A group of UNC students conducted a needs assessment in Chatham County, North Carolina and found that many residents were unaware of local health services or stigmatized existing services, leading them to seek care outside the county or forgo it entirely. To address this, the students designed a social marketing campaign to increase awareness of and decrease stigma around Chatham County health services among residents and providers. The campaign involves creating and distributing informational graphics and a provider directory website to educate both groups. It will be evaluated through provider surveys assessing changes in referrals to local services over the six-month pilot period.

1. 1
Social Marketing Campaign: Increasing Awareness of Local Health Services
Defining the Problem
The purpose of this project is to build awareness of the health and social services located in
Chatham County, which will hopefully encourage the residents to utilize these services as
opposed to those outside of the county.
Deciding on a Social Marketing Campaign
A group of UNC students conducted a needs assessment for Chatham County and found
many residents either chose to seek care outside of the county or chose to forgo care
altogether. Many residents said it was incredibly difficult, expensive, and time consuming to
sustain the care they received. Upon further analysis, the group found that providers and
residents alike were widely unaware of the health services located within Chatham County and
that these services were stigmatized by the residents who did know of them. As a result, the
team decided to implement a social marketing campaign to help increase awareness of the
health services located in Chatham County as well as de-stigmatize them.
Identifying the Target Audience and Agents of Change
• Elderly population"
• Low-income population"
• Minority population"
Target Audience"
• Medical providers"
• Social service organizations"
• Chatham County Health Department"
• Chatham Transit"
Agents of Change"

2. 2
Goals and Metrics
The overall goal is to get the residents of Chatham County to utilize the health and social
services that are located within the Chatham County rather than those outside of the county.
Key Metrics
# Measure the change in visits to participating websites before and after the intervention
# Measure the amount of providers and community partners who signup through the
provider tool
# Measure the change in providers’ knowledge of local health services through survey
evaluations. Sample questions are provided below:
○ Do you know where to refer patients with mental health issues?
○ Do you know where to refer patients who need elderly support services?
○ Do you know where to refer patients who need transportation assistance?
Engaging Stakeholders
One of the most important aspects of a social marketing campaign is to keep stakeholders and
potential partners actively engaged throughout the process. While developing the campaign,
the group of UNC students engaged the stakeholders by hosting several focus groups,
conducting one-on-one interviews, and facilitating electronic correspondences. Following the
implementation of the campaign, the providers and partnering organizations will provide
feedback through survey evaluations, which will be used to help improve the intervention.
Analyzing Key Behaviors and Environments Related to the Goal
Although the social marketing campaign is meant to benefit the residents of Chatham County,
they may face some barriers during its implementation. Some of these barriers include
overcoming the pre-existing stigma about the quality in-county services, overcome perceived
stigma from other residents and peers, difficulty finding or altering transportation, and the costs
associated with switching to a local provider. However, by patronizing the health and social
services within Chatham County, the residents will spend less money and time commuting to
and from their appointments, which will hopefully improve their continuum of care and de-
stigmatize the local establishments.
Core Components of Campaign
The social marketing campaign is composed of two core components: an info-graphic to help
providers and residents learn about the local health services as well as a tool for providers and
community partners to add themselves to the database. The tool for providers and community
partners to add themselves to the database of county health services will be located on the
Chatham Health Alliance website.

3. 3
Tailoring the Campaign
The information is available in both Spanish and English to increase awareness throughout
Chatham County’s various communities.
Implementation
Evaluation
The pilot program will include three provider evaluations (at the start, midway, and following its
completion). These evaluations will provide a baseline of the providers’ knowledge of local
services and allow the facilitators to track any changes.
Feedback
There will be sections for providers to voice their opinions, challenges, and concerns about the
program within the provider evaluations. These comments will highlight the opportunities for
improvement, which will be used to help the program run more efficiently and effectively.
Intervention Management
The Chatham Health Alliance will appoint a small committee (three to five people) to manage
the social marketing campaign. Their primary responsibility is to develop and conduct the
provider surveys as well as use this data to evaluate the program’s effectiveness.
Months 1-2"
• Conduct initial
provider survey"
• Disseminate
info-graphic
electronically
and physically
to providers
and community
partners"
• Share provider
tool"
Months 3-4"
• Conduct
secondary
provider
survey"
• Track
changes in
providers'
knowledge"
• Continue to
educate
providers
and
residents
about local
health
services"
Months 5-6"
• Conduct final
provider
survey"
• Track
changes in
providers'
knowledge"
• Continue to
educate
providers and
residents
about local
health
services"
Following
the Pilot Test"
• Analyze data
collected"
• Evaluate the
intervention"
• Determine if
the Chatham
Health
Alliance wants
to continue
with the
intervention"