Marketing Nutrition Programs in Public
Sector
Public Health Nutrition
HND-403 2(2-0)
Introduction
Ø Marketing nutrition programs in the public sector can be a
challenging task, as it requires a comprehensive
understanding of the target audience and effective
communication strategies to reach them
Tips for marketing nutrition programs in the public sector
Ø Here are some tips for marketing nutrition programs in the
public sector
1.Identify your target audience:
§ Identify the population you want to reach with your
nutrition program
§ It could be pregnant women, children, elderly adults, low-
income families, or specific ethnic or cultural groups
2. Understand their needs and preferences:
§ Conduct research to understand the needs and preferences
of your target audience
§ This can include their dietary habits, knowledge of
nutrition, and barriers to healthy eating
3. Develop a clear message:
§ Develop a clear and concise message that communicates the
benefits of your nutrition program
§ This could include information on the nutritional value of
the program, how it can improve health outcomes, and how it
can help save money in the long term
4. Use targeted marketing strategies:
§ Use marketing strategies that are targeted to your specific
audience
§ For example, if you are targeting low-income families, you
may need to use different communication channels, such as
flyers, social media, or community outreach events
5. Engage community partners:
§Engage community partners, such as local organizations,
schools, and healthcare providers, to help spread the word
about your nutrition program
§ This can include partnering with local food banks, hosting
nutrition education events, or offering free healthy meals at
community events
6. Leverage social media:
§ Use social media to reach a wider audience and promote
your nutrition program
§ You can use social media platforms to share information
about healthy eating, post healthy recipes, and engage with
your audience
7. Evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing:
§ It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of your
marketing strategies to determine what works and what needs
improvement
§ You can track metrics such as program participation rates,
website traffic, and social media engagement to evaluate the
success of your marketing efforts.
The Social Marketing Campaign
ØA social marketing campaign consists of six stages:
Øplanning the approach
Ødefining the program’s messages and channels
Ødeveloping and pretesting program materials
Øimplementing the program
Øevaluating the program, and using feedback to refine the
program
Cont...
Plan the Approach
§Planning establishes the foundation for the entire
campaign. Before moving ahead, an assessment of
the problem is undertaken and available resources
are identified
§During this stage, the target audience is identified
and should become increasingly segmented, for
example, into groups with common risk behaviors,
motivations, or information channel preferences to
aid in developing appropriate messages.
§Goals and objectives are developed during planning.
Formative evaluation also begins during the planning stage
and continues through the development of materials
§The following should be undertaken during the planning
stage:
1.Perform literature review:
• This defines the scope of the problem and identifies the
types of programs that have already been developed to
address the situation.
2. Define the audience:
• A social marketing program may need to address more than
one audience to accomplish its objectives
•Planners often differentiate among primary, secondary, and
tertiary audiences to pinpoint whom they are trying to reach
•The primary audience is the specific group or groups the
program is designed to influence
•A secondary audience includes individuals who influence the
primary audience, such as peers, parents, teachers, clergy,
and role models
• The tertiary audience comprises community decision
makers who influence policy and offer financial and
logistical support to community-based prevention pro-
grams
3. Analyze the community:
•A community analysis helps identify its driving (positive)
and restraining (negative) forces
• Your action plan should build on the driving forces and
• diminish the restraining forces to strengthen a community’s
prevention efforts
4. Develop the concept.
• State the issue or broad goal the campaign is trying to
address, for example, to promote physical activity
5. Set goals and objectives.
• Determine what you are trying to achieve and what
behaviors, if changed, would have the greatest difference
• State the desired attributes and expected benefits of each
targeted behavior
6. Identify core components or strategies.
• This includes deciding how to communicate challenging
messages about the desired behaviors, making the desired
behaviors more rewarding or attractive, making the desired
behaviors easier to achieve or of lower cost, improving
peoples’ abilities to adopt the behavior change, and
decreasing the attractiveness of competing behaviors
7. Outline basic principles.
• The principles of a social marketing campaign include
product, price, public, place, promotion, policies, and the
development of a budget
vSelect Channels and Materials:
§The second step in a social marketing campaign is to
identify the message or messages to be delivered and choose
appropriate and effective channels of communications
§ It is also important to identify the environments, situations,
or settings in which the targeted behavior should or should
not occur, such as schools, homes, parks, or other public
places
§Typical communication channels include television, radio,
newspapers and other print media, in supermarkets,
neighborhood centers, and other places where people
congregate
vDevelop and Pretest Materials and Methods
•Develop a draft of all marketing materials for pretesting
with an audience similar to or a subset of your target
audience
• Ask this group if these materials produce the intended
results
• Revise them based on their criticism and suggestions
• Repeat this process until all stakeholders are satisfied with
the end-product
vLogic Models:
§Logic models are often developed for public health
programs and campaigns
§ A logic model links campaign inputs and activities with
campaign outcomes
§ It describes the sequence of events for bringing about
behavior change and presents the relationship between
campaign inputs (research and consultation), campaign
activities (marketing and partnership tactics), the impact on
outputs (number of people exposed), and outcomes
(knowledge, attitude, and behavior change)
ØA logic model can be used as a tool to:
1. Identify the short-term, intermediate, and long-term
outcomes for the campaign
2. Link those outcomes to campaign activities
3. Select outcomes to measure depending on the stage of the
campaign’s development
4. Demonstrate how it may take time before long-term
outcomes can be associated with the campaign
vImplement the Program
§ Before launching the campaign, all communication
materials should be ready and available in sufficient
quantities
§ A method to track and evaluate the program must also be in
place
§ Tracking allows the program planners to determine where
the program is succeeding and identify areas where changes
are needed
vEvaluate the Program
§Assessing a program’s effectiveness goes beyond the
process evaluation of the planning, defining, and
development stages of a campaign
§ Program evaluation measures if and how much the program
affects beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of the target audience
