News tagged 'behaviour change'

In recent years, there has been a steady shift in local and central government towards the use of behavioural change techniques in marketing and communications in order to achieve outcomes. Both public and private sector organisations are increasingly using social marketing techniques to achieve positive behavioural change results on issues like healthy eating, getting online or saving energy.

A good marketing and communications campaign will begin to persuade target audiences to think about changing their habits, but some audience segments can be more resistant to change or may be difficult to reach through traditional communications campaigns alone. For example, despite a wide range of initiatives to encourage people to use the internet, many people who do get online still only use it for a small number of activities and not, as the behaviour change aim intends, to access services and benefits and integrating ‘being online’ into daily activities. How do we ensure that we engage these audiences in a meaningful way that creates sustainable changes in behaviour?

Delivered alongside a wider marketing campaign, outreach could help to reach and engage those people who are not responding to the campaign – for example, if metrics show there is a lower response in certain postcode areas or amongst particular groups. As part of the campaign around the switch to digital TV, outreach programmes were used alongside their other communications tools to engage six specific audience groups identified in research as more likely to struggle with this change, and provide practical and personal support to enable them to take action.

Our experience of delivering outreach has found that one of the most effective ways of achieving behaviour change outcomes is to engage the voluntary and community sector to reach the target audience. This is driven by needs on the ground at a very local level, harnessing organisations which have the knowledge about what works within individual communities to really engage them.  In this way, someone known and trusted by the audience can convey the message face to face. In a recent project to raise awareness about breast cancer amongst women over 70, this made people sit up and take notice of the campaign message:

“Being given the information when you are just sat comfortably and relaxed, you tend to absorb more, you take more in… We’re not afraid to ask questions. We all know each other and we’re not afraid to ask things we want to know - even if they’re a bit more intimate… To be honest if I get a leaflet through the letterbox very often I’m quite annoyed and I think “Oh, some more rubbish,” whereas being spoken to personally, we all listen – it’s as though it’s delivered personally to you.” – Lily, Bainbridge Hall

Tapping in to peer to peer communication and social norms is very important in effecting behaviour change - for every person reached directly, we reach at least two more through the message being cascaded on. When a message is delivered by a trusted voice, it is better received and people are more likely to act upon it: in our Get Connected, Get Online project to encourage older people to use the internet, 75% of participants reacted positively to the sessions when the session leader was known to the group, whereas only 15% reacted positively when the session leader was not known to them. This support from a ‘trusted voice’ can even inspire individuals to pass the message on to others – in the same project, 1 in 10 participants went on to teach someone else how to use the internet after attending a session themselves.

It is a difficult task to achieve sustainable behaviour change amongst people who face multiple barriers to making that change.  Our outreach model gives an opportunity to provide longer term support for people’s on-going journey towards that change. The ‘Get Connected, Get Online’ digital inclusion project, for example, involved training session leaders and the sessions were integrated into existing regular activities and events. This embedded the knowledge and support within those groups so that participants know where further support is available. This longer-term support will be critical to encouraging people to take up many of the services which will be offered online and do more than just use Skype to talk to their grandchildren.

As well as helping to change attitudes and behaviours that have economic and social costs, outreach can improve corporate image by demonstrating a meaningful commitment and social responsibility to communities. This is especially important at a time when funding to many voluntary and community sector organisations is being cut. The financial investment and training brings vital lifeblood to some of these organisations which in turn sustains the sector, builds capacity and strengthens networks.  It is a clear commitment to the most vulnerable households in ensuring they don’t get left behind.

For more information about how outreach can add value to your social marketing campaign, please click here to read more about how it works or watch our short film for the views of commissioners, voluntary and community sector organisations and target groups on outreach.

In March, three more transmitter groups in the Meridian TV region switched to digital – Midhurst, Whitehawk Hill and Rowridge.

Lead organisations Action in Rural Sussex, Community Action Hampshire and Age Concern Isle of Wight ran 12 advice points over 4 days during the two stages of switchover. Friendly, knowledgeable staff and volunteers, together with colleagues from Digital Outreach and Carillion, helped over 1,500 people with enquiries, giving them reassurance and practical support.

A big thank you to all the staff and volunteers who helped support so many people, and congratulations to the lead organisations on organising such a fantastic set of advice points.

