Transcript Communications Planning 101: What is a

Suicide Prevention Resource Center
Promoting a public health approach to suicide prevention
The nation’s only federally supported
resource center devoted to advancing the
National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.
Communications Planning 101: What
is a communication plan and why is it
important to have one?
MassTAPP Campaign for Change Conference
September 18, 2015
Elly Stout, M.S.
Director, Grantee and State Initiatives
Suicide Prevention Resource Center, EDC
Today’s Session
Why Communication Planning?
Overview of Communication Planning process
Planning for Your Own Program
What actions are
needed to reduce
substance
use/misuse?
Why Communication Planning?
Good intentions can go
wrong:
“The results of this case study
suggest that the advertisement was
poorly constructed, which
decreased its effectiveness and led
to confusion about the… message.”
-- Russell et al., 2005, p. 57
Features of Successful
Communications Campaigns
Systematically planned
– ‘Formative Research’
Communications tied to overall strategy
Clear audiences and goals
– Clear call to action
Pre-tested
Evaluated
Communication Planning Steps
1. Analyze your
situation
2. Identify and
understand your audience
3. Develop your
message
4. Create/implement
your strategy
5. Evaluate your plan
1
• Step 1: Analyze Your Situation
What problem are you trying to solve?
What else is being done?
What is your organization’s capacity?
How can communications help?
Your goals: What problem are you
trying to solve?
Who is most affected by the problem?
Why is this group affected?
What can be done to lessen, prevent, or solve
the problem?
What resources does your
organization have?
Budget
Staff
Timeline
Technology
Community Partnerships
Where will communication work
best?
Sample logic model
Problem to be addressed: Misuse/abuse of opioids
Local Manifestation of the problem: 7.43% of local high school students in
grades 9-12 report past 30-day misuse of prescription opioids.
Create take-back days in
the community and drop
boxes in police stations
Media campaign to
promote take-back
days and drop
boxes to parents
and grandparents
 Use of drop
boxes and take
back days by
parents and
grandparents of
school-aged youth
 Messaging
promoting takeback days and
drop boxes
 Access to
prescription pain
medication in the
home
 Motivation
to use take-back
days and drop
boxes
 Rates of 30-day
prescription drug
abuse among
13-17 year olds
2
• Step 2: Understand your Audience
Narrow down who needs to change
– Targets vs. Agents of change
Set communication objectives
Learn more about your audience
– Audience profile
– Audience persona
Who is your audience?
Who has
influence
Agent of
change
Who should
change
Target of
change
Communication
efforts
For the actions we
brainstormed earlier, what
audiences might influence
those actions?
Why narrow down your audience?
Communication Objectives
What do we want the audience to do ?
(sometimes also know, think, feel)
– What exactly do we want them to change?
– Awareness is not specific enough
– Be clear: how will the change contribute to
your overall goals?
ACTIVITY
Worksheet 1:
Pick a project goal that communication can
support
Identify one audience for your communication
effort
Write the communication objective for your
audience
Learning about your audience
What do we want to know?
Understanding what it will take for your
audience to take the desired action
– Readiness to act
– Motivations
– Values, beliefs
– What do they think about the desired
action?
Formative research
Community assessments
Focus groups
In-depth interviews
Published literature and national
surveys
Polls
Observation
Audience profiles
3
• Step 3: Develop your Message
Include call to action
Build motivation, highlight benefits
Use fear messaging with caution
Use sensitive language that resonates
Characteristics of good messages
Appealing
Culturally appropriate
Audience’s own language
Attention getting for your audience
Clear -- don’t trade cleverness for clarity
Visuals/sounds match and support the
message
Fear Appeals
May work, if the
audience:
– Feels at risk
– Believes acting will
lower risk
– Feels/is able to act
If not, can backfire
What’s the
message??
Pre-Test Messages & Materials
• Ask target audience for reaction
– Understandability, clarity, language
– Does anything distract from the message?
