Marketing Strategy and Information Campaign for Flu Shots

¶ … Marketing Strategy/Information Campaign for the Flu Shots

Who should get the flu shot? You should!

This proposed health marketing campaign is designed to encourage all residents in the city of Seattle to get flu shots. According to the Centers for Disease Control, some of the reasons that people do not get the flu shot are as follows: a lack of knowledge of the shot's availability, a lack of knowledge of the risks of the flu, and misperceptions of the risk of their age demographic. There is also a great deal of fear surrounding the shots, partially due to a fear of vaccinations in general, but also because of specific fears that the flu shot is ineffective/makes the individual ill.

Raising awareness about availability

Seniors, pregnant women, and young children are deemed high-priority targets of the campaign. Advertising the flu shot's availability at senior centers, daycare centers, obstetrician's offices, and public and private schools is important. These are areas which high-risk individuals may frequent. More general places such as libraries, pharmacies, grocery stores, and community centers should also have information about where to get vaccinated, as well as information about its cost and possible insurance coverage.

For younger people and younger parents, the Internet may be a more viable place to publicize the shot. Additionally, online it is easier to 'link' to informational sites about why getting the flu shot is so important, such as the Centers for Disease Control website.

Risks

Although getting the flu may be riskier for some individuals, such as those with compromised immune systems because of their age or medical conditions, anyone can suffer serious complications from the illness. Younger people who may not feel it is necessary to get the shot should know that they can miss valuable days from work. "Why risk being sick" should be stressed in the aspects of the campaign that target younger populations, showing a young person checking his or her Blackberry while lying in bed, sick and looking miserable.

Addressing myths targeting the young is particularly important to stress online, given that is where anti-vaccine myths are often disseminated. The fact that the flu shot has minimal risks should also be addressed, to counteract the urban myths about its dangers. Online, links to useful 'myth-busting' sites about the flu and the spread of the flu can be provided.

Persuasive techniques

Various types of persuasive motivations should be emphasized, across all the types of media used in the campaign. Older individuals may be motivated to get vaccinated because of a fear for their more fragile health -- but also because they do not want to put their grandchildren at risk. Older people may also be motivated by a sense of civic purpose, so as not to spread the disease. So might healthcare workers and teachers, both of whom are in contact with high-risk members of the public on a frequent basis. From a self-interested perspective they may wish to obtain the vaccine, but also from a sense of obligation to the health of those whom they serve.