Marketing



Marketing

Getting and Keeping People Involved in a Program

HS 490

Chapter 11

After putting a great deal of work and energy into planning a health promotion program, planners naturally hope that the target population will want to participate in it. They also hope that, once involved in the program, the participants will want to continue with the program for its duration. Hoping is not enough, however. Planners must not just hope these things will occur, but work to make sure they occur. They need to have skills in marketing and psychology in order to get the target population involved and keep them involved. Only when the participants continue the behavior learned in a health promotion program over a long period of time can the health goals of both the individual and the program be met.

Market:

The set of all people who have an actual or potential interest in a product or service.

Marketing

Marketing is the planned attempt to influence the characteristics of voluntary exchange transactions- exchanges of costs and benefits by buyers and sellers or providers and consumers. Marketing is considerably different from selling in that selling concentrates on the needs of the producer (to sell more products), whereas marketing, which may have the same ultimate objective, concentrates necessarily on the needs of the buyer or the public.

Social Marketing

Social marketing concepts and methods borrow heavily from traditional marketing literature. However, social marketing is distinguished by its emphasis on so-called ‘non-tangible’ products- ideas, attitudes, lifestyle changes- as opposed to the more tangible products and services that are the focus of marketing in business, health-care, and nonprofit service sectors.

Tangible- product

Intangible- a program that will improve the quality of life.

Marketing and the Diffusion Theory

Diffusion Theory- provides an explanation for the diffusion of innovations (something new) in populations; stated another way, it provides an explanation for the pattern of adoption of the innovations.

Table 11.1 Marketing a Tangible verses an Intangible

Contingency

A statement of what will happen if a contract is met or not met. For example, if a person meets the terms of his contract by losing 10 pounds in five weeks, he can then expect to receive something specified (an intangible, such as a praise, or a tangible object) from the person who agreed to the contract. If the terms are not met, then the person for whom the contract was written must forfeit something specified (perhaps time volunteered to a company service or a material object of his own).

Innovators

Between 2% and 3% of the target population

They are venturesome, independent, risky, and daring. They want to be the first to do things and they may not be respected by others in the social system.

Early Adopters

About 14% of the target population.

These people are very interested in the innovation, but they are not the first to sign up. They wait until the innovators are already involved to make sure the innovation is useful.

Early Majority

About 34% of the target population

Those in the early majority may be interested in the health promotion program, but they will need external motivation to become involved. Those in the early majority will deliberate for some time before making a decision.

Late Majority

About 34% of the target population

Late majority are skeptical and will not adopt an innovation until most people in the social system have done so. Planners may be able to get them involved through a peer or mentoring program, or through constant exposure about the innovation.

Laggards

About 16% of the target population

They are not very interested in innovation and would be the last to become involved in new health promotion programs, if at all.

The Marketing Process and Health Promotion Programs

There are five distinct functions of the marketing process as they relate to the health care field:

Using marketing research to determine the needs and desires of the present and prospective clients from the target population

Developing a product that satisfies the needs and desires of the clients

Developing informative and persuasive communication flows between those offering the program and the clients.

Ensuring that the product is provided in the appropriate form, at the right time and place, and at the best price.

Keeping the clients satisfied and loyal after the exchange has taken place.

The next 3 slides apply to table 11.3 on page 239.

Generalizations about Selected Variables and Innovation.

Socioeconomic Characteristics

Earlier adopters have more years of education that later adopters have.

Earlier adopters are more likely to be literate than are later adopters.

Earlier adopters have higher social status than do later adopters.

Earlier adopters have a greater degree of upward social mobility than do later adopters.

Earlier adopters are more likely to have a commercial (rather than a subsistence) economic orientation than are later adopters.

Personality Variables

Earlier adopters have a greater ability to deal with abstractions than do later adopters.

Earlier adopters have a more favorable attitude toward change than later adopters have.

Earlier adopters are more able to cope with uncertainty and risk than are later adopters.

Earlier adopters have a more favorable attitude toward education than do later adopters.

Earlier adopters have a more favorable attitude toward science than do later adopters.

Earlier adopters have higher levels of achievement motivation than do later adopters.

Earlier adopters have higher aspirations (for education, occupations, and so on) than later adopters have.

Communication Behavior

Earlier adopters have more social participation than do later adopters.

Earlier adopters are more highly interconnected in the social system than are later adopters.

Earlier adopters are more cosmopolitan than later adopters are.

Earlier adopters have more change agent contact than do alter adopters.

Earlier adopters have greater exposure to mass media communication channels than do later adopters.

Earlier adopters have greater exposure to interpersonal communication channels than later adopters have.

Earlier adopters have a higher degree of opinion leadership than later adopters.

Earlier adopters are more likely to belong to highly interconnected systems than are later adopters.

Using Marketing Research to Determine Needs and Desires

If planners want to gather marketing research data as part of primary data collection for a program needs assessment, they may want to consider questions such as:

What type of health promotion programs would you participate in if they were offered in the community?

Where would you like the program offered?

On what days of the week would you like the program to be offered?

At what time of the day would you like the program to be offered?

How much would you be willing to pay to attend the program?

What might be the best way to notify you of future programs?

Do you think other members of your family would like to attend these programs? If yes, which members?

Developing a Product That Satisfies the Needs and Desires of the Clients

Audience Segmentation or Market Segmentation

Audience segmentation has two major goals: 1) define homogeneous subgroups for message and product design purposes, 2) identify segments that will target distribution and communication channel strategies.

