Harnessing Social Media for social good

We were sent this article by Heather Sewell from ICE and thought it was worth sharing. Thanks Heather.



Harnessing Social Media for social good

The rapid growth of social networking holds massive untapped potential for reaching our communities on key social and public health issues, says Suzanne Goldenberg from ICE.

In an era where we’re surrounded by social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and blogging is increasingly commonplace - more ideas are being shared by more people, and more quickly than ever before.

Social networking is still a new and evolving form of communication and is a great way to create discussion, debate, voice and opinion. This means there’s great potential to reach out to hard-to-reach and seldom heard audience groups to discourage risky health behaviours on issues ranging from alcohol and drug misuse, to smoking, mental health, cancer awareness and sexual health.

Social Media or social marketing?

There are numerous examples of how social networking technology is bringing about sustained behaviour change for both individuals and communities, in partnership with organisations across the health sector.

However, one of the barriers to fully harnessing social networking approaches to date has been the common misconception that Social Media and social marketing are one and the same. Whilst Social Media refers to new forms of digital communication which use internet and web-based technologies, social marketing is defined as “the systematic application of marketing concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioural goals, for social or public good”.

In other words, social marketing is about going directly into communities to engage key audiences on social and public health issues, and not simply sitting behind a computer screen. That said, the two can work together: in some instances, social media can form an important part of a wider, fully informed social marketing approach.

Targeting your audience

The “groundswell effect” of digital and social media solutions is raising the expectation that they will inevitably now form part of any communications strategy. This not the case! Whilst it’s certainly true that these techniques can be very effective in supporting and moving the behaviour of targeted audience groups as part of a social marketing strategy, it’s important to recognise that this type of intervention will only work if our research and insight tells us that a specific audience prefers it or is already using this media to communicate.

For instance, ICE is currently working alongside The Deborah Hutton Campaign and its partners across central government and other charitable initiatives, on a social marketing initiative which is using social media channels as its primary form of engaging young people.

This peer-to-peer project is supporting young people in planning, producing and sharing their own films about the dangers of smoking, using social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube to help them deliver these messages to other young people. This is a really exciting and innovative campaign, as I think it’s a great example of how target audiences can become active participants who shape positive messaging and enact change for themselves, rather than just ‘consuming’ messages.

Similarly, the intervention stage of a skin cancer awareness campaign being undertaken in partnership with Merseyside and Cheshire Cancer Network has included the development of a social networking site where 11-16 year olds can take part in interactive avatars: answering correctly then allows them to accumulate credits and enhance their online personas.

The principle behind this interactive tool is to raise aspiration and also awareness about the dangers and the safe levels of sun exposure, and there are now plans to roll out the concept nationally alongside key cancer awareness networks and charities.

A multi-channel approach

Undoubtedly, these examples show that Social Media technologies provide new pathways to reach out to hard-to-reach audience groups, which I believe will be utilised more and more by the health sector in the future.

However, the real key to promoting sustainable behaviour change will be in ensuring that these interventions are well researched, citizen led and focused at all times. A ‘one size fits all’ approach will not work, and any use of social media must be shaped to positively resonate with different segmented groups. Ongoing evaluation of these techniques, to gauge their effectiveness, also plays an essential part in refining the approach and informing future consultation and engagement.

By Suzanne Goldenberg, Business Development Director (South East), ICE

Article provide by ICE Creates

http://www.icecreates.com

The BIG NHS Communications Challenge

www.nhsmarketing.co.uk is inviting NHS employees to share their communications challenges with us.

We hope to use the information to better understand themes, and common issues that NHS communicators are faced. Then, we will set our team the challenge of developing solutions to key problems with the aim of sharing them with NHS teams around the country.

We are doing this to help us understand what is causing NHS communicators pain, though if we can relieve this pain it should benefit all.

This is your chance to share the problem by voicing those issues that make your life more difficult than it needs to be!

What do we mean by a communications challenge?

Anything that causes barriers to effect two-way communication with your target audience.

The more specific the better, though here are some examples of challenges we've worked on in the past 2-months:

The need to reduce the cost per member for NHS membership schemes

> Collaboratively we've developed a 3-stage digital communication system that dramatically reduces print, post and admin costs, as well as greatly enhancing communication with members using multiple channels.

A way of saving time from the onerous task of uploading Trust Board Papers to websites

> We've developed a streamlined upload system that is saving communications teams between 1 and 3 full days per quarter.

