The following is an excerpt of an excellent blog post on The Harvard Business Review by Rosabeth Moss Kanter.
The best campaigns for change have five elements:
- Memorable messages. Campaigns, like brand marketing, start with a clear, succinct, easy to repeat, emotionally compelling message.
- Stories. Narrative is a powerful tool for campaigns. People remember other people and stories better than numbers … Personal testimonials motivate people, particularly when they see that those they admire take new actions.
- Action tools and roles. In a successful campaign, there is a clear step anyone can take, without requiring elaborate new processes, even if more complex change is required eventually.
- Coalitions of partners. Change campaigns need many suppliers, distributors, and allies.
- “Point of action” nudges. Popular media messages get generalized attention, just as commercials for products do, but like marketing campaigns that require point of sale support, successful behavior change campaigns need to place reminders at the point of action — the moment of truth when behavior is set in motion. For example, bars are naturals for designated driver or safe sex campaign materials. Hand-washing reminders and hand-sanitizers are now prevalent in restaurants and hospitals.