Segmentation permits planners to develop programs that will meet the specific needs and desires of the target population, thus greatly increasing the chances for an exchange between the two parties.

Developing a Product That Satisfies the Needs and Desires of the Clients

Segmentation is especially useful when trying to reach “high-risk” and “hard-to-reach” groups. This type of marketing is referred to as target marketing and allows program planners to strongly position the product (health promotion program) in the community by focusing on the sociodemographic, psychological, and behavioral characteristics of a specific group of people.

Developing Informative and Persuasive Communication Flows

Items that planners should consider when developing the communication message and flow:

What are the media habits of the target population?

What medium (electronic or print, visual or auditory, combination of several) should be used?

What are the costs of each medium versus the worth?

Can the medium’s capacity build on or multiply the effects of another medium?

Items that planners should consider when developing the communication message and flow: (continued)

Will the message reach a significant portion of the target population?

Can the message be sent through several different channels?

Is the message culturally appropriate?

Through how many intermediaries must the message travel to reach the target population?

How frequently should the message be delivered?

Can a medium be overused to the point that it will “turn off” the target population to the message?

Figure 11.5 Segmentation and Variables

Geographic Segmentation

Nations

States

Regions

Service Areas

Counties

Cities, towns, neighborhoods

Demographic Segmentation

Age

Stage of life cycle

Disease or diagnostic category

Health history

Risk factors

Gender

Health insurance

Income

Education

Religion

Race/Ethnicity

Figure 11.5 Segmentation and Variables

Psychographic Segmentation

Social class

Upper upper (less than 1% of population)

Upper middle (12%)

Lower middle (30%)

Upper lower (35%)

Lower lower (20%)

Lifestyle

Attitudes

Values

Personality

Self-image

Self-concept

Behavioristic Segmentation

Purchase occasion

Benefits sought

User status

Usage rate

Loyalty status

Stages of buyer readiness

Health behavior

Figure 11.5 Segmentation and Variables

Multivariable segmentation (I.e. males age 42 living in Indiana)

Constructs of behavior theories and models

Figure 11.6 Other Prices of Participation in a Health Program

Behavioral

What can I do to replace my old behavior/habit? What will I do when confronted with a high-risk (potential relapse) situation?

Geography

Is the place where the program offered convenient? Is is safe?

Figure 11.6 Other Prices of Participation in a Health Program

Physical

Will I physically hurt when I make the change? Will it be painful?

Psychological

What if I am not successful with the change? Will the change be worth all I have to go through to achieve it?

Figure 11.6 Other Prices of Participation in a Health Program

Social

Will my peers pressure me not to change my behavior? Will there be social support for my change? How will my friends react to my change? Will my spouse/mate support me?

Structural

Will I be able to make the change in the environment in which I work? Recreate? Eat?

Temporal

Is the timing right for this change? Would it be better to wait until ______ to make the change?

Promotion

Promotion consists of the integrated use of advertising, public relations, promotion, media advocacy, personal selling and entertainment vehicles. The focus is on creating and sustaining demand for the product. This means taking the necessary steps to make people aware that you have a product (program) in which they would be interested.

Acronyms

Acronyms are useful in bringing attention to a program. For example, Foldcraft, a company in Minnesota, uses the acronym H.E.A.L.T.H. as the name of its health program. It stands for “Hey everyone always learns the hard way.”

Internal Advertising

If the program is being promoted through internal advertising (within an organization), say for the employees of a business or for the faculty and staff of a school- promotion might include such elements as posters, bulletin boards, brochures, displays, table tents, newsletters, envelope stuffers, and announcements made through groups that represent the target population, such as unions or professional organizations.

External Advertising

If the program is being promoted through external advertising –that is, not within an organization but in a community at large- some of the same techniques can be used. Posters, bulletin boards, brochures, and displays are also useful when trying to attract members of a larger community.

Other useful techniques for external advertising might include the following:

Advertising through the mass media (newspapers; television, including the use of message boards that run across the bottom of a television screen on cable stations; and radio).

Direct contact with specific groups that might be at high risk and in need of the programs (contacting recent heart attack patients about a program on the need to eat in a “heart healthy” way).

Contact with specific professionals who would be in a position to make referrals to your program.

Other techniques that can be useful in promoting a program either internally or externally are as follows:

Providing incentives for people to become involved, such as free tee-shirts, extra vacation time, a free introductory offer, free health appraisal, flex time, or money.

Gaining the endorsement of key people in an organization (those who are admired, a supervisor or the boss) or a famous person or someone well known in the community.

Other techniques that can be useful in promoting a program either internally or externally are as follows:

Distributing mailbox or door-to-door stuffers.

Making a personal contact with an individual, such as a friend or a superior or boss who is already involved.

Setting up a mentoring program where someone already in the program works with a beginner.

A special kickoff, countdown, ribbon-cutting, or health party to get a program started.

Social Support

It has long been recognized that whatever the behavior may be, it is almost always easier to do if people have the support of those around them. Long-standing examples of the concept of social support in the area of health education and health promotion are programs such as Weight Watchers and Alcoholics Anonymous.

Incentives

Incentives are useful in keeping people involved in programs. They may be any consequence that would increase the probability of a behavior’s being repeated. Some reward for achieving a level of performance or goal.

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