Welcome to the Metrics (ok, cheap joke)

I still need to go back and write about Collaborators and channel strategy, but in order to have something up on Metrics for tomorrow I am skipping ahead a little.

Metrics: Key ongoing data collection in order to evaluate program success.

Qualitative data collection ideas:
1) in-depth interviews or surveys with registered users of MiTalk to assess the strongest points of use, how they became aware of the service, etc. (There may be some issues of self selection in what users are responsive to requests for interviews/surveys, also this will miss users who aren't comfortable registering with the site, but use it).
2) IP address sensitive surveys requested at the end of a user session (i.e. before they close the browser window have it pop up and request that they fill out a survey (this would help avoid the selection bias of only surveying registered users, but would probably be more expensive).
3) After promotional materials and slogans are developed, hold focus groups with students from each of the 3 UM campuses to test the concepts.
4) After implementation of the promotional campaign for a period, have CAPS administer surveys with all of their users to assess how many of them have accessed MiTalk, for what purposes, and whether they were MiTalk users before going to CAPS for in-person services.

Quantitative data collection:
1) Site visitors count
2) # of downloads of videos and other tools
3) % increase in registered users.
4) # of people requesting more information through the site.
5) All campus surveying to see % increase in awareness of the site.

Get the Bullhorn! Communications Objective & Product

Communications plan:
Communications objective, media and execution
I am struggling with deciding whether the communications objective is basic awareness, informational, or behavioral. I am pretty sure it isn't image and top-of-mind doesn't seem appropriate either since most people don't know much about MiTalk.

Though there is a need to increase basic awareness of MiTalk.org among my target audience, I don't want to limit the communications objective to just increasing brand recognition. I think that the comm obj will have to incorporate some methods of basic awareness like brand name repitition

In order to address confusion about what the MiTalk.org site is meant for, an informational objective would be effective. This would be challenging though, since I am not sure how to compress or filter the information about MiTalk to make it brief, detailed and effective in drawing interest. I think there is definitely an opportunity to increase the importance of the information provided, with something like "You have enough on your plate worrying about school. You shouldn't have to worry about finding reliable mental health information. --> Let's talk, MiTalk.org" or "You have enough on your plate worrying about school, finding effective stress management tools is easy on MiTalk.org. --> Let's talk, MiTalk.org" or "Wonder where to find anonymous mental health screenings, stress workshops and relaxation videos online, check out MiTalk.org" (These are all off hand examples, they could be off base...)

Characteristic of a behavioral objective is a call to action. I really like the idea of using a call to action in the communication objective of MiTalk.org. I have been playing with the idea of using the tag line "Let's Talk, MiTalk.org" as a sort of call to action with the brand name repetition added in for awareness. One thing I am worried about in using this line is that it may mislead people into thinking there is some sort of live chat component to the website. I think this isn't necessarily a problem if the rest of the message makes it clear what the website is for. I think that this tag line could continue to be capitalized on even later when they have moved on to other stages of promotion. Messages that include this call to action might be informational like the ones above, or include a normalizing message with the behavior suggestion "67% of UM Students sometimes feel isolated and alone, MiTalk.org is a UofM resource for mentel wellness with tools to help you feel more connected and at ease. Let's talk, MiTalk.org." or something like that. I really like the idea of including these real statistics from CAPS in the message to help normalize mental health needs. I think these messages might reduce resistance to accessing mental health resources.

With all this said, I guess my Communications Objective will be informational with elements of basic awareness and behavior drawn in.

Media:
I don't know what financial resources CAPS is prepared to put forward for promotion of MiTalk.org, but I am assuming it is somewhat limited. I think that highest number of exposures would be generated by a postering/postcard campaign on the campus. I know I always see and notice the UHS posters that are really colorful, simple and recognizably the from the same campaign. I picture something similar with simple messages that saturate the campus common areas and can be read quickly in passing (since mental health is a sensitive topic, I wouldn't want to have a poster that required a person to stop and read in front of people).

If there is money available for promotion a targeted Facebook advertisement by University would be a cool way to get to people at the University who are already online and can simply click through to the resource. Another Online option would be to get a spot on the Ctools homepage since that is the online portal for most departments in the university. There is a "for your information" spot in the lower right hand corner, though I am not sure if they charge for advertising in this space. I would also be a little concerned that people don't read the "for your information ads, I know I had never noticed them before I started looking into potential places to post.

Product:
Clearly defined product and key points of emphasis
Ok, so MiTalk.org is a product offering (from MiTalk brochure): anonymous online screenings (alcohol abuse, Bipolar disorder, depression, generalized anxiety, eating disorders, and post traumatic stress), skill-building tools to help manage stress and academic life, videos of workshops, lectures, and relaxation exercises, information on local mental health providers and services, access/info on communities of support on campus for health and wellness.

In speaking with people in my class who have taken a look at the MiTalk website, one reaction has been that it is unclear what the website is meant to be used for. This makes me think that key points of emphasis in promoting the product will be methods & reasons for use. In class we learned that there are three categories of product attributes, Search, experience and credence attributes. For acquisition/earn share I will want to emphasize the search attributes (especially in comparison to competitors).

Search attributes are facts about the product that can be evaluated prior to consumption. I am not sure, but I think search attributes of MiTalk would be the offerings I listed above. Am I wrong??

Positioning Statement - The P of STP

The positioning statement is thus a strategic document intended to communicate the key focus of our advertising and other consumer and trade materials.
-The Big Picture

Five Box Positioning Statement: (Stated in the first person of the consumer)

Current Do: When I think I need help, I occasionally look for mental health information online.
Current Belief: I am not sure what resources I need, if any and I prefer to seek mental health information online.
Consumer Proposition: MiTalk.org is a reputable and accessible mental health resources online from the University of Michigan.
Desired Belief: When I think I need help, I prefer to seek mental health information online from MiTalk.org.
Desired Do: I use MiTalk.org to figure out what, if any, mental health resources I need.

STP with Redefined FE/Category

This is a revision of the STP with the new FE of MiTalk.org (independant of CAPS), and Category- online mental health resources.

Key “competitors":
Key competitors in the category online mental health resources: webmd, any of the other random mental health sites that pop up on google. Online mental health resources that are more specific to the University of michigan or to young adult populations are: campus mind works, and ReachOut US.

Main vs. Dynamic Variables:
Because my Marketing Objective is Acquisition and my Source of Volume is earn share, I will be emphasizing the dynamic variable (the variable which I think that MiTalk can out perform the category leader in), instead of the main variable (described in the Big Picture as the cost of entry into the category). If the main variable in online mental health resources in accessibility (i.e. ease in accessing the services and information), than I think the dynamic variable for MiTalk.com is it's reputable connections (UofM, CAPS)

Segmentation Variables:
In considering segmentation variables (demographic, behavioral, attitudinal, aspirational), demographics would be the easiest variable for segmentation. Using the information on services use from the CAPS 2009 annual report (which can be viewed here), I could segment the UM population by year in school and focus on the group seeking services the least as a good area to gain new customers.

I still think that attitudinal segmentation would be an effective one to leverage for MiTalk. Thoughts, feelings and values are likely to play a huge roll in whether someone seeks information on mental health, whether online or in person. Personal stigmas people may place on issues of mental health may play a key role in their resisting MiTalk or CAPS services as a whole, therefore addressing these attitudes through segmentation might have a more direct impact on increasing use.

Here are some segmentation variables: need for privacy, need for accuracy, need for accessibility, need for convenience, need for personal relevance, need for community, need for information. There are some developmentally relevant segmentation variables that are particularly important with adolescent/young adult populations: need for autonomy, need for sense of connectedness, need for intimacy, need for achievement.

Target Audience definition:
For a deeper understanding of who the potential customer is we are asked to develop a profile of an individual who is representative of our target audience to keep in mind when developing the communication strategy. I have struggled in thinking about how to do this for someone who is seeking mental health resources. Do I need to be bringing in diagnostic criteria? Or is it better to stick with an image of someone who has revealing behaviors that suggest the possibility of different diagnosable issues, but are ambiguous enough that the person may be questioning still whether mental health services are something they would even need.

