Research your facts and know your market--then advertise.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tell us that Health Marketing involves creating, communicating and delivering health information. Health marketing is similar to health education, but it is intended to be more persuasive and potentially action-oriented.
Affect Lots of People
Reach as many people as possible, even if they are not the primary target audience.
While you must think about your target audience when planning health marketing campaigns, a message that reaches many people may be more effective than marketing to a small group. For example, if you want to prevent childhood obesity, instead of just marketing to parents, you could also market to children by asking them to help their parents be "food smart." Hold healthy food fairs at schools, allowing families to sample recipes. Include original recipe contests for best-tasting vegetarian meal or easiest-quickest-healthiest dinner and offer door prizes; post the winning recipes on the school website. Get the kids involved now---it can only make choices easier for them as adults.
Identify Yourself, Over and Over
Provide a well-earned trustworthy identity so your audience will pay attention.
Another important aspect of health marketing is branding. Rather than having your local public health agency seem like an extension of a large bureaucratic government, update icons to promote your services and launch a friendly, easy-to-remember logo. If you don't have the funds for a professional advertising service, partner with a local college or high school to have students submit entries for the winning logo. Consider adopting the national logo from the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO). All U.S. governmental public health departments are encouraged to use the customizable logo that is freely available online at www.naccho.org.
You can also hold events or sponsor health lectures in the community---perhaps at the public library---and hand out written materials with your new logo to educate the public on important issues and services. Refrigerator magnets are a great way to insure that important telephone numbers are always within reach.
Spell Out a Plan for Health
Give detailed steps. This allows quantifiable actions and helps build confidence.
Consider all media outlets for your health marketing purposes. Radio spots can be very cost effective, and many people are a captive audience while commuting to and from work---make it worth their while. Use radio ads to tell people something they don't already know. Invite them to visit your web site to find out more. And don't just tell people what to do---tell them do it. Offer free health consultations; lay out a plan that is easy to follow. Many people would like to live a healthier lifestyle but don't know where to start. Offer concrete paths to a healthier life; put a week's worth of healthy dinner ideas on a magnet and provide five days of brief exercises that can be done in between work and family obligations. The CDC offers free health e-cards; send them to your self, your family and friends or employees participating in workplace wellness programs.
Tags: free health, health marketing, Health Marketing, many people, public health, target audience, tell people