Abstract
Digital media are often used to encourage smoking cessation by increasing quitline call volume through direct promotion to smokers or indirect promotion to smoker proxies. The documentation of a program's experiences utilizing digital media is necessary to develop both the knowledge base and a set of best practices. This case study highlights the use of digital media in a proxy-targeted campaign to promote the California Smokers' Helpline to health care professionals from October 2009 to September 2012. We describe the iterative development of the campaign's digital media activities and report campaign summaries of web metrics (website visits, webinar registrations, downloads of online materials, online orders for promotional materials) and media buy (gross impressions) tracking data. The campaign generated more than 2.7 million gross impressions from digital media sources over 3 years. Online orders for promotional materials increased almost 40% over the course of the campaign. A clearly defined campaign strategy ensured that there was a systematic approach in developing and implementing campaign activities and ensuring that lessons learned from previous years were incorporated. Discussion includes lessons learned and recommendations for future improvements reported by campaign staff to inform similar efforts using digital media.
Highlights
In 2012, 81% of adults in the United States used the Internet, and 72% of those reported using the Internet to search for health information in the past year (Fox & Duggan, 2013)
Campaign Responsiveness to the Challenges of Digital Media each campaign wave strategy was well defined, they were not rigid from one wave to the. This was demonstrated by the evolving calls-to-action, offers, media channels and evaluation criteria that changed with each wave
When implementing the first wave, staff discovered that digital media were more cost-effective than print, with a cost per impression of about $0.07 for digital media, compared to $0.37 for print
Summary
In 2012, 81% of adults in the United States used the Internet, and 72% of those reported using the Internet to search for health information in the past year (Fox & Duggan, 2013). Some of the advantages are that digital media channels are anonymous, are able to handle a virtually unlimited volume of participants, are available 24 hours per day, are available for repeat use and are able to tailor information to users’ needs (Cline & Haynes, 2001) Because of these advantages, digital media has the potential to enhance the reach and cost-effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions (Strecher, 1999; Walters, Wright, & Shegog, 2006). Digital media (e.g., banner ads, video ads) is often used to encourage smoking cessation by increasing quitline call volume through direct promotion to smokers or indirect promotion through smoker proxies This process evaluation study highlights the use of digital media in a proxy-targeted campaign to promote the California Smokers’ Helpline to health care professionals. The focus shifted to behavioral health professionals in the third wave based on demand from Helpline constituents and on the body of evidence about the importance of treating tobacco dependence among smokers with behavioral health issues (Guydish 2011; Baca 2009; Lasser 2000)
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