6. Marketing

People must be aware of your prevention program for it to be effective. There are many obvious media channels with which to promote awareness, such as television, radio, newsprint, etc; there are also more subtle ways, such as posting signs around cigarette vendors warning against underage buying. You could print brochures or flyers to be distributed to pharmacies, workplaces, places of worship, doctors offices, and schools. Hold press conferences. Develop a media kit. Enlist the help of the localfree community papers; talk to radio personalities. Sponsor a community event, like cleaning up a community park or doing a walk for smoking prevention. Frequently circulate press releases. Put ads in public transportation; add a banner to the local community website. Think of ways to directly target children, like putting flyers in toy stores or restaurants where the children “hang out” after school. The possibilities are endless, and the more creative you become with promoting awareness, the more people will remember your prevention. Also, use as many advertising channels as possible: maximize your exposure. One specific channel will not work for every target member, but multiple channels should. Consider the culture of your community when advertising and incorporate it into your awareness campaign. Do not be deterred by cost involved, as many options offer a discounted rate for non-profit organization. Be creative, also, in what your media content includes. Publicize local leaders by havingthem do interviews for local radio or newspapers. Advertise your program events to increase success rate and attendance. You should always include details about your success in meeting your short- and medium- term goals. People like numbers: include somesort of statistic. If you do not have success statistics from you program, publish the rate of underage smoking. In an ideal situation, you would be able to hire someone to work full-time simply on promoting your program. However, this is often not possible, so you must make sure that staff knows how to effectively reach and deal with media channels. Finally, staff dealing with the media must be very knowledgeable about program goals, methods, evaluation processes, and statistics for your program to appear as if it is being run by a capable staff.

Skill Areas:
A Ability to share relevant, motivating statistics with the media to attract support for program objectives

B Ability to share with media evidence of progress in meeting program short- ormedium-term objectives

C Ability to use press conferences and/or press releases to increase media coverage of issue or program

D Ability to use media to publicize program events and local community leaders

E Ability to train community members in effective media relations

F Ability to creatively reach a culturally and linguistically appropriate mix of media outlets (e.g., print, radio, TV)