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Click here to access this Guide in Portuguese – Guias em Português __________________________________________________________ Message design is the process of connecting insights about the priority audience with key information the audience needs to know in order to make the change the program desires. Successful, well-designed messages are simple, memorable, easily understood, culturally appropriate and meaningful to the audience. Their design stems from a clear creative brief that outlines what the communication intervention aims to achieve. In social and behavior change communication (SBCC), a message is a statement containing key points of information that a program wants to communicate to an audience to encourage behavior change. In order to be effective, a message needs to a) include a clear call to action and b) address the behavioral determinant of interest. A message to a key audience, therefore, typically reflects 1) a desired action (which should be small/doable) from the audience and 2) the key promise or benefit if they perform the action. The key message often has supporting information associated with it.
Before designing program messages, think about the information needed to support the process. Gather the data relevant to the health issue and audience, including the situation analysis, audience analysis and creative brief, plus samples of other messages and materials on the same topic from within and outside of the intervention area. Build a creative team from project staff, creative professionals, content specialists, writers and communication professionals, and members of the priority audience, if possible. The team should be kept relatively small and focused since inviting too many participants to a creative design process can make it difficult to focus and gain consensus. A design workshop helps foster creativity as the creative team works collaboratively to develop the best messages for the priority audience. A creative team can gather for a two- or three-day workshop away from work to encourage creativity and innovation. Key stakeholders and members of the priority audience should also attend to help generate ideas. A message design workshop can be combined with a materials development workshop.
The design workshop uses the technical information found in previous planning documents to create messages that motivate the priority audience to act. In a plenary session:
Background documents should help the creative team gain a clear understanding of the health issue, the audience and their needs (including key barriers to behavior change), the key promise given to the audience, supporting points and the agreed-upon call to action. Step 5: Determine Key Message ContentKey message content is often developed as part of a communication strategy. If content has already been articulated, review it prior to drafting messages. If it has not been developed, use the design workshop to determine core content that should be included in messages. Ask:
This description of the audience and desired actions will be paired with the key promise, supporting points and a specific call to action to create a full message. Key message content for an oral contraceptive campaign might include these messages:
Based on the identified message content, audience needs and barriers to behavior change, key promise and tone decided on in the creative brief, develop key messages. When designing messages, it is critical to understand the audience: its needs, motivations, barriers and aspirations. Messages should match audience needs with a solution to help them overcome behavior change barriers.
Effective messages are clear, accurate and appealing to the audience. Each message should discuss only one or two points. Messages should be framed in terms of the benefit promised to the audience and the evidence that supports that promise (see the creative brief guide for more information).
The creative team can use the following checklist as they draft messages: In addition to the above, when developing messages and materials, the creative team should consider the 7 C’s of Effective Communication. The 7 C’s act as a checklist that helps ensure that messages are interesting, clear, and effective in reaching the audience.
Evidence suggests that even if 80 percent of the priority audience is exposed to a message, only a proportion of them may actually understand the message.An even smaller proportion of those who understand will approve and a smaller subset of those who approve will actually intend to act. Of those who intend to act, an even smaller group actually acts on the message.This is known as the theory of Hierarchy of Communication Effects (see Figure 1 below). Following this logic, the 7 C’s can help improve the effects of the communication efforts by increasing exposure, understanding and approval; motivating the intention to act; and encouraging actual action, as shown in the graph below. As a result, overall impact of the communication efforts can be increased across all stages of change. Figure 1 Step 7: Pretest and Finalize Key MessagesShare the key messages with a small group or sample of the priority audience for their reaction and opinions. Refer to the pretesting guide for details on how to pretest.
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