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Behavioural change marketing – what is it capable of achieving?

What is behavioural change marketing?

Businesses that specialise in this field use the latest behavioural change theories and research, to deliver insight-led campaigns and interventions to promote health and social wellbeing. That means they attempt to associate with an audience’s needs, to understand their thought processes and appreciate why they make the decisions they do, before any intervention or scheme is created.

From detailed research focusing on complex behaviours and habits, to the implementation and review of large-scale social marketing schemes, behavioural change marketing is being adopted by different industries and is at work tackling some serious social, health and education issues.

Don’t recommend a solution, before you understand the problem!

For years marketing agencies have developed all singing and dancing campaigns that aim to sell, create awareness and promote different aspects of services and products. But behavioural marketing goes down a different route.

Looking at each issue from a different viewpoint

Before any creative is conceived, a behavioural marketing agency will develop the insight they need to understand the people they aim to influence, by undertaking targeted research, using the latest theories and models. Looking ahead - post implementation - that means a vast improvement in the campaign’s impact.

Combined with recommendations based on the robust research undertaken, appropriate social marketing strategy, creative implementation and thorough evaluation, behaviour change campaigns can be highly effective given they are designed around an audience’s unique needs, rather than one-size-fits-all.

Long lasting interventions that have impact across society

As more and more industries choose to use these exciting techniques, so the reputation of behavioural marketing continues to grow.

With schemes dedicated to encouraging young people to consume less alcohol, promoting preventive health measures, raising awareness about the importance of exercise and helping councils to reflect on the identity and ethnicity of their residents, behavioural marketing is a highly capable technique, with a sure future ahead.

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How a socially motivated gymnastics project is transforming lives

The British Gymnastics Association – a social marketing intervention project

The British Gymnastics Association promotes, encourages and facilitates gymnastic activities for everyone, irrespective of their personal or social circumstances.

‘Love to Move’ – dementia-friendly

Most recently the BGA has launched their ‘Love to Move’ social marketing campaign, aimed at a very different kind of target group – those with dementia and other cognitive disorders.

Transforming lives and giving older people increased independence

Love to Move is refreshingly different.

Recognising that dementia is progressive, and that exercise is hugely important to the condition, Love to Move is a seated gymnastics programme that has the power to transform thousands of lives, while being incredible fun.

It’s ultimately designed to keep dementia sufferers mobile, healthy and to give back a bit of normality and independence.

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Social marketing – helping the NHS to save money

A shift away from responsive treatment, in favour of preventive measures

Whatever your opinion is on the state of the NHS, you have to admit, in the wake of increasing pressures, they do cope - just about!

Surely anything that attempts ease the health burden, and the escalating costs associated with it, has to be welcomed.

Can social marketing help?

Social marketing is a technique that is part of the NHS’s wider healthcare strategy. It’s designed to tackle a range of health behaviours at an early stage, before it develops into a health problem that needs costly and sometimes unavoidable treatment.

Why? By encouraging people to be more aware of how their existing health behaviour can influence their future state of health and sense of wellbeing, the NHS and its healthcare partners hope to make better use of available resources, funding and manpower.

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Preventive healthcare – could this be the future?

Preventive healthcare is at the top of the NHS’s agenda

There is a general consensus throughout the NHS that if it’s to move forward in future years, they have to find bold and imaginative ways of focusing on health prevention. The idea behind this is that they want to motivate people in specific health bands, or ‘at risk’ groups, to take full control of their health before it becomes problematic – for them and the healthcare system.

Poor health habits and lifestyle have consequences down the line

We live in a society struggling to cope. The pressures of everyday living and work have led to more people turning to drugs, drink, poor diet, and bad habits, all of which have health consequences further down the line. A lifestyle dominated by poor lifestyle choices, will eventually lead to health complications in later life, if these decisions are not challenged or influenced.

The NHS believes that early intervention is key to solving health problems

Highlighting health risks and tackling behaviours at an early stage, is the best way of redressing serious health problems. This is why the healthcare sector has been championing social marketing interventions over the past decade.

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What is social marketing really capable of?

Social marketing – driving behaviour change in healthcare The way we live, how we live, and the stresses that we face are quite different to those of, say, people living in the 1940s. While you could argue that after the war, life was extremely stressful in Britain, as we and other countries tried to get back to some form of normality, today’s lifestyle pressures are also great. We as a society, lead very stressful lives. Some would argue that technology is partly to blame for this. Certainly, the office never closes – mobile technology has led to that. But it has made new things possible too, so that we can communicate and connect with people across the globe.

Managing our high intensity lives

Unfortunately, the intensity of our lives has brought on a range of new, threatening health conditions.

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Social marketing – the power to change health behaviours

Tackling poor health behaviours and bad social habits, such as smoking, drug-taking, drinking, obesity etc, is high on the NHS’s healthcare agenda.

In recent years, healthcare providers have been using social marketing campaigns to encourage people to believe (and recognise) that multiple health benefits can be secured by changing behaviours. This is starting to have positive repercussions throughout the healthcare sector.

So just how do you get under the skin of someone that doesn’t realise they need to change?

Social marketing tackles this on a number of different fronts.

One of the latest innovations is to use automated marketing technology. This helps to develop a detailed profile and understanding of different people in target groups, ranging from what websites they look at, to what influences their opinions, what articles they read, videos they watch - and then delivers a personal campaign aimed at their needs.

Getting to know what influences different target individuals is key to finding effective ways of encouraging them to engage and believe in health improvement messages.

The stakes are exceptionally high

The stakes are high, but the rewards great, hence social marketing agencies are careful to research, try and test different targeting and delivery concepts, campaign content etc on sample groups, to be sure that they are moving in the right direction.

It takes time to change a behaviour

It’s important to understand that changing health behaviours or delivering positive social outcomes, through effective social marketing campaigns, takes time.

The NHS and other health providers often have short-term and longer-term goals. At all stages of the process, social marketing agencies monitor, attempt to influence and achieve behaviour change – campaigns are often interactive and designed to engage with people in ways that they prefer.

So as more and more successful campaigns get underway, there is still much work to be done – but one things for sure, those involved in marketing health services have an important job to do!