A Name: Jennifer Franken
A habitat: Jenny is a sophomore at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She lives in a house near central campus with 4 girls she knows from freshman year. Of her 4 roommates, Jenny is only close with one and often finds herself uncomfortable around the other 3, who have a much closer relationship with each other. There are sometimes conflicts between Jenny and the other roommates and she often feels that they don't understand her. Though Jenny thinks of herself as a person who pays meticulous attention to details, she has a hard time keeping her room tidy and is often overwhelmed at the task of keeping up on things. Her closet is arranged by color.

Revealing Behaviors: Jenny is a biology major. Jenny spends a lot of time on her school work but often finds it hard to concentrate on her work. She spends a lot of time at the IM building working out and feels she never spends quite enough time at the gym. When Jenny walks around campus, she can't stop thinking about all the things she needs to get done. Though Jenny has a large group of friends, she doesn't always feel like part of the group. She sometimes opts to stay in to avoid having to socialize. She feels she is at her best when she watches what she eats.

Consumption: When Jenny studies, she often finds herself surfing the web for beauty and health information. She often looks for information on how to loose weight and worries sometimes that she thinks about it too much. No one in her family talks much about their emotional health, and she worries that they will judge her if she were to ask for help. She has seen signs advertising stress management workshops on campus, but isn't sure if that is what she needs.

Coming next: 5 box positioning statement/path to purchase

Some Thoughts & Challenges

Ok, so after getting some of your feedback it is looking like I might need to change my marketing objective. I am reluctant to do so since I have designated my fundamental entity as CAPS, which I would believe is the category leader in mental health services on the 3 UM Campuses.

It would be beneficial to have the time to do some research/surveying of the campus population to see where most people go for their mental health services. Key questions I would need answered are:
- How many people use mental health services already?
- Of the people already using mental health services, do they use on campus resources or off campus (i.e. privately practicing Psychologist)?
- For people who are not currently seeing someone for mental health services, where would they go in order to initiate treatment?

These questions would help define the category leader in UofM student mental health services, but without the time and resources to get these questions answered, I am going to run on the assumption that UM CAPS is the category leader. With that being said, there is still the question of whether or not I should be doing the Big Picture for CAPS as the FE or for MiTalk as an independent FE.

Though MiTalk is not independent of CAPS, but a sub-brand, I could discuss MiTalk as the FE and the category as online mental health resources. In this case, MiTalk (and it's parent CAPS) would be far from the category leader. This is what I think my Big Picture would look like if I made MiTalk.org my FE:

1. Business Objectives:

Fundamental Entity: MiTalk.org

Core Competence: Skill @ Online mental health resource & services

Strategic Assets: Affiliation with UofM, Affiliation with Counselors & CAPS, Mental health expertise, Accessibility, online screenings, online workshops, connection with live local community, skill building tools to manage stress.

Benefit: Assisting U of M students attain a community of wellness and academic achievement.

Goal: Increase # of Students using MiTalk from each of the UofM campuses 15% by the end of the 2010-2011 academic year. This is the same goal I had before, but it may become more clear once I get to the communications objective what the goal will be (awareness v. behavior).


2. Strategic Quadrant:

Category Definition: Since this is where I am making the change the category would now be "online mental health services/resources". This category is far wider and there is no question that MiTalk.org is not the category leader. There are many competitors in this category: Webmd, etc. A quick google search shows the number of options are copious, though MiTalk.com is the only comprehensive online tool specifically for UofM students and it's affiliation gives it a level of credibility that many of these other sites and tools do not have.

Customer Definition: University of Michigan students (undergraduate & grad) who have accessed MiTalk.org >1x per semester and registered on the site.

Marketing Objective & Source of Volume: Ok, so here is where the real trouble begins...

