Danie Watson on "CDCynergy Demand Study"

I talked to public health practitioners, funders, and skill builders all over the country, and we talked to people in everything from big city health departments to rural and tribal clinics to foundations and universities; and it was a very interesting way to learn what resources people really want and need.

Most people use a variety of tools. They play a variety of roles inside their jobs, and they have many, many health initiatives that they’re working on, so they have a lot of need. And they had different levels of experience with social marketing; but even the people who had never heard of social marketing before, once we started talking about it, it was interesting that they could see that there would be a need for this and that they could use it to improve the effectiveness of the job, of their job.

There were also a lot of people who didn’t think they were doing social marketing until we described what the process was. Then they said, “Oh, I do that.” Or “I do parts of that.” And they were reassured to know that in fact they had more familiarity with it than they thought.

A lot of people are unfamiliar with CD-ROM, so it’s understandable that they’d have some hesitation about using it. But that’s why we have included in the CDCynergy Social Marketing version, we’ve included this how-to-use component and that should help make it a little easier for people. Or maybe they should just go find the youngest person in their office to help them. But I think the real story is that what happens once people do get comfortable with the technology is that then they become very enthusiastic about it; so if people can take the time to just get comfortable with it, they discover that there’s this whole library of resources that’s right at their fingertips and it is available to them any time, it’s easy to share, and it’s like a library that’s open any time they want to use it.

People are also concerned about the cost of products, and CDCynergy is free so that’s a big obstacle overcome. But it isn’t just the cost of the product, you know. It’s the time and the resources that they have to put into it. So one of the things that I think is important is that we’ve designed CDCynergy to save as much of the work as possible. We’ve done as much of the work for people as we possibly can, and we hope that’s really going to save them time and money and, more importantly, to be more effective in their jobs. There is nothing more costly than a failed health intervention.

...people were asking for sort of a more universal approach and some way to know which step-by-step version was the best one to use; and so quality of the product and the credibility of the product were really an issue. CDCynergy has been developed not just based on all these previous versions that are well-tested, but we have the involvement and review of some of the most savvy experts in the field. And I think that’s one of the best reassurances we can give people about how hard we have worked to really make it the best that it can be.

People said that email was really the best way to let them know about this, and we can reach them by email and let them know that this exists to a certain degree; but we’re really hoping that people will share this information about CDCynergy through their list serves and their networks of colleagues because that’s the best way I think we know to help get this resource in the hands of the people who most need it.

People are very excited to know that there was a whole suite of resources all contained in one place and that it was something they could go tap any time that they felt they had a need for it. It could sit on the shelf and live there happily when they didn’t need it, and it was something they could pull down and really put to use when the time was right.

People who have experience with social marketing are eager for ways to train others and to know, for example, that their staff is walking through the same set of steps and working the social marketing process -- in a way, working the plan.

Case studies and best practice examples that they could apply in their own work were really frequently requested. People want concrete examples that they can follow and learn from, and CDCynergy has four step-by-step cases that they walk you through.

And that’s included. Plus, there are links to all kinds of websites that are frequently updated so that you can find out what the latest and greatest information is out there. Plus, there’s a whole suite of resources that’s included on the disk and includes another Turning Point product, which is called “Lessons From The Field.” That’s a collection of case studies and a literature review; and the case studies have been reviewed for their strengths and weaknesses and given ratings, and people have found that really useful to sort of be able to look at a study and judge it not just for what it did right but maybe to learn from what it didn’t do quite as well. So that’s been very helpful.