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Background: Background – Often new web-based resources for professional audiences are promoted mainly at the time of release, using tried and true approaches targeted to existing agency stakeholders. This results in an immediate flurry of online activity which quickly subsides. How can awareness of this product be expanded to new audiences and its utilization increased? Given the large investment made in materials development, adequate resources should be devoted to their promotion to ensure they reach their target audiences.
Program background: Program Background – SAMHSA released Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for High Schools in June 2012. Initial promotion included an eblast to an existing stakeholder list directing them to download the 250 page toolkit from the SAMHSA Store on SAMHSA.gov. Interest was high; the Toolkit received 6,511 unique page views in the month following its release. However, these declined to 888 in between July and August. Moreover, only about half of the first month’s visitors were new to SAMHSA and nearly 70 percent left the site after viewing only the landing page, only spending an average of two minutes on the site. SAMHSA funded a pilot test of an integrated marketing communications plan aimed at increasing Toolkit distribution with an emphasis on reaching new professional audiences. Abt Associates, along with its public relations partner, Edelman, developed and implemented a comprehensive strategy to realize that goal. The team first identified target professional audiences – secondary school administrators and counselors -- who would be likely to have an interest in utilizing the toolkit, and developed a tactical outreach plan to reach them. Tactics included:
- · Advertising on professional web sites
- · Traditional media outreach to newsletters and magazines read by audience members –
- · Blogger outreach
- · One page description of Toolkit
- · National Google advertising
Evaluation Methods and Results: Evaluation Methods and Results – Since a call to action was present in all tactics, Abt was able to evaluate the results using process and impact measures. To the extent possible, it tracked uptake of articles in targeted publications and blog posts. Engagement metrics from digital tactics, such as social media and web advertising were easier to track. The impact was impressive. Over the three months of the campaign, the landing page received 5,055 unique page views; nearly 87 percent of visitors were new to the SAMHSA store. Moreover, the bounce rate was reduced to 43 percent and the average time spent on the page more than doubled, a good indication that the Toolkit was being downloaded.
Conclusions: Conclusions – A highly targeted, integrated, direct response campaign can increase product utilization and bring new audiences to an agency’s website.
Implications for research and/or practice: Implications for Research and Practice – Depending on the original investment in materials production, the quality of resulting product and budget availability for its promotion, this integrated multiplatform approach can increase dissemination among difficult to reach professional audiences.