When I had CAPS as the FE my MO and SV were acquisition and stimulate demand. I liked this because I think that overall awareness and use of mental health resources on campus would be beneficial to the campus community as a whole. Also, the idea of acquisition earn share makes me think that I will be competing to take users away from any of the other campus resources as opposed to just stimulating demand and awareness of campus resources in general to get people who need help into the services they would benefit from.

Also, because our target audience for MiTalk is far larger when looking at people who may need services but aren't currently seeking them as opposed to a target audience of people who are already seeking information, but seeking it elsewhere, I think stimulate demand is more appropriate. If I do switch FE's and therefore MO/SOV, could these concerns be addressed by making my communications objective awareness?? This is why I had chosen CAPS originally as the FE. With CAPS as the FE my category was limited to UM mental health services and my MO was acquisition/stimulate demand. This, I felt, benefited the cause in greater proportion than an acquisition/gain share will for the reasons I delineated above (larger target audience, more people benefiting).

With all this said, if MiTalk.org is the independent FE than the MO and SV are: Acquisition Earn Share.

4 B’s Analysis:
Bodies: Students (grad and undergrad) @ all three of the U of M campuses who do or would seek mental health resources online.
Beliefs: I can find mental health resources online.
Behaviors: New registers w/ MiTalk (% converted users from other general mental health websites).
Benefits: Increased community of mental health wellness in the University of Michigan student population.

STP: Between Strategy & Execution

(Located somewhere near confusion)

Key “competitors":
Besides the negative behavioral alternatives to mental health services seeking, key competitors in the category of campus mental wellness are: The Depression Center, Campus Mind Works (also a website), and UHS. I may even place religious organizations in the category of competitors for the attention of students in need of mental health information or services. If I were to limit the category to online campus mental wellness, than the only competitor is Campus mind works, the problem here would be that MiTalk is not the current category leader online, though they are the category leader in the more general campus mental wellness category.

Main vs. Dynamic Variables:
Because my Marketing Objective is Acquisition and my Source of Volume is Stimulate demand, I will be emphasizing the Category (Main) Variable. The main variable is described in the Big Picture as the cost of entry into the category. I am not sure what this variable would be for campus mental wellness. I have considered, accessibility (i.e. ease in accessing the services and information), confidentiality, convenience.

Segmentation Variables:
In considering segmentation variables (demographic, behavioral, attitudinal, aspirational), demographics would be the easiest variable for segmentation. Using the information on services use from the CAPS 2009 annual report I could segment the UM population by year in school and focus on the group presenting the least as a good area to gain new customers for the category.

I also think that attitudinal segmentation would also be an effective one to leverage for MiTalk. Thoughts, feelings and values are likely to play a huge roll in whether someone seeks information on mental health. Personal stigmas people may place on issues of mental health may play a key role in their resisting MiTalk or CAPS services as a whole, therefore addressing these attitudes through segmentation might have a more direct impact on increasing use.

Coming soon: Target Audience definition, 5 box positioning statement/path to purchase.

A Change in Plans

MiTalk- University of Michigan Mental Health
I submitted a project proposal stating otherwise last week... but after meeting with Todd Sevig, Ph.D., the Director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) it looks like my project will be focusing on the promotion of MiTalk.org. MiTalk is a website which was developed by CAPS and released last year to all three of the UofM campuses.

1. Business Objectives:

Fundamental Entity: Counseling and Psychological Services -MiTalk.org
Is it better to discuss MiTalk as the fundamental entity rather than CAPS? MiTalk is a comprehensive mental health wellness tool which isn't entirely separate from the services of CAPS. If MiTalk is the FE, that may change the CC to "skill @ online mental health services".

Core Competence: Skill @ mental health services and outreach.

Strategic Assets: Counselors, Mental health expertise

Benefit: Assisting U of M students attain a community of wellness.

Goal: Increase # of Students using MiTalk from each of the UofM campuses 15% by the end of the 2010-2011 academic year.
-Is this a reasonable goal? Too low, or high?

2. Strategic Quadrant:

Category Definition: CAPS is in the business of campus mental wellness, they are the leader on UofM campus, though other competitors in outreach include The Depression Center (not just for UofM pop), and UHS.

