Researching issues to ensure awareness campaign success
Awareness campaigns are an essential tactic for charities to raise public consciousness of their cause – increasing knowledge of a particular issue, driving action or providing valuable education and information.
However, before launching awareness campaigns, charities need to decide what they want to say, assess existing understanding of the topic, ensure they are conveying accurate information about the campaign’s subject and identify the target audience the campaign needs to reach. These planning steps are particularly important given donations are used to fund campaigns and charities need to make sure every penny spent on raising awareness is used to maximum benefit.
So, how can charities ensure they consider each of these different elements of campaign success, without blowing the budget?
Market insights hold the answer. By taking an in-depth look at how the public perceives the issues being discussed, charities can gain a clearer view of what their campaigns need to deliver. Here’s how:
Gauge existing understanding
The world is evolving at breakneck speed, with new technological developments and innovations continually changing the way we live. The topics charities need to raise awareness of, and provide education around, are therefore also constantly changing. New concerns are surfacing every day and innovative methods for tackling existing issues emerge on a regular basis.
Therefore, before a charity launches a campaign to raise awareness of a particular situation or problem, it needs to accurately gauge how much the public already knows so it can pitch its message at the right level. People may feel unable to engage with a campaign if they do not already have some understanding of the subject, in which case a detailed explanation of the intended message may be required.
On the other hand, if an issue is already widely understood, the public may react better to just receiving the new or most pressing details.
This is well illustrated by a recent study conducted for NSPCC into child sexting and parents’ perceptions of the phenomenon, which revealed that awareness of the concept is very limited.
Because sexting is a relatively new development, it was essential for the charity to assess current understanding of the problem to know how best to address it. The research revealed only 13% of parents had ever been given information or guidance about the subject of child sexting and only 15% had ever sought such information.
Very few parents felt sexting was an issue that may impact their own children, with just 6% feeling their child may have sent a sexual image or video. In this case it was clear the NSPCC campaign needed to provide extensive information about the problem to improve public awareness.
Revealing where education needed
When planning an awareness campaign, market research can help charities identify specific gaps in audience knowledge or understanding, allowing them to deliver education in these particular areas. In cases where ignorance or lack of understanding is compounding the issue, it is vital charities understand this is the case and that education will be a large part of the solution.
In the NSPCC study an important knowledge gap was revealed around the definition of sexting. More than a quarter of parents (26%) did not understand the term meant the “sharing of a sexual image or video of yourself, or a sexual message, by mobile or internet”, largely because they thought sexting referred specifically to written communication.
Another area where education was required concerned the legalities of sexting – with many parents unaware it is illegal among minors and unsure how to get help if they find their child is involved.
By understanding particular knowledge gaps around the problem in question, research can help charities design a campaign that provides education and delivers the answers to specific questions. As a result of the survey the NSPCC is now supporting parents in getting help and advice, as well as discussing sexting with their children and managing its consequences.
Identifying specific audiences
Research also helps identify specific audience groups that may be more impacted by certain issues than others, allowing charities to precisely target their messaging to these groups. For instance the "Be Water Aware" campaign recently launched by the Carmarthenshire Water Safety Partnership is focused on three key groups the charity has discovered are most at risk from drowning.
These are anglers, runners and walkers, and students or young adults who drink alcohol. In concentrating their campaign on raising awareness of water safety among these key audience groups the charity was able to maximise the impact and efficiency of its campaign.
Portraying an accurate picture
While charities are often aware a certain situation exists due to the unique contact they have with people affected, they need to be sure their portrayal of the issues to the wider public is accurate – particularly when they are discussing sensitive subjects. Research helps charities quantify certain issues, giving them a firm basis for their campaigns.
The National Osteoporosis Society, for example, has recently published the results of a survey indicating a fifth of under-25s are reducing dairy in their diet. This has helped to support and inform the charity’s “A message to my younger self” campaign, which encourages families to talk about the importance of building good bone strength in early adulthood and the necessity of getting adequate dietary calcium, whether from dairy products or other sources.
Uncovering taboos to dispel
In raising public consciousness around specific problems, charities often seek to overcome taboos, or dispel certain myths relating to the issue, and research can be used to identify and quantify these. Campaigns such as "I’ve Got Guts" by Bowel & Cancer Research are informed by a study that revealed almost two thirds (65%) of Brits believe poo is a taboo subject, and are therefore embarrassed to talk about the symptoms of bowel cancer.
Another campaign, "#shoutaboutgout", has been launched by the UK Gout Society, to raise awareness of gout and dispel some of the myths around the disease. The myths identified in this instance are that gout is a non-serious, self-inflicted condition that only affects wealthy older men who eat and drink too much. The campaign is designed to correct these misconceptions and encourage people to share their personal experiences of gout.
Combining opinions with facts
Market research is often thought to be all about fact and figures – and it is often the stats that make headlines – but charities can also use research to uncover individual thoughts and feelings around a particular issue, and can use these in campaign design.
In-depth qualitative research, perhaps conducted through telephone interviews, can be used to discover the viewpoints of those impacted by the problem, understand the reasoning behind those viewpoints, and appreciate the challenges they face as a result.
Insight generated from qualitative analysis can also be used to define questions for further rounds of quantitative research and to hone language and terminology. Advanced survey technologies can be used to combine the results of both qualitative and quantitative analysis and generate valuable insights in real-time, with charities able to drill deeper into particular areas of the research that are of specific interest to them.
Effectiveness of campaigns
As well as using research to understand how much the public knows about a particular issue before a campaign is launched, charities can also use it to assess the impact an awareness campaign has had, and whether it has achieved its desired outcome. Charities can discover why the public did, or did not, respond to a campaign, and can find out whether there was any information missing, or whether there are further knowledge gaps around the problem that still need to be filled.
The issues addressed by charities are critical – often to the point of being life changing – and with so much at stake it is essential campaigns are well informed with accurate information. By using research to evaluate public understanding, to identify knowledge gaps, misconceptions and individual viewpoints, and to assess the impact of campaigns, charities can ensure the right information is effectively delivered to the people who need it most.