Use broad prompts (don’t lead)
Take pre-testing feedback with a grain
of salt
Using sensitive language
Choose humanizing language
Avoid stereotypes
Avoid jargon
Cultural and linguistic competency
(more than translation!)
4
• Step 4: Create and Implement your Strategy
Choose your Channels
Write a Creative Brief
Develop an Action Plan
Getting your Message Out
Channels = paths to share messages
– Consider a broad range
– Think creatively!
Consider:
– What does the audience use?
– What is credible to the audience?
– How complex is the message?
6 Main Channel Categories
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
One-on-one communication
Local outreach
Mass media campaigns
Media relations/PR
Social Media
Non-traditional
Writing a Creative Brief
Create buy-in
Keep team members on the
same page
Clarify priorities and available
resources
Use as a reference for action
planning
Avoid wasted effort
Action Planning
Specific calendar, including:
– Detailed steps for each channel
– Who is in charge
– Partner/staff responsibilities
– Milestones to monitor progress
– Regular team meetings to identify
roadblocks and make adjustments
ACTIVITY
Worksheet 2:
Using the audience and communication
objective from Worksheet 1, fill out your
creative brief
5
• Step 5: Evaluate your Plan
Plan for evaluation from the start
– SMART Communication Objectives
Process and outcome evaluation
Improve and sustain
Consider finding an evaluator to help
SMART Objectives for Evaluation
Plan for evaluation from the start by
setting SMART communication objectives
– Specific
– Measurable
– Attainable
– Relevant
– Time-sensitive
Evaluating your communication
efforts
Process measures: are you doing what
you planned and is it reaching people
Outcome measures: did the campaign get
audience members to do what you
wanted?
Were there unintended effects?
Using Evaluation Results
Use evaluation results to:
– Identify needed improvements and
modifications
– Demonstrate impact
– Share successes to build sustained
support and buy-in
– Empower other coalitions/groups to follow
in your footsteps
What are some ways you
could evaluate the
communications efforts you
developed in the
worksheets?
Summing up
1. Analyze your situation
2. Identify and understand
your audience
3. Develop your message
4. Create/implement your
strategy
5. Evaluate your plan
Final Thought:
Managing the Message
When working with partners, ad agencies,
youth, or others to create messages:
– Provide guidelines and parameters
– Use a creative brief or other tool to keep
everyone on the same page
– Review messages to ensure they meet
guidelines
Questions?
Thank you!
Elly Stout, MS
Director, Grantee and State Initiatives
[email protected]
617-618-2206
Visit the SPRC website! www.sprc.org
EDC Headquarters
43 Foundry Avenue
Waltham, MA 02453
www.edc.org
References
 CDC (2012). Audience Insights: Communicating to Teens (Aged 12-17).
http://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/audience/index.html
 EDC (2012). Logic Model Framework for Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation.
http://masstapp.edc.org/logic-model-framework-planning-implementation-and-evalutation
 EDC (2015). MassTAPP Communications Toolkit.
 Eukanuba (2008). Everybody Wants to Be a Dog Poster. Accessed Sep 2015 at
http://www.strangebusiness.com/images/content/135442.jpg.
 National Cancer Institute (2002). “The Pink Book” Making Health Communication Programs Work.
http://www.cancer.gov/pinkbook
 Partnership for a Drug Free America (1987). This is Your Brain on Drugs. Accessed Sep 2015 at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk9XY8Nrs0A.
 Russell, C.A., Clapp, J.D., DeJong, W. (2005). Done 4: Analysis of a Failed Social Norms Marketing
Campaign. Health Communication, 17(1), 57–65.
 Witte, K. (1992). Putting the Fear Back into Fear Appeals: The Extended Parallel Process Model.
Communication Monographs, 59, 329-349.
Funding
SPRC funded by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Service’s Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
under grant no.5U79SM059945-02
SPRC is a project of EDC