SARA WICKS Communications Coordinator Dufferin County Waste Services Making social marketing work at the door SARA WICKS Communications Coordinator Dufferin County Waste Services

AGENDA Current research Social marketing and behaviour change Community-based social marketing

Outlining the Problem P&E efforts & costs add up! misapplied strategies “raising awareness” preaching to the choir

Research says… Modelling compost behaviour Handbill Study Sussman, R. & Gifford, R. (2013). Be the Change You Want to See: Modeling Food Composting in Public Places. Environment and Behavior. 45(3) 323–343 Ciadini, R.B. & Reno, R.R. (1990). A Focus of Normative Conduct: Recycling the Concept of Norms to Reduce Littering in Public Places. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 58(6) 1015-1026.

What happened is that people who entered the littered environment, were much more likely to litter. Over half of the people who entered the parking garage littered if they witnessed someone else doing so. The psychology literature describes these as descriptive norms and injunctive norms. Descriptive norms refer to the perception of what is (the environment that they experienced). Injunctive norms refer to what you OUGHT to do – what is approved or disapproved by others. Injunctive norms guide what is then referred to as a social norm. They’re culturally and socially driven, and it’s the area where lasting behaviour change occurs. Social norms is a term that I’ll come back to later.

Takeaways from the research Limitations of “raising awareness” Social and relational aspect to behaviour change is very powerful Power of innovators influencing social norms

Social marketing Communication must be Persuasive Relevant Emotional

Paths to behaviour change Knowledge Policy Culture

Social norms Modelling behaviour Social diffusion Social responsibility

Community-Based Social Marketing Quick backgrounder: Doug Mackenzie-Mohr

Five Steps of CBSM Select behaviour Identify barriers and benefits Identify target audience(s) Consider impact, and probability of the behaviour Make sure behaviour is non-divisible Identify barriers and benefits Use lit review, surveys, focus groups etc. Develop strategy Enhance benefits, reduce barriers Commitment, prompts, norms, social diffusion Conduct a pilot Collect baseline measurements Implement strategy Collect follow-up measurements Evaluate broad scale implementation Compare with baseline measurements Communicate results

Five Steps of CBSM Select behaviour Identify barriers and benefits Identify target audience(s) Consider impact, and probability of the behaviour Make sure behaviour is non-divisible Identify barriers and benefits Use lit review, surveys, focus groups etc. Develop strategy Enhance benefits, reduce barriers Commitment, prompts, norms, social diffusion Conduct a pilot Collect baseline measurements Implement strategy Collect follow-up measurements Evaluate broad scale implementation Compare with baseline measurements Communicate results

Five Steps of CBSM Select behaviour Identify barriers and benefits Identify target audience(s) Consider impact, and probability of the behaviour Make sure behaviour is non-divisible Identify barriers and benefits Use lit review, surveys, focus groups etc. Develop strategy Enhance benefits, reduce barriers Commitment, prompts, norms, social diffusion Conduct a pilot Collect baseline measurements Implement strategy Collect follow-up measurements Evaluate broad scale implementation Compare with baseline measurements Communicate results

Five Steps of CBSM Select behaviour Identify barriers and benefits Identify target audience(s) Consider impact, and probability of the behaviour Make sure behaviour is non-divisible Identify barriers and benefits Use lit review, surveys, focus groups etc. Develop strategy Enhance benefits, reduce barriers Commitment, prompts, norms, social diffusion Conduct a pilot Collect baseline measurements Implement strategy Collect follow-up measurements Evaluate broad scale implementation Compare with baseline measurements Communicate results

Five Steps of CBSM Select behaviour Identify barriers and benefits Identify target audience(s) Consider impact, and probability of the behaviour Make sure behaviour is non-divisible Identify barriers and benefits Use lit review, surveys, focus groups etc. Develop strategy Enhance benefits, reduce barriers Commitment, prompts, norms, social diffusion Conduct a pilot Collect baseline measurements Implement strategy Collect follow-up measurements Evaluate broad scale implementation Compare with baseline measurements Communicate results

Conclusion Stop focusing on simply awareness – that doesn’t create behaviour change Stop targeting everyone – be strategic about audience and messaging Stop preaching to the choir – the right audience is the one that doesn’t want to hear you… yet.

SARA WICKS swicks@dufferincounty.ca