The Top 10 $Ecret$ to My $Ucce$$ - How to Maximize Your Story's Impact

Background: A success story documents program improvements and demonstrates the value of program activities. Success stories can be a useful tool for educating stakeholders about the achievements and outcomes of your work. Public health programs typically provide this information through the classic Problem, Intervention, and Impact format. However, challenges arise when translating science, crafting the right messages for the right audiences, and using appropriate platforms. The Preventive Health and Health Services (PHHS) Block Grant program has combined public health program successes with best practices from the health communication and marketing fields to develop core content for informational products and audiences.

Program background: In 1981, Congress authorized the Preventive Health and Health Services (PHHS) Block Grant. PHHS Block Grant gives 61 grantees flexibility to develop programs to meet local needs. Each year, grantees are required to provide an annual report and success story that identifies public health Issues addressed by the PHHS Block Grant; describes Interventions that initiated change; and documents Impacts made using PHHS Block Grant funds. In 2000, a collaborative agreement was reached between CDC’s Block Grant leadership, grantees, and Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) to use success stories as a tool to increase visibility, foster credibility, and enhance accountability of the program to funders, stakeholders, and the public.

Evaluation Methods and Results: In 2006, PHHS Block Grant management adapted success story criteria received during an internal training class. Since 2009, these criteria have been the foundation of the program’s web-based story collection system, which uses a 5-star rating system. In 2009 and 2010, the Block Grant Team evaluated:  the quality of success stories based on the 5-star rating system; 2009 - 2010 Grantee Interviews (sampling); other success story approaches across CDC; and reviewed the best marketing and communications practices. This assessment resulted in a series of training webinars and workshops focusing on 10 key success factors to generate better content and stories. The key success factors are: 1) The Human Interest Factor, 2) Strong Title, 3) Evidence-Based Strategies, 4) Make Data Talk, 5) Quotes that Capture Attention, 6) Action Photos, 7) Answer the Success Story Criteria Questions, 8) Timeliness, 9) Highlight Successes in Top Three Funded Areas, and 10) Engage the Right People.  Stories submitted from the 2010 – 2012 period compared to 2006 – 2008 reflect improvement in quality, particularly in use of data, evidence-based strategies, and a central character. The number of 4-5-star stories increased by 44% for these comparable periods. Each year the program is reviewed to address lessons learned, new CDC policies, and relevant health communication and marketing trends.  

Conclusions: Public health practitioners can bring dynamism and energy to their program stories by using these 10 Success Factors as a foundation for broad audiences and media.  

Implications for research and/or practice: These factors merge science and health interventions with communication and marketing practices. As technologies and platforms evolve, a good storyline will continue to be what people remember, long after the ink is dry, the tweet is done, or the picture fades to black.