Social Marketing Project Plan- Mental Health Awareness

Team 1- Section G MKT 201

2 May 2016

Adriana Ariza 000676040

Kaitlyn Graham 000554430

AJ Levine 000485635

Alexandra Ortiz 000560881

Kiley Robbins 000577757

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

The Problem

SWOT Analysis.

Marketing Strategy

Positioning Statement

Marketing Mix Strategies..

Costs and Savings of Implementing the Plan

Executive Summary
 As members of the marketing team, we realized the need for a change in behavior in

regards to mental health awareness and education. There are various social stigmas regarding the

issue of getting mental help that surround college students ages 18-23. We see this as an

opportunity to create various awareness campaigns to help individuals and those closely affected

to seek help and education to better themselves mentally. The most important goal for our

marketing team is to increase statistics and to create a positive perspective about seeking help.

We believe is is important to understand the barriers and benefits surrounding getting

help. We want to ensure that our target market fully understands the meaning of getting help, the

common mental health problems, and the variety of ways to seek help and education. We want to

eliminate the stigmas and negative perspectives attached to mental health problems.

The social marketing plan identifies the problem and our detailed strategies to solve it.

We outline our analyses, our promotional plan, and the costs related to the implementation of the

plan. This includes a swot analysis, product marketing grid, positioning statement, measurable

goals, integrated promotion and communication plan, and cost overview. This plan enables our

marketing team to see the overall goal and the needs to successfully implement the plan. Our

analyses will enable us to accurately evaluate the behavior of the target market.

We discuss possible risks associated with the change of behavior. We discuss the

strategies for the success in change of behavior with the SWOT analysis. This shows the

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and possible threats we may face while implementing the

plan.

We outline our integrated marketing and communication plan, showing our plan to

promote and advertise the desired behavior of seeking help. Resources include services provided
by Bryant University counseling services. Other strategies include suggestions and campaigns to

increase awareness and visits in regards to counseling services.

The main goal of our team is to try to help those suffering with mental health problems or

know of someone who is. We want to provide those with information the importance of mental

health prominence within colleges students ages 18-23. By providing information and knowledge

of available resources, people will be able to get the needed help. This marketing plan allows us

to see the overall goals needed to have our target market change to the desired behavior. When

running a business, the marketing team is to advertise the product to the specified market. As a

team we will be able to see the standards for our team and our future partnerships. Without this

social marketing plan we would not be able to efficiently execute the social marketing plan.

Identify Problem to be Solved

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness 1 in 3 college students reported

prolonged periods of depression. After conducting some research we found that 73% of Bryant

students experienced either depression or anxiety and 90% reported their friends experienced

either of the two. The purpose of our plan is to decrease the stigma related to seeking help on

Bryants campus and increase the awareness of what counseling services offers. The big impact

is that more students will seek help when necessary.

SWOT Analysis

A. Bryant University Counseling Services has many strengths as an organization. They

employ three full time counselors as well as three graduate student interns. These professionals
handle a full schedule of appointments five days per week throughout the duration of the school

year. Employing graduate student interns is also a good way to gain more exposure in the

professional community.

With respect to managerial support, counseling services utilizes a full time office

coordinator who creates the busy schedule. The office is also funded by the University

endowment, clearly another strength as raising funds does not have to be a concern. This is an

economic factor. Delivering free services is a strength born from the funding the office receives.

Nearly no other counseling practices can make this offer which is a major competitive

advantage. This competitive force has created high costs for other counseling services facilities.

For a student meeting with a counselor, there really is nothing to lose.

Another strength is that all counseling appointments are confidential. This creates a

sense of security for those seeking these services.

Some weaknesses of the office of counseling services include poor social media and

mainstream exposure. The office is somewhat limited in its ability to advertise its services, with

concerns about professionalism, yet they still underperform. They may also be hindered by their

relatively remote location in the Unistructure. While this is likely an unavoidable problem, it is a

good example of a services office that is often overlooked. Another weakness is their lack of any

services outside of formal counseling meetings, which can often take up to a week to book.

