Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
Volume 5, Number 1, 2000
Linking D&U with Marketing: A Word from the Director
→ Adapting the Marketing Concept to the Dissemination and Utilization of Disability Research
Acknowledging NIDRR's Role in Current Research
A Special Note Concerning Advertising and Public Relations Costs
NIDRR Grantees' Q & A About Marketing
Using Market Research Strategies with Disability Research Results
To many, such hucksterism is symbolic of their perceptions of marketing. However, today's marketing extends beyond advertising to address the needs of targeted users. A number of grantees funded through the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) have expressed an interest in applying ideas from the field of marketing to improve their dissemination and utilization (D&U) efforts. NCDDR staff reviewed a number of current sources to see how the marketing concept can be applied to disability research in ways that increase the use of research-based information.
A wide range of research areas are described in NIDRR's Long Range Plan such as: employment, health, technology, community integration, independent living, disability statistics and others. NIDRR's grantees must strive to disseminate their grant-sponsored outcomes to promote utilization and benefits within a variety of target audiences including people with disabilities. While NIDRR-funded researchers may be more experienced in research design and methodologies than in marketing, a need exists to enhance broader awareness of project activities and utilization of research outcomes.
Marketing offers insights into new strategies to increase the availability, understanding, and awareness of research-based information, rather than increase the sale of books, training modules, or other materials developed with federal funds. The two following issues will examine market research (Volume 5, Number 2) and marketing strategies (Volume 5, Number 3) in more detail, and will highlight successful examples used by NIDRR grantees.
"The goal of dissemination is not, as many researchers believe, simply to get the word out, but to get the word used" (Westbrook & Boethel, 1997). From this perspective, dissemination is an integral part of a research project's planning and implementation. As Yin and Moore (in Fuhrman, 1994) state, "Research utilization begins when research and development begin, and is not a sequential step that only follows research and development" (p.142). Past issues of The Research Exchange (Volume 1, Number 4 [1996], Volume 3, Number 4 [1998]) and other NCDDR documents (NCDDR, 1996a&b; Westbrook & Boethel, 1997) have provided information on the D&U process and its components, including:
The D&U process and the marketing concept correspond to each other (a) through relationships among their components and elements; (b) by the potential role of marketing and dissemination in overall research project design and in the design of the resulting presentation of research-based information; and (c) through a common emphasis on influencing users to adopt the "product," or research-based information, in ways that improve their awareness and result in behavior change. Infusing the marketing concept into dissemination activities provides a powerful set of tools that will assist grantees in developing strategies that respond to the needs of their users.
Advertising and promotion are important facets of marketing and are often thought of as synonymous with marketing. However, the modern business marketing concept extends beyond these activities to include all phases of product development, distribution, and utilization. "Marketing is a systems process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, or services for exchange in an effort to satisfy the consumer's and the marketer's objectives" (Klivans, 1997). The marketing concept focuses on the user, "on learning what people want and need rather than trying to persuade them to buy what we happen to be producing" (Weinreich, 1999).
Marketing and D&U are most effective when the process begins at the development or design stage and evolves throughout the entire project. For NIDRR-funded research, this process begins with user comments sent to NIDRR prior to publication of the final "Requests for Proposals." Once funding is awarded, a grantee may include users in market research activities when the final research design is developed, when the research study is conducted, and when the research-based information is developed and disseminated. The process culminates when the researcher evaluates utilization of the research study's information in the form of changed policies or practices and improvements in the users' lives.
Marketing and disseminating are often viewed as promoting and distributing products, including research-based information, without the systematic involvement of customers or users. This notion is consistent with business practices that are historically production-oriented. Businesses and researchers try to predict users' needs by producing innovative "products" such as automobiles, computers, training strategies, and assistive devices. The production orientation follows the old saying "If you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door." Marketing that follows a production or selling philosophy focuses on gains for the producer, and not necessarily gains for the customer or user (Griffith, 1997).
Many businesses, researchers, and service organizations find that the "path" is more widely "beaten" if they work with targeted users to make sure that their product results in a "better mousetrap." This is particularly necessary in developing user-responsive research studies and user-friendly research-based information.
