Health Is Every Body’s Business: A Strategic Health Communication Plan

Running head: ORG6354 FINAL PAPER 1

Health Is Every Body’s Business: A Strategic Health CommunicationPlan

Myrna Davis-Washington

University of the Rockies


Abstract

This paper utilizes the information learned from Tennyson and

Ray’s (2005) article, “Creating a Strategic Communication Plan

THAT GATHERS NO DUST,” the course reading assignments, at least

five scholarly journal articles, and research accessed via the

library or websites to create a strategic communications plan for

a health promotion initiative at a technology business that

manufactures microprocessors. The corporation’s CEO has requested

the implementation of a wellness and health promotion initiative

due to an increase in healthcare benefit costs, an increase in

the number of sick days being taken by employees, and an increase

in the number of employees who are taking sick days within your

company. The strategic communications plan presented in this

paper (“Health Is Every Body’s Business”) includes identification

of the health promotion initiative’s: (1) goals and objectives;

(2) target audience; (3) key message; (4) strategies, tactics,

methods, and interventions (5) priorities; (6) development and


implementation timeline and responsibility list; and (7) means to

assess the outcome after implementation.

Health Is Every Body’s Business: A Strategic Health CommunicationPlan

‘Health communication’ is the study and use of communication

strategies to inform and influence individual and community

decisions that enhance health (National Prevention Information

Network [NPIN], 2010). Effective health communication can be both

written and verbal and carries with it the potential to change

knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and norms of intended audiences


through various methods, including media literacy, media

advocacy, advertising, entertainment education, individual and

group instruction, and partnership development (Auld, Radius,

Galer-Unti, & Hinman, 2011; NPIN, 2010). Effective health

communication strategies also combine theories, frameworks, and

approaches from behavioral sciences, communication, social

marketing, and health education (NPIN, 2010). A strategic health

communication plan is essential to any effective health

communication effort.

In their journal article, “Creating a Strategic

Communication Plan That Gathers No Dust,” Patricia A. Tennyson

and Kristina Ray, senior vice-president and vice-president

(respectively) of Katz & Associates in San Diego, California,

discuss ‘strategic communication planning’ as a way of enabling

organizations to use communication effectively in support of

health promotion programming. The strategies presented in their

article concur with this course’s reading assignments in their

assertions that, without a plan: (1) an organization risks

creating and disseminating messages which are disconnected,


unfocused, and contradictory; (2) there is no basis for the

measurement of the effectiveness of a health promotion program;

and (3) programs without plans, performance monitoring, and

outcome assessment often waste money and time, and have a poor

return on investment (D. Simmons, personal communication, March

22, 2011; Tennyson & Ray, 2005). Although this article is

targeted specifically at utility companies, it provides a

substantial overview of how to create a strategic communication

plan that can be adapted to any industry; one that is realistic

in terms of the resources needed to carry it out, is flexible,

outlines specific implementation steps or timelines, has the buy-

in of those charged with implementation, and includes measurement

criteria (Tennyson & Ray, 2005).

The purpose of this paper is to utilize the information

garnered from the above reading assignment, the course reading

assignments, scholarly journal articles, and research to create a

strategic communications plan for a health promotion initiative

at a technology business that manufactures microprocessors. For

the proposed initiative, the corporation’s CEO has requested the


implementation of a wellness and health promotion initiative due

to an increase in healthcare benefit costs, an increase in the

number of sick days being taken by employees, and an increase in

the number of employees who are taking sick days within the

company. The associated strategic communication plan presented in

this paper will include identification of the health promotion

initiative’s: (1) goals and objectives; (2) target audience; (3)

key message(s); (4) strategies, tactics, methods, and

interventions (5) priorities; (6) development and implementation

timeline and responsibility list; and (7) means to assess the

outcome after implementation.

Goals and Objectives of the Initiative

Goals are broad and usually long-term; objectives can be

thought of as interim goals leading to the attainment of the

broad goal (Tennyson & Ray, 2005). They state what the

organization wants to accomplish, how "success of the program"

will be defined and how will it be measured, and the research

upon which the health promotion program is based.


