As you may be aware, on Friday 11th July, Ambitions for Health; a new framework for action on social marketing and public health, was published. The document sets out how the Department of Health will use evidence of what motivates people to help them lead healthier lives through targeted action.
Social Marketing: putting people at the heart of policy, communications and delivery to encourage behaviour change
The framework document can be found in full at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Choosinghealth/DH_086106
In response to this, T Media has prepared a brief paper outlining 5 key observations of the paper in relation to our experiences in this area.
This summary may prove valuable to those in marketing, communications and strategic roles, to whom this framework will become increasingly relevant.
Executive Summary
The framework sets out the belief that people are ambitious for their own health and for the health of their family. The framework is said to share that ambition, ensuring that NHS professionals use evidence and understanding about people, to design and deliver effective interventions.
The new framework for social marketing is based on four key areas:
- Health Capacity: Increasing the skills and knowledge of public health professionals.
- Health Insight: What motivates people to change their behaviour, using a ‘life stage segmentation model' and ‘one stop research shop'.
- Health Innovations: Learning from success and putting social marketing into action locally, nationally, and regionally.
- Health Partnerships: Funding support for building relationships, locally and regionally.
A timeline for implementation has been published as part of the framework.
T Media's Observations
1) Social Marketing is here for the long-term
We don't wish to overemphasise this point, however this framework adds additional weight to the belief that social marketing is more than a fad. It is clear that there is a long-term view within the NHS, in academia, and professional institutions as social marketing qualifications are proliferated at undergraduate and post-graduate levels.
"This framework illustrates our long-term commitment to a new way of working and to adopting a systematic approach to the promotion of public health." Dawn Primarolo, Minister of State for Public Health
2) Interactive technologies have an edge over traditional marketing methods
Research suggests that 86% of people think that the Government should intervene to prevent illness by providing information and advice, but 89% of people think individuals are responsible for their own health. This suggests a need to implement new ways of empowering people to make their own choices.
The framework acknowledges that the UK shows declining levels of trust in the media, and that advertising is the least trusted information source. Additionally, it draws attention to studies evidencing that trust in the Government had dropped by nearly half, from 33 per cent in 2006 to just 16 per cent in 2007.
Drawing upon our own experiences, using new technology to give people a voice of their own is a more effective means of creating motivations for positive health change. Specifically, online and interactive tools are an effective way to present information and create this desire. The key element is that the learning choices are with the user, i.e. they seek to find rather than have information and instruction forced upon them.
3) There is no starting from scratch; insight and knowledge is available to those that seek it
Health Insight is one of the four key areas described within the framework, and is the foundation upon which all implementation is based. It is clear that that policies, campaigns and communications should be based on or shaped by this insight.
Within the UK there is a wealth of prior evidence and intelligence about what has worked elsewhere, together with data about what motivates people, what they say will help them and any perceived barriers.
Future health promotion programmes will be built on shared insight into audiences, clearly defined through segmentation analysis, to bring about specific behaviour.
4) The future is in forging cross-sector partnerships
The framework describes a new social movement for health. Recognising that the Department of Health cannot change people's behaviour without the support of individuals themselves, or active help from the commercial and third sectors. However the Government can encourage, enable and create the conditions to build a social movement for health through sustainable and effective cross-sector partnerships. Early actions include establishing a £1 million per annum partnerships capacity-building fund, to provide local and regional support for building partnerships.
Social Marketing messages and actions must be aligned with those led by communities, third sector organisations and business.
5) Private sector specialists are well positioned to add value to PCTs and NHS trusts
The National Social Marketing Centre has created a highly valuable knowledge base and shared intelligence that marketers can draw upon. The access to this knowledge creates opportunities for proactive individuals and organisations to become social marketing specialists, not only by drawing upon their own experiences, but also by applying the insights and outcomes from previous social marketing projects and programmes, that have been so thoroughly documented and evaluated.
Those in marketing, communications and strategic roles within PCTs and NHS trusts may benefit from the assistance of private sector specialists, who can apply these insights, along with commercial marketing principals and technical know-how, to deliver effective social marketing campaigns.
Conclusion
The Ambitions for Health framework and new action plan provides a clear steer on the next steps for social marketing, in order to build on the increasing appetite for its wider adoption throughout public health delivery systems.
Companies such as T Media and our peers can add value to PCTS and NHS trusts by applying social marketing insights and marketing expertise from scope through to development, implementation, evaluation and follow-up of social marketing projects and programmes.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss the emerging social marketing objectives of your organisation.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment