James H. Mintz
Health Canada

 This document is a checklist for the development of a social marketing plan.

 What is the social issue the campaign is addressing? (FAS/FAE)
 What is the campaign focus? (alcohol and pregnancy)
 What is the campaign purpose i.e intended impact (benefit) (reduced cases of FAS/FAE)
 What are internal strengths and weaknesses resources, expertise, management support, internal publics)

Secondary Analysis
 What are the external opportunities and threats?
(extend networks, PEST, Legal)?
 What are the findings from prior or similar efforts?
 From secondary analysis, what is epidemiology of the problem in population? (e.g. prevalence, incidence rates)
 Are there any high risk groups, also what is consequence of the problem
 What knowledge, attitudes and behaviours are related to problem

 What approaches have been used to address the problem by other organizations?
 Who are the experts in the area?
 What are the geographic boundaries for the initiative?
 What trends (PEST) may affect the environment for the initiative?
 Which groups/organizations will oppose/support your initiative?

 What are policies, regulations, pending legislation that may affect your initiative?
 What other organizations in your geographic area is presently addressing this issue?
 What are the messages that will be competing with your initiative for attention?
(e.g. messages from opponents/allies?)

Primary research
 What gaps have been identified from secondary research?
 What methodology do we plan to use?

 Define the primary TA – rationale i.e. high risk, easily changeable, (“low hanging fruit”)
 Define the secondary TA, e.g. those who influence the TA

 Describe TA in terms of size, problem, incidence, severity etc., including demos, psychos, geos, behaviours and/or stages of change
 What attitudes/beliefs/behaviours, related to problem, define separate segments?
 Are there segments you won’t target, i.e not feasible or someone already addressing segment.
 Primary TA , rationale, i.e. high risk, easily reachable/changeable (low hanging fruit).
 Secondary TA , e.g. those who influence TA.

 What about opinion makers, key stakeholders
(e.g. media)?.
 How will you allocate resources for your segments?
 What methods will you use to conduct research on your segments?
Qualitative: focus groups, in-depth interviews, observation studies.
Quantitative: surveys, intercepts, existing databases.

 What does primary and secondary
(baseline/benchmark) research indicate would be most strategic objectives?
 Behaviour objective: What specifically do you want to influence your TA to do as a result of the campaign?
 Knowledge objective: Is there anything you need them to know in order to act?
 Belief objective: Is there anything you need them to believe in order to act?
 Goals:What are SMART goals? State them in terms of behaviour change, and other measures e.g. awareness, campaign recall/response, changes in knowledge, belief/behavioural intent.

 Analysis must be relative to your objective
(desired behaviour) and your TA
 What is their current behaviour, knowledge and beliefs?
 What benefits/barriers do they perceive?
 What is the behaviour you are asking the TA to adopt?
 What are key benefits the TA would receive from adopting the behaviour?

 What are the competing alternative behaviours?
 What benefits/costs does your TA associate with these behaviours?
 What is the competition for your product in the TA eyes?
 How is your product different from and better than the competition?

Product: Design the product offering
 What is the product, benefits of the desired behaviour?
 What is the actual product, the desired behaviour?
 Are there any new tangible objects included in the program/campaign
 Are there any improvements that need to be made to existing tangible objects or services?
 Are there any new services that will be included in program/campaign?

Price
 Exit costs: What monetary and /or nonmonetary costs will TA associate with abandoning their current behaviour?
 Entry costs: What monetary and/or nonmonetary costs will TA associate with adopting new behaviour

 What are the barriers to entry to adopt the new behaviour
 What is the TA cost threshold?
 How can you minimize the costs or remove the barriers?

Establishing pricing strategies:
 What prices will be set for tangible objects/services associated with the campaign?
 Will there be any monetary/nonmonetary incentives?

Place
 Where/When will you encourage/support the
TA to perform the desired behaviour?
 Where/When will the TA acquire any related tangible objects/services?
 Where are the places the TA make decisions about engaging in the desired behaviour?
 Are there any enhancements that would increase the appeal of the location?

 Where does the TA spend much of their time?
 What distribution systems will be most efficient for reaching the TA?
 What type of community support is available to help the TA behaviour change?

Promotion
 What key messages do you want your campaign to communicate to your TA
 What are your specific communications objectives?
 What benefits will you promise and what will be communicated to support the promise?

 What do you want your TA to know or believe?
 What specific actions do you want your TA to take as a result of the campaign?
 Which communications channels do TA pay attention/trust the most?
 What are important copy points/graphics/formats etc. need to be considered?
 What promotion techniques (i.e. promotion mix) will work best to convey your message?
 Who are the most credible spokespeople to address your TA?

 Who are the people/groups (in addition to your primary and secondary TA) outside/inside your organization whose support you need / that you need to address for your program to be successful?
 Which are the most promising organizations
(private/public sector) to join forces/collaborate with?
 How will the strategic communications tactics be integrated into your campaign (including media relations, launches, etc.)?

 What costs will be associated with your product/place/price/promotion related strategies?
 If costs exceed currently available funds what additional funding sources can be explored?
 What strategies will you use to appeal to these potential funders?
 Who/how will the work get done and what outside/inside resources will you need?

 What goals will be measured?
 What techniques,mechanisms and methodologies will be used ,when will they be implemented, and how will they be reported?
 How will you use the results of your monitoring, tracking and evaluation?

 Will there be phases to the campaign?
How will they be organized? ( i.e. by market, objectives, activities)?
 For each phase,what will be done, who will be responsible, when will it be done, and for how much?

 Social Marketing…. Improving the
Quality of life, Kotler, Roberto and Lee.
Sage publications 2002
 Hands on Social Marketing: Kline-
Weinreich, Sage publications