The only statistical data associated with work injuries and

illnesses among employees working with semi-conductors and

microprocessors appears to be derived from a survey of multi-

national semiconductor manufacturing operations performed in

1995(Lassiter, n.d.). The data collected in this survey involved

the international operations of US-based semiconductor

manufacturers for the years 1993-94 and included incidence rates

calculated as numbers of cases (or lost workdays) per 200,000

worker-hours per year. Findings indicated that the annual

incidence of work injuries and illnesses among all workers in the

international survey was 3.3 cases per 100 employees (200,000

worker-hours) in 1993 and 2.7 in 1994. Most of cases (12,130 in

1993) were derived from US companies and were associated with

approximately 387,000 workers in 1993 and 458,000 in 1994. These

results indicated that the incidence rate for lost workdays (days

away from work) was approximately 15.4 days away from work per

100 workers for each of the 2 years. (Lassiter, n.d.)

As stated above, the organizational goal of this health

promotion initiative is to promote health and wellness among its


employees. One objective is to decrease the organization’s

healthcare benefit costs by decreasing the number of sick days

being taken by employees and the number of employees who are

taking sick days within the company. The communication goal for

this health promotion initiative is, therefore, to increase

awareness of the importance of health and wellness and to foster

acceptance of healthy behaviors. A communication objective,

then, is to inform employees of the purpose and need for adopting

healthy behaviors. Success will be defined by a 15% decrease in

the number of employees taking sick days and a 30% decrease in

the number of sick days being taken by employees (from 15.4 days

per year to 10.1 days per year). This will be measured by taking

baseline assessments of the company’s total healthcare benefit

costs, the total number of employees who have taken sick days,

and the total number of sick days being; each taken for the six

months prior to the beginning of the initiative and assessed

subsequently at 30 days, 180 days, and at yearly increments,

thereafter, for up to three years. (Tennyson & Ray, 2005).


Identification of the Target Audience

At this stage of the strategic communication plan for this

health promotion initiative, it is important to identify the

target audience. According to Tennyson and Ray (2005), “an

audience can be defined as an individual or organization on which

the utility (program) depends for success.” Since there is no

‘one-size-fits-all’ communication plan, it is essential to

determine whether the target audience for this initiative will

include all employees, high-risk employees, and/or whether it

will it include family. Audience categories that could be

important to a technology business that manufactures

microprocessors include company administrators, department

managers, and clerical staff, as well as, employees who work with

chemicals, containers, furniture/fixtures, machinery, parts and

materials, worker motions, floor/ground surfaces, handtools,

vehicles, and healthcare (Lassiter, n.d.). As is readily

apparent by these categories, all employees working in this

company may be considered ‘high-risk’ employees. In addition,

since an individual employee could easily be a member of more


than one audience, identification of the target audience will err

on the side of identifying too many audience categories and

identify additional priority audiences later in the process.

Therefore, although there is no “general employee population”

(“general public”), the target audience of this health promotion

initiative will include all company employees (including and

especially, high-risk employees; those who have taken excessive

sick days [>7.2 days] in the six months prior to the

implementation of this initiative). (NPIN, 2010; Tennyson & Ray,

2005)

Key Messages of Initiative

‘Messages’ are nothing more than statements (ideally

supported by facts) that convey a key point and enable

organizations to focus their communication in a way their

audiences can understand and retain (Tennyson & Ray, 2005). What

are the key messages of this initiative? How do they answer,

“What's in it for me?” (“WIIFM?”). Health and wellness, for

example, are abstract concepts for most people. To be an

effective message, health and wellness needs to be translated


into real life examples. The communication program presented in

this paper will limit the number of messages used by focusing on

no more than three main messages, which will be simple, limited,

and identified in advance. This means three real-life messages

that support the program’s overall organizational goals. If

resources permit, these messages will be tested before they are

finalized through qualitative and quantitative research conducted

in focus group(s). This will enable the program team to hear

actual employees discussing their values, beliefs, attitudes, and

cultural perspectives of health and wellness. The focus groups

will also enable communications staff to rephrase the program’s

messages to use the kind of language employees can relate to.