Customer Definition: University of Michigan students (undergraduate & grad) who have accessed MiTalk.org >1x per semester and registered on the site.

Marketing Objective: Acquisition of new users

Source of Volume: stimulate demand for mental health resources and information, increase awareness of and use of MiTalk.org

4 B’s Analysis:
Bodies: Students (grad and undergrad) @ all three of the U of M campuses who are not currently using CAPS services and have never accessed MiTalk.org, or are already CAPS customers but haven't yet used MiTalk.org.
Beliefs: "I can do something to help myself and/or friends with mental health needs."
Behaviors: New registers w/ MiTalk, accessing the many resources available on the site.
Benefits: Increased community of mental health wellness in the University of Michigan student population.

What's this Blog all about?

Click here to check out the main course blog Social Marketing: The Big Picture, authored by Professor Christie Nordhielm

From the MKT 614 syllabus, Winter 2010:

"Blog: The purpose of this blog is to reveal and explore the process you undertook in approaching your marketing plan; other people reading the blog should be able to gain some insights into how best to approach a social marketing case.

There are two essential elements to this process: the what and the why.

The what is mostly considered with data sources and tools – how you decided on them, which worked best/worst, etc.

The why is about your analytical/logical thinking – what went into your assumptions for your projections, how you developed your strategic analysis, etc.

In contrast to your marketing plan, the blog should be relatively unedited, capturing your process as you go through it. The emphasis should be on problems/obstacles you encountered and how you addressed them, your thinking process, what information you wish you had, frustrations, aha’s, etc."

Topic Selection & Unbridled Excitement

As a first year masters student in the University of Michigan, School of Public Health, the opportunity to get a taste of life outside of my disciplinary bubble is refreshing and a welcomed challenge.

After anticipating the chance to test my sea legs in social marketing for public health, I am now set with the task of choosing an organization to write a plan for.

In order to focus my interests and options, let's unpack the possibilities:

-UHS Stay in The Blue-
As a member of the School of Public Health Social Marketing Club I have been working on assisting the Stay in the Blue campaign with their campus engagement efforts. To work on Stay in the Blue for this course would be a great extension of what they are already doing, but may duplicate a lot of what the director of the program has done as part of another course. Gathering data for this organization may be less of a problem due to having already established a relationship. I haven't discussed this possibility yet with the director, but would like to keep mulling this idea over as I consider the options.

-CAPS Outreach and Education-
I am interested in mental health (specifically depression and anxiety management and the effect on other behavior) and curious about the promotion of services and awareness efforts on the UM campus. I am also interested in how possible stigma around mental health issues effects the use of any services and information seeking behavior by UM students. I am not currently involved with CAPS in any professional capacity, but I would be really interested in teaming up with their outreach and promotion department to come up with some cool ideas for increasing awareness on campus and de-stigmatizing mental health. I have emailed the the Assistant Director of Outreach and Education to try and establish a connection.

-Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation (DHDC)-
As part of a group project for HBHE 641, Material and Methods, I have been working with DHDC to develop a market analysis and plan for their technology hub. Though we have spent a lot of time on the market analysis, we will not be able to develop a full marketing plan within the scope of the course and I believe the plan would be greatly benefited by my applying the methods taught in MKT 614. I have suggested to my professor, Dr. Melissa Valerio, that I may be able to extend my work on the project into a more comprehensive marketing plan by making it my project for this course. She was really into the idea and offered to connect me with the marketing person at DHDC. From DHDC's website, here is their mission:

Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation (DHDC) is a non-profit organization committed to make a difference by creating life changing opportunities for youth and their families.

Areas they could use help with are developing their marketing of their technology center on their website and to the community. The group project for HBHE 641 has been working on the market in detroit and who might use the center, and by developing a full marketing plan in MKT 614 I would be able to assist the organization further in gaining more sustainable funding through rental use of the center.


So there you go. Three potential organizations, three different topics. Which should I choose? Which will be most benefited by the project?