A way of more efficiently emailing groups of people, and being able to measure reach

> We've developed a process whereby segmented groups can be emailed specific messages and with reporting on open rates, click throughs etc. all within the boundaries of data protection.

To participate in the Big NHS Communications Challenge, please sum up for us a challenge you need fixing, along with any supporting information.

You can do this by either emailing john@tmedia.co.uk or by calling 01482 327230

This is a chance to put a creative and technical team to work on your problem, without impacting on your budget. All communications will be held in the strictest confidence and will not be shared without your express permission.

If you've not dealt with us before, we'd be delighted to provide references.

The deadline for submissions is Wednesday 9th September.

I hope we hear from you - many thanks!

A further comment about social marketing and Social Media

I received this email from ICE Creates Ltd sharing similar sentiments to mine regarding the social marketing / Social Media debacle:

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There have been a number of articles printed recently looking at the relationship social marketing has with Social Media. Also linked to this, a number of comments have also been made that the NHS North West £30 million roster will be spent on marketing through these sites. Below is a response to these articles and comments from ICE CEO Stuart Jackson:

(The article is attached at the bottom).

I have been watching with great interest the recent unfolding debate around the role Social Media is playing in social marketing and how a recent £30 million social marketing roster by the NHS North West will potentially be used in this context, and I do feel there have been some inaccuracies printed that need to be clarified.

In the article, an MP was cited as criticising the notion that this £30 million pounds will be spent on using Facebook and Twitter, but the reality is, that at this stage, the NHS North West has not yet decided where the roster money will be spent.

Unfortunately, there also seems to be some confusion over what social marketing is. It begins with talking to the people you are trying to reach, finding out how they feel about the issues you are trying to address and helping them to create changes for the better. That could be in terms of young people and issues around alcohol and sexual health or by helping people in low socio-economic areas with high levels of alcohol misuse. Social marketing is about going directly into communities and helping them to remove barriers by creating choice.

Social marketing can also be described as the ‘systematic application of marketing concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioural goals, for social or public good’.

There also seems to be some confusion here about the terms of ‘social marketing’ and ‘Social Media’. Social marketing is about positive behavioural change while Social Media relates to new communication technologies such as networking sites, including Facebook and twitter.

What we need to understand is that Social Media and social networking technology itself is still a relatively new and evolving area, and that means we're still in the early days of understanding how best to tap into and use this resource. I do think that social media sites can provide a tremendous opportunity for social marketers to explore new pathways for reaching out to audience groups, but whilst my social marketing team at ICE is currently on the cusp of delivering a cutting edge social marketing campaign involving social media sites to engage with school aged children and young people, it needs to be understood that this is only a very small percentage of our operation. Using Social Media to engage with an audience could be the outcome of a social marketing project, but equally, any number of other interventions may be selected as the most appropriate. On one recent alcohol awareness project we have worked on with Liverpool Primary Care Trust for example, the engagement method we selected was to employ two full time alcohol intervention workers who now offer ‘on the ground’ help and advice across a number of community settings in specific ‘hard to reach communities’. That’s hardly conventional marketing and communications, and may well be a first for a creative agency like us, but it’s proving very effective.

Ultimately, I do not believe that behavioural change can be achieved through Social Media sites alone, and the idea that the NHS might spend £30m on it with agencies such as ours is not only unwise, but also untrue. We are totally opposed to wasting public money which is why we are committed to working on programmes that will make a positive difference to people’s lives.

The Daily Telegraph

Stuart Jackson

CEO ICE Creates Ltd

stuart@icecreates.com

The Distinction between social marketing and Social Media – a telling point

Please see below for a story from today’s Daily Telegraph. This includes some pretty damning comments from a Liberal Democrat MP and the Taxpayers Alliance, completely missing the point about what social marketing is.

As well as misinterpreting this as 'Social Media marketing', in my opinion those commenting seem to be missing the point that effective social marketing in the NHS is largely about saving money!

NHSMarketing.co.uk is always happy to receive and publish the comments of others, so please contact mailto:john@eskimosoup.co.uk and we’d be happy to share your thoughts with the 300+ regular visitors to this blog.

Source: Daily Telegraph

By Nigel Bunyan

Published: 12:43PM BST 15 Jul 2009

Health officials spend £30 million on Twitter and Facebook marketing campaign

Health officials have spent £30 million on advertising campaigns that will include networking on Twitter and Facebook, prompting criticism that the money could be better used in frontline services.

The budget, which will be spent over three years, has been set aside by the NHS in the North West.

It will help 50 organisations raise public awareness on such issues as healthy eating, the dangers of alcohol, and sexual health.

Up to eight public relations companies are being hired to devise suitable campaigns.

Critics say the money would be better spent on more direct ways of making patients better.

Dr John Pugh, the Liberal Democrat MP for Southport, said: "Blowing millions on marketing and Twitter is not how people want money spent. This amount of money could be spent on far better things than social networking and flashy websites. These do not make people better. Better standards of basic care in hospitals and reductions in health waiting lists are the biggest problems in the North West and these should be the priority. There is a real shortage of basic staff in every hospital - not surgeons or sophisticated doctors, but basic staff who need to be around when people just need ordinary types of care."

The Taxpayers' Alliance also criticised the spending. Its spokesman, Susie Squire, said: "The NHS is under strain so we need to prioritise life-saving operations above frittering away money on this sort of PR. When it comes to delivering health care messages you should always go for the most efficient method and not the most fashionable."

She added: "The NHS needs to go back to listening to what patients want which is better quality health care and not swanky marketing. People are going to look at this and say 'Why are you spending £30 million on marketing and PR when I can't get the right cancer drugs or a hip operation?'"

NHS North West said the £30 million figure was an estimate of what might be spent if 50 or so organisations pooled their resources.

A spokesman added: "Social marketing is about influencing behaviour through different projects and different campaigns not just social networking or Social Media. The marketing may include social sites like Twitter and Facebook, but there is so much more (available). It works out at around £150,000 per year, per organisation, which is around £1.07 per year per head of population."

Link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/twitter/5833895/Health-officials-spend-30000-on-Twitter-and-Facebook-marketing-campaign.html

NHS Hull Uses Social Media Marketing

NHS Hull has commissioned an innovative promotional campaign aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of measles and how to protect children from the disease.

The ‘Keep Measles Out of Hull!’ campaign has been commissioned by NHS Hull, and is delivered by Hull-based communications agency T Media with the support of staff and pupils at schools throughout Hull.

Central to the campaign is the production and online promotion of a series of humorous videos featuring pupils from St Nicholas Primary School, Spring Cottage Primary School and Highlands Primary School.

The campaign is the first time that NHS Hull has used online social networks as the main media for a localised health promotion campaign. Many school age children may not have been vaccinated against measles because of worries or fears about between the MMR vaccine and autism in 1998 – a claim that has now been completely discredited. Keep Measles Out of Hull! Aims to reach children, parents and carers of children who haven’t been vaccinated, and therefore remain unprotected and at risk of catching measles.

The videos will be promoted via traditional offline media, though primarily through social media sites such as YouTube and facebook. This media was selected because mums of young children are the UK’s largest user group on Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site.

The videos serve as a reminder to parents and carers to check if their child is fully vaccinated, and if not, to make an appointment for their unprotected children to receive the MMR vaccine.

The videos feature messages from children about the effects of measles and how to get vaccinated against the disease. Humorous features within the videos include children impersonating measles, ongoing mispronunciations of medical terms, as well as colourful creations of measles cartoon characters.

By working with local schools the campaign has engaged with children, and will then be used to engage with parents and carers as the campaign progresses.

Kathleen Young, Nurse Consultant for NHS Hull said:

“Many people underestimate the severity of measles. The dangers are very real, as was demonstrated by the outbreak in Wales and the North West which recently saw many children become quite ill. To date over thirty people have had to go to hospital in the past month alone.

“We need to help parents and carers of children in Hull understand the risk of not protecting their children against measles, as well as get the message across that no child is too old to be immunised. All children deserve, and have a right to, this free protection.”

John Gilbert, Marketing Director of T Media who were commissioned by NHS Hull to deliver the campaign said: “Although we are dealing with a serious health risk, there have been a lot of positives in working on this campaign already. The schools have been very helpful and the children have been creative and full of energy.”

“The videos don’t use scare tactics. That approach wouldn’t work in this case. We wanted the videos to be make you smile as well as think; this helps with the viral aspect of the campaign. As we’ve seen some of these kids have definitely got star quality.”

NHS Hull are working with T Media and other organisations to develop approaches whereby comedy can be used to appeal to certain members of the community and communicate serious health messages in an effective way.

The videos and more information about the campaign can be found at the main website www.keepmeaslesoutofhull.co.uk,

YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/keepmeaslesoutofhull,

and the Facebook page at www.keepmeaslesoutofhull.co.uk/facebook

NHS Hull will be monitoring the impact that this campaign has on the number of children being vaccinated against measles when compared to previous years.

Social Media Campaign Aims to Keep Measles Out of Hull!

NHS Hull has commissioned an innovative promotional campaign aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of measles and how to protect children from the disease.

The 'Keep Measles Out of Hull!' campaign has been commissioned by NHS Hull, and is delivered by Hull-based communications agency T Media with the support of staff and pupils at schools throughout Hull.

Central to the campaign is the production and online promotion of a series of humorous videos featuring pupils from St Nicholas Primary School, Spring Cottage Primary School and Highlands Primary School.

The campaign is the first time that NHS Hull has used online social networks as the main media for a localised health promotion campaign. Many school age children may not have been vaccinated against measles because of worries or fears about between the MMR vaccine and autism in 1998 – a claim that has now been completely discredited. Keep Measles Out of Hull! Aims to reach children, parents and carers of children who haven’t been vaccinated, and therefore remain unprotected and at risk of catching measles.

The videos will be promoted via traditional offline media, though primarily through social media sites such as YouTube and facebook. This media was selected because mums of young children are the UK’s largest user group on Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site.

The videos serve as a reminder to parents and carers to check if their child is fully vaccinated, and if not, to make an appointment for their unprotected children to receive the MMR vaccine.

The videos feature messages from children about the effects of measles and how to get vaccinated against the disease. Humorous features within the videos include children impersonating measles, ongoing mispronunciations of medical terms, as well as colourful creations of measles cartoon characters.

By working with local schools the campaign has engaged with children, and will then be used to engage with parents and carers as the campaign progresses.

Kathleen Young, Nurse Consultant for NHS Hull said:

“Many people underestimate the severity of measles. The dangers are very real, as was demonstrated by the outbreak in Wales and the North West which recently saw many children become quite ill. To date over thirty people have had to go to hospital in the past month alone.

“We need to help parents and carers of children in Hull understand the risk of not protecting their children against measles, as well as get the message across that no child is too old to be immunised. All children deserve, and have a right to, this free protection.”

John Gilbert, Marketing Director of T Media who were commissioned by NHS Hull to deliver the campaign said: “Although we are dealing with a serious health risk, there have been a lot of positives in working on this campaign already. The schools have been very helpful and the children have been creative and full of energy.”

“The videos don’t use scare tactics. That approach wouldn’t work in this case. We wanted the videos to be make you smile as well as think; this helps with the viral aspect of the campaign. As we’ve seen some of these kids have definitely got star quality.”

NHS Hull are working with T Media and other organisations to develop approaches whereby comedy can be used to appeal to certain members of the community and communicate serious health messages in an effective way.

The videos and more information about the campaign can be found at the main website www.keepmeaslesoutofhull.co.uk,

YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/keepmeaslesoutofhull,

and the Facebook page at www.keepmeaslesoutofhull.co.uk/facebook

NHS Hull will be monitoring the impact that this campaign has on the number of children being vaccinated against measles when compared to previous years.

Partnership Marketing in the NHS

I attended yesterday (9th June 2009) the inaugural NHS Membership Conference presented by NHS Hull.

Reflecting on this, I think it’s fair to say that the event was a success. It was well attended by 70 – 80 senior NHS representatives, mostly from PCTs. The multiple speakers presented a lot of practical advice and ideas that participants could apply, if implementing their own membership scheme.

As a delegate and sponsor of the conference, I listened with interest to find some great examples of marketing at work in the NHS. Given that my company has provided services for NHS Hull’s Membership Scheme and We’re All Ears programme, it would be rather crass to point out projects we’ve been involved in.

So, it was very welcome when I sat in on a workshop presented by Carla Ramsay of Hull & East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, along with Katie Colrein and Rachel Iveson of Humber Mental Health Teaching NHS Trust. This described a way of working that we’d had no direct input in ourselves.

Here I learnt about an excellent example of partnership marketing in the NHS. Identifying the potential problem of communication overload to the public within Hull and the East Riding, the Trust’s were, along with NHS Hull’s Membership Team, able to pool their resources to develop an effective communications campaign. A campaign that would mean that all participating trusts would go on to smash their individual membership recruitment targets.

In a nutshell, the philosophy was if we are going to sign people up to be members, let’s try to get them for three trusts rather than just one. If this works consistently, we’ll pretty much reduce our recruitment investment for this campaign to a third of what it would if we did them separately. This also benefits the public who aren’t being approached by three times as many NHS organisations wanting them to become members.

