Engaging Parents in Urban Communities—Lessons Learned Jeffrey Rosenberg, MSW February 19, 2014 1
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Engaging Parents in Urban Communities—Lessons Learned
Jeffrey Rosenberg, MSWFebruary 19, 2014
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A quick introduction
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What we will cover1. Review successes (mostly) and challenges (some) in a 5-city social
marketing campaign to engage parents and children
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What we will cover1. Review successes (mostly) and failures (some) in a 5-city social
marketing campaign to engage parents and children2. High-level overview of the research that provided our foundation
What we will cover1. Review successes (mostly) and failures (some) in a 5-city social
marketing campaign to engage parents and children2. High-level overview of the research that provided our foundation3. Present specific, concrete strategies and tactics
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What we will cover1. Review successes (mostly) and failures (some) in a 5-city social
marketing campaign to engage parents and children2. High-level overview of the research that provided our foundation3. Present specific, concrete strategies and tactics4. How to apply these strategies and tactics in your work, setting
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THE FRAMEWORK
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Follow the research“The literature is beginning to amass evidence that targeted,
well-executed health mass media campaigns can have small-to-moderate effects on health knowledge, beliefs and attitudes, but
on behaviors as well…these results can only be achieved, however, if principles of effective campaign design are carefully
followed.”– Seth Noar, A 10-year Retrospective of Research in Health Mass Media
Campaigns
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Framework 1: Social marketing• Utilizing the principles of marketing to:
– Impact the common good and/or– Motivate individuals to make positive behavior changes
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Framework 1: Social marketing• Utilizing the principles of marketing to:
– Impact the common good and/or– Motivate individuals to make positive behavior changes
• Community-based social marketing– Tapping the power of community to influence behavior change– Prompting, high-touch personalized outreach, social norming, etc.
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Framework 1: Social marketing• Utilizing the principles of marketing to:
– Impact the common good and/or– Motivate individuals to make positive behavior changes
• Community-based social marketing– Tapping the power of community to influence behavior change– Prompting, high-touch personalized outreach, social norming, etc.
• Traditional vs. social science-based behavior change– Rational economic beings vs. the interplay of feelings and analysis
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Framework 2: Understanding behavior change• Social psychology, behavioral economics revealing why we
decide what we decide, do what we do• Most powerful motivators of behavior change:
– Loss aversion– Social norming– Deviance avoidance– Intrinsic perception
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Framework 3: Relevance of diffusion research• Mass media and interpersonal communications have different
roles• Understanding change agents and our target audience
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THE NATIONAL SUMMER LEARNING DEMONSTRATION PROJECT AND STUDY
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The study• Can summer learning programs in public school districts:
– Combat summer learning loss?– Improve educational outcomes and social competency?– Potentially reduce the achievement gap?
The study• Can summer learning programs in public school districts:
– Combat summer learning loss?– Improve educational outcomes and social competency?– Potentially reduce the achievement gap?
• Assessing two years of intervention for children in 3rd grade in spring 2013
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Outreach and communications objectives• Communicate to internal, external stakeholders about study
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Outreach and communications objectives• Increase recruitment
– Across all districts, more than 100 percent increase– Get 30 to 40 percent of eligible population to register
• Increase percentage who show up/reduce no-shows• Increase ongoing attendance
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ENGAGING PARENTSSocial marketing design and implementation
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Goals• Very specific, quantifiable goals for each district• Recruitment goals:
– District 1: 415 students to 875– District 2: 600 to 1,800– District 3: 425 to 1,004– District 4: 255 to 627– District 5: 600 to 1,200
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Objectives: non-divisible actions• Fill out and return the form• Get your child to the program on the first day• Get your child there on a regular basis
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Challenges• Recruitment is not a core competency of public schools
– Relatively little experience– Public school is mandatory
• Parents:– are protective of their child’s summer– equate summer learning programs with traditional summer school– do not understand or see risk of summer learning loss– believe they can handle it themselves
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Marketing research (achieving empathy)• Culturally sensitive• Message testing to understand motivators• Understand key perceptions and decision drivers
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Understanding relevant worldview• Our marketing research revealed:
– Parents feel institutions impact them, they don’t influence institutions
• A different conceptualization of fairness
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Identify action traps• Troubling words, concepts:
– Apply– Free– Fairness
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Identify action drivers• Troubling words, concepts:
– Apply– Free– Fairness
• Decision details:– Time– Place– Cost– Transportation
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Message concepts that were tested
Social normingJoin the parents who are giving their children an advantage. Summer learning programs keep their minds and bodies sharp.
Intrinsic perceptionTake charge of your child’s future. A summer learning program is a fun, safe way to keep your child’s education on track.
Loss aversionPrevent the “summer slide.” Make sure your child’s learning keeps going forward, not backward.
Social norming/Deviance avoidanceWe cannot let our children fall into the “achievement gap.” A summer learning program gives every child a greater opportunity to get ahead.
Gain framing/Intrinsic perceptionYou can give your child a special, free gift—a fun and safe summer learning program that will help prepare them to do well in the 4th grade
You want your child to be doing something safe and productive this summer. The district’s free Summer Learning Program is a smart choice.
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Positioning
“Your child can take part in unique, exciting activities like field trips and also sharpen the reading, writing and math skills they
need to succeed in the 4th grade. At no cost, your child can keep his or her mind and body active this summer.”
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Empowering messaging platform• Opportunity for you
to make a difference for your child
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The strategy to engage parents• Empower parents• Get children excited• Utilize credible messengers, relationships
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Ensure accessibility of materials• Objective is 5th to 6th grade reading level• Use Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level
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Assertive, sustained recruitment• Utilize a variety of methods to reach parents• Ongoing, consistent outreach• Multiple ways to take the action
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High-touch personalized outreach• Structured opportunities for change agents to engage with
parents– Phone calls– Notes home– Intercepts at school– Events
High-touch personalized outreach• Structured opportunities for change agents to engage with
parents– Phone calls– Notes home– Intercepts at school– Events
• Equip change agents– Talking points, FAQs, scripts
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Children are consumers• Promote, employ relationships with adults• Marketing materials for children• Direct outreach, including mailings, to children
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Relationship marketing• Create connections, relationships with target audience• Help our audience feel part of something, not just “buying a
product” – We used personal connections– Engagement events
Results• Every district exceeded recruitment goals, more than doubled• Most districts reduced no-show rates, some dramatically• Average daily attendance remained static
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Notes about a needle not budged• Possible lessons from our challenges with daily attendance
– The more complex a behavior:• The more difficult it is to motivate that behavior• The more likely it is that countervailing forces will depress action
– Increasing, changing target population attributes increase difficulty– Societal context can limit impact of social marketing
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YOUR ENGAGEMENT CHECKLIST
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The rules of engagement• Understand your audience—what do they think about your issue, how do
they view the need and the service, what motivates them• Briefly state how the audience should understand your service or
organization (positioning)• Write the messages that will clearly communicate the positioning to your
audience (message platform)
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The rules of engagement (cont.)• Agree upon numeric goals• State the specific behaviors you want to change or impact (objectives)• Make the behaviors as easy as possible to complete• Write a brief plan that relies heavily on interpersonal communications,
high-touch outreach, multiple touch points and multiple ways of delivering messages
• Create a tracking mechanism and put feedback loops in place
Discussion
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