One of the approaches we refer to as an internal campaign checklist is unashamedly adapted (and changed) from work published by the National Social Marketing Centre.
1. Ensure systematic scoping and development phases
- through scoping papers, campaign proposals, impact assessments, literature reviews and access to existing research.
2. Develop a deep understanding about the selected target groups: attitudes feelings and perceptions
- through research evidence supplemented by our own surveys, focus groups and interviews.
3. Make sure we spell out any advantages of attitude and behaviour change in ways that the target group believe are attractive and achievable
- examine ‘what’s in it for me?’ especially where any changes might seem less tangible
4. Set measurable goals for progress
- remember that we are being assessed via Hear Me! Surveys and Scottish Government Public Attitudes Surveys.
5. Make sure we engage and inform key stakeholders, volunteers and local champions so that they can support any new campaign work.
- use our planned feedback processes and stakeholder communications strategies to ensure we say the right things, on time and in the right way. Remember who the target audiences are. Involve people as much as we can to enhance campaign effectiveness.
6. Co-ordinate national and local action
- support local work which helps ‘see me’ to achieve its visions and aims as well as encouraging local involvement in national activity. Make the ‘big asks’ achievable.
7. Plan at all levels: for the short, medium and long term as well as allowing capacity for opportunism.
- through three year national plan and schedule, work plans and budgets, campaign plans and PR planner.
8. Think and seek outside the box
- outsource work where needed and don’t be afraid to seek ideas and inspiration from beyond the field of mental health. Remember ‘see me’s position as bridge between lived experience and the ‘where it is now’ of the target audience.
9. Changing minds takes money
- ‘see me’ receives a good level of certain public funding and this enables us to take time to ‘get it right’….but we need to manage our money carefully to ensure effectiveness.
10. We won’t know if it’s working until we check.
- be clear about the different types of evaluation available and have evaluation in mind when planning.
Our Own Outcome Tools
‘see me’ makes sure that we check how we’ve done on a regular basis. We can do this through commissioning omnibus questions and street surveys, running focus groups or individual interviews.
For example, if we launch a major campaign initiative, we will follow it up with questionnaires/surveys and then use focus groups to tease out details. This evaluation work might tell us:
- Did people remember the campaign?
- What did they think it was about?
- What messages did they take from it, if any?
- Do they remember who the campaign was by?
Learning from these questions will help to shape future work, alongside other pieces of evidence.