Everybody knows smoking is bad for your health, or breastfeeding is good for your baby, so how can marketing professionals help you quit or keep bub on the breast longer?
According to QUT social marketing expert Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett the answer could be as close as your fingertips.
Speaking at the inaugural Australasian Symposium on Health Communication, Advertising and Marketing (HealthCAM 2014) in Brisbane next Tuesday (September 30), Professor Russell-Bennett will discuss the success social marketing campaigns using smartphone apps and SMS have played in improving health outcomes.
"There are many health problems that mainstream society is aware of and they often know what they are supposed to do to be healthier but despite this people don't take action," she said.
"For example, in the cases of smoking, obesity, sexual diseases, people know you should quit, eat more healthily, exercise more, use a condom, they know the messages but they need help to change their behaviour.
"This is where social marketing can work."
Professor Russell-Bennett also hopes to bust the myths plaguing the social marketing profession.
"The biggest challenge is a lot of people think social marketing is mass media and communication or social media, but it is not," she said.
"Social marketing applies commercial marketing principles to promote social good such as healthier eating or recycling.
"It is not about relying on mass media, communication or advertising campaigns to create awareness or education, it's about using marketing to give people tools to change behaviour to address a social problem.
"A popular approach being used by social marketers is 'digital', SMS, websites and apps."
She said an example of this was the highly successful QUT-led trial called MumBubConnect, which was a social marketing campaign designed to support time-poor, stressed mums breastfeed for longer.
"Using SMS, mums were able to receive weekly support and also link to the Australian Breastfeeding Association counselling service, which offers free telephone assistance about breastfeeding for new mothers
"This program had a significant impact on breastfeeding rates, with new mums who received text message support four times more likely to keep breastfeeding after eight weeks than those mothers with no support."
"Social marketing looks at the barriers to changing a behaviour and through the use of tools such as technology helps people achieve their goals."
Professor Russell-Bennett said there were a variety of digital tools that could be used in a social marketing campaign such as apps, SMS, websites and social media.
"What social marketing does is deal with people who already know the message but need help to change their behaviour and this is a particularly useful complement to health communication campaigns.
"So when policy, legislation and education don't work, we should be using social marketing."
Hosted by QUT, HealthCAM 2104 brings together experts from the field of health communications and will feature an international and national lineup of speakers from agency, client and government organisations.
The event, a collaboration between CARRS-Q, QUT Faculty of Health, Creative Industries Faculty and the QUT Business School, will focus on the development of communications and evaluation of effective behaviour and social change campaigns in the area of health.
A full program is and list of guest speakers is available here
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Media contact:
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