By implementing a shared membership recruitment initiative, the trusts were able to benefit from saving time, saving money, avoiding conflicts, e.g. events clashing, share knowledge, events and share information on the goals and challenges of each trust so the right priorities were given to all involved.

There were some great specific benefits too, for example: recruiting members for a mental health trust can be difficult because of the stigmas attached to this area of health. However, by fronting approaches by “care you get from a hospital” it was more acceptable for people to stop on talk with representatives at supermarkets, at special events, etc. and be hooked into mental health as the discussions develop.

The result of this partnership marketing campaign was a recruitment of around 3,000 members per trust. This is pretty impressive considering the targets for all marketing activities were between 2,500 and 5,000.

So, why am I hyping up what might seems so straightforward? Simply because I haven’t seen this before. The campaign is an excellent example of entrepreneurial thinking within huge NHS organisations. The entrepreneur’s approach to marketing typically asks; how can I take who I know, what they want, and then leverage this to my advantage so that we both get what we want?

This approach delivers this and wins for each trust, the NHS members, the Chief Executives seeking Foundation Status or World Class Commissioning, and where savings are made ultimately the taxpayer benefits too.

I’m not suggesting that the NHS is without its entrepreneurial thinkers; there were a couple of others speakers at the event too – I suggest they know who they are. However, it is refreshing to see this adopted by teams at multiple organisations.

At the workshop I attended, the Q&A session moved away from the benefits, and became a little embroiled in NHS politics. Though for what its worth I feel I “got it” and congratulate those involved for an innovative approach to partnership marketing, with a hint of entrepreneurialism!

Notes from the workshop along with other resources from the NHS Membership Conference will be available to download for free at www.nhsmembershiphull.co.uk by the end of this week.

NHS Marketing Survey - Part One

Thanks to those that participated in the study, the www.nhsmarketing.co.uk marketing survey data is in.

The data can be downloaded as a PDF here.

This is a summary of responses collated from 28 respondents across 25 PCTs, 2 Mental Health Trusts and 1 Acute Trust.

The report displays data on marketing trends and evaluations of promotional techniques applied for external and internal communications. The final part of the report lists some qualitative comments made by respondents, which we feel brings up some very interesting issues.

Our intention is to generate interpretations in June and July 2009, which shall be communicated via www.nhsmarketing.co.uk

Of course, with marketing and communications being such as vast area this report merely scratched the surface on a few issues, mainly around promotion. Over the next 6 months we shall be working with partners to further explore some of the more interesting aspects of the study.

Thank you again to all participants and to those of you interested in the findings from this report.

More information is to follow.

NHS Membership Conference

NHS Hull are presenting a conference aimed at helping Chief Executives and senior managers of NHS Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to implement their own membership schemes.

The inaugural NHS Membership Conference is being presented by NHS Hull at the Village Hotel, Hessle, East Yorkshire on Tuesday 9th June.

The theme of the conference is the membership model within a PCT; exploring the impact and development of a membership scheme for people living and accessing local healthcare service.

NHS Hull’s Membership Scheme recently reached a milestone by recruiting over 5,000 members, making them the first PCT in the UK to do so.

The conference issponsored by NHS and marketing agency, eskimosoup.

Speakers represent organisations including: NHS Hull Engagement Team, the NHS Centre for Involvement, Humber Mental Health, and Hull and East Yorkshire Acute Trust.

There will also be keynote address from Mark Britnell, Director-General for Commissioning & System Management for the NHS, England. He will discuss how membership schemes and commissioning can work together to help achieve the NHS goal of World Class Commissioning.

Chris Middleton, Managing Director of eskimosoup said: “We are really proud to be the main sponsor of the conference. We’ve been fortunate to work with NHS Hull as they recruit and engage with their members. Our team see this as an opportunity to prove that we understand how we can really add value to other PCTs embarking on the membership process for the first time.”

eskimosoup are a part of the Ludo Studio group of companies, and have a portfolio of public sector projects in design, web development, and social marketing. The company have also worked closely with NHS Stoke for whom they have developed an online NHS member engagement system.

eskimosoup have developed a website at www.nhsmembershiphull.co.uk which provides additional information about the conference. Places at the conference cost £100, with registration available via the website.

Following the conference the website will be redeveloped to host information and assets, ensuring it is a valuable resource for anyone who has an involvement in membership schemes.