Kotler and Andreasen (in Weinreich, 1999) define social marketing as:
...differing from other areas of marketing only with respect to the objectives of the marketer and his or her organization. Social marketing seeks to influence social behaviors not to the benefit of the marketer, but to benefit the target audience and the general society (p.1).
Social marketing has evolved from one-dimensional public service announcements to a sophisticated approach based on the marketing concept. Rather than providing information from "top down" sources, today’s social marketers are listening to the needs and desires of their users, and shaping their marketing strategies to meet those needs. A focus on the user of information, services, or products as a valued customer requires ongoing market research to develop the program revisions necessary to meet their needs (Weinreich, 1999).
Social marketing adapts the business marketing concept by interpreting it in terms of a different bottom line--that of changing user awareness and behavior. This requires social marketing strategies that are in tune with users' beliefs, cultural practices, environments, and established behaviors, and that add beneficial behaviors or adapt users' current behaviors to improve their quality of life.
Social marketing adapts the business "marketing mix" (Perreault & McCarthy, 1996) by configuring each element (Product, Place, Price, and Promotion) to reflect variations in users' information needs, styles, and abilities to receive and understand behavior change or research-based information. In the following "social marketing mix," each element is described in relation to dissemination and utilization components.
Product. Products vary from the use of tangible goods, such as increasing the use of insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets in sub-Sahara Africa (NPR, 1999); to services, such as person-centered planning; and to user behaviors, such as cessation of drug use. The concept of "product" also includes research-based information that presents new ideas, such as policy changes, which may lead users to change or adapt their behavior.
In D&U activities, the perceived credibility of the source of the research-based information plays a major role in its desirability (NCDDR, 1996). Researchers who have extensively worked with users and have favorable reputations may be more likely to have their information utilized. Additionally, "the research content should take the user from awareness to understanding to commitment" (NCDDR, 1996, p.4). The research-based information "product" should be easily understood and perceived as useful before users commit to behavior change.
Place. For tangible products or services, "place" refers to the distribution system, from manufacturer to retailer to customer, or from the service provider to the service user. The places for disseminating research-based information vary according to the user’s ability and willingness to access locations or media such as community centers, meetings, email listservs, Web sites, televised or radio public service announcements, and many other possibilities.
In D&U activities, place correlates with: (a) the medium through which research information reaches potential users; (b) the users' context for receiving and utilizing the information; and (c) the logistics involved in accessing the source of the information.
Price. Social marketing focuses on the cost and value of a product, including costs to the user and benefits, which may or may not surpass those costs. In some cases, a presentation of research-based information may be perceived as low in value if there are no costs involved. Some nominal costs may increase the perceived value of the information by conferring a sense of dignity to the transaction. However, high costs can lead to weighing potential benefits against the cost of receiving the information (Weinreich, 1999).
Price also interacts with the "place" where users access the information or interact with its source. In D&U activities, "price" may be influenced by the context in which users receive the research-based information. A dissemination activity that is offered at a location that is difficult to access may increase its overall cost and decrease its value. This factor is particularly apparent in situations where users have to travel long distances to interact with the information's source; where there is a lack of suitable public transportation; when users spend a long time waiting for services; or when child care is not available.
Additionally, the medium for transmitting research information, such as training manuals, fact sheets, and Web pages, may have an impact on cost and value. For example, if costly computer equipment is required to access research-based information, these costs may be more than users are willing or able to spend for the perceived value they would receive from online research information.
Promotion. Promotion relies on market research to determine the most effective and efficient methods necessary to reach the target audience and to increase demand for the product or research-based information. A promotion strategy focuses on reaching the audience in ways that gain their interest and meet their information needs.
For NIDRR-funded research, promotion includes user involvement from research design to dissemination of results, as well as the media and content selected in an "integrated use of advertising, public relations, promotions, media advocacy, personal selling, and entertainment vehicles" (Weinreich, 1999, p.2).
Weinreich (1999) adds the following three considerations to the social marketing mix. These describe interactions between the source of the research-based information and the users' context in receiving and utilizing the information. Grantees are likely to encounter these considerations during dissemination and market research activities, and may need to adapt their strategies to achieve utilization of their information.
