MODULE 4A

SOCIAL MARKETING: DIFFERENT

MODELS AS PRACTICED BY
DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS
Lidyo Cyrus Poppet Celdran

THE DIFFERENT
MODELS/FRAMEWORKS
FOR SOCIAL MARKETING/SOCIAL MOBILIZATION
The 8-step Communication Planning

Model

The P Process
COMBI Model
CUBE Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION

PLANNING MODEL

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

This communication

planning model is
based on the theory
and practice of social
marketing, which
adapts commercial
marketing techniques
to influence people to
take recommended
action or make
positive changes in
their lives.

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 1: Assess Your Current Situation
Start by asking the right questionsquestions that help you and your partners identify the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing your program. The answers will provide you with a strong
reality check, and will include both the hard truths as well as the intangibles surrounding your program.
The following list contains the types of questions you should consider as you work through this first step of
the 8Step Communication Planning Model.

Are you serving the numbers of people you set out to serve?
Are you effectively serving the variety of cultures in your community?
Are your partners behind your program? Are they champions yet?
Are you satisfied with your outcome data?
Have the media covered your program?
Have you identified the functions you want to sustain?
Are your partnerships committed to sustaining this program?
How does money flow in your community? How is your competition funded?
Who else do you need on board to sustain your program? Do you see your mission aligning with
other organizations in your community?

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Then, Conduct a SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis is an excellent tool for taking stock of where your program is right now. Think about your
answers to the questions from the previous slide. Now, come up with the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats surrounding your program. Keep in mind the following:

Strengths are internal attributes of your program that can help achieve your objectives.

Weaknesses are internal attributes of your program that can hinder your objectives.

Opportunities are external conditions that can help achieve your objectives.

Threats are external conditions that could hinder the programs performance.

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 2: Set Communication Goals and Objectives
Effective communication can be crucial to the success and sustainability of your efforts and to creating
lasting systems change. Setting appropriate and measurable strategic communication goals will help you
get there.
Your communication goals should:
Support your programmatic objectives.
Help sustain your program.
Promote systems change.
Set communication goals that:
Seek to engage, raise awareness, andultimatelychange behavior.
Persuade others to take action on your behalf.
Are realistic.
Can be measured, so youll know when youve succeeded.

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 3: Identify Intended Audiences
Now that youve identified your communication goals and objectives, its time to identify the specific
audiences you need to reach for each separate goal.
Next, Segment Your Intended Audiences
Segmenting your audiences is a criticaland often overlookedstep to creating
communication messages and materials that resonate.
Breaking down your general audience into subgroups helps you craft messages and
materials specifically tailored to them.
Then, Prioritize Your Intended Audience Segments
To help in this process, ask yourself which segment is most likely to give the support you
need? Who needs to be reached first? Which segments mission most closely resembles
yours?

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 3: (continuation)
Finally, What Do You Know About Them?
Once youve identified and prioritized your intended audience segments, learn as much as
you can about their mission, their values, their beliefs and their goals. What sources of
information do they trust? Are they aware of your programs work, and are they supportive
of it? What parts of your goals for sustainability align with their concerns? Whats the best
way to reach them?

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 4: Develop and Pretest Messages
Messages can be informative (convey new facts) or persuasive (alter attitudes, change behavior, or
persuade action). Sometimes, they are both. Often, messages in a social marketing campaign have a
progressive impact. To persuade intended audience members to change behavior, you may first need to
inform and raise their awareness about an issue or program. If you can get them to agree with it,
understand it, and believe it, then they may act on it.
Messages also can convey the key information you want audiences to know about your program. These
messages can become the underlying themes highlighted and repeated in your materials and activities.
They can be used as the basis of talking points, presentations, oneonone discussions, or any other
materials or other tactics intended for your audiences.
For each intended audience, effective messages:

Convey the relevance of sustaining the service or activity to their beliefs and values.
Show the urgency of the program by relating it to the core concerns in their lives.
Put a face on the issue or program.
Motivate them to think, feel, and act.
Use language that is as free of technical, scientific, or bureaucratic jargon as possible.
Make complete sense to them.

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 4: (continuation)
Pretesting Messages
Before moving forward to develop materials or activities, we urge you to pretest your
messages with your intended audiences to determine if they are persuasive. Ask a few
members of an intended audience for input.
If you find that a particular message doesnt have the impact you envisioned, use this
feedback to adjust your message before you create materials.

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 5: Select Channels, Activities, and Materials
Determining the most effective way(s) to reach your intended audiences means going back to the work
you did in Step 3.

What sources of information do they trust?

Who or what might compel them to take the desired action on your behalf?
How would they prefer to get your information?
How and where do your intended audiences spend time? To what civic associations, faithbased
groups, or other organizations do they belong?

Answers to these kinds of questions will help you deliver your messages effectively, but there are
other considerations as well. You need to determine how you can ensure your communication will
be:

Appropriate for your goals and intended audiences.

Delivered to your intended audiences in a timely manner.
Aligned with your budget and resources.
Tailored to your intended audiences overall perceptions about suicide prevention and
support services.

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 5: (continuation)
Channels
Communication channels carry your messages to the intended audiences. Channels take
many forms and there is an almostinfinite list of possibilities. Some examples of channels
include:

People (you, your champions)

Television stations
Radio stations
Newspapers
Web sites
Community centers
Email
listservs
Laundromats

Parks
Schools
Libraries
Recreation centers
Nonprofit organizations
Supermarkets
Restaurants
Malls

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 5: (continuation)
Activities, Events, and Materials
Activities and materials are the tactics and tools used to send messages through the
channels. Some possible examples would include:
Activities and Events
Suicide Prevention Week presentation
News conferences
Community events
Conferences
Oneonone meetings
Public testimony
Award ceremonies
Family days
Awareness Day open house
Open houses

Materials
Fact sheets
News releases
PowerPoint presentations
Web sites
Public service announcements/videos
Reports
Community report card
Flyers and brochures
Bookmarks
Posters

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 5: (continuation)
Frequency and Mix
When we talk about the number of times youre exposed to a product, were talking about
the frequency. When we look at the number of different ways were exposed to a product,
were talking about a mix.
You may need to make presentations to key decision makers. You may need to tap into your
champions (teachers, families, and students) to speak on your behalf. You may need to work
with local media to do stories on your issue. You may need to provide any or all of your
audiences with materials that highlight your programs and illustrate outcomes in an easyto
understand way.

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 6: Develop Action Plan
This step makes sure all the hard work youve done sees the light of day. A great action plan makes the
best use of everyones time. It is tantamount to good project management.
We encourage shared participation in putting your plan on its feet. Commitment from staff members,
partners, volunteers, and champions tells your community there is wide support for your goalsand it
might encourage potential new partners to get on board.
Your action plan can be as simple or as complex as your needs require, but at a minimum, it should have
the following essential information:

A listing of major activities, tasks, and subtasks

The target date for completing each task
The person responsible for ensuring each task is completed.

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 7: Step 7: Develop and Pretest Materials
One of the most important lessons is the value of pretesting messages and materials. Having
representative members of your intended audience review and comment on both messages and materials
before they are produced or used is essential to the success of your communication.
Pretesting helps you:

Identify whether your messages and materials have any major flaws.
Explore alternative messages and materials.
Finetune your messages and materials.

Typically, developing communication materials is a fourstep process:

Develop prototype.
Review and pretest.
Revise and refine.
Produce.

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 7: Step 7: (continuation)
There are several ways to pretest messages and materials, including:

Surveys
Focus groups
Oneonone interviews
Advisory boards.

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

THE 8-STEP COMMUNICATION PLANNING MODEL

Step 8: Implement, Evaluate, and Modify Plan
To ensure communication and social marketing efforts are effective and successful, one must specify how
and when one will evaluate and, if necessary, modify strategy and action plan. As you roll out your
communication plan, you need to create a feedback mechanism to monitor your success. If something in
your program or campaign is not working, dont worry; its okay to make the modifications necessary to
get back on track.
To evaluate the effectiveness of your communication plan, you should:

Determine which messages are (and are not) resonating with your intended audiences.
Identify the channels, materials, activities, and partnerships that are (and are not) helping you
to reach and engage your intended audiences.
Identify obstacles that you had not anticipated.
Identify any NEW intended audiences you had not recognized when starting this planning
process.
Create and implement new strategies for reaching your goals and objectives.

THE P PROCESS

The P Process

THE P PROCESS
The P-Process is a framework
designed to guide communication
professionals as they develop
strategic communication
programs. This step-by-step road
map leads communication
professionals from a loosely
defined concept about changing
behavior to a strategic and
participatory program with a
measurable impact on the
intended audience.
The P-Process is key to designing
successful communication

The P Process

THE P PROCESS
STEP 1: ANALYSIS
Analysis is the first step in developing effective communication programs, but this step does not need to be long and
detailed if the program is built upon well-documented past experiences. Program staff need to understand the problem,
the people, their culture, existing policies and programs, active organizations, and available communication channels.
Usually much of the situation analysis is available from demographic, epidemiological, sociological, and economic studies
and accessing such data will speed up the steps below.
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Conduct a situation analysis resulting in an in-depth description of the major health and development problems being addressed:

Determine severity and causes of problems

Review existing health and demographic data, survey results, study findings, and any other information available on the problem.

Identify factors inhibiting or facilitating desired changes

Consider the basic social, cultural, and economic challenges facing the people the program would like to reach.

Develop a problem statement

Develop a clear statement that sums up the problems to be addressed.
Carry out formative research
Listen to understand the audiences needs and priorities. Conduct baseline research, both quantitative and qualitative, to establish
the current status and accurately measure the programs progress and final impact.

The P Process

THE P PROCESS
STEP 1: (continued)
AUDIENCE/COMMUNICATION ANALYSIS
From the overall situation analysis, carry out a detailed audience and communication analysis.:
Conduct a participation analysis
At the national and international level, identify partners and allies to help initiate policy change and strengthen
communication interventions. At the community level, segment the primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences.
Identify field
workers/change agents.
Carry out a social and behavioral analysis
Assess knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors of participants at the individual level using data from formative
research and additional in-depth studies, if required. Identify social networks, socio-cultural norms, collective
efficacy, and community dynamics (including leadership patterns) at the community level.
Assess communication and training needs
Analyze audiences media access and use; the capacity strengthening needs of local media, traditional media,
NGOs, and communication agencies; the organizational capacity of partners and allies; and other resource needs.
Determine the availability of communication materials and skills development needed for interpersonal
communication and counseling.

The P Process

THE
P
PROCESS
STEP 2: Strategic Design
Every communication program or project needs a strategic design. Follow these steps:
Establish communication objectives
Set objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic, and Time-bound (SMART). Select key audience segments
and quantify the changes in knowledge, attitudes, skills, behaviors, policies, or process changes expected within a specific
time.
Develop program approaches & positioning
Select a behavior change model upon which to base the program. Explicitly state the assumptions underlying the basic
strategy and approach.
Explain why and how the program is expected to change health behavior. Position the program clearly to benefit the
audience.
Determine channels
Consider a coordinated, multimedia approach for a synergistic impact. Where possible, achieve scale by including mass
media tied to community
mobilization and interpersonal communication among family, friends, community, social networks, and service providers.
Draw up an implementation plan
Develop a work schedule with regular benchmarks to monitor progress. Prepare a line-item budget. Complete a management
plan, including partners roles and responsibilities. Make sure all involved know what is expected.
Develop a monitoring and evaluation plan
Identify indicators and data sources to monitor program implementation as well as audience reaction to it. Select the study

The P Process

THE P PROCESS

STEP 3: Development & Testing

Developing concepts, materials, messages, stories, and participatory processes combines science and art. These
not only must be guided by the analysis and strategic design in Steps One and Two, but also must be creative to
evoke emotion that motivates audiences.
Develop
This step may involve the development of guidelines, tools, toolkits, possibly including facilitation manuals for
group interaction or training manuals for counseling, job aids for service providers, an interactive Internet process,
TV or radio scripts, educational comic books, or any number of other interventions. Involve key stakeholders
managers, field workers, and members of the audience in design workshops to ensure that the end products
meet their needs.
Test
Test concept with stakeholders and representatives of the audiences to be reached. Follow concept testing with indepth pretesting of materials, messages, and processes with primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences. Feed
back results to partners and allies to ensure maximum ownership and use.
Revise
Make changes based on pretest results for messages, stories, or participatory processes that are not understood
correctly, not remembered, or are not socially or culturally acceptable.
Retest
Retest materials to ensure revisions are done well and make final adjustments before replication, printing, or final
productions.

The P Process

THE P PROCESS
STEP 4: Implementation & Monitoring
Implementation emphasizes maximum participation, flexibility, and training. Monitoring involves tracking outputs to be
sure that
all activities take place as planned and potential problems are promptly addressed.
Produce and disseminate
Develop and implement a dissemination plan that may include local government, NGOs, the private sector, as
appropriate, and the media for maximum coverage.
Train trainers and field workers
Plan for training at all levels. Begin with training of trainers (TOT). Provide continuing opportunities for more
training. Concentrate on building institutional capacity and teamwork as well as individual skills.
Mobilize key participants
Share information, results, and credit with partners, allies, and communities. Keep everyone involved motivated
towards the strategic goal.
Manage and monitor program
Check program outputs to ensure quality and consistency, while maximizing participation. Track existing service
statistics and conduct special studies using surveys, focus groups, observation, and other techniques to measure
outputs as well as audience reaction.
Adjust program based on monitoring
Use data from monitoring to make mid-course corrections or adjustments in activities, materials, and procedures
and to fine tune program components.

The P Process

THE P PROCESS
STEP 5: Evaluation & Replanning
Evaluation measures how well a program achieves its objectives. It can explain why a program is effective (or not),
including the effects of different activities on different audiences.
Measure outcomes and assess impact
Many evaluations measure outcomes to determine if the desired change has occurred in knowledge, attitudes, or
behavior among the intended audience, or in a given policy relevant to the program. More rigorous study designs
assess impact, which links the change in outcome to one or more intervention activities.
Disseminate results
It is important that everyone involved be aware of the programs impact, whether it is positive or not. Share impact
results widely with partners, allies, key stakeholders, the media, and funding agencies.
Determine future needs
Results demonstrate where follow-up is needed and where program activities can be extended.
Revise/redesign program
A good evaluation will show if the program is weak and where it needs revision in design processes, materials, or
overall strategies and activities. Alternatively, and sometimes simultaneously, it will show what works and how to
replicate positive impact. Program staff may have to return to the analysis stage if the situation changes markedly
or if new causes are found for problems being addressed.

The P Process

THE P PROCESS
Remember that
Monitoring and feedback are essential elements of good management.
Well-managed and facilitated strategic communication programs can have a measurable impact.
A well-managed program tracks outputs to ensure quality and timely delivery throughout the
program period.
Program effectiveness and sustainability are enhanced by involving stakeholders whenever
possible.
Involving stakeholders ensures that programs match their needs, and it builds their capacity to
design and manage their own health communication program in the future.

THE COMBI MODEL

The COMBI MODEL

THE COMBI MODEL

COMBI is a process that strategically

blends a variety of societal and
personal influences and
communication interventions to
encourage individuals and families
to adopt and maintain
recommended healthy behaviors.
COMBI begins with the people and
their health needs and focuses on
the specific behavioral results
expected in relation to these needs,
wants, and desires.

COMBI recognizes that there is no

single magical communication
intervention, and instead relies on a
strategic combination of the
following five inter-related
communication strategies.

The COMBI MODEL

THE COMBI MODEL

1. Public relations/advocacy/administrative mobilization for putting the particular healthy
behavior on the public and administrative agenda via the mass media.
2. Community mobilization including use of participatory research, community group meetings,
partnership meetings, traditional media, posters, videos, home visits.
3. Sustained appropriate advertising through multiple media channels, engage people in
reviewing the benefits of the recommended behavior vis--vis the cost of adopting it.
Effective advertising has to be Massive, Repetitive, Intense, Persistent (M-RIP), which requires
resources, and based on research it requires at least six hits (exposures) for a person to
register a message.
4. Personal selling/interpersonal communication/counselling at the community level, in homes
and particularly at service points with appropriate informational literature including careful
listening to peoples concerns and addressing them.
5. Point-of-service promotion emphasizing easily accessible solutions/health products to health
problems.

The COMBI MODEL

THE COMBI MODEL

How to Design a COMBI Plan?
Develop the overall program goal that COMBI will help achieve.

1.

For example: To contribute to the elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis [specific goal] in [location] by
the year 2020 [time].
2. Behavioral objectives: a statement of specific, measurable, appropriate, realistic and time-bound
(SMART) behavioral objectives. For example: To motivate x numbers of men in the age group of 17-25 to
use condoms each and every time they have sex.
3. Situational market analysis vis--vis the precise behavioral goal: consumer oriented tools such as TOMA
(Top of the Mind Analysis), and DILO (Day in the Life Of) can help understand the range of personal and
social factors that influence the achievement of the behavioral objectives. Force Field Analysis helps
community members and the communication specialist to analyze the social, cultural and political factors
that constrain or facilitate adoption of the behavior.
4. Overall strategy for achieving the stated behavioral result: a description of the general communication
approach and actions necessary for achieving the behavioral results and is presented as below:

Re-state the behavioral objective based on the situation assessment;

Set out communication objectives for achieving the behavioral result(s);

Outline communication strategy for achieving communication and behavioral results in terms of the
five communication approaches/actions listed earlier.

The COMBI MODEL

THE COMBI MODEL

How to Design a COMBI Plan?
5. COMBI plan of action: a description of the integrated communication actions to be undertaken with
specific communication details in relation (but not exclusive) to: Public Relations, Public Advocacy,
Community Mobilization, Personal Selling, Advertising and Point-of-Service Promotion. The plan should
consist of the following elements:
a) Management and implementation of COMBI: a description of the multidisciplinary team, including
specific staff or collaborating agencies (e.g. advertising and research institutions) with clear role
definitions in relation to the task. The team should include any technical advisory groups or
government body that provides technical support or supervision;
b) Monitoring and evaluation plan: a description of the process and behavioral indicators, methods for
data collection, analysis and reporting to be used for tracking actions and evaluating the program
overall;
c) Implementation plan: a detailed work plan with time schedules for the range of activities to be
executed within the context of the approaches detailed under #5;
d) Budget: a detailed listing of costs for the various activities i.e. management and implementation,
monitoring and evaluation.

THE CUBE MODEL

The CUBE MODEL

THE CUBE MODEL

The Cube Model is a prioritization

tool developed in 2001 to address
questions such as: Where, how and
with whom do we begin the
communication strategy?

What communication strategies are

to be used and when?

How do we assess the problems,

prioritize the issues to be addressed,
and ensure resources for the
actions?

Though developed for use with HIV

and AIDS programs at the district
level, the Cube Model can be
adapted for other programs.

The CUBE MODEL

THE CUBE MODEL

The Cube Model is a flexible model

that helps conduct a systematic
assessment of a project area along
three specific parameters in order to
select and prioritize sites, groups,
and communications strategies of
the project.

The CUBE MODEL

THE CUBE MODEL

A scale of 1 to 3 (3=high, 2=average

and 1=low) is used to assign priority
in each factor.

The priority (P) zones are marked as:

P1 = problem is high priority and high

resources;

P2 = problem is high priority and low

resources;

P3 = problem is low priority and high

resources;

P4 = problem is low priority and low resources.

The CUBE MODEL

REFERENCES:

COMBI Model
UNICEF. 2005. Strategic Communication for Behavior and Social Change in Southeast Asia.
Section2.7.1. pp35-37.
http://www.unicef.org/rosa/Strategic_Communication_for_Behaviour_and_Social_Change.pdf
Parks, Will and Lloyd, Linda, No date. Planning Social Mobilization and Communication for Dengue Fever
Prevention and Control: A Step-by-Step Guide.
http://www.paho.org/english/ad/dpc/cd/den-step-bystep.htm#combi

CUBE Model
Reference: UNICEF. 2005. Strategic Communication for Behavior and Social Change in
Southeast Asia. Section 2.7.2. pp37-39

The 8-step Communication Planning Model

Reference: Communication Resource Center. No date. Strategic Communication Planning.
http://www.sprc.org/library/GLSWorkbook.pdf

The P Process
Reference: The New P Process.
http://www.who.int/immunization/hpv/communicate/the_new_p_process_jhuccp_2003.pdf