B. There are several opportunities for the Office of Counseling Services. Environmental

forces such as expanding technological capacity, and the accompanying trend of people using

social media more often is an example of an opportunity. Technology such as Skype and

FaceTime has made meeting virtually very easy. This gives the office the potential to employ

more counselors, likely on a part time basis, without having to dedicate the physical resources.
This is an efficient way to deal with excess demand for counseling appointments and is also

something that most students are comfortable operating.

Another opportunity, related to patient confidentiality regulation, a regulatory force, is to

market the services in a non-traditional way. Perhaps a quiet promotional campaign, such as

sparsely placing business cards in odd places would help to convey the message the

appointments can be kept just between the patient and therapist. When a student sees a poster in

a public place, it brings with it the idea that everyone can see the poster, and the student looking

at it. By delivering the message in a more discreet manner, more in line with the nature of the

services, we could attract more students in a different way, hopefully penetrating a new group.

A threat to the office of counseling services is the stigma associated with counseling.

This is a social force and has created this trend of negative connotation attached to counseling.

This sentiment is often expressed in the target market. This is also an opportunity, as a portion

of the population who would seek counseling has been discouraged to do so. This means the

patient base can grow and more services can be delivered to those who need them.

C. The Office of Counseling Services has an ethical duty to provide the best services

that they are capable of producing. They are mandated to abide by patient confidentiality laws, a

certain positive when trying to serve those who are reluctant about the services. The offices

duties also extend to searching for those in need of help and ensuring that they are available in a

timely manner. When seeking out those who are in need of their services, it is imperative not to

be pushy or overly forward. This target market is a delicate one, and as a trusted organization,

they must conform to the norms set forth by the community.

One way that the offices moral obligation to help students may have a negative impact

on the plan is in the wording of the services itself. The idea of being helped may not appeal to
some, and may make others turn away from the idea entirely. Rebranding this notion of what

therapy involves and is intended to do is something that must be addressed.

Primary Target Market

After meeting with Bill Phillips, Director of Counseling Services at Bryant University,

we found that Bryant counselors mostly see senior year students dealing with depression,

anxiety, and relationship issues. He also explained that the majority of Bryant students do not use

the walk in hours but would rather schedule an appointment. The break up of women to men

seen on campus is 55% women, 45% men. Of those people, two-thirds have a preference in their

counselor gender and of those two-thirds, about three-fourths prefer to see a woman counselor.

With this information combined with our survey results we decided to keep our target market

fairly broad and reach all Bryant students ages 18-23. However, that broad market is broken

down into several specific categories. We would like to increase the understanding of what

Counseling Services offers to those students who may not fully be aware of their services. This

would be the opposite of the majority of students they already see; therefore, we will target

freshman through junior year male students. We would also like to focus on students who may

not necessarily need help themselves but have a friend who comes to them for advice on serious

issues.

The size of our market is all Bryant students which is roughly 3,500. Of those about 81%

reside on campus, 41% are female, and 8% are international students. Since counseling services

is free and available to all Bryant students our market size is the entire 3,500. See appendix for
our Market-Product Grid altered to fit our desired behaviors.

Positioning Statement

We want Bryant University students ages 18 to 23 to see getting help and becoming educated

about mental health as benefiting their overall mental health and as more important and

beneficial than not seeking help due to social stigmas and denial .

Marketing goals and objectives. quantifiable and measurable

As a primary source, we conducted a survey to analyze mental health awareness among

college students ages 18-23. Our survey asked questions in regards to personal and familiar

acquaintances exposed to mental health problems, the frequency of visits to counseling services,

and the various stages of engagement. The following statistics have been retrieved from our

survey consisting of 72 total responses. According to our survey, 70 percent of students ages 18-

23 never visited counseling services for information. Of those who do visit, 2.86 percent of

students visit 1-2 times a week and 1-2 times a month. 24.29 percent only visit a few times of the

year. Of those who do visit, 13.85 percent of the students are currently in the contemplation stage

and plan to seek help due to the recognition of a mental health problem. 6.15 percent plan to get

help and are in the action stage of change. We would like to increase the percentage of students

who visit counseling services, either by seeking help for themselves or to educate themselves to

help a specific friend. By increasing visits to counseling services, the percentage of awareness in

regards to mental health awareness among college students will increase.