Useful Links

Conference Website www.nhsmembershiphull.co.uk

eskimosoup www.eskimosoup.co.uk

NHS Hull www.hullpct.nhs.uk

Social marketing case studies

I’ll keep this brief, as essentially I’m directing you to another organisation’s work.

In the unlikely event that you work within the area of social marketing and haven’t already used the National Centre for Social Marketing website, you really should check it out.

Over the past few weeks, they’ve added to the site the “first collection of fully-researched case studies to show that social marketing works!”

The "ShowCase" section features successful UK and International programmes, which have used social marketing techniques to achieve behavioural changes. This can be accessed here:

http://thensmc.com/resources/showcase/case-studies-home.html

At one level the value here is in idea generation for key issues such as exercise, alcohol, sexual health, smoking, employment and others.

At another level, this really does show, as it claims, “how social marketing works”.

In a recent meeting I attended with the Chief Executive, Chair and Assistant Director of Public Health at a PCT in the UK, we were discussing some radical innovative social marketing approaches and needed to source some related case studies to give some reassurance that our campaign ideas had substance to them. We were able to source this information, though it did take some digging around.

For NHS employees, external consultants and marketing companies, this provides an easily accessible overview of insights, challenges and critically evidence of sustainable results.

As I say, if it’s relevant to your job role, you really should check this out for regular updates:

http://thensmc.com/resources/showcase/case-studies-home.html

NHS Marketing Survey

We would like to invite those working within marketing-related roles to participate in the http://www.nhsmarketing.co.uk marketing communications survey.

The survey aims to gain an understanding of the levels of adoption and effectiveness of a number of marketing communications methods, as well as trends and priorities amongst an evolving NHS.

It should take less than 4 minutes to complete.

Survey participants shall be given a preview of the report findings and interpretations in full, before an executive summary version is published on this blog.

Those that complete the survey shall be entered into a prize draw. One randomly selected participant will win a night at the movies for two with Odeon cinema vouchers.

The closing date for completion of the survey is Friday 8th May.

We hope very much that you wish to give your thoughts and opinions on marketing communications throughout the NHS and are able to share in our findings to help you understand the context of your role within your organisation.

Follow link to compete the survey:

http://nhsmarketing.co.uk/nhs_communications_survey.htm

Thank you for your time.

Metrics and Marketers in the NHS – a comment

Yesterday I attended an event at St. James University Hospital in Leeds (yes, Jimmy’s off the TV) on the subject of Metrics and Marketers in the NHS.

The event was introduced by David Thorp Director of Research and Professional Development and presented by Mark Stuart Head of Research, both of The Chartered Institute of Marketing.

There were some interesting points raised throughout the presentation. For instance, it was said that ‘number of lives saved’ was not a metric used by the NHS, and that there was a tendency within the NHS management structure to measure what was easiest to measure, and that this was often not the true key factors.

It is in this distinction that the main issue with this piece of research lies. The presentation seemed to be attempting to produce a one size fits all approach to measuring marketing. Although this seemed preferred to over 40 KPIs defined by the Department of Health, it is not possible whilst Acute Trusts, PCTs and all other organisations represented at this event were being treated as the overall NHS.

From my perspective, a gentleman in the audience hit the nail on the head with the first question of the session. He stated that although the goal of the Acute Trust and the PCT (mainly via health promotions and social marketing in this context) is better health for people, the systems for measurement are very different indeed and that it would serve only to confuse when we attempt to lump the two together.

That said, it  was clear was that this once dirty word of “marketing” is now much more accepted, and to some extent much better understood within the NHS.

At the secondary care level, it was suggested that by the end of 2009 it is expected that every hospital in England will have at least trialled a patient experience collection and response system. This truly is a step towards marketing and may make those think that there is no place for marketing in the NHS (“why should we waste money advertising a hospital that should be spent on patient care?”) think again.

At the primary care level, it’s clear that social marketing is indeed the next big thing and everywhere I go more and more people are talking about it.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing have produced a White Paper that clearly shows that there is a line between secondary care and primary care marketing.

Specifically, there are some excellent models and explanations drawing from the work done by NHS Yorkshire & Humber Trust – though this is a good job really as they will spend over £26m on campaigns in 2009, all of which can be accounted for.

We do not have permission to offer the paper for download, though it can be requested from the lovely people at CIM by emailing mailto:library@cim.co.uk

What does Health-Related social marketing look like?

