By the end of this chapter, the reader will be able to identify channels and tools for communicating the message by:

Transcription

1 Chapter 6 Channes and Toos By the end of this chapter, the reader wi be abe to identify channes and toos for communicating the message by: Step 1: Choosing the Channes That Are the Most Likey To Reach the Intended Audience: Evauate the best strategic approach for the channe mix. Evauate each channe s capacity to reach the audience in the most cost-efficient manner. Seect a ead channe and supporting channes, with a rationae for each. 6 Step 2: Step 3: Determining Toos Integrating Messages, Channes, and Toos A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 139

2 Overview Your friend the architect, of course, does not actuay buid the schoo. He chooses a genera contractor and, through him, subcontractors to do the job. For the architect, these skied technicians serve as channes for him to achieve his objectives. In turn, these technicians use the toos of their trades to buid the schoo: the carpenter uses his saws, hammer, and nais; the eectrician strings wires and connects them to the main source of eectricity and to outets; the pumber uses his wrench to insta and connect pipes. Simiary, you wi use channes and toos to reach your intended audiences, and this chapter shows you how to choose the toos and how to integrate them. 140 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy

3 You wi spend the buk of your communication budget on creating materias and pacing them in the most suitabe channes and on using the most appropriate toos for communicating to audiences. This chapter wi hep you seect the communication channes and toos that are most ikey to move the strategic approach forward in the most cost-efficient manner. In chapter 1, you isted the avaiabe communication channes and the audiences best reached by these channes (worksheet 1.3a). In subsequent chapters, you identified the primary and secondary audiences, set behavior change objectives, determined the overarching strategic approach, and deveoped key message points. Now it s time to put these pieces together by matching audience profies with the channes of communication. Step 1 Choosing the Channes That Are the Most Likey To Reach the Intended Audience Before you can decide what materias to produce, you must first decide what communication channes wi best reach the intended audience. Heath communicators have defined communication channes as modes of transmission that enabe messages to be exchanged between senders and receivers. 6 The various types of communication channes are: Interpersona Channes, which incude one-to-one communication, such as provider to cient, spouse to spouse, or peer to peer. Community-Based Channes, which reach a community (a group of peope within a distinct geographic area, such as a viage or neighborhood, or a group based on common interests or characteristics, such as ethnicity or occupationa status). Forms of community communication are: Community-based media, such as oca newspapers, oca radio stations, buetin boards, and posters. Community-based activities, such as heath fairs, fok dramas, concerts, raies, and parades. Community mobiization, a participatory process of communities identifying and taking action on shared concerns. A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 141

4 Mass Media Channes, which reach a arge audience in a short period of time and incude: Teevision Radio Newspapers Magazines Outdoor/Transit Advertising Direct Mai The Internet f 142 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy

5 6 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 143

6 To start deveoping a channe strategy, write down opportunities (or openings) for sending your message during a typica day in the ife of your audience. The exampe beow, together with worksheet 6.1, identifies the various opportunities for exposure. Exampe 6.1: A Typica Day in the Life of the Intended Audience Worksheet Instructions: Fi out this chart to track a typica day in the ife of the intended audience, which shoud incude home, workpace, and eisure time activities. This information shoud be readiy avaiabe through consumer-based research and by speaking with potentia members of the audience. Indicate where opportunities exist for audience members to be exposed to communication channes. 144 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy

7 Worksheet 6.1: A Typica Day in the Life of the Intended Audience Instructions: Fi out this chart to track a typica day in the ife of the intended audience, which shoud incude home, workpace, and eisure time activities. This information shoud be readiy avaiabe through consumer-based research and by speaking with potentia members of the audience. Indicate where opportunities exist for audience members to be exposed to communication channes. 6 Compare the above worksheet with worksheet 1.3a deveoped in chapter 1 that isted avaiabe communication channes. Are there matches between the ist of avaiabe channes and the typica day? If so, you shoud concentrate on these channes. Circe the channes that you might use. A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 145