These refined messages will then be tested through a telephone

survey to determine which messages are most effective in

increasing understanding of the program. (NPIN, 2010; Tennyson &

Ray, 2005)

As stated previously, the CEO wants to implement a wellness

and health promotion initiative due to an increase in healthcare

benefit costs, an increase in the number of sick days being taken


by employees, and an increase in the number of employees who are

taking sick days within your company. By identifying the

message(s) in the communication plan, the message(s) will become

central to all communication efforts for this proposed project

(Tennyson & Ray, 2005). Based on the identified communication

goals (i.e., increasing employee awareness of the importance of

health and wellness and fostering acceptance of healthy behaviors

among employees) and communication objective (i.e., informing

employees of the purpose and need for adopting healthy

behaviors), the name of this health initiative will be “Health Is

Every Body’s Business.” This will appear at the bottom of all

health messages and will communicate the message that investing

time and energy in health and wellness is ‘good business’ for

both the organization and each individual employee. It will also

answer the question of “What's in it for me?” for the

organization and its employees. For example, “WIIFM” for the

organization is decreased healthcare costs, fewer employee sick

days, and fewer employees taking sick days; and “WIIFM” for

individual employees is improved health and wellness as indicated


by fewer sick days and fewer employees needing to take sick days.

By all indications, that is ‘good business’.

Based upon the defined goals and objectives and the

identification of the target audiences, the three ‘overarching’

messages for the “Health Is Every Body’s Business” initiative

are: (1) “Eat a varied diet”; (2) “Engage in regular physical

activity”; and “Maintain a healthy body weight” (Biltoft-Jensen,

Groth, Matthiessen, & Wachmann, 2009). These messages are based

upon Biltoft-Jensen et al.’s (2009) study on the association on

diet quality and the above health messages. The study was cross-

sectional, comprising a random sample of 3151 Danish adults aged

18075 years. Results indicated that greater food variety (OR =

1·32 for women, 1·13 for men), high leisure-time physical

activity (OR = 2·20 for women, 1·91 for men), frequent intentions

to eat healthily (OR = 8·19 for women, 5·40 for men) and low

energy intake (OR=0·78 for women, 0·85 for men) were

significantly associated with high diet quality. The study

concluded that the health behaviors ‘Eat a varied diet’ and

‘Engage in regular physical activity’ were positively associated


with healthy eating and that dietary habits reported were

strongly influenced by personal intentions. The biggest challenge

for health communication in this initiative, however, will be to

reach non-compliers who seldom have intentions to eat healthily

or to be active. (Biltoft et al., 2009)

Strategies, Tactics, Methods, and Interventions

While ‘strategies’ refer to the approach that will be used

to meet one or more communication objectives, ‘tactics’ refer to

the specific tools. Strategies and tactics are important to

communication planning because they identify the approaches that

will be used in the initiative to meet its goals and objectives.

For example, based upon the organizational goal of promoting

health and wellness among its employees, one strategy in the

communication plan will be to ensure that all organizational

leaders are aware of the purpose and need for the health

initiative. The communication manager will participate on the

company's management team and maintain open communication with

company decision makers. This will help ensure that the


communication strategies support the company's goals and are, in

turn, supported by company leadership. (NPIN, 2010; Tennyson &

Ray, 2005)

Once the plan is complete, the company’s management team,

which ideally includes representatives from all company

departments, will be briefed on the plan's contents with a

presentation that focuses on the broad objectives of the plan and

brief descriptions of the strategies and tactics. More time will

be spent explaining strategies and tactics that directly affect

managers. For example, if managers are asked to participate in a

speakers’ bureau, the programs functions will be explained and

its benefits will be reinforced. Finally, in order to further

solidify a buy-in from management, the communication manager will

make brief presentations to each department that focus on how the

communication plan will ultimately benefits the company and how

staff might be asked to support its implementation. (NPIN, 2010;

Tennyson & Ray, 2005)

One of the tactics supporting this strategy will be a round

of informational presentations to company planning groups. As a


first step, a brainstorming session will be held to develop ideas

about how to get the initiative’s message to its audiences.

During this session, notes of previous and ongoing programs will

be made, other similar agencies will be polled to find out what

has worked for them, and/or a consultant will be hired to lead a

planning session. No attention will be paid to budget or staff

limitations at this time; only new and innovative ways to get the

message(s) out. (Auld et al., 2011; Tennyson & Ray, 2005)

As suggested by Tennyson and Ray (2005), this comprehensive

communication plan will include multiple methods of reaching the

communication objectives, conveying the same three messages

through several different channels (“single message, multiple

channels”). The consideration of different learning styles (i.e.,

doing, reading, seeing, or hearing) will help ensure that all

audience members receive the message in a manner that is most

effective for them. For example, for employees who learn by

doing, cooking workshops, competitions, and Walk-and-Talk

sessions will be conducted to educate them on the techniques and

strategies for putting more variety in their diet, engaging in


regular physical activity, and maintaining a healthy body weight.

