Message Design

Audience Perspective

“You don’t build it for yourself. You find out what the people want and you build it for them”

- Walt Disney

Health behavior change strategy that encourages an audience focus…

Social Marketing

What Makes a Public Health Message Effective?

What messages have you seen that you remember?

What made them memorable? Which ones motivated you to take action? Which ones caught your eye but had no

effect? What is the difference?

Communication, defined:

A transactional, symbolic process– Occurs between two or more persons– Intentional exchange– Alters affect, cognition, and/or behavior– Occurs within a structure of relationships

Messages: A Form of Communication

Takes place on receivers terms Language used reflects, reinforces

thought/cognition Every message has multiple effects Receiver combines emotion and logic Repetition is preferable to one-shot

messages

General Principles

Believability depends on source credibility (expertise, trustworthiness, dynamism)

Source that is trusted in one domain may not be trusted in another

Discrediting of source is the first response among more educated audiences

Characteristics of Good Messages

Clear, detectable goal – usually a specific behavior change

Clarity, easily understood Consistency Tone and appeal Credibility What public needs/wants to know

How the Public Sees Health Messages

Dislike fear appeals Skeptical about science Don’t perceive themselves to be at

risk Don’t want to feel susceptible Have contradictory beliefs Personalize new information

Types of Appeals

Positive emotional appeals– Rational – argument– Emotional benefit – comply get benefit– Heuristic – feel good about choice

Humorous appeals– Context is typically not funny– Simple message – not appropriate for complex messages

Threat/fear appeals– Solutions are easy and effective– Audience is vulnerable/threat is severe

Message Repetition

Aids consumer learning Helps establish new services or products Groups of messages don’t wear out as fast as a

single message Only good messages wear out Humor/gag/punch lines wear out faster Single messages can run longer if there are greater

time spans between airings Second airings wear out faster than first

Strategies to Consider

Use novel messages, settings and media Invoke personal responsibility Present unexpected content or scene Instruct audience to pay attention Avoid qualifiers – “perhaps, may, possibly” Use “your” “this” “these” not “that” “those”

Testing the messages

Do they convey what you intend?

Do they encourage behavior change?

Is the call to action clear?

Will it repel rather than attract?

Steps in pre-testing process

Set clear communication goals

Determine how well objectives are met

Determine who to interview and how to recruit (no substitutes)

Conduct research Allow enough time Report back to creative

or production team

Pre-testing Objectives

Target audience – do they recognize the message is for them?

Call to action – do they understand what they are being asked to do?

Benefits – do they recognize the benefits? Are they attracted to them?

Appeal – does the message motivate or persuade them?

Pre-testing Objectives (cont.)

Tone – is the tone appropriate? Does anything offend or annoy them?

Spokesperson- is the person/object believable? Likeable? Similar to audience?

Secondary audience: same questions any part unacceptable?

Spokesperson

What is the narrator like? In what ways is he/she/it like you? Do you believe him/her? What type of person should be used instead?

How is message received -Brochure

Which brochure do they pick up? Do they read them? Do they keep them? What magazines do they choose? Which articles do they read? What do they remember afterwards?

Posters

Display in a public area– Record time and

reactions of people– Ask them to recall what

they saw and liked and disliked

TV or Radio

What do they remember?

Did they want to watch/listen to the whole thing?

What caught their attention?

What was the message?

Other Elements

Color Illustrations Audio Details

– Food– Ethnicity– Weight– setting

Data Collection Techniques

Central location intercept interviews Face to face interviews Focus groups Theater testing Comprehension

– FOG, SMOG – Reading level