As the new year takes shape, it’s time to consider how a comprehensive content calendar can add value to your behaviour change marketing strategy. There are considerations to take under advisement when you are piecing together a content calendar, as the gravity of a behaviour change campaign holds greater substance than your typical product-based campaign. So before you put pen to paper and seal the fate of your campaign success, take into account these key considerations.
Engage an expert agency
Controlling the content plan for a behaviour change campaign is incredibly intricate, and is best left in the hands of the experts in that space. Behaviour change by The Shannon Company will ensure that your campaign is mastered from inception to delivery, and able to make the splash you intended. The Shannon Group have been behind some of Australia’s most influential behaviour change campaigns, responsible for assisting with the creation and implementation of movements such as ‘Respect Women – Call It Out’ and ‘Worksafe – Occupational Violence and Aggression Against Healthcare Workers.’ Behaviour change campaigns are not large in volume, which justifies the need for an experienced agency to manage the campaign end to end, saturating the market with the intended message.
Define your desired outcomes
A successful content calendar should always incorporate clearly defined outcomes, and dates in which these signposts must be achieved. For most marketing strategies, this is a straightforward process. When tackling a behaviour change content calendar, the waters are a little murkier on what success looks like with moving goalposts.
According to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, when influencing people’s attitudes and behavior there are cognitive variables that indicate influence and change. These indicators include: knowledge/awareness, sallency, attitudes, social norms, self efficacy, behavioural intentions, behaviour change, skills, environmental constraints and media framing. Depending on the nature of your behaviour change campaign, these variables will hold varying prominence.
Annual dates of importance
Throughout the year, there are days of awareness and importance that encourage the community to reflect and recognise growth and progress in that space. These days are a great opportunity to leverage your behaviour change message, and piggy-back on their relevance and publicity that is associated with the day. International Women’s Day has been growing in awareness each year, with organisations choosing to propel their senior and junior female workforce, highlighting the initiatives they have in place to support. Plot these dates in your content calendar ahead of time so that you are able to ramp up to them, and fully capitalise on the surrounding exposure.
Incorporate influencers
Influencers are a great channel you can use to diversify your content marketing plan, and will actually create content that you can also share on your platforms, or bank up for future activity. It also brings your campaign to life, adding a humanistic element to your message which gives your campaign more clout and a larger (and sometimes targeted or niche) audience.
When choosing a brand ambassador or influencer, it can be tempting to partner with an individual who is famous and known well. Although if that individual bears no relevance to your behaviour change cause, their reach and status will not necessarily translate to any success for your campaign.
The right behaviour change agency will assist with the design and accountability of a robust content calendar. Define measurable outcomes, and make sure these are clearly understood by both parties (internal team and agency) with accountable dates attached. Aim to incorporate different channels to diversify your marketing mix so you are exposing your message to varied demographics.
