Strategic communication approaches
Communications are only effective if they reach the intended audience. Though the creative agency will advise on which approaches are best suited for your campaign, it is important that you to understand how different communication approaches (or communication channels) are used, including the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Communication channels are methods used to project messaging to different audiences. Some share campaign messaging broadly to anyone watching or listening, for e.g., radio, television, newspaper, outdoor media, while others are more targeted toward a particular audience, for e.g., mobile phone messaging, social media engagement, informational materials, community-based media events, interpersonal communications.
The term reach describes the number of people that are exposed to the campaign via the selected channel, and is an important part of campaign planning. However, it is also important to consider intensity – the number of times the audience is exposed to messaging – when choosing communication channels and activities. Often, when reach is high, intensity is low, and vice-versa. The balance chosen for your campaign should be dictated by the campaign goals and media habits of the primary audience. Complexity of information, audience literacy, cost, technology literacy, age and other factors should also be considered.
The creative agency will advise your team on a channel mix for your campaign – the combination of media channels and campaign activities that balance reach, engagement, budget and other factors to ensure it is effective in your location. There is usually not a singular ‘right’ answer to the types of media that should be used for a campaign, and it is often important for your primary audience to be exposed to messages from multiple sources. Some considerations could include the following: which channels the audience prefers or uses most often, how they use their preferred channels, where the audience accesses health information, the audience’s literacy level, and a preference for audio or visual messaging.
The table below provides a general overview of the most common communication channels used to deliver campaign messages as well as some advantages and disadvantages of each. It is important to recognise that there are many options, and the approaches chosen for your campaign must be locally relevant and cost-effective. Your creative agency should be able to explain the relevance of different communications channels for your campaign in your country or local area.
When planning an IYCF SBCC campaign, messaging and communications can be coupled with complementary activities to increase community visibility, expand campaign reach, promote community engagement, and encourage sustainable, long-term behaviour change. They could include household or community garden programmes; community groups, for e.g., mother-to-mother groups, parent groups, faith-based programmes and more. In many locations, these and other programmes are part of communities and provide opportunities for social connection, support and interpersonal communications. They can provide a pathway to share health and nutrition messages supported by trust and influence.
Emotional demonstrations – or emo-demos – are interactive group sessions designed to education, inform, entertain and engage audiences. Using the Behaviour Centred Design (BCD) approach from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), emo-demos provide hands-on engagement that aims to surprise participants, support them to revaluate their behaviours and support them in making changes. Sessions provide information via simple, memorable messages and promote learning through thinking, feeling, sound, touch and sight. Finally, they challenge participants to change habits and routines by stimulating emotions related to targeted behaviours. The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) has used emo-demos to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) behaviours in multiple countries worldwide.
Read more about the emo-demos and the development of emo-demos in Mozambique.
The Southern African region has many diverse cultures, religions and traditions. However, many cultures maintain oral traditions and interpersonal communications, especially in rural areas where literacy is lower, local dialects are commonly spoken and access to media or technology-based communications channels may be limited.
In these communities, verbal pathways deliver health information and can be employed for IYCF SBCC messaging. For example, a nutrition message can be delivered from respected sources to community members, and community members can provide messaging feedback and discuss the message further. This interactive process can foster momentum for community mobilisation activities and promote behaviour change at the community level.
Community-based activities, including community theatre programmes, demonstration activities, educational events and others, are used to engage community members, promote discussion and deliver evidence-based messaging. They also foster community ownership and participation in SBCC activities can contribute to positive, meaningful and sustained behavioural change. Messaging delivered via established and trusted community channels can be one of the most successful approaches to modify IYCF behaviours.
Community engagement and participation in SBCC activities can promote social and behavioural change. Community ownership can also greatly increase the effectiveness and sustainability of interventions. Interpersonal communications delivered through community channels can be one of the most successful approaches to encourage modification of IYCF problem behaviours. This is particularly true in rural areas where literacy may be limited, local vernaculars are more commonly used than national languages, and access to mass media, social media and other channels of communication may be restricted (9).