Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health - Course 2 (self-learning)

Introduction
The Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health course is the second of 5 courses that make up the Social Marketing for Public Health Program. This learning program aims to train public health professionals from the Americas region to implement social marketing programs, apply commercial marketing strategies in search of behavior change in the population, promote healthy habits, or prevent diseases.

The first course of the program, Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health, addresses this discipline’s essential theoretical aspects and is a prerequisite for taking the rest of its courses.

In this course, entitled Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health, you will learn how to formulate the health problem, select the specific behavioral approach, determine the target audience, and plan the formative research.

Learning objectives
Upon completing all the activities of the course, you will be able to:

  • Formulate the statement of the problem you want to address through a social marketing intervention.
  • Describe the main formative research methods available for social marketers.
  • Identify the resources needed to conduct formative research.

Target audience and prerequisites
The Social Marketing for Public Health Program is aimed at public health professionals from the Latin American and the Caribbean region who work in areas such as health promotion, chronic noncommunicable diseases, nutrition, smoking, alcoholism, among other areas, that share the need to influence people’s behavior to improve their quality of life.

To access this course, participants should have completed the first course of the Program: Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health, available here: https://bit.ly/PAHOVCSocialMarketingPublicHealth

Estimated duration of the course
We estimate that you should dedicate 3 hours to complete all the activities of the course, including the optional ones, which are indicated in the title of the resources.

Course modality
Self-paced without a tutor, with open registration and permanently available to all people interested in social marketing applied to public health. There is no deadline to complete this course in the self-paced without tutor modality. Participants must first complete the first course of the Program.

Course structure
Learning resources are organized as follows:

  • Lesson 1: Definitions of Social Marketing
  • Lesson 2: Statement of the Problem
  • Lesson 3: Behavioral Focus
  • Lesson 4: Audience Segmentation
  • Lesson 5: Formative Research
  • Lesson 6: Planning Formative Research
  • Lesson 7: Strategy Development
Last update: 07/Mar/2024