While workshops might work for some employees, however, others

may learn best when they can see and read the information. In

this case, articles in the company newsletter or in a dedicated

section (i.e., “Health Is Every Body’s Business” or “Health

Matters”) in the company’s web site may be the best way for them

to obtain health information. Still, a third group may learn best

by hearing the information. For these employees, attending a

presentation by a health professional, hearing a talk radio

interview about a health issue, or hearing a ‘web-cast’ or ‘pod-

cast’ about a health-related issue would be preferable. The

important issue here is that each message will use multiple

channels that address the different learning styles in the target

population(s). (Auld et al., 2011; NPIN, 2010; Tennyson & Ray,

2005).

To ensure that all activities support one or more objectives

and reach one or more important audiences, the above strategies

and tactics will be organized by categories. For example,

informational materials (i.e., fact sheets, brochures, bill


stuffers, newsletters, videos, presentations, and other “things”

that help convey health messages) will be tailored to the

initiative’s goals and objectives, the target audience, and the

assessed areas of interest and possible concerns. In addition to

disseminating the three messages through multiple channels, the

following materials will be included: (1) a general fact sheet

about the health promotion initiative (Health is Every Body’s

Business), its mission, and areas of focus; (2) a frequently-

asked-questions fact sheet; (3) posters, flyers, and bumper

stickers delivering single messages; (4) a general presentation

that can be tailored for different health issues and projects;

and (5) brochures and fact sheets describing specific programs,

such as the company’s Walk-It-Off Program, the CDC’s Lean Works!

or Live Healthy America. (Tennyson & Ray, 2005)

The next section of the communication plan is the media

relations section. This section will include a description of

how the program will deal with the following media relations

activities: (1) maintaining relationships with reporters, (2)

planning media briefings on issues and projects, (3) sending news


releases about program milestones and announcements,(4)

developing ideas for feature or "human interest" stories, (5)

preparing program spokespeople for media interviews, and (6)

writing op-ed articles and letters to the editor on behalf of

board members and program management (Tennyson & Ray, 2005). It

will also include the program’s media policy (a written statement

about who may speak to the media on behalf of the utility and how

media inquiries should be handled) and addresses how the

initiative’s spokespeople will be trained to work successfully

with the media and effectively convey the initiative’s messages

during an interview. Sample news releases will be included in

this section as a handy reference for staff; following a sample

will help ensure that the company releases consistent information

to the media. (Tennyson & Ray, 2005)

Another important section of this communication plan is

internal communication, the open, two-way communication between

the employees and board members, the two most important audiences

in the company. Activities in this section include employee

newsletters, an intranet site, presentations at employee staff


meetings, employee tours of facilities, paycheck inserts, and

individual board member briefings.

Finally, as suggested by Tennyson and Ray (2005), this

communication plan will “plan for the unexpected.” In addition

to basic information about how communication will be managed

during a crisis, this section of the plan will be prepared in

advance and will include: (1) a list of potential crisis

situations, any unexpected occurrences that distract the company

from its daily operations (i.e., accidents at work, droughts,

food-borne illnesses, disease outbreaks, pandemics, epidemics or

viral outbreaks); (2) commonly-needed roles during a crisis

(i.e., a spokesperson, an information gatherer, a screener for

media inquiries, someone to prepare statements, a board liaison,

and a logistical coordinator) that will help the communication

team mobilize quickly; and (3) lists (i.e., a list of questions

that will need to be answered in a crisis; a list of media,

community members, and elected officials who might need to be

called; and home phone numbers for supervisors and board

members). (Tennyson & Ray, 2005)


Priorities of the Initiative

This section discusses how priorities will be decided and

what things will be done and in what order. Before disbanding the

brainstorming session, the focus group will be asked to help

establish criteria for evaluating the priority order in which

strategies and tactics will be implemented; this will create

ownership of the final plan among the communication team.

