Using the Power of the Media to Deliver Meaningful Messages: The "Social Marketing" Approach

At our core, SRF is about getting vital life-information into the hands of those who need it most, along with the tools to act on the information immediately. In some circles, communicating messages about health, education, violence prevention and the like through traditional media outlets is known as "social marketing." At SRF, we believe this model works. In fact, in most of our projects, we use what is for marketers a standard "air and ground" approach; that is, we combine mass media messages with direct community outreach. What makes us different is the cultural aspect that influences all of our work. When we start working on a project, the first thing we do is to identify the different needs within our communities, and use that diversity as a foundation for the way in which we design our campaigns. That way, the right messages reach the right groups, in the way in which that group is most likely to hear and appreciate it. Although we at SRF have believed in it for years, interestingly, social marketing has recently emerged as the premier way to raise awareness of life-issues, promoting meaningful change among large audiences. Drawing upon the principles of commercial marketing, social marketing relies upon common advertising techniques such as:       •  researching baseline attitudes and knowledge among target              audiences;      •  defining and crafting simple, emotional messages;      •  reinforcing these messages through branding; and      •  repeating these messages across different outreach venues

Based on this model, typical SRF outreach campaigns include the following elements, which are all described below in more detail: Media Festivals and Exhibitions Information and Referral Services Partnerships Formative and Summative Evaluations

Media

As a prime example of the way in which knowing your audience is crucial to conveying your message, SRF carefully chooses its media outlets. The fact is that even as audiences are rapidly turning away from mainstream media, U.S. ethnic media is enjoying startling growth. From local Korean radio stations to community Spanish-language newspapers, America's many ethnic media outlets serve increasingly not only as trusted sources of information, but also as community leaders for grassroots political activism. New California Media describes ethnic media as "the umbilical chords connecting immigrant, newcomer and traditional minority audiences to one another and to the larger civic life." Capitalizing on this trend, we at The Self Reliance Foundation work in close partnership with Hispanic Communications Network (HCN) and other ethnic media outlets to develop and distribute educational and informational programming that blends dynamic television, radio, print and internet elements for audiences nationwide.

Festivals and Exhibitions

At SRF, we want to talk to our constituents in person. Community festivals are a vibrant, exciting part of urban life, and serve as an excellent complement to SRF's mass media campaigns. In cities and towns across the country, spring marks the beginning of festival season, with long city blocks closed to traffic and opened for musicians, street performers, arts and crafts stands, food and exhibitions. We take advantage of these venues, setting up booths and exhibits through which we can connect with large numbers of people in a fun, inspiring environment. At our bilingual exhibitions, parents may learn about how to prevent cervical cancer, children may talk to a real NASA astronaut, or parents and children together may assemble a model of the human skeleton. It's a great chance for hands-on learning, and is an effective and enjoyable part of our outreach.

Information and Referral

Getting information about health and education into people's hands is important, but we think that simultaneously giving people concrete tools to act on that information is vital.  Each of our life-issue campaigns includes our national toll-free information and referral help-line (1-800-473-3003). This wonderful national resource lets our callers talk to Spanish-speaking, culturally competent service providers (after school programs, health clinics, adult literacy classes and more), in their local communities. We publicize our help-line through radio programming, newspaper columns and community festivals, nationwide.

Community Partnerships

Our best work happens when we are working with other groups., The fact is, community organizations have strong connections to their communities, and best understand their community's needs. These groups are ideally poised to help our audiences apply our educational campaign messages directly to their lives. By helping our messages to take on a practical and real context for our audiences, our community partnerships are often the lynchpin in a successful educational campaign. Throughout SRF's history, we have depended on community partnerships to strengthen the impact and sustainability of our social marketing campaigns.