 Our behavioral goal is a five percent increase in number of visits to counseling services.

As previously stated by Bill Phillips, director of counseling services, there is a higher amount of

students in their senior year who visit counseling services in comparison to any other grade level.

Therefore we want to increase the amount visits from students who are in their junior year or

below. Mr. Phillips also reports that there is a higher amount of female visitors to Bryants

Counseling Services, with our marketing techniques we aim to raise the number of males who

seek counseling.

In order to act, students need to understand the benefits of seeking help and information.

Students also need to understand the services provided. Counseling services is a very private

organization on Bryant Universitys campus and is completely confidential. All counselors are

professionals, with no student workers in the office. In order to act, students must feel

comfortable and understand the importance of any mental issue or problem.

In order to act, students need to believe that mental health problems do exist on campus

and among students ages 18-23. Apart from statistics, students need to believe that seeking

mental health help is acceptable and sometimes necessary. Due to the social stigma created by

society, which follows the idea that by seeking help a person is either weak or not mentally

stable, students struggle to believe the importance around mental health awareness. This is

especially true with men, who have significantly lower help-seeking statistics than women.

When comparing the numbers between men and women who have these mental health issues,

numbers are relatively the same. It can be seen in our survey and through our interview with Bill

Phillips that the number of women who seek help is significantly higher than the number of men.

There are various benefits for seeking help personally or for a friend. College students are

able to feel better emotionally, become secure with themselves, and become a resource for
someone else who needs their support. Other benefits include medication and the receiving of

help. Some barriers include not having sufficient time, denial of mental illness or instability,

social stigmas, and lack of resources available for help.

Along with the barriers listed, our target market may shy away from seeking help and

awareness due to competing behaviors. Competing behaviors include self-medication, denial,

and the ignoring of signs. In fact, according to our survey, 70 percent of college students ages

18-23 believe they can handle their problem or illness on their own.

Development of Marketing Mix Strategies, 4Ps

Product

Our product is the desired behavior of seeking help and gaining awareness when it comes

to mental health issues, both big and small, for college students. This behavior is very beneficial

to college students, as well as everyone beyond, because it can improve an individuals lifestyle

greatly; increasing happiness and self-confidence as well as creating the mentality that they are

not alone. A large benefit of developing this behavior is it allows one to eventually become a

resource themselves, allowing them to spread mental health awareness to others who may need

it.

Promotion

The first and most important aspect of our promotion plan is the overall message that will

follow through our entire integrated strategy. We want to continuously convey our message of

Lets Talk About It. This will be a part of our integrated marketing communication plan,

following through all elements and techniques we put in place to promote our behavior.
 When it comes to social marketing, many of the same elements of promotion used for

commercial marketing can be used to promote the desired behavior. Due to the nature of mental

illness and the personal as well as unique ways it can affect each individual, mass techniques

with short term benefits like sales promotions arent the most effective way to market. Other

elements of promotion that include reaching a mass amount of the target market can be used, but

have to be integrated while discussing the topic of mental health in a serious light. Marketing a

desired behavior that has such serious and personal implications can also make marketing

techniques such as direct marketing and personal selling difficult. Both of these techniques

require knowledge of someone actually needing a counseling service. Direct marketing will not

be used for our promotion because of the indirect and impersonal feel it gives to those that

receive the information about the product being marketed, and because of the breech of privacy it

would cause to be implemented effectively. Personal selling will also not be used because

counseling services is not a behavior we want to force upon people, but instead one in which we

want those who need it or think a friend needs it to feel comfortable seeking out.

The elements of promotion that we will use in our communication plan are advertising

and public relations. Both techniques allow for information to be spread and awareness to be

created, but do not make Counseling Services come across as impersonal or not friendly. Public

relations will be used by Counseling Services by including articles in The Archway Bryant

University student newspaper at least a couple times each semester. The articles can be written

by a student or faculty member, and will include both factual information as well as more

promotional and storytelling aspects. Ultimately promoting the idea that Counseling Services is

there to benefit the health of individuals on their own time and comfort level. Articles should be

written more from the viewpoint of a student interested in or having gone to counseling services;
but, with the goal to provide information about Bryants Counseling Services as well as promote

the idea that seeking help is not an abnormal action.