Partnerships. Researchers may team with organizations that show an interest in their research-based information. For NIDRR grantees this involves partnering with other grantees, projects, or service providers to develop common market research and D&U activities. Most likely, other organizations are not direct competitors for the attention of users. Working with them could improve the credibility of the overall source of research-based information and produce a combined effort to influence users' awareness and behavior change.
Several groups of NIDRR grantees have formed associations to promote collaborative activities, such as the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (NARRTC). These associations could serve as foundations for developing partnerships to conduct market research and develop dissemination activities that reach a broader range of users.
Policy. Many organizations have policies that are based on service models, such as group homes, day treatment centers, and other traditional services. Often policy changes are needed to allow an organization to use research-based information to change or add to their services. Researchers may work with organizations to change their policies to allow innovative services or to field test the use of new service concepts.
Politics. Some potentially controversial research outcomes require political diplomacy with community organizations to gain access to the target audience and to gain support for utilization of the research-based information. Ongoing interactions with relevant national organizations can help assure that personalities and politics do not impede utilization at the local level. For instance, working with the National Arc on utilizing a new community living strategy may allow the researcher to gain inroads into working with a local chapter. Additionally, researchers may identify key persons in user organizations who are receptive to the research-based information and who may be able to introduce it to their colleagues in ways that avoid or successfully confront political barriers.
Market research can provide valuable tools for evaluating the partnership, policy, and political contexts of users. Such techniques as user visits and focus groups can help in evaluating existing partnerships and the desire for new partners. They also can assist in examining the users' policies through discussions with managers, staff, consumers, and others, and can help to identify political factors that may support or hinder utilization.
In social marketing, competition is defined from the user's standpoint rather than that of the marketer. A primary question concerning competition is "What alternative choices do users face in selecting and using the product or research-based information?" It is the marketer's task to address the variety of choices and steer users toward awareness and behavior change. Four types of competition are identified in social marketing (Andreasen, 1995). These provide a useful framework for understanding competing factors faced by individual users.
Four Types of Competition in Social Marketing
Desire Competition. These are immediate desires the user might satisfy by adopting an alternative to the proposed behavior.
Example:Persons with a substance abuse problem desire illegal drugs and/or alcohol as a means of coping with life. They resist counseling and other supports that are based on disability research.
Generic Competition. These are readily available ways in which a desire of the user may be satisfied.
Example: A person with depression receives advice from family, friends, and others concerning suicidal thoughts, rather than seeking the help of mental health professionals whose methods derive from disability research.
Service Form Competition. These are alternative ways in which a different type of service can satisfy a need.
Example: The parents of an adult with a developmental disability desire a supervised activity that their daughter can do during the day. They enroll her in a local traditional day program instead of the supported employment services that are based on disability research.
Enterprise Competition. These are other enterprises offering the same service form.
Example: A number of community mental health clinics, outpatient psychiatric services, private psychologists, and others, provide mental health services. Partnering with these organizations and individuals may be the best way to market research-based information, such as mental health program innovations developed through disability research.
(Adapted from Andreasen, 1995, p. 81)
It is important that researchers listen carefully to users in order to identify the competition and its influence. At times, competition may be minimal, such as when new computer screen reader software is introduced to a person with a visual impairment to help him/her read material that might otherwise be converted to Braille. In this case, the person's tendency to rely on Braille (desire competition) is conquered by training and support in using the screen reader. At other times competition may hinder awareness and behavior change, such as when traditional service providers balk at providing community inclusive services (service form competition), fearful of funding changes, administrative adjustments, inexperience, community perceptions, political issues, or other competing factors.
The content of research-based information and the media used to present it provide elements of competition for the attention of users. For example, one grantee may publish a research-based policy change paper in a policy journal as a dissemination activity. Another grantee may use a variety of dissemination methods including: (a) publishing a policy change paper in a similar journal; (b) meeting with legislators and people who are potentially impacted by the policy change; (c) providing fact sheets about the proposed policy change; (d) distributing a press kit to local and major disability and popular media; and (e) following-up the press kit with media interviews about the proposed policy change. In this case, awareness and behavior change are influenced by competing dissemination content, media, and the extent of effort used in reaching targeted users.
By using market research techniques, researchers can define and understand the factors that compete for users' attention and awareness. This information can help researchers develop an effective dissemination strategy that addresses issues of competition. Information about market research techniques is included in the "Using Market Research Strategies with Disability Research Results" section of this issue of The Research Exchange.
