Social enterprise and social marketing ‘key tools'
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Social marketing and social enterprise were key tools in tackling health inequalities, delegates at the Public health in the marketplace session heard. In order to have an effective impact on health it was essential to be as close as possible to the communities you were dealing with, consultant in public Health at Leicestershire County and Rutland PCT John Forde told delegates in the session on public health in the marketplace. Quoting GK Chesterton he said ‘One sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak'.
The session concentrated on the impact of economics and marketing on public health practice. There were great opportunities for improving health through using the social enterprise model, he said. This approach – businesses distinguished by social aims –was nothing new, but had been given a new lease of life with recent policy developments, notably the establishment of the Social Enterprise Unit last year. It was about changing culture to better support community development and to reduce inequalities, he said.
Another key model was social marketing, delegates heard, something commended by Choosing Health as a viable tool. ‘It's not about just taking commercial marketing and just throwing it into the social sector,' Acting Director of the National Social Marketing Centre Clive Blair Stevens told delegates. It was about understanding your customers and using that understanding to tailor your approach, he said.
Illustrating this, Director of Public Health at Knowsley PCT Diana Forest explained how her PCT had run a successful campaign encouraging smokers to use the community services to quit, in a borough where 35 per cent of the overall population smoke, rising to 49 per cent in some parts.
The campaign targeted mainly men and women aged between 40 and 45, and she stressed that listening to what your target audience wants was of paramount importance. ‘People don't' like being lectured,' she said. ‘They know smoking's not good for them. They also don't like anything with the NHS brand on it, as they see it as another part of bureaucracy bearing down on them.' They also wanted services that were close to home and didn't require an appointment, she said.
‘It's about making the product appropriate to people,' she said, ‘and about having a message that's encouraging rather than preaching.' Proof of its effectiveness was that so far, Knowsley has shown a 17.5 per cent overall increase in quitters when nationally there was a decrease.