8 Definitions These definitions may be hepfu, especiay when working with advertising agencies. Reach: The number or percentage of members of a defined audience segment that wi be exposed to a message at east once. Reach heps to buid momentum quicky. Frequency: The average number of times that one person is exposed to a message. Frequency heps ensure message penetration. Gross Rating Points: In broadcast media, the combination of reach and frequency is measured as Gross Rating Points. Ratings are the percentage of a specified audience segment that is viewing or istening to a particuar program at a specific time. The accumuation of ratings (based on the number of teevision or radio spots bought in these time periods) equas tota Gross Rating Points. The percentage of reach mutipied by average frequency aso gives tota Gross Ratings Points. Gross Impressions is the term used when this is given in actua numbers instead of percentage points. TIP: If you are not sure whether rating surveys are avaiabe in your country, check with an advertising agency. If surveys are not avaiabe, consider coaborating with other organizations to fund a survey. Evauate the Best Strategic Approach for the Channe Mix Your next decision is to decide the focus of the channe mix. What is the best way to reach the intended audience, based on the objectives in chapter 3? Shoud you focus on buiding reach, buiding frequency, or maximizing both? Buid Reach Quicky Do you want to reach as many different peope in the audience segment as quicky as possibe? If so, the channe mix wi be based on reach. This approach means that the ead channes seected are ones that can reach a arge number of peope in a short period of time. In some countries, teevision is considered such a medium. In other countries, it is radio. Community events can reach a arge number of peope within a community, but the frequency of message exposure is imited to the timeframe of the event and to the number of events panned for a community. Emphasize Frequency Shoud the channe mix be one that steadiy conveys a message to buid reca over a ong period of time? If so, emphasize frequency, and use a medium that may not reach as many peope quicky but is affordabe enough to repeat messages reguary over an extended period of time. Radio in many countries is a good exampe of a channe that heps to buid frequency. Radio advertising is reativey inexpensive, and radio spots can be repeated over and over during a campaign. IPC at a heath cinic is a way to buid frequency by ensuring that different eves of heath providers reinforce the messages and by repeating the messages at each provider visit. Combine Reach and Frequency To buid reach, but not at the expense of minimizing frequency, consider using an equa combination of these approaches. You wi reach a arge number of peope on an ongoing basis. In some counties, a combination of teevision, radio, community events, and IPC is a way to buid both reach and frequency at the same time. 146 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy

9 Evauate Each Channe s Capacity To Reach the Audience in the Most Cost-Efficient Manner A good channe mix baances a variety of factors, such as the size of the audience reached and the cost of reaching this audience. To compare each channe on a cost-efficiency basis, divide the cost of pacing the message by the audience reached. Exampe 6.2: Evauating Each Communication Channe Worksheet Instructions: Fi in the type of channe, the audience reached, and the estimated cost in the first three coumns. In coumn 4, estimate the cost per thousand. In coumn 5, rate the channe s credibiity. Check the boxes that offer both efficiency and credibiity. Exampe: Nicaragua 1 Exampe The cost of a teevision spot is divided by the audience reached (in thousands) using the atest teevision program ratings data. The resut wi give you a cost-per-thousand to use for comparison purposes. If a teevision program reaches 400,000 women ages and if the cost of a teevision spot on the program is $500, the cost per thousand is $1.25. You can do the same cacuation for a magazine ad. Divide the cost of a page in a magazine by readership (in thousands) to obtain a cost per thousand. Cost-per-thousand comparisons are used to compare one teevision station with another, to compare one medium with another, and to compare one communication channe with another. Mass media wi ceary reach more peope more often in a ess costy way on a costper-thousand basis. Conducting such an evauation heps justify the use of different channes. 6 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 147

10 148 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy Worksheet 6.2: Evauating Each Communication Channe Instructions: Fi in the type of channe, the audience reached, and the estimated cost in the first three coumns. In coumn 4, estimate the cost per thousand. In coumn 5, rate the channe s credibiity. Check the boxes that offer both efficiency and credibiity.

11 The Mutichanne Approach Research has demonstrated that a mutichanne approach has a better chance of changing behavior than a singe channe approach (Piotrow, Kincaid, Rimon, & Rinehart, 1997). In addition, a mutichanne approach, especiay an approach that uses mass media, can achieve objectives more quicky. Using severa channes enabes you to reach more peope and to reach peope in different environments with more frequency. The combination of mutipe channes aso offers a synergy to the campaign and gives it more impact. It is important for the primary audience as we as for other secondary and infuencing audiences, who wi most ikey be exposed to these same messages. This exposure wi, in turn, hep to reinforce in them the necessity of supporting the campaign. Achieve a Seamess Channe Mix The idea mutipe channe mix is one that reaches a arge proportion of the audience segment efficienty. Messages deivered through these channes must be consistent and reinforce each other. This means, for exampe, that messages on teevision are consistent with messages deivered at heath cinics. The strategist shoud understand how the audience responds to each channe, so that the message is seamess. For exampe, when adoescents are at a viage concert sponsored by a socia marketing company, the messages that they are exposed to are reinforced with materias they receive through peer counseors and ones they hear on the radio. Exampe In Kenya, an FP campaign caed Haki Yako used radio, community mobiization, and IPC, with radio being the ead channe. The concusion in the Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) Fied Report (December 1996) was that using severa communication channes... reached three-fourths of the adut popuation of Kenya. In fact, the overapping coverage of various media increased the eve of exposure and had a reinforcing effect on those exposed. (Kim, Lettenmaier, & et a., 1996) Exampe In the United States, the Department of Agricuture (USDA) Schoo Meas Initiative for Heathy Chidren is a comprehensive pan that aims to ensure that chidren eat heathy meas at schoo. USDA estabished Team Nutrition as a way to ensure that schoos are abe to provide heathy meas to chidren and to motivate them to eat more heathfu foods. The goas of Team Nutrition incude eating ess fat, eating more fruits, vegetabes, and grains, as we as eating a variety of foods. A nutrition education program was deivered through the media, in schoos, and at home, to buid skis and motivate chidren to make heathfu choices. The program was evauated to determine the impact of mutipe channes, and evauation showed that the degree of behavior change was directy reated to the number of channes that students reported being exposed to (Lefebvre, Oander, & Levine, 1999). 6 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 149

12 Exampe In Bangadesh, the ead channe was jiggasha, * a Banga term used to signify a community socia networking meeting, because this was the channe capabe of reaching women of reproductive age at a pace where they woud be most receptive and responsive to the messages. Jiggasha was reinforced by radio broadcasts and print materias. * A Banga term, which means to inquire, was seected by the Bangadeshi staff to represent the community network approach because it impies the active participation of viage women in obtaining heath and FP information, counseing, and suppies. (Kincaid, 2000) Seect a Lead Channe and Supporting Channes, With a Rationae for Each You must determine which channe wi be the ead channe and which ones wi serve as supporting channes. Just as a ocomotive pus the other cars on a train, the ead channe wi be the engine that pus the other channes with it. Think about your worksheets as you answer the foowing questions: Which channe wi reach the argest proportion of the intended audience? Which channe wi fit the message brief most appropriatey? Which channe wi achieve the greatest impact? Athough a mass medium may reach more peope, it may not aways make sense to choose it as a ead channe. Use the foowing worksheet to determine the ead channe and supporting channes. Write a rationae for each channe. 150 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy

13 Exampe 6.3: Summary of Communication Channes Seected Worksheet Exampe: Ghana s Life Choices In Ghana, a demand generation strategy for FP was designed to encourage the use of modern contraceptives among severa audience segments: young sexuay active unmarried aduts, young married aduts who wanted to space the number of chidren that they panned to have, and more mature married aduts who wanted to imit the number of chidren that they had. Since the strategic approach was to associate FP with the abiity to achieve ife goas and since the messages were designed to focus on specific characters, teevision became the ead channe to hep deiver the story of each character s ife goa and subsequent FP choice. 6 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 151

14 Exampe 6.3: Summary of Communication Channes Seected Worksheet Exampe: Uganda Worksheet 6.3: Summary of Communication Channes Seected 152 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy

15 Step 2 Determining Toos Suppose you want to visit your reatives in another town. You have many ways of getting to the town. You can go by river and take a ferry or hire a sma boat. You can go by rai and take the express train or the oca train. You can go by road and take a taxi, take a bus, or drive your own car. The river, rai, and road serve as the route to get you from one pace to the other they serve as the channe. The ferry, sma boat, train(s), taxi, bus, or car serve as the toos that you wi take to access the channe. It is the same with communication channes and toos. For exampe, teevision and radio are mass media channes, whie advertising and pubicity are toos. Channes enabe you to reach the audience, whie toos are what you use on those channes. Toos are the tactics used to send messages through the channes and incude advertising, pubicity, entertainment education, advocacy, community participation, provider training, events management, and private partnership deveopment. A communication strategy team has a bag of toos or a tookit to choose from. The chaenge is to choose the best combination of toos to foow the strategic approach and achieve the objectives. Your team needs to understand how the toos work, what toos wi work best to achieve objectives, and when to use them. Advocacy, for exampe, can hep to estabish an environment that supports a behavior before an audience is exposed to messages. A campaign of advocacy to reigious eaders in Jordan paved the way for an adoescent reproductive heath campaign. A mass media advertising and PR campaign can hep dispose poicymakers to support a poicy change. In Romania, the aunching of a nationwide mutichanne campaign on women s heath was the impetus for the MOH to move ahead with a program to ensure that providers of FP were being compensated for their work. Eight Toos of Strategic Communication: Definitions and Exampes 1. Advocacy: a set of toos used to create a shift in pubic opinion and mobiize necessary resources and forces to support an issue, poicy, or constituency. 2. Advertising: a set of toos to inform and persuade in a controed setting through paid media, such as teevision, radio, biboards, newspapers, and magazines. 3. Promotion: a set of toos for providing added incentives to encourage the audience to think favoraby about a desired behavior or to take some intermediate action that wi ead toward practice of the desired behavior, such as coupons, free sampes, contests, sweepstakes, and merchandising. 4. IPC Enhancement: a set of toos that can enhance persona interaction between cients and providers, incuding discussions within and outside the cinic. It incudes not ony training the information providers, but aso enhancing the pace where the communication takes pace. 5. Event Creation and Sponsorship: deveoping and/or sponsoring events for the purpose of caing attention to and promoting a desired behavior, such as a news conference, ceebrity appearance, grand opening, parade, concert, award presentation, research presentation, or sporting event. 6. Community Participation: a set of toos for heping a community to activey support and faciitate the adoption of a desired behavior. 7. Pubicity: the use of nonpaid media communication to hep buid audience awareness and affect attitudes positivey. 8. Entertainment vehices, such as teevision or radio programs, fok dramas, songs, or games, provide entertainment combined with educationa messages. 6 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 153

16 The major questions to ask are: What toos do we need to support the strategic approach? How wi they be used? Why shoud these toos be used? How wi these toos fit into the overa picture? How wi these toos work together? Other questions to ask are: Do our partners have the abiity to manage these toos? Do we have the resources to finance these toos? If advertising, for exampe, is a viabe option, it is best to hire an advertising agency to hande materias deveopment and media pacement. (See How To Seect and Work With an Advertising Agency. ) For more on managing toos, see chapter A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy

17 Tabe 6.2: Eight Toos: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Appropriate Uses 6 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 155

18 156 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy Tabe 6.2: Eight Toos: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Appropriate Uses (continued)

19 Tabe 6.2: Eight Toos: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Appropriate Uses (continued) 6 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 157

20 158 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy Exampes of Channes and Toos Tabe 6.3 shows the reationship between channes and toos and some of the materias used for each category. For exampe, mass media as a channe is a way to transmit messages. However, messages can be conveyed through designing fuy produced programs, paid advertising spots, or news items as a resut of a pubicity campaign. A of these toos are using the same channes of communication but require different skis and/or organizations (advertising agencies, PR firms, production companies) to hep you impement them.

21 Tabe 6.3: Reationship Between Channes and Toos 6 Review the exampe for worksheet 6.4, and then fi in the worksheet to seect the toos that you wi use. A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 159

22 Exampe 6.4: Summary of Toos Seected Worksheet Exampe: Nigeria s Democracy and Governance Communication Strategy A communication effort was deveoped with the objective of encouraging Nigerian citizens of voting age to become invoved in civic affairs and especiay to work within existing groups that may aready beong to advocate for socia change. A combination of toos was used to encourage Nigerians to get invoved. Exampe 6.4: Summary of Toos Seected Worksheet Exampe: Uganda 160 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy

23 Worksheet 6.4: Summary of Toos Seected 6 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 161

24 Step 3 Integrating Messages, Channes, and Toos Exampe: A Nutrition Campaign on Breastfeeding The advantage of strategic communication is that the panning process aows you to see a whoe picture of how to use messages, channes, and toos to maximize communication efforts, as described in the foowing exampe. The intended audience is young mothers and the key issue is to encourage excusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of a chid s ife. The strategic approach is to convince pregnant women during the antenata period that they shoud excusivey breastfeed their newborn chid. The message is based on the woman s desire to keep the baby heathy during infancy. Channes are IPC, community communication, and radio. Toos used are training providers to counse pregnant women during antenata visits, IPC materias to support counseing efforts and reinforce positive behavior at the provider site, group meetings at marketpaces on market days, and an entertainment education radio program that focuses on nutrition. A of the efforts mentioned are panned together, so that messages are consistent and reinforce each other, whie the timing of a efforts fas within the same period for maximum impact. 162 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy

25 Exampe: Integrating Channes and Toos The Zambia Integrated Heath Program (ZIHP) was designed to move forward the impementation of heath reform in seected districts in the country. It focused on the needs of various audiences and offered specific integrated packages of heath services to each audience. ZIHPCOMM was designed to communicate to the four basic audiences: women, men, caretakers of chidren, and youth, and focused on four technica areas: maaria, HIV/AIDS, integrated reproductive heath, and chid heath and nutrition. ZIHPCOMM had three major objectives: to increase demand for popuation, heath, and nutrition interventions; to change knowedge and attitudes about heath behaviors; and to increase knowedge about when and where to go for services. Within ZIHPCOMM, sets of interventions were deveoped that corresponded to different communication channes. The Better Heath Campaign became the mass media appication and incuded radio and teevision messages about heath behaviors. The Neighborhood Heath Committee package became the community partnership component that incuded training of CHWs and print materias to support their training and ongoing community work. A radio program provided distance education to support community partners. This became the gue for the whoe community partnership package. It provided updates on the heath interventions as we as the community mobiization techniques. The interpersona intervention package compemented the mass media and community intervention packages. The package incuded a set of cinic-based activities, incuding counseing kits, training materias, and other cinic support materias, such as posters, wa paintings, and eafets. A of the eements of the interpersona package contributed to enhancing the experience that cients and patients have at the cinic for any of the heath-reated areas: FP services, maternity services, chid heath care, reproductive tract infections, or other HIV-reated services. 6 The Better Heath Campaign, the Neighborhood Heath Committee package, and the cinic package compement each other to ensure that a eves of the system receive appropriate materias with consistent messages from a credibe source. Each package is fexibe enough to accommodate changing program foci yet offers a consistency and a credibiity that increases the eve of impact. Next Steps You are getting coser to deveoping an impementation pan. You have an overarching strategic approach, key message points, and now a channes and toos mix. The next step is to determine how to manage this strategy, that is, who wi impement the strategy, who wi coaborate, how this effort wi be coordinated, what timeframe to use, and what financia resources you wi need. A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy 163

26 References Greenberg, R. H., Wiiams, J. R., Yonker, J. A., Saffitz, G. B., & Rimon II, J. G. (1996). How to seect and work with an advertising agency: Handbook for popuation and heath communication programs. Batimore: Johns Hopkins Schoo of Pubic Heath, Center for Communication Programs. Kim, Y. M., Lettenmaier, C., & et a. (1996). Haki Yako: a cient provider information, education and communication project in Kenya. (Rep. No. 8). JHU/CCP: IEC Fied Report. Kincaid, D. L. (2000). Socia Networks, Ideation, and Contraceptive Behavior in Bangadesh: a Longitudina Anaysis. Socia Science and Medicine, 50, Lefebvre, R. C., Oander, C., & Levine, E. (1999). The impact of mutipe channe deivery of nutrition messages on student knowedge, motivation and behavior: resuts from the Team Nutrition Study, Innovations in Socia Marketing Conference. Montrea, Canada. Piotrow, P. T., Kincaid, D. L., Rimon, J. G. I., & Rinehart, W. (1997). Heath Communication: Lessons from Famiy Panning and Reproductive Heath. Westport, CT: Praeger Pubishers. 164 A Fied Guide to Designing a Heath Communication Strategy