Evaluation criteria include: (1) proven track record (Has this

strategy/tactic already been proven to work?); (2) cost versus

reach (What is the cost of implementing this strategy/tactic

compared with the number of people in our audiences it will

reach?); (3) hard-to-reach audiences (Does the strategy/tactic

enable the company to reach audiences that would otherwise be

hard to reach?); (4) cost (Can this strategy/tactic be

accomplished with the resources that are currently available?)

and (5) “High Touch" (Is this a strategy/tactic that will lead to

the creation of ongoing beneficial relationships with important

audiences?). Depending on the amount of available time, the group

will then be allowed to apply the newly-formed criteria to weed


out strategies and tactics that do not ‘measure up’. Additional

fine-tuning may be done after the fact, but the initial cut will

be a group effort. This way, employees will have an opportunity

to make their cases for their favorites and hear the group's

rationale for cutting and the communication plan will reflect the

company’s priorities. (Tennyson & Ray, 2005)

Development and Implementation Timeline and Responsibility List

This section identifies who is responsible for which

elements and the order and dates of each step of the planning and

implementation process occur. In this section, the day-to-day

implementation of the initiative will be outlined in an ‘action

plan’ that identifies who is responsible for what and when

activities will happen. This plan will be presented in the form

of a timeline with clearly-identified leads for each task and

specific deadlines and a matrix of ongoing responsibilities. Some

of the ongoing activities included in this timeline include

updating media lists, maintaining databases of community

contacts, keeping informational materials in stock, keeping track

of presentations made to groups, and cataloging photos and


digital images. The implementation team will meet once a month to

review progress and the communication team will meet every three

months. Quarterly meetings will help the team compare progress

with the original plan and make adjustments accordingly.

(Tennyson & Ray, 2005)

Means to Assess the Outcome of the Initiative after

Implementation

Finally, part of creating a dynamic plan is building in

mechanisms for change. As stated above, the communication plan

will cover three years and will be adapted on an ongoing basis to

reflect changing organizational goals, challenges, and

opportunities. Each team member will keep a copy of the

strategies and tactics evaluation criteria handy and, as new

ideas come up or suggestions are made by employees or board

members, they will be considered in the context of the plan's

criteria. This will help the team strike a balance between

adhering to the strategic plan and taking advantage of the

creative process. (Tennyson & Ray, 2005)


With this in mind, the final step in Tennyson and Ray’s

(2005) “plan that gathers no dust” is evaluation. According to

these authors, a good evaluation plan is a vital tool that is

updated regularly, adapted to new situations, and a resource for

all team members (Tennyson & Ray, 2005). The benefits of

evaluation include the ability to constantly monitor what has

worked and what has not, to demonstrate the value of

communication, and to be able to make refinements in future

plans. So, how will the success of this initiative be measured?

If the results show it is unsuccessful, what are the next steps?

(Tennyson & Ray, 2005)

Ideally, this initiative’s success will be measured by the

extent to which the communication plan helps the organization

achieve its goals. In other words, as stated above, the success

of this initiative will be measured in lower healthcare costs, a

decrease in the number of employees who take sick days, and a

decrease in the number of sick days taken by employees. These

measures will be assessed through a statistically significant

baseline survey, then surveyed again at 90 days, 180 days, one


year, and each year thereafter to check progress. (Tennyson &

ray, 2005)

Additional ‘built-in’ methods for measuring the initiative’s

success include tracking the number of employee calls to the

employee information line, the number of hits on the company's

website, the number of presentations made, the amount and nature

of media coverage, the amount of legislative support for the

company’s programs, and the level of employee participation in

company decisions. (Tennyson & Ray, 2005)

Conclusion

In the final analysis, a strategic health communication plan

is essential to any effective health communication effort. By

using Tennyson and Ray’s (2005) ‘strategic communication plan

that gathers no dust’ to develop an overview of a strategic

communication plan for a health promotion initiative, we have

seen how strategic communication enables an organization to use

communication effectively in support of health promotion

programming. From this, it is obvious that without a plan, an

organization risks creating and disseminating messages which are


disconnected, unfocused, and contradictory and there is no basis

for the measurement of the effectiveness of a health promotion

program. The truth is, health promotion initiatives without

plans, performance monitoring, and outcome assessment often waste

money and time, and have a poor return on investment. Effective

communication messages are simple, limited, and identified in

advance; single messages using multiple channels to reach

intended audiences. “Health Is Every Body’s Business.” So, Eat

a varied diet, Engage in regular physical activity, and Maintain

a healthy body weight. This will help ensure that the company in

this paper experiences a decrease in healthcare benefit costs and

sees fewer employees experiencing fewer sick days. That’s a win-

win for everyone involved.

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Health Is Every Body’s Business: A Strategic Health Communication Plan

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