Communicate Well

Amy CohenInspired Perspectives LLC.

It’s Not Just What You Say, It’s How You Say It!

Objectives• Plan communication strategies that help decision making, resiliency,

stress management and relationship skills for employees.• How to deliver clear and concise messaging with emotional

relevancy.• Create communications as a means to increase life satisfaction

which leads to healthier decisions as a priority.• Identify how and where key messages get lost.• Share practical examples.

Information vs. Inspiration• Help raise awareness of heath risks and solutions.• Provide the motivation and skills needed to reduce these risks.• Affect or reinforce attitudes in shaping corporate culture.• Generate interest so employees take action.• Connect employees directly to the resources that are

available to them.

What Does Your Wellness Program Say to Employees?

All about costs and numbers? For employee’s happy life?

Context“Are you calling me fat?” “Support available when I need it”

Logo Examples-Meaningful?

Program Logo/BrandBenefits to program and increases engagement• Shows importance • Easily recognized• Part of culture shows here to stay

Making Incentives Relevant

Planning Communications for a Wellness Initiative

Dates, locations

Is there an incentive?

Brand guidelines (colors, fonts)

Who is eligible? Benefits of the event Description

Relevance?

Emotional appeal?

How is the message presented? (fun or interesting)

Context?

Posted on Monday, by Wednesday, the server crashed with 30,000 views, the zombie warning has seen triple the traffic a CDC preparedness warning typically gets over a 10-day span. -Dave Daigle, head of communications for the CDC's preparedness department

Began as a tongue in cheek campaign has become a very effective platform reaching a wide variety of audiences.

Weaker Attention Span

*The average attention span for the notoriously ill-focused goldfish is nine seconds, but according to a new study from Microsoft Corp., people now generally lose concentration after eight seconds, highlighting the affects of an increasingly digitalized lifestyle on the brain. -Time Magazine

Species Average Attention SpanGoldfish 9 secondsPeople 8 seconds

Clear & Concise Relevant

Emotional Appeal• Create an

emotional response• A direct connection

between emotions and the facts make it relevant.

Emotional Appeal with Action Steps

Features vs. Psychological Appeal?

What People Care About

Social Dislocation Theory/ Rat Park Experiment

RELEVANT Topics to Lead Happy or Connected Lives• What do people care

about?• