Communication and social marketing solutions help organizations reach their key audiences, such as individuals who may benefit from certain mental health services. Marketing strategies can be used to both promote services and influence positive behavioral change. Through strategic communication and marketing, organizations can deliver effective messages that engage their audiences, support practice improvements, and lead to positive mental health outcomes.
Key Components
- Social Marketing and Communication Planning: Steps for creating a social marketing or communication plan include outlining key goals, identifying target audiences, developing effective messaging, planning communication channels, and evaluating impact.
- Identity and Branding: A brand can serve as a first impression that influences how people see an agency, program, or initiative. Creating a “brand” involves planning around names, logos, colors, fonts, taglines, and other visuals.
- Digital Communication and Websites: Many communications flow through websites and other digital channels. Digital communications include creating social media content, blogs, videos, podcasts, and other strategies to reach and engage your audience.
- Media Relations: Media relations involve strategies for partnering with others to magnify your communications. This can include traditional media (e.g., newspapers, TV) and other influential voices (e.g., influencers, podcasters, local champions) to bring your message to a broader audience.
- Partnership Engagement and Advocacy: Creating system or organizational change frequently depends on engaging others around shared values and goals. Communication solutions include effective strategies for building and sustaining partnerships, as well as utilizing effective advocacy strategies to influence decision makers.
- Internal Communication and Operations: Communication strategies can be critical to build awareness and buy-in from an internal audience, and support implementation, continuous quality improvement, evaluation, and sustainability. Many organizations or programs may not have a communication team or designated staff, but clear operational procedures and policies allow for leveraging existing resources to support communication and social marketing goals.
- Communication/Marketing Solutions for Implementation: Communications and social marketing strategies are critical components of a practice implementation plan. Incorporating best practices in communications and marketing improves the likelihood of successful implementation at every stage.
Importance to Implementing an Effective Program or Practice
Communications and marketing offer many research-based strategies that can be useful to the behavioral health field. These solutions can be applied to efforts to (a) market practices or programs to the community; (b) increase providers’ motivation to implement a practice; (c) foster behavior change; (d) promote the benefits of the service or program; (e) tell compelling stories to support sustainability; and (f) engage key stakeholders in building and sustaining practices and programs.
Key Resources
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