Strategic Social Marketing Planning James H. Mintz Health Canada

Purpose  This document is a checklist for the development of a social marketing plan.

Situation Analysis  What is the social issue the campaign is addressing? (FAS/FAE)  What is the campaign focus? (alcohol and pregnancy)  What is the campaign purpose i.e intended impact (benefit) (reduced cases of FAS/FAE)  What are internal strengths and weaknesses resources, expertise, management support, internal publics)

Situation Analysis Secondary Analysis  What are the external opportunities and threats? (extend networks, PEST, Legal)?  What are the findings from prior or similar efforts?  From secondary analysis, what is epidemiology of the problem in population? (e.g. prevalence, incidence rates)  Are there any high risk groups, also what is consequence of the problem  What knowledge, attitudes and behaviours are related to problem

Situational Analysis  What approaches have been used to address the problem by other organizations?  Who are the experts in the area?  What are the geographic boundaries for the initiative?  What trends (PEST) may affect the environment for the initiative?  Which groups/organizations will oppose/support your initiative?

Situational Analysis  What are policies, regulations, pending legislation that may affect your initiative?  What other organizations in your geographic area is presently addressing this issue?  What are the messages that will be competing with your initiative for attention? (e.g. messages from opponents/allies?)

Situation Analysis Primary research  What gaps have been identified from secondary research?  What methodology do we plan to use?

Target Audience (TA)  Define the primary TA – rationale i.e. high risk, easily changeable, (“low hanging fruit”)  Define the secondary TA, e.g. those who influence the TA

Segmentation  Describe TA in terms of size, problem, incidence, severity etc., including demos, psychos, geos, behaviours and/or stages of change  What attitudes/beliefs/behaviours, related to problem, define separate segments?  Are there segments you won’t target, i.e not feasible or someone already addressing segment.  Primary TA, rationale, i.e. high risk, easily reachable/changeable (low hanging fruit).  Secondary TA, e.g. those who influence TA.

Segmentation  What about opinion makers, key stakeholders (e.g. media)?.  How will you allocate resources for your segments?  What methods will you use to conduct research on your segments? Qualitative: focus groups, in-depth interviews, observation studies. Quantitative: surveys, intercepts, existing databases.

Objectives and Goals  What does primary and secondary (baseline/benchmark) research indicate would be most strategic objectives?  Behaviour objective: What specifically do you want to influence your TA to do as a result of the campaign?  Knowledge objective: Is there anything you need them to know in order to act?  Belief objective: Is there anything you need them to believe in order to act?  Goals:What are SMART goals? State them in terms of behaviour change, and other measures e.g. awareness, campaign recall/response, changes in knowledge, belief/behavioural intent.

Analysis of TA & Competition  Analysis must be relative to your objective (desired behaviour) and your TA  What is their current behaviour, knowledge and beliefs?  What benefits/barriers do they perceive?  What is the behaviour you are asking the TA to adopt?  What are key benefits the TA would receive from adopting the behaviour?

Analysis of TA & Competition  What are the competing alternative behaviours?  What benefits/costs does your TA associate with these behaviours?  What is the competition for your product in the TA eyes?  How is your product different from and better than the competition?

Marketing Strategy Development Product: Design the product offering  What is the product, benefits of the desired behaviour?  What is the actual product, the desired behaviour?  Are there any new tangible objects included in the program/campaign  Are there any improvements that need to be made to existing tangible objects or services?  Are there any new services that will be included in program/campaign?

Price  Exit costs: What monetary and /or non- monetary costs will TA associate with abandoning their current behaviour?  Entry costs: What monetary and/or non- monetary costs will TA associate with adopting new behaviour Marketing Strategy Development

 What are the barriers to entry to adopt the new behaviour  What is the TA cost threshold?  How can you minimize the costs or remove the barriers? Marketing Strategy Development

Establishing pricing strategies:  What prices will be set for tangible objects/services associated with the campaign?  Will there be any monetary/non- monetary incentives? Marketing Strategy Development

Place  Where/When will you encourage/support the TA to perform the desired behaviour?  Where/When will the TA acquire any related tangible objects/services?  Where are the places the TA make decisions about engaging in the desired behaviour?  Are there any enhancements that would increase the appeal of the location? Marketing Strategy Development

 Where does the TA spend much of their time?  What distribution systems will be most efficient for reaching the TA?  What type of community support is available to help the TA behaviour change? Marketing Strategy Development

Promotion  What key messages do you want your campaign to communicate to your TA  What are your specific communications objectives?  What benefits will you promise and what will be communicated to support the promise? Marketing Strategy Development

 What do you want your TA to know or believe?  What specific actions do you want your TA to take as a result of the campaign?  Which communications channels do TA pay attention/trust the most?  What are important copy points/graphics/formats etc. need to be considered?  What promotion techniques (i.e. promotion mix) will work best to convey your message?  Who are the most credible spokespeople to address your TA? Marketing Strategy Development

 Who are the people/groups (in addition to your primary and secondary TA) outside/inside your organization whose support you need / that you need to address for your program to be successful?  Which are the most promising organizations (private/public sector) to join forces/collaborate with?  How will the strategic communications tactics be integrated into your campaign (including media relations, launches, etc.)? Marketing Strategy Development

Budget  What costs will be associated with your product/place/price/promotion related strategies?  If costs exceed currently available funds what additional funding sources can be explored?  What strategies will you use to appeal to these potential funders?  Who/how will the work get done and what outside/inside resources will you need?

Evaluation Tracking and Monitoring  What goals will be measured?  What techniques,mechanisms and methodologies will be used,when will they be implemented, and how will they be reported?  How will you use the results of your monitoring, tracking and evaluation?

Implementation  Will there be phases to the campaign? How will they be organized? ( i.e. by market, objectives, activities)?  For each phase,what will be done, who will be responsible, when will it be done, and for how much?

Bibliography  Social Marketing…. Improving the Quality of life, Kotler, Roberto and Lee. Sage publications 2002  Hands on Social Marketing: Kline- Weinreich, Sage publications