

Formative research may include both qualitative and quantitative research methods, or a triangulation strategy that calls for a mixture of both. Some different types of research formats include a needs assessment, developing audience profiles, media scans, environmental scans, surveys, in-depth interviews, focus group testing, usability studies, and more.

8. What percentage of social marketing program budgets are devoted to evaluation?

This is a good question whether social marketing or just marketing in general is being discussed. Often, I would say that evaluation is considered too late in the game or not stretched through as much as it could be. It is important to make measurable objectives from the beginning and think out those baselines before implementing. Also, it often depends on the client, project, task, and resources available that determines how much of the budget is devoted to evaluation. Thus, as a professor might say, it depends. Now, another good question might be:  how much should be devoted?

9. Who are the innovators in the field?

That can be YOU! In terms of organizations, the National Centre of Social Marketing in the U.K. is doing great work that many of us are excited about. In the United States, the CDC’s e-Health Marketing group tends to lead the way. I would also add that both AIDS.gov and the EPA are also making great strides with some of their case studies that apply new media to communications and behavior change.

10. Who are the premier thought leaders?

In no particular order: Bill Smith, Alan Andreasen, Stephen Dann, Michael Rothschild, Philip Kotler, Gerard Hastings, Mike Newton-Ward, Nancy Lee, Craig Lefebvre, Nedra Weinreich, Doug Mckenzie-Mohr, Jeff French, Clive Blair-Stevens, Francois Lagarde, Seynabou Mbengue, Tane Cassidy, Mike Kujawski, Katherine Lyon Daniel, you….you….and did you get, that the next one could be YOU? I know it said premier, but all of these people and others are great. Together, we can all help build the social marketing field.

11. What conferences and publications do you use to keep up with the field?

Social Marketing Quarterly, the C-Change e-newsletter, numerous blogs, numerous books, the Social Marketing Listserv, the Social Marketing Wiki, events in the U.K., events at the University of South-Florida, and others. Additionally though, I also look to non-profit organizations and publications, as well as international development, new media and others to review best practices in other fields and see how they may resonate within the practice of social marketing.

In sum, many of these questions focused around evaluation. In other words, how do we know that what we are doing is working? Now THAT’S a conversation worth having. Now it’s your turn. How do you answer some of these questions (especially 5-8)? And, what other questions do you also have?

Tagging: Spare Change, Pulse and Signal, Social Marketing Panorama, Stephan Dahl

Word is – developments are on the move…

• According to Craig Lefebrve’s recent blog post, we should expect to hear more about a social marketing association at the CDC’s 2nd Annual National Conference in August and also at the World Social Marketing Conference in late September. This. is. very. exciting. =) Comments, ideas, suggestions, feedback, (you get the picture)…are encouraged on the social marketing wiki.

• The NSMC in the U.K. has announced that it’s developed the 1st set of occupational standards to apply to the social marketing field. These will also be formerly introduced during the World Social Marketing Conference in September.

• As of Friday, July 18th, Prof. Alan Andreasen announced that there are currently 1,758 subscribers to the social marketing listserv.

• The summer 2008 issue of the Social Marketing Quarterly has been released with some amazing content including a cover story about “Talking with Your Teen About Drugs,” as well articles about an integrated model for social marketers, survey results regarding international social marketing trainings, commentary from Stephan Dann, Nancy Lee, Michael Rothschild and Alan Andreasen regarding the new adopted definition of marketing by the AMA, and an in-depth look at the issue of flu vaccination.

• For those in Washington D.C., there is a new exhibit being shown at the National Academy of Sciences titled “An Iconography of Contagion,” which is displaying public health posters since WWII.

• Emerson College recently announced a new tenured-track faculty position in health communication and social marketing, starting for the 2009-2010 school year. Job description posted here.

• The Health Blogosphere: What It Means for Policy Debates and Journalism luncheon hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and features a great list of guest speakers including HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, is in Washington D.C. July 29th. Spots are filling up quick so RSVP now. If you can’t make it, the program will be available in a webcast.
  

Stay tuned for the next edition of The Bulletin!

photo credit: jceddys