IDENTIFYING BARRIERS AND BENEFITS OF THE COMPETITION

Once competitors are identified, there is more you want to know while you’re at it. McKenzie- Mohr and
smith provide a useful framework. The name of this marketing game is to change the ratio of benefits to
barriers so that the target behavior becomes more attractive.

McKenzie-Mohr and Smith propose four ways to accomplish this:

1. Increase the benefits of the target behavior

2. Decrease the barriers (and/or cost) of the target behavior
3. Decrease the benefits of the competing behavior(s)
4. Increase the barriers(and/costs) of the competing behaviors

INFLUENTIAL OTHERS
The fourth area to consider at this point is those target audience listens to, watches, and/or looks up to,
especially related to the desired behavior you have in mind. We think of them as midstream audiences,
and they include social groups your target audience belongs. In some cases, it may be individuals the
target audience finds trustworthy, credible, and likable. Knowing what these groups and individuals are
saying and doing regarding the desired behavior will have significant implications especially for
promotional strategies.

FORMATIVE RESEARCH
Formative research will help you gain insights into audience barriers, benefits, the competition ,and
influential others. It will assist you in developing draft strategies to then pretest. You should begin with a
review of existing literature and research and discussions with peers and colleagues. If,after this review,
informational gaps still exist, it may be important to conduct original research using qualitative methods,
such as focus groups and personal interviews, to identify the barriers, benefits, the competition, and
important influential others. Quantitative instruments, such as telephone and web-based surveys, would
be very helpful in prioritizing the benefits and barriers.

One popular survey model to know about it is the KAPB survey- Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices, and
Beliefs. These are comprehensive surveys of a representative sample of the target population designed
to secure information about the social behavior in question and on the current status of the target
audience.

BEHAVIOR CHANGE MODELS, THEORIES, AND FRAMEWORKS

Information on target audience barriers, benefits, and the competition will help deepen your
understanding, but it may not be enough. Sometimes it helps to understand underlying behavior change
theories. Additional theories, frameworks, and models of interest include the social norms theory,
diffusion of innovation model, health belief model, ecological framework, theory of planned behavior,
social cognitive theory, behavioral economics framework, science of habit framework, and nudge factor.
SOCIAL NORMS THEORY
Linkenbach describes the social norms approach to prevention, which has clear potential implications
for strategy development.

The social norms approach to prevention emerged from college health settings in the mid-1980’s in
response to the seemingly intractable issue of high-risk drinking by college students. Wesley- Perkins
and Alan Berkowitz, social scientist at Hobart, Williams, and Smith Colleges, discovered that a significant
disparity existed between actual alcohol use by college students and their perceptions of other
students’ drinking. Most college students reported that they believed drinking norms were higher and
riskier than they really were. The major implications of this findings is that if a student believes that
heavy alcohol use is the norm and expected by most students, then regardless of the accuracy of the
perceptions , he or she is more likely to become involve in alcohol abuse – despite his or her personal
feelings. Perkins came to call this pattern of misperception the “reign of error” and suggested that it
could have detrimental effects on actual student drinking. According to Berkowitz, if students think”
everyone is doing it”, then heavy drinking rates rise due to influence from “imaginary peers”

This norming theory highlights the potential benefit of understanding perceived versus actual behaviors
among target audiences. Results may signal an opportunity to correct the perception.

THE DIFFUSION of INNOVATIONS MODEL

Everett Rogers defines diffusion as a process by which an innovation is communicated through certain
channels over time among the members of a social system.Innovation diffusion research suggests that
different types of adopters accept an innovation at different points in time.

Five identified groups:

1. Innovators are motivated by a need for novelty and a need to be different

2. Early adopters are drawn by the product’s intrinsic value
3. Early majority perceive the spread of a product and decide to go along with it out of their need
to match and imitate
4. Late majority jump on the bandwagon after realizing that “most” are doing it
5. Laggards finally-follow suit as the product attains popularity and broad acceptance

THE HEALTH BELIEF MODEL

The health belief Model states that the perception of a personal health behavior threat is itself
influenced by at least three factors: general health values, which include interest and concern about
health, specific health beliefs about vulnerability to a particular health threat; and beliefs about the
consequences of the health problem. Once an individual perceives a threat to health, then that
individual is likely to undertake the recommended preventive health actions. Key descriptions include:

 Perceived Susceptibility: Perception of the likelihood of experiencing a condition that would

adversely affects one’s health
 Perceived Seriousness: Beliefs a person holds concerning the effects given disease or condition
would have on one’s state of affairs: physical, emotional, financial, and psychological
 Perceived Benefits of Taking Action: The extent to which a person believes there will be benefits
to recommend actions
 Perceived Barriers to Taking Actions: The extent to which the treatment or preventive measure
may be perceived as inconvenient, expensive, unpleasant, painful, or upsetting
 Cues to Action: Types of internal and external strategies/events that might be needed for the
desired behavior to occur