Under the idea of public relations, we are also going to work with some of Bryants event

planners and group activity leaders to have the counseling services be an office that new and

prospective students are made more aware of when first arriving to campus. This will include

working with orientation leaders, bulldog leaders, and resident staff to make sure that Bryant

Counseling Services is a topic that is brought up frequently and in a positive manner, not just

when students have already realized the need for help but for when students consider themselves

mentally healthy as well. Our first event will be an organized informative activity during each

orientation session, which will begin implementing our Lets Talk About It mindset. At these

activities there will be trivia and prizes to engage new students while informing them of Bryants

Counseling Services. It is important for these student leaders to know and promote counseling

services, because when mental health is discussed by those the same age as the target audience,

that information will be more trusted and treated more seriously (Kahn, Wood, & Weisen 1999).

The second, and more widespread way we will promote the behavior of going to Bryants

Health Services and discussing mental health in general is through advertising, mainly through

social media as well as more traditional advertising methods on a university campus. These will

include fliers and posters with information about where and when Counseling Services is

available, as well as pushing the idea that walk-ins, as well as scheduled appointments, are both

available and encouraged. These posters will be hung in spots where they are most likely to be

seen by people who may feel like they or a friend are experiencing a mental health problem.

These places could include the residents halls, restrooms, the library, and the dining hall. Posters

will also be hung promoting the idea of just talking in general about mental health. We will also
utilize social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. These accounts are

a great way to get information out to students quickly and efficiently, as well as create awareness

that Bryant Counseling Services exist on our college campus. Where many counseling services

shy away from posting and having a presence on social media due to how it could create an

impersonal feel to students who may need serious help, we will use the accounts to promote

awareness about mental health of college students. This will be done by posting facts and

information on different mental health diseases, as well as creating awareness about national

mental health awareness month and other events and important dates regarding mental health

awareness. It will be beneficial to have these accounts to be able to interact with students and

influential people on social media. By connecting with people that are followed by high numbers

of students on Bryants campus (President Machtley, Bryant OCE), we will be able to reach a

mass amount of students on our campus. This will create general awareness that Counseling

Services exists, as well as that it is a good thing to associate with and utilize to seek help if need

be.

Other ways we will promote our desired behavior is through other promotional events

and activities that will engage our target audience as well as create awareness for mental health

in general. After the programs held during orientation, we are planning a event in the rotunda

called I Love Myself and My Mental Health. This will be our first promotion surrounding the

idea of Lets Talk About It, and will involve informative games and handing out pamphlets to

inform students in a laid back way of our message. The next event will be more focused on a

Help Your Friend mentality, where students will become educated on what to look for or how

to talk to friends about mental health. This event will take place in Peppito in Fisher Student

Center, and will involve a walk the line game-show mentality, asking participants to cross a
line when an item is read that the identify with. This again creates a laid back and open

atmosphere where Lets Talk About It can be positively recepted. Our fourth event that we will

hold is a Pledge Week for all students on campus. We will be in the rotunda for a week during

classes, where we will ask students to pledge what they will do to promote good mental health

for themselves or those they care about. This will involve signing a poster and receiving a pin or

sticker of some sort. This will be an easy way for students to gain awareness about mental health

at their own pace and own time, while realizing that they are not alone. The last event that we

have planned is to honor mental health awareness month in May. We will mainly post, on fliers

and through social media accounts, facts and statistics about mental health in order to spread

awareness and start discussion during the month of awareness. All of our events will contain and

promote our slogan Lets Talk About It, as well as pitch different ideas and phrases that stick

in students minds and promote discussion and awareness.

Another way we will promote talking about mental health and seeking it when needed

will be by creating an instant text service similar to that offered by the Bryant Library to help

assist with quick questions about the Counseling Services. Texting is another common activity in

our target market, so by allowing students to text someone when they have questions about

Counseling Services, want to schedule an appointment, or if they need to discuss mental health

problems, they may feel that counseling is something common to people their age. This idea of

similarity and wanting to fit in is going to exist in us as humans no matter how hard we try to

change it, so creating the idea that getting help and talking about mental health is something

common and not something that pushes people away from you is definitely going to help create

more desirability for counseling services.

