5. Benefit-oriented. The audience must perceive a clear benefit in taking the action promoted by the communication effort. This characteristic is closely associated with the long-term identity and with the notion of positioning, which is discussed in chapter 4.
6. Service-linked. Health promotion efforts should identify and promote specific services, whether through health care delivery sites, providers, brand name products, or ways to increase access to services and products. This approach reinforces the concept of individual self-efficacy or the ability to resolve a problem oneself and also supports the concept of collective self-efficacy or the ability of a community to assert its will.
7. Multichanneled. Effective strategic communication uses a variety of means. Communication strategies often integrate interpersonal communication (IPC), community-based channels, and various media to create a dynamic, two-way exchange of information and ideas. Additionally, research has shown that often the effectiveness of messages being understood and acted upon increases with the number and type of channels used to disseminate them. This is sometimes called the “dose” effect. Like a good carpenter who knows when to use a hammer or a chisel, an effective communicator does not argue whether mass media is better than IPC. Each tool has a role, and the communicator uses the tool or combination of tools that is most appropriate for the situation.
8. Technically high quality. The strategic health communicator works with competent agencies and individuals to:
- Design high-quality communication messages and materials.
- Produce professionally designed materials.
- Ensure that community-based activities are appropriate and well done.
- Strengthen counseling skills.
Investing resources wisely to design effective strategies and materials at the outset will ultimately be more economical than cutting corners and producing a campaign that conveys a substandard image. Simply put, quality costs less. Another important point to remember is that focus demands sacrifice. Strategic communication is specific in what it attempts to accomplish and does not try to be all things to all people.
9. Advocacy-related. Advocacy occurs on two levels: the personal/social level and the policy or program level. Personal and social advocacy occurs when current and new adopters of a behavior acknowledge their change and encourage family members and friends to adopt a similar behavior. For example, individuals who have quit smoking often advocate to other smokers that they should quit.
Policy or program advocacy occurs when the advocacy is aimed at change in specific policies or programs. Seeking to influence behavior alone is insufficient if the underlying social factors that shape the behavior remain unchanged. Behavior change objectives will address individual behavior, but policies, laws, strategies, and programs may also need to be influenced, so that they support sustained behavior change. The two levels of advocacy reinforce one another.
10. Expanded to scale. It is easy to ensure the effectiveness of a communication intervention when applied to a small village or district. The real challenge is whether the intervention can effect change on a much wider scale beyond a village or the usual pilot areas. Communication strategies can be scaled up to reach ever-larger populations and areas. In general, mass media interventions are easier to scale up than community or interpersonal interventions. The latter two can be costly to scale up and can be difficult to monitor.
11. Programmatically sustainable. Strategic communication is not something that is done once. A good strategy continues over time as it reaches new audience members and adapts to changes in the environment. Continuity must be in place at the organizational level, among leaders, and with the donor community, to ensure that strategic communication efforts achieve long-term impact.
12. Cost-effective. Strategic communication seeks to achieve healthy outcomes in more efficient and cost-effective ways. Strategy designers must also examine costs by the type of intervention, to try to achieve the optimal mix of activities and channels.
Conclusion
A sound and effective health communication strategy should be based on an overarching vision of what needs to be achieved to address a particular health issue. The strategy should be integrated, have a long-term focus, should be responsive to individual behavior change needs, and should maximize the potential for change on a broader societal level. Frameworks such as the PBC and the “P” Process for project design and implementation are useful tools to guide the process of developing health communication strategies that get results. A combination of science, facts, vision, stakeholder buy-in, and audience participation is essential for success.