Effective D&U strategies may incorporate elements of the social marketing mix. The first step in developing such a strategy involves the use of exploratory market research to define target users and to identify their information and behavior change needs. Next, one or more target objectives are developed including the users' performance (what they will do), conditions (where and/or when they will perform the behavior), and criterion for accomplishing the objective (how often or accurately they will perform the behavior) (Mager, 1984). Target objectives provide a central focus for all activities outlined in a social marketing D&U strategy.
In developing activities to implement the target objective(s), it may be helpful for grantees to arrange materials, methods, and activities according to the elements of the social marketing mix (Product, Place, Price, and Promotion). An evaluation strategy to measure utilization of the research-based information is essential to determining whether the target criterion is achieved.
The following example of a social marketing D&U strategy is an example of a plan developed in collaboration with the RRTC on Workplace Supports and NCDDR staff to increase awareness of research on employer incentives, job accommodations, and employment training strategies among business communities, employers, and service providers, with a goal of increasing the employment of people with disabilities.
At business organizations and in corporate meeting rooms (conditions), community business organization leaders, employers--including supervisors and HR directors, and service provider supervisors will participate in informational sessions concerning research on employer incentives, job accommodations, and employment training strategies (performance). The informational sessions will lead to a 25 percent increase in the employment of people with disabilities at participating businesses and a similar increase in the percentage of people with disabilities who are placed in jobs by participating service providers (criterion).
Product
Printed, Internet, and video materials will be developed to:
Place
Informational sessions will be held at business organizations, such as Chambers of Commerce, and in meeting rooms at large corporations. Scheduling will be conducted individually with each organization or corporation according to their determination of the best times to maximize participation. Service providers will be invited to attend the sessions at the business organizations or corporate settings. This will provide exposure of the providers to employment possibilities and will facilitate their interaction with employers in business environments. All sessions will be accessible to persons with disabilities, including ASL interpretation when requested.
Price
It is anticipated that the informational sessions will reduce costs by primarily using familiar locations and by scheduling sessions at times that minimize loss of business productivity, such as after work or during lunch hours. Materials will be provided to participants free of charge. Brief evaluations after each session will give the participants opportunities to evaluate key features of the informational sessions through direct weighting of attribute importance (see "Using Market Research Strategies with Disability Research Results").
Promotion
Informational sessions will be promoted through:
Business leaders, employers, and service providers who participate in the informational sessions will be surveyed at three months following their sessions to determine whether their employment of people with disabilities increased by the 25 percent criterion. The follow-up survey will include key questions about development of coordinated employment information programs at businesses and service providers, and will inquire about the participants' needs for more information or training available from the RRTC.
(Adapted from Andreasen, 1995, p. 85-86)
This example is based on sample market research using secondary market research, the researchers' visits with business leaders and employers, and focus groups composed of business leaders and employers. Market research indicated that employers are particularly interested in: (a) hiring people with disabilities due to current worker shortages; (b) the potential for receiving monetary and tax incentives for hiring and retaining people with disabilities; and (c) the use of job accommodations in training and maintaining such persons on the job. Human resource specialists were particularly interested in learning about on-the-job training strategies used in a variety of employment situations.
This issue of The Research Exchange includes a brief review of the D&U process, and introduces the marketing concept and social marketing in relation to dissemination and utilization. Understanding how marketing can strengthen dissemination activities should dispel notions that marketing is only useful in advertising and sales of consumer products. The purpose of marketing, as applied to the D&U of disability research, is to make information from research outcomes available and utilized by an array of users with varying needs and backgrounds.
To ensure maximum utilization, researchers should involve targeted potential users in as many phases of the research process as is feasible. It may not be possible to extensively involve users in the preparation of a NIDRR grant proposal due to brief turn-around times from the initial "Request for Proposals" and associated due date. However, users can be involved in market research on the final design and conduct of the research study. For research studies that are in progress, users can participate in market research on the development of the dissemination strategy. All NIDRR grantees, from fellowships to large research and training centers, with research topics ranging from vocational rehabilitation to computer applications, can utilize elements from the marketing concept and market research to enhance their D&U activities and outcomes.
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