In our experience, the level of understanding and engagement for social marketing varies from PCT to PCT. Some health promotions and communications teams have embraced this and are delivering effective social marketing campaigns in a range of key areas. However, at the other extreme, some in the NHS seem to view marketing as a process of defining which marketing materials would be most effective to deliver a top-down message. They are, however, aware that social marketing is growing in significance in a very big way.

Here is a 5 minute guide to identifying and applying social marketing within the NHS, based on the six key characteristics identified by the National Centre for Social Marketing (NCSM).

Social marketing has:

1: Strong ‘customer orientation’

This reinforces one of the core values more commonly associated with commercial marketing; ‘Understanding the customer’. Appropriate market research would go beyond statistics to incorporate an understanding of the ‘customer’s’ awareness, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and values.

Key Questions: What are the key drivers? Where are they at, in terms of the desired behaviour of the individual? Where are we at, in terms of the wider social and cultural influences on people?

2: Clear behavioural goals

As any management and marketing book or workshop will tell us, it is essential that we shoot for behavioural goals that are specific, realistic and achievable in the relevant timescale, and phased over the short, medium and long term.

The NCSM will tell us, “we are not just looking at ‘behaviour change’ but also at ‘behaviour reinforcement and maintenance”.

Practical Example: For increased fitness programmes, a behavioural outcome might be taking regular exercise, but the behavioural goals on the way to this might include developing an exercise plan or finding out about local fitness facilities.

3: Using ‘exchange’ concept: “to give something, in order to get something”

This would be demonstrated in an understanding of what a person has ‘to give’ in order to get any offered benefit. The real cost to the customer could include time and effort involved, social consequences, implications of deferring potential enjoyment and pleasure, as well as potential monetary costs. Understanding would therefore focus on: enhancing the incentives or benefits of the desired behaviour AND removing or minimising any barriers in the way of this.

Practical Example: Restricting or banning smoking in public places increases barriers around the negative behaviour, making it harder or less rewarding and attractive.

4: Well developed audience ‘segmentation’

Segmentation would move beyond the traditional focus on demographic or epidemiological factors such as age, sex, class, culture, education, and disease patterns. Segmentation would primarily focus on behavioural factors.

Key Insights: We need to understand “where the audience is at” in relation to adoption and maintenance of the desired behaviour and behavioural goals. For example, are they strongly resisting, willing but feeling unable, contemplating change, uncertain or unaware of the benefits?

5: Based on ‘voluntary’ action

Initiatives would primarily focus on encouraging and supporting particular ‘voluntary actions’, rather than aiming to control or regulate them.

The focus on voluntary action would also extend to wider secondary audiences or ‘key influencers’. Where relevant, this might include specific policy or decision makers, and practitioners that may have important impacts on the primary audience.

Practical Example: In encouraging children to eat more fruit and vegetables, parents are likely to represent a key secondary audience for the success of this programme. Their role both in supporting their child’s acceptance of fruit and vegetables, and in monitoring eating patterns within the home, is crucial. However, the behaviour must stem from the voluntary desire of the child to have a lasting effect, as imposing vegetables may have a detrimental effect.

6: Using ‘competition’ concept

Much like the business world is competing with a vast array of alternatives and bombardment of marketing messages, social marketing initiatives would recognise the issue of ‘competing interests and factors’, and would specifically look at ways to neutralise or minimise their impact on target audiences.

Practical Examples: ‘Anti-health forces’ such as advertising for unhealthy foods or alcohol brands promote negative health behaviours. ‘Pro-health forces’ compete for the attention of the same audience, which could either work synergistically or create message overload. Internal factors could include desires for risking taking or ‘thrill seeking’ which may need to be fulfilled in other areas.

Social marketing: “putting people at the heart of policy, communications and delivery to encourage behaviour change.”

The key to successful social marketing is to take these insights and convert them into intrinsically linked action.

Those in marketing, communications and strategic roles within PCTs and NHS trusts may benefit from the assistance of private sector specialists, who can apply social marketing insights, along with commercial marketing principals and technical know-how, to deliver effective social marketing campaigns.

Top 10 Tips for writing Brochure and Leaflets Copy

1.    Copywriting is a skill. If you are a Software Engineer, Electrician, Accountant, you are not a copywriter. If you do write the copy, make sure you get a second opinion on your work. Try to use someone who is not a professional or semi-professional in the field. Listen and take on board criticism.

2.    Most readers at first will only read headlines, subheads, and captions. These must give the benefits and the motivation so that your readers will want to read the rest of the copy.

3.    Use high quality photographs of your products, of handsome people, or preferably of handsome people enjoying the benefits of using your products.

