In the realm of digital marketing basics, there exists a practice that spans across both old and new media, providing all communications specialists with the tools to build successful campaigns. This mysterious, elusive concept is behaviour change marketing and consists of five essential dimensions which – when used effectively – can actively shift the actions of your intended audience, garnering great results for your overall campaign. If you want to know how to unlock the secrets of effective behaviour change marketing, follow this quick guide.
1. Meet the dimensions
Become acquainted with the five dimensions of behaviour change marketing:
- Attitude – address audience perception of the proposed change
- Competences – provide your audience with adequate information and resources to achieve change
- Environment – alter the audience’s physical and social environments to further facilitate change
- Expectations from the messenger – consider your organisation’s brand identity and how it aligns with your campaign’s message
- Triggers – events or occurrences that act as a ‘call to action’, triggering your proposed change in your audience
As you can see, these five dimensions are multidisciplinary and inter-related and need to be treated as such. They are most effective when you consider them in relation to one another, and across all platforms where you aim to project your organisation’s message. Taking these five dimensions into consideration during the development of a campaign will ensure that your campaign delivers the results you’re looking for.
2. Know your change
It’s important that you and your organisation develops a strong understanding of the proposed behaviour change that you wish to promote. Accomplished businesswoman Tracey Bridges outlines the importance of being specific about the change you want to inspire in your audience, stating that when your campaigns are succinct and to-the-point, you’ll have a greater likelihood of positive change occurring. Bridges also asserts that it’s vital you understand that inspiring positive behaviour change is an ongoing process, that requires great dedication, as well as a substantial investment of resources, the most important of which being time.
Bridges states that you should consider your campaigns as ‘programmes’ for change rather than traditional projects. This reframing is to ensure that you’re consistently bringing your need for inciting change to the forefront, thereby increasing the likelihood of that change manifesting as a result of your well-curated campaign (or programme!).
3. Consult, engage, collaborate
Utilising behaviour change techniques is most effective when your campaign development team has an understanding of the impact that specific phrasing and imagery can hold on your intended audience. For instance, if you’re looking to put together a public health campaign like a collection of anti-smoking or anti-gambling ads, it pays to enlist the help of experts within the healthcare industry, like a team of doctors, accredited nurses, and psychologists specialising in addiction. Third-party consultants can aid you in getting to grips with all the research that’s relevant to your developing campaign, so you can feel assured that your campaign is as effective and informative as possible.
As there are agencies that specialise in the practice of behaviour change marketing, it’s also worthwhile to equip yourself with an expert eye in this regard, to ensure that your campaign is efficiently utilising the five dimensions outlined above. Finally, even if you decide to forego hiring third-party consultants, one step that you absolutely cannot fail to miss is organising focus groups in order to assess how the campaign will be received by your intended audience upon its launch.
Behaviour change specialists consistently assert that the best campaigns are built collaboratively, and when you consider how far-reaching campaigns can be, it’s easy to understand why. So make it your mission to utilise the five dimensions as effectively as you can, and ensure you have adequate support to attain the best possible results, and I assure you that all your hard work will pay off come the launch of your campaign.