The photo above shows Mrs Ayles practising re-tuning with volunteer Rowena Tyler at the Chichester advice point.

Here are a couple of stories from the advice points.

‘B’ is thrilled with support received

'B' was having problems with her TV, and her friend recommended that she pop down to the advice point, as she had been in herself the day before and said the team had been very helpful.

Hollie Watson (Community Action Hampshire) sat with B while she explained what her problem was. She had brought her remote control with her to show what buttons she had been pressing and talked Hollie and the volunteer through
what she thought she had to do, but she said nothing was working. She had mentioned that as she was on the verge of paying someone to come and do it for her as she was convinced she was doing something wrong!

One of the volunteers supporting the Romsey Advice Point, Roger, is also an Age Concern volunteer and had been conducting home visits to help people with re-tuning and other things around the home. He could see that B was quite distressed and offered to go home with her to do the re-tune. The volunteer wrote down very clear instructions for B, and when the second stage of switchover came, she was able to re-tune by herself.

B was thrilled. She had worked as a volunteer herself in the past and appreciated the support she had been given so much that after the switchover, she sent a letter to of thanks to Hollie to thank Roger, saying “I cannot tell you how much I appreciated his help and time, given so generously”.

Roger gets advice so he can help re-tune friends' TVs

Roger visited the Lymington Advice Point to enquire about the help he had given to a friend in adjusting and re-tuning her televisions. He had managed the main TV, but was baffled by the second. A different brand of television make and range of cables had confused him; he eventually found the re-tuning menu but was unable to complete the process even though he had tried several times.

Asking Roger a few questions, the advice point staff found that his friend had a main TV aerial and a separate Sky dish which was acting as an aerial for the second TV. The team suggested that Roger could look to see if it was possible to connect the TV using a normal aerial cable and connectors and then convert it with a digibox. They reassured Roger that he could also phone Digital UK if he needed further advice. Roger was very enthused and said he wanted to try and do it himself and would come back and let the team know.

Roger returned at the end of the day to share his success – just as the team were helping their last customer of the day, who turned out to be another friend of Roger’s! This lady had been in twice before about re-tuning and had been unsuccessful – so he offered to help her too.

Digital Outreach’s new brand Convey is working with local voluntary and community sector organisations on a campaign to reduce blockages in the water system.

Anglian Water, in collaboration with social marketing experts Corporate Culture, identified the principal areas and neighbourhoods which had repeat blockages, and two priority audience groups. We designed an outreach programme to engage local community groups to help spread the messages to target households. Supported by training, literature, grants and giveaways to make disposing of waste easier, our partners cascaded the message about disposal of waste to other local organisations.

One of the organisations working on the project is Northampton Volunteer Centre.  Dana Hannon, Information, Marketing, Events & BME Engagement Officer, with LINk (an organisation hosted by Northampton Volunteer Centre) has been going out and about to talk to local groups.

Dana says. “We were in a great position to work on the Keep it Clear project. We regularly go to visit local groups across Northamptonshire to find out what their issues and concerns are about health services. The groups already knew us, so nothing had to be set up from scratch, which made it much easier for us to talk to them about water use.”

The target audience is women aged between 18 and 45 in very specific areas, so Dana and her team have targeted the groups that supported women in this age group. Dana said: “It’s not as simple as just going to the geographical areas where the problems are, we needed to find the groups that women living in those areas attend.”

Dana found one very important group was the local Neighbourhood Watch which put them in touch with some very localised, informal groups that they wouldn’t have been able to reach otherwise. “These groups might just support people who live in a few streets, so they rely on word of mouth and don’t advertise,” Dana says. “The Neighbourhood Watch is a really active group and our relationship with them was key to getting in touch with these smaller groups.”

Dana found that talking to people face to face about the subject has been very effective. “People have been very responsive. Being able to give people the information face to face really helped, as lots of people didn’t realise that the things they were doing every day were causing problems.  People don’t always take in a poster but if you’ve handed them information and discussed it with them, it reinforces that the message. They also have the opportunity to ask questions and find out what they can do to dispose of fats in an alternative way.”

Having materials to give away was important too. “People loved the sink strainers, and the bags went down exceptionally well too!” Dana says. “This is all making people aware of how they can safely dispose of fats and grease, which will help make a positive difference to local water systems.”