Place
 As discussed above, because we are looking to create a higher number of people who

have knowledge about Bryants Counseling Services, go to Bryants Counseling Services, and

who discuss mental health in general, we will promote our behavior on Bryants campus. All of

the promotion techniques will be implemented at our Smithfield campus location. Due to the use

of social media that will play a big role in our integrated communication plan, the spread of our

desired behavior will be wider than just Bryants campus.

Price

As for what the cost to the consumer or the students who do end up participating in our

events and/or going to Counseling Services, there will be no up front costs. It does not cost

anything out-of-pocket for a student to go to counseling services, and they will not start charging

money because of more students going. Besides money, students do have to give up some of

their free time to visit Counseling Services or to participate in any of the events that we hold

while implementing our plan. Any tangible objects that we include in our events or promotion,

including things like stickers, key chains, food, or prizes will be free to those who participate in

our events or who go to Counseling Services.

The incentives or disincentives are more intangible for our behavior, and include things

like living a happier lifestyle or being more comfortable talking to those around you about

mental health. According to Henriques (2014) increasing mental health awareness and

discussion can lead to many positive outcomes, such as improving grades, relationships, and

ideas of self-worth, which are all incentives that students have to perform our desired behavior.

Costs and Savings of the Implementation Plan

 We plan to be involved with Counseling Services at Bryant University by hosting five

events in the upcoming year. There will be an event over the summer for orientation and then

two events each semester. For all of these events there will be resources used that are offered on

campus. As well as working with other offices on campus to have successful events.

For each of the five events Counseling Services will have to go to the Copy Center at

Bryant University to get flyers and handouts to be able to promote the events. According to the

Copy Center, depending on how many copies we would want for each event, it would be $.25 for

one copy. Then depending on how much each specific event would need to be promoted is how

we would determine how many copies we would need to buy.

For the first event of the year we will not have to spend any of the budget because it

would be an information session at each orientation session. We will work hand in hand with

admission to find a time slot and location to hold the information center. They will also take

charge in putting our session on the student itinerary. At the information session there will be

handouts for every student. The handouts will consist of statistics and information about

Counselling Services. There will be at least 1000 students attending then having to consider the

fact that they will bring their parents. We will have 2,500 brochures made to give out to each

person at the session which would add up to $625.

For the four other events held during the school year, we will have to self promote to get

the attention of students. We will need to put a poster in each of the resident halls, throughout the

suites and most student trafficked offices in the unistructure, and throughout the hallways in the

unistructure. A rough estimate for the amount of flyers we would need is fifty minimum. For just

one event, the minimum we would spend is $12.50. For the year overall, the minimum the office

will use just for promotion would be $50. We would also be giving out brochures at each event
to give students information if they want to take any home, we would get a minimum of 1500

brochures to have on hand, it would be $375 to produce.

For two specific events we would want to hand out green ribbons. At our I Love Myself

and My Mental Health event, Pledge Week event, and Mental Health Awareness Month we

would hand out the ribbons to spread awareness. It would cost about $25 to produce 300 ribbons

and for both of those events we would want to have 1,200 ribbons to be able to hand out to

students. For all of the ribbons it will take $100 to produce.

The five events will be held on campus to save money towards the budget. None of the

five events require any other expenses because the location is free of charge because of Bryant

University. As well as the fact that none of the events would be needing catering. For the whole

year the amount of money that will be used, from the promoting budget, would be at least

$1,150.

Appendix

Product Marketing Grid

Gantt Chart, Specificity of the timeline for implementation
Swot Analysis Chart
 Strengths Weaknesses

Employs total of six counselors Minimal Social Media presence

(Three professional, three Grad Students) Less exposed office space
Office Coordinator Lack of informal services
University funding
Free services
Confidentiality regulation

Opportunities Threats

Technological capacity Stigma associated with services

(Skype, FaceTime)
Marketing platform
(Bryant sign boards)

Works Cited
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