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IMC Section 3 – Market Strategy

IMC Section 3 – Market Strategy

In developing an effective market plan for improving COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among daycare-aged children in Mississippi, it is vital to reach the correct audience and behavioral determinants. The priority audience is 25- to 45-year-old parents whose children are in daycare. The audience comprises heterogeneous socio-economic and racial/ethnic backgrounds: IMC Section 3 – Market Strategy.

Vaccine hesitancy is one of the major hurdles, and in the majority of cases, it is caused by safety concerns, misinformation, and lack of faith in medical professionals. As secondary audiences, medical professionals and daycare workers can act on these parents by providing them with accurate, reliable information.

Target Audience Segments

The direct audience includes parents of daycare children in Mississippi. They are a heterogeneous population representing all socio-economic levels, and many parents use daycare facilities because they are working. Behavioral causes of vaccine hesitancy comprise misinformation, fear of vaccine side effects, and mistrust of healthcare facilities, as noted by Gerretsen et al. (2021). Secondary audiences—healthcare providers and daycare staff—are powerful influencers of parents’ vaccine choices through the provision of credible, science-based recommendations.

Current and Desired Behaviors

Currently, most parents are not vaccinating their children or are delaying vaccination because they are concerned about the safety of vaccines and their adverse effects, as asserted by Rawlings et al. (2022). The desired behavior is that parents get their children vaccinated to render them safe and for the betterment of public health. The plan will motivate parents by making information concise and addressing their fears. The campaign aims to create a substantial behavior change toward vaccination by providing incentives and ensuring parents have credible endorsements.

Prioritizing Audience/Behavior Pairs

Notably, the most immediate behavior change target is parents of daycare-age children, focusing on parents vaccinating their children. It is crucial for public health that this behavior change is achieved, as vaccination of the children will curb the transmission of COVID-19 and help achieve herd immunity. Cox (2023) indicate that the threat of new variants of COVID-19 and the necessity of mass vaccination contribute to the urgency of this intervention. Political and social conditions are also favorable to vaccination policy, and thus, the objective of raising vaccination rates is feasible.

Benefits to Offer

The marketing plan will clearly state what parents stand to benefit from vaccinating their children. These advantages entail peace of mind knowing that their child is healthy, preventing serious COVID-19 illness, and returning to typical family and social activities. Convenience will also be highlighted by making vaccination centers easily accessible. Incentives like gift cards or discount vouchers will further motivate the parents. The plan will render vaccination a health necessity and a step forward for normalcy, and parents will strongly identify with that.

Behavior Change Goal

The ultimate objective of this market plan is to boost the percentage of COVID-19 vaccination for daycare-age children in Mississippi by 30% in six months. Progress will be monitored via local vaccination clinics, daycare centers, and healthcare providers, and the plan will be revised as necessary based on feedback and data. Achieving this objective will go a long way in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and achieving higher immunity throughout the population.

Interventions

The plan will have four central interventions, according to the PESO (Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned) media model:

  • Paid Media (PESO: Paid)

The online advertisement campaign will use social media, local websites, and search engines, using testimonials from parents and experts in the healthcare field. The aim is to encourage greater confidence among parents about the vaccine with targeted online ads featuring testimonials of parents and medical experts addressing the most prominent fears and misconceptions about the matter. This intervention will be trust-building and reassuring, as the vaccine is both safe and effective.

  • Earned Media (PESO: Earned)

Sharing good stories and expert opinions on vaccine safety is a strategy to build public credibility on vaccination. Thus, it reinforces the message that vaccination is approved and necessary for the health of children. It will persuade vaccine-hesitant parents to make an informed call.

  • Shared Media (PESO: Shared)

Olson et al. (2020) note that shared media is a tool of peer influence based on parents’ vaccination experiences through social media platforms parents. Specific hashtags will create a sense of community in vaccinating children, making it more socially acceptable and normal behavior.

  • Owned Media (PESO: Owned)

The aim is to offer easily accessible, reliable information in an initial dedicated app and website, answering commonly asked questions or presenting information regarding locations for getting vaccinated in the area. This intervention to integrate incentives like gift cards aims to make getting the parents to consider vaccinations for their children as convenient and rewarding as possible.

Review of Interventions

Such interventions will supplement one another to reduce vaccine barriers by providing clear, credible information and actual incentives. The various interventions build and reinforce one another to create one smooth strategy for reaching parents across channels. Given available resources and budget, this strategy is practical and feasible, and thus, the interventions are possible.

References

Cox, D. (2023). What do we know about COVID-19 and children? BMJ, 23(3), p21. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p21

Gerretsen, P., Kim, J., Caravaggio, F., Quilty, L., Sanches, M., Wells, S., Brown, E. E., Agic, B., Pollock, B. G., & Graff-Guerrero, A. (2021). Individual determinants of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. PLOS ONE, 16(11), e0258462. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258462

Olson, O., Berry, C., & Kumar, N. (2020). Addressing parental vaccine hesitancy towards childhood vaccines in the United States: A systematic literature review of communication interventions and strategies. Vaccines, 8(4), 590. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8040590

Rawlings, L., Looi, J. C. L., & Robson, S. J. (2022). Economic considerations in COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy and refusal: A survey of the literature*. Economic Record, 98(321). https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4932.12667

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Question


IMC Section 3

This is the outline which will give an overview

  • Problem Description
    1. Problem Statement,
    2. Causes of the Problem,
    3. Audiences,
    4.  SWOT Analysis.
  • Market Research
    • Primary Research
    • Secondary Research
  • Market Strategy
  • Interventions
    • Description of 4 interventions
    • Timeline
    • Budget
  • Evaluation
  • Implementation
  • Conclusion paragraph
  • Bibliography
  • Appendix A- Interview Guide
  • Appendix B- Underrepresented Population Communication Plan

Table of Contents:

  • Problem Description
  • Market Research
  • Market Strategy
  • Interventions
  • Evaluation
  • Implementation

Week 3/Section 3- Market Strategy Due
A market strategy is a plan of action for your entire social marketing program. Market strategy encompasses the specific target audience segment(s), the specific desired behavior change goal, the benefits you will offer, and the interventions that will influence or support behavior change.

How it is Done

1. Select your target audience segment(s).

  • Make a list of the primary audience segments you could target. Define each segment in terms of:
    • demographics (e.g., age and race/ethnicity)
    • behavioral determinants that distinguished “doers” from “non-doers” of your health behavior
  • For each of the potential segments listed, pull the following information from your research findings:
    • Aspirations
    • benefits of the target behavior valued
    • competitive behaviors practiced
    • information channels used
    • level of readiness to change
  • Then go back down the list and highlight the segments that have:
    • perceived benefits that are easy to build into an exchange
    • competing behaviors against which you can “win”
    • the largest number of people reachable at the smallest cost
    • the greatest readiness to change
  • Decide whether to allocate some or all of your limited program resources to targeting secondary audience segments. These are groups that may influence your primary target audience.

2. Define current and desired behaviors for each audience segment.

  • Identify the behavior that each audience segment finalist is currently doing. To specify the behavior you want them to do, ask yourself:
  • What behavior could be changed in the short-run?
  • Is it likely to change with a little more incentive?
  • If audience members take the desired action, will it make a tangible difference in achieving my overall program goal?

3. Prioritize audience/behavior pairs

  • To narrow your list down to the final priorities, consider the following factors for each audience/behavior pair:
    • Risk
    • Impact
    • Behavioral Feasibility
    • Resource Feasibility
    • Political Feasibility

4. Describe the benefits you will offer.

  • Social marketing – like commercial marketing – is based on the principle of exchange, the idea that people will bear certain costs to get something of value in return.
  • You want to offer your audience an exchange that:
    • is easy and irresistible to accept
    • maximizes the benefits they will get for adopting a behavior
    • minimizes any barriers that might deter them

Example:

  • Audience Member gives $10, 10 minutes of their time, and momentary discomfort
    • Instead of asking “What does the target audience NEED (for their health)?” ask, “What does the target audience WANT?”
    • Pay attention to what audience members say they value the most, and you’ll be on your way to providing a solid exchange. Enhance the exchange with each program activity by continually building in more benefits that are obvious to and valued by the audience.

5. Write your behavior change goal(s).

  • Rewrite each audience segment/behavior couplet in the form of a benefit exchange statement that:
  • Spells out the exchange. This condensed format makes it to easier to explain the purpose of your program to stakeholders and partners.

For example:

  • Audience Member gets:
    • An immunization
    • Freedom from illness in the future
    • Freedom to travel
    • Ability to go to school

6. Select the communication-based intervention(s) you will develop for your program.

IMC Section 3 - Market Strategy

IMC Section 3 – Market Strategy

  • Interventions can be anything from developing an educational workshop in person or online to social media posts to a TV/radio commercial to mailing out a brochure. The sky is the limit! You ultimately need 4 of these; you created two in this week’s discussion post, which you’ll include here. In addition, you’ll brainstorm two more.
  • You will end up with a total of 4 interventions, which you’ll elaborate on next week!
  • Select interventions that:
    • Can be accomplished within your program’s resources (this is a $100,000 campaign for easy math–much smaller than the Michigan I Vaccinate effort that you read about this week)
    • Provide the “wants” of each priority target audience segment
    • Reach most of the members of the priority segments
    • Combine to have the potential to bring about behavior change

Example:

  • Parents of eligible uninsured children
  • Who? (specific audience segment)
  • What? (the action) Will call the toll-free telephone number to apply for coverage for their children under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
  • Will do what? (specific behavior)
  • At a time and location that is convenient for them
  • Under what conditions? (when and where)
  • In exchange for the peace of mind that comes from being a good parent. providing for their children’s needs, and ensuring their families’ financial security.
  • In exchange for? (benefits)

Communication Interventions can focus on:

  • Changing policy through advocacy and community mobilization to reduce barriers to service
  • Providing or improving a service
  • Developing or adapting a product
  • Communication about facts and benefits
  • Some combination of the above

The object is to find interventions that make the behavior “fun, easy and popular” for members of the target audience.

  • Use the PESO Model (Figure 10-5), to suggest an intervention that falls into each category of media (paid, earned, shared, and owned).

When brainstorming and selecting interventions, remember that effective interventions:

  • Lower barriers the audience faces in performing the desired behavior
  • Increase barriers the audience faces in performing competing behavior(s)
  • Offer valued benefits in exchange for performing the behavior

7. Write a goal for each of your 4 interventions.

  • For each intervention you selected, write a goal that sums up its role in impacting behavioral determinants. Try to go further and explain how each intervention is expected to work to support or influence the audience to adopt the new behavior.
  • For example, the goal of a peer-led workshop with female college students could be to lower the barriers of fear and lack of skill in negotiating condom use with male sex partners. That goal could be achieved by providing support, practice with various scenarios and modeling.

8. Review your selected interventions and their associated goals collectively. Do the interventions in the mix:

  • lower the barriers to change that your audience segment faces?
  • offer the benefits that you have identified for the audience segment?
  • support one another to offer what the audience wants?
  • use resources effectively and avoid unproductive duplication?
  • stay within your budget?

After you are satisfied that your mix of selected interventions is feasible to mount and will result in achieving the overall behavioral goal for your audience segment, your strategy is complete.