4.    Your brochure copy will be read out of order. Each page or panel should contain benefits and sales copy. This is good brochure design.

5.    Collect brochures from other companies. What do you like and why?

6.    Remember that colours represent different things in different industries. Be careful with your choice of colours. Read our article on the Psychology of Corporate Colours for more information.

7.    Use white space in your brochure design. Crowded copy is hard to read, your photos will lose impact. Use white space to make the most impact on a particular message.

8.    Try not to use more than five or six lines in each paragraph.

9.    Try not to use more than two or three sentences per paragraph.

10.    Leave a space between paragraphs, and do not indent them.

A Guide to Writing Effective Leaflet and Brochure Copy

This article will cover:

•    The goals of a leaflet

•    Writing the right content for your readers

•    How to write your content

What is the purpose of your brochure? Is your brochure an advertisement? Is it a detailed product description marketing piece? Or to put it another way, what kind of customers will be getting your brochure?

What are you trying to accomplish? Do you want new customers to come into your shop?  Then create interest and excitement with an advertisement type brochure designed to bring them in. 

Or are your customers looking for information? Or in the true sense of the word, are you requiring your brochure for propaganda purposes? Then you want to create a brochure packed with information specifically for them.

It is better to create different brochures to accomplish these different goals. Detailed product information will not entice a new customer to call. A lightweight sales brochure will not satisfy a demand for more information. Define your objective clearly, and use your brochure design to accomplish your goal.

This rule should be followed each time you want to target a different type of audience. If they are important, then you want to tailor your message, and your brochure design, especially for them. 

Unless you have a prominent position in the market place and have a brand guideline in place then generally your logo or company name should be the last thing that is mentioned. Your message should be strong enough to give a call to action (motivate the reader to make the next step, e.g. pick up the phone and make an enquiry).

With every medium of marketing, publicity or for the spread of propaganda, it must be kept in mind that three things use to spread the message:

•    Words

•    Pictures

•    Graphics

The first step involved in the process of writing a leaflet is to be clear in your mind about the message you want to convey to your target audience. You need to write in a clear, concise and persuasive manner, giving all the necessary details. The text must not only be persuasive, but it should also be interesting, punchy, catchy and memorable, all at the same time.

The main points should be highlighted to make them stand out amidst the rest of the body copy. Pictures and layout are two crucial decisions to be taken in order to make the leaflet more aesthetically appealing and visually attractive.

What is interesting about brochures and leaflets is that they're seldom read in the right order. Like we read magazines in dentists' waiting rooms, your readers will flick through brochures and leaflets and stop to take a longer look at bits that grab their attention.

Alternatively, they'll flick all the way through and then go back to bits they've noticed and that have interested them. They're just as likely to flick through from back to front as they are from front to back.

What all this teaches us, is that despite seeming logical, writing for brochures and leaflets in the form of a story that starts at the beginning, goes through the middle and finishes at the end, is not necessarily the best way forward.

There are some tricks you can use to get this random reading pattern to work a bit more effectively for you.

Many people do absorb brochures in the usual order. Even if they don't they still expect to find the introduction at the beginning, the substantiations in the middle and the conclusion at the end.

The trick here is to put the main points in as sub-headings in bold type. Someone scanning the document will get the gist of your message, even if they don't have time to read the body text.

You should also ensure that the sub-headings make sense in their own right and that understanding them is not wholly dependent on their being read in any particular order. Body text should support and expand on each sub-heading and lead the reader towards the next one.

An Example of Good Leaflet Structure

•    Imagine an A5 leaflet. Typically, it may have a front and back cover and a two page spread inside.

•    The front cover lends itself to a single, powerful statement and a hard-hitting graphic to support the leaflet's title. These should be gripping enough to make anyone want to read on.

•    On page two you can set out the problem. For instance, the situation against which you are campaigning.

•    On page three, right opposite, you can explain what you are trying to do about the situation on page two; and how, when and where.

•    Finally, on the back cover, tell us about yourself and your organisation. Don't forget to include contact details for people who want to know more or want to get involved.

•    If you are working in association with another organisation, be sure to mention them. See if you can add their logo to your flyer. Their support will add authority to your efforts.

•    Try not to overload readers with too much information, but do try and answer common questions and concerns. Aim for not too much but not too little.

•    Create accurate models and mock-ups for your brochure. Cut and fold your brochure to size. Use the same type of paper that you will ultimately print on, and review your work.