There are many important steps and details in putting a communication campaign together. While some primary steps define the core elements, such as goals and audience, there are steps that contribute to the positive outcomes of campaign taking place further in the organization order. Therefore, one of the most important stages that significantly contributes to the success of the future campaign is selecting and determining the right communication channel.
Selecting the right communicating channel or a combination of channels is very important for the campaign’s success because they present the main source for the campaign to reach its audience. In selecting the communication channels, the organizer must ensure that the channel fits the selected audience, or else the campaign will not be able to connect to its target audience. Alternatively, using a combination of channels with wide public will help address the issue, emphasize its importance, and build a sense of awareness in society about the issue.
For example, a campaign designed to raise awareness among young people about the importance of physical exercises and healthy eating habits and to address population’s obesity problem should use channels frequently used by young people. As the description of young individuals with passive lifestyle and malnutrition suits someone who spends most of their time in web space, the suitable communication channels should predominantly use the online format. Moreover, as the young generation distrusts most sources outside the internet, the channels could include YouTube advertisements, social media articles, and tests. Alternatively, to increase the awareness about the issue without necessarily trying to target the selected audience, the campaign could use visual presentations, such as infographics in places frequently visited by young people: schools and colleges.
Anti-Smoking Communication Campaign
Defining the target audience for an anti-smoking campaign is complicated by the different layers of adherence to the issue of the general audience of young adults. While some young adults engage in smoking, others can experience the negative outcomes of regular exposure to smoke or need to be educated on the harm smoking has on health to prevent smoking tendencies. As the campaign should target all young adults depending on their adherence to smoking, it needs to introduce groups and sub-groups of the target audience.
Therefore, in this example, the target audience is all young adults of the local community with separate groups of young adults who smoke regularly and ones who are frequently exposed to smoke. The groups will also include young adults who have smoking tendencies that need to be educated about adverse outcomes of smoking in order to prevent the development of smoking habits. The other young adults who do not experience smoking tendencies also will constitute a group of the target audience that needs to become aware of the damage that smoking causes to the overall population’s health. Moreover, as there is a common tendency where men use tobacco products at higher rates than women, the audience could also be separated into men and women segments.
Thus, to reach different audience groups, the campaign should segment the audience by the level of adherence to the smoking habit and gender. Even though there is little possibility for a campaign to reach all levels simultaneously, defining the target audience will help to estimate requirements for the outcome measures. It also could be used to establish a thorough approach to the development of campaign products, such as visual representation of health communication.
Formative Research in Communication Campaign
Conducting formative research is one of the essential steps of organizing a campaign that contributes to the process of selecting and using communication theory. Formative research is commonly performed both before and during the campaign to provide relevant information. Even though the depth of formative research depends on several factors, such as the campaign’s area of activity and goals, formative research is an essential part of every campaign organization. Overall, formative research allows the development of the campaign’s planning process and strategy. In addition, formative research provides valuable data on the situation or issue that the campaign is willing to influence or change.
The formative research could be based on qualitative or quantitative methods and include multiple steps depending on the campaign’s purpose. The essential steps of formative research include identifying the needs and defining research objectives. The formative research on the campaign audience could feature group interviews or in-depth interviews with participants representing the target groups. Through the process of creating the interview questions fitted to the research’s needs and objectives, conducting interviews, and collecting and analyzing the received information, the formative research provides vital information about the target audience.
Conducting the formative research prior to the campaign allows a thorough understanding of the target audience’s behavior. As communication campaigns are primarily geared towards influencing the population, collecting information about the target audience’s behavior is vital for strategic aspects of the campaign, such as determining the communication channels. The formative research provides necessary information about the target audience’s behavior before the campaign and during the campaign. Therefore, in communication campaigns, formative research significantly contributes to the campaign’s strategy by determining the campaign’s communication channels.
Global Health Issues
One of the most common global health issues occurring in the world today is the situation with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). NCDs include such diseases as cancer, diabetes, heart diseases, and strokes that cannot be communicated to other people. According to information provided by World Health Organization (WHO, 2021), NCDs are the most common cause of death, with 41 million people globally dying from NCDs. Statistically, deaths from NDCs amount to more than 70% of deaths every year (WHO, 2021). The issue is closely related to another global health issue of economic disparities and limited access to health care in low-income countries.
There are several recommended strategies and promotion techniques targeted towards the improvement of those issues. As unhealthy habits of increased use of alcohol, smoking, passive lifestyle, and insufficient diets all contribute to the risk of NCDs occurrence, the population is strongly recommended to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. Current health communication strategies are predominantly focused on addressing the issue of unhealthy habits and educating the population on the adverse outcomes of such behavior.
In addition to recommendations for maintaining healthy habits, promotion techniques are also geared towards making the public understand the importance of regular screenings for the early detection of NCDs. Even though most deaths from NCDs are located in low-income countries, all people are subjected to the risk of being affected by NCDs. Moreover, even though NCDs are usually associated with people from older age groups, people of all ages, including adults and children, are affected by the risk of developing NCDs through unhealthy diet or similar reasons. Therefore, health-related promotional techniques related to the global health issue of NCDs are focused on preventing the population from harmful activities, developing the population’s healthy habits, and educating the population on the importance of screenings.
Reference
World Health Organization. (2021). Noncommunicable diseases.