The outreach programme has benefited Northampton Volunteer Centre and Northamptonshire LINk too.  “Although we have great networks with our communities, working on this project has introduced us to new, more informal, groups that we had never heard of before – particularly the groups we got in touch with through Neighbourhood Watch. They are now in contact with us and we can communicate with them about other issues that might be important to them. It’s helped raise awareness of our organisation amongst these people too, which will help us to achieve our aims of supporting people and groups in the community and voluntary sector.”

Thanks to Northampton LINk and all the other organisations working on the Keep it Clear campaign.

Case studies

Mums & Tots - Methodist Church, Park Avenue North

The Mums & Tots Group meets every week at the local Methodist Church. Around 20 parents come to the group each week, with their children.  Northamptonshire LINk contacted the church to say they were talking to lots of different groups about water use and asked if they could come and talk to the mothers’ and toddlers’ group.

The group hadn’t realised the environmental cost of putting things like baby wipes down the toilet - as many wipes are advertised as ‘flushable’ they hadn’t considered that there could be any problem with getting rid of wipes in this way. The group often visit parks and open areas with their children, so they were concerned about smells and environmental damage in their neighbourhoods and were very keen to help by taking the simple step of putting wipes into the bin.

Northampton Bangladeshi Association

The Northampton Bangladeshi Association supports members of the Bangladeshi community of all ages to access training, education, health services and to give the Bangladeshi community a voice. Dana from Northamptonshire LINk went to visit the group leader, Ms Begum, to have a chat with her and explain the Keep it Clear campaign.  Ms Begum said that she uses lots of oil in her cooking, as this is an important ingredient in many Bangladeshi dishes.  Like many of us, she didn’t realise that oil in its liquid form can actually cause blockages, and that there are other ways of disposing of it safely.  She said she would pass this information on to the various groups she supports, and reported back that the sink strainers had gone down very well and that everyone is now aware of how to dispose of fat, oil and grease appropriately.

We are very pleased to be working with a fantastic set of well known and trusted organisations in the Tyne Tees TV region to make sure everyone gets the support they need to prepare for the digital TV switchover, which takes place in the region this September.

North Tyneside VODA, Wansbeck CVS, Age UK County Durham (pictured below), Tees Valley Rural Community Council and North Yorkshire and York Forum will be engaging local groups to support them to provide information and advice to end users. They will offer free training, access to a small grants scheme and free materials to local groups, enabling them to give advice to their end users at existing events and activities in the community about how to switch to digital TV and what help is available.

To reach people who don’t have contact with community groups and who are eligible for the Switchover Help Scheme, volunteers from Tees Valley RCC and Circles Network will work with trusted individuals in local communities, such as local shopkeepers and mobile hairdressers, who are aware of the people in their community who might need some extra support to access the Help Scheme.

The organisations have had extensive training from Digital Outreach, Digital UK and the Switchover Help Scheme, and are ready to start spreading the word!

If you are supporting people in the Tyne Tees region, please get in touch with the organisation covering your area.

Contact details

North Tyneside VODA - covering Tyne and Wear
Lynne Craggs
lynne.craggs@voda.org.uk
0191 643 2633

Tees Valley Rural Community Council – covering Teesside and Darlington
Andrew Samuel
asamuel@teesvalleyrcc.org.uk
01642 201 096

Wansbeck CVS – covering Northumberland
Anne Kidd
anne.kidd@wansbeckcvs.org.uk
01670 856 587

North Yorkshire and York Forum – covering North Yorkshire
Claire Petty
claire.petty@nyyforum.org.uk
01347 825710 

Age Concern County Durham – covering County Durham
Mark Dunne-Willows
mark.dunne-willows@ageukcountydurham.org.uk
0191 374 6363



An article in The Guardian, How to lift the digital age barrier, investigates how to overcome the barriers to older people getting online. The article says the key to getting this diverse group of people online is to help them see the value by tapping into their individual interests.

Digital Outreach’s pilot project in 2010, ‘Get Connected, Get Online’, tested this approach by working with local interest groups in the North West to help them see the personal benefits of using the internet. The project brought about some encouraging results, with 62% of participants reporting a positive behaviour change towards the internet. You can read more about the outcomes of this project here.