How do you write copy to convince people to take action for their health? How do you convince young men, at their physical peak, to engage with a health issue that's normally associated with much older people? Find out by revisiting the talk I gave at the Charity Writing and Communications Training Days 2014 – on copywriting for testicular cancer awareness. http://capocopy.com

2. Check your balls!
How to write for social marketing:
Insights from copywriting for testicular
cancer awareness website itsinthebag.org.uk

3. Not content with having a rare cancer, my dad
had to go one step further…
Find out more at:
itsinthebag.org.uk/available-support/survivor-stories/peters-story

4. It’s in the Bag’s key awareness message:
1) Check your balls once a month
2) If you notice a change, go straight to your GP for advice.

5. How do you write copy to convince people
to take action for their health?
How do you persuade young men, at the age
of peak health/fitness, to change their
attitude and behaviour?

6. A 3-step action plan for writing to
change behaviour…

7. Step 1
Identify your audience, their needs and the
barriers to their taking action.

8. Target audience for itsinthebag.org.uk:
20- to 40-year-old men, living in South-West England.
(Visitors to the website are likely to have had some prior contact with IITB, e.g. through outreach
activities or social media.)

9. Research: ‘Talking Bollocks’ with UWE
Bristol social marketing centre
Male students were surveyed to find out:
• What they knew about testicular cancer
• What their attitude was towards Testicular Self Examination (TSE)
• How they felt about visiting the doctor.

10. The research showed a need for:
• A greater awareness of testicular cancer symptoms
(beyond the obvious ‘lump’)
• A greater awareness of the need for Testicular Self
Examination (TSE), and how to do it

11. Barriers
Research (Talking Bollocks, plus online research and
anecdotal evidence) identified the following barriers to
young men’s taking action on IITB’s key messages:
• A lack of engagement in/open discussion of health
issues
• Forgetting to carry out TSE/not treating it as a priority
(for those who are aware of how to do it)
• A reluctance to visit the GP

12. Fear of cancer
along with embarrassment
and a ‘wait-and-see strategy’
were identified as barriers
to men visiting their GP with
testicular cancer symptoms.

13. STEP 2
Tackle the barriers head-on.

14. Barrier Solutions
Men's traditional lack of engagement
in health issues
• Raise awareness of TC in an upbeat
and appealing way, using accessible
language and humour
• Employ 'social proof’
Forgetting to carry out TSE • As part of 'Pledge to Check', men
are given the option to sign up for
a reminder
Reluctance to visit GP • Break this down into individual
obstacles – fear of cancer,
embarrassment and waiting to see
if the problem will go away – and
deal with each explicitly on the
'Found Something' page

15. STEP 3
Write for your audience.

16. What tone of voice would work best to engage our target audience in testicular
cancer awareness?
Style Description Examples
Accessible Natural, conversational
language that's relevant
and easy to understand
• ‘balls’; ‘stat’; ‘cure’
(rather than ‘testicles’;
‘statistic’; ‘remission’)
Upbeat/fun Content that’s enjoyable
to read
–
to promote a
positive attitude rather
than a fearful one
• ‘the battle of man vs
cancer’
• ‘boost the cure rate’
• ‘wouldn't that be
incredible?’
Informative/trustworthy Including facts and stats
– to educate and
reassure that this is a
reliable information
source.
‘More than 96% of men
who get testicular cancer
will be cured.’

17. Example page: ‘Check your balls’
itsinthebag.org.uk/ball-checking/why-check

19. Opening paragraph of ‘Check your Balls’ page features:
• Accessible language
 Short sentences/very short paragraphs (1-2 sentences) for clarity and
impact
• Attention-grabbing headline (‘Testicular cancer: The life-saving lowdown’)
 Headline includes reader benefit, giving incentive to read on, i.e. ‘this info
could save your life’
 Playful tone achieved via alliteration (‘life/lowdown’) and informal vocab
choice (‘lowdown’)
• Intrigue
 First sentence designed to hook the reader in, and encourage them to
keep reading
‘You’re about to discover the single most important fact about testicular
cancer that you (probably) didn’t know.’
This begs two questions:
1) What is the fact?
2) Did I already know it?
This encourages the reader to read on to find out the answers!

20. Framing (1 of 4):
Another copywriting technique that’s useful to consider when you’re writing for
health awareness is framing, i.e.:
‘What’s the best way of presenting this information, in order to
make it compelling for my audience?’
Rather than using scaremongering techniques (‘don’t think this won’t happen to
you’, etc.), the Check your Balls page frames the issue of testicular cancer in a
way that’s positive.
• 'This fact is good news.’
• ‘We’re all a lot stronger than we might think.‘
• '96% of men who get testicular cancer will be cured'

21. Framing (2 of 4):
The decision to use positive framing was not straightforward.
There was a difficult balance to be struck between:
a) Being so reassuring that men are given the impression that ball-checking is
unnecessary, and
b) Reinforcing the fear that could cause men to delay going to the doctor
On balance, addressing and mitigating fear was felt to be a more effective
approach because:
• Fear of cancer is powerful and widespread (a 2010 Cancer Research UK
poll identified it as ‘the nation’s biggest fear’)
• Visitors to the site may well have been prompted by a current concern or
because they know a testicular cancer patient/survivor
• Positive framing is in keeping with the fun, sociable approach IITB uses
to encourage a change in attitude/behaviour.

22. Framing (3 of 4):
The ‘Check your Balls’ message is one of empowerment:
We're not powerless victims of fate in the face of cancer; we can have an
influence on our prognosis

23. Framing (4 of 4):
As part of this positive approach, ball-checking and seeking medical advice were
framed as becoming part of an ‘anti-cancer’ movement – using words such as
‘we’ and ‘together’:
-'we're all a lot stronger...'
-'together we'd have the potential to boost the cure rate...'
 Creates a sense of a social trend that guys can become part of
 Points out that taking action to protect yourself against testicular cancer
could have an impact beyond yourself as an individual – collective action
could help boost the cure rate

24. Summary
When you're writing to change behaviour (e.g. to persuade
people to take action for their health), remember these 3
steps:
• Step 1. Identify your audience, their needs and the
barriers to their taking action
• Step 2. Write copy that tackles these barriers head-on
• Step 3: Write for your audience – in a style they'll engage
with, and with content that meets their needs

25. “If you want to change the world, pick up your pen
and write.”
Martin Luther

26. Your words have the potential to improve people's
health – and could even help save a life!

27. Itsinthebag.org.uk is brought to you by:
Danielle Styles
Copywriter
Andrew Styles
Digital designer/developer
capocopy.com adstyl.es

28. … in collaboration with:
It’s in the Bag – a part of Above and Beyond charity