This practical resource from The NSMC will help you develop, plan and deliver behaviour change projects that work. Drawing on lessons learned through years of research and practical experience, we'll take you through the six key stages of successful projects, and provide tools and templates to support you through the process. 

Public health projects, such as reducing smoking or tackling obesity are probably the best-known examples of social marketing. But the planning guide has been designed to help you apply best practice to any kind of behaviour change project, from encouraging breastfeeding to getting people to drop less litter.

Most social marketing interventions will move through these six stages in turn: Getting Started, Scope, Develop, Implement, Evaluate and Follow-up.

 

 

We've identified the 'Task Areas' for each stage, describing the kinds of activities you may need to do, with tips and advice on how you might carry them out. And you'll find useful tools and templates throughout to help you at every stage.

If you're just getting started with social marketing, check out our Big Pocket Guide to Social Marketing.

 

How do I use this guide?

 

Using this guide is very easy. You can either work through it in a systematic way following the planning process and/or dip in and out of appropriate sections or tasks as required.

The main content is divided into the six stages: Getting Started; Scoping; Development; Implementation; Evaluation and Follow-up. Each of these, plus a section on resources, can be accessed by clicking on the vertical navigation bar on the side of the page.

When you click on one of the six stages on the navigation bar, you will see an introduction to the stage and, down the right hand side of the page, a list of the main task areas within that stage. When you click on a task area, you get a brief description and an opportunity to access more detailed information in the form of specific tasks.

At any time, you can access tools that might help you by clicking on the ‘tools icon’. All of the tools can also be accessed at any time from the resources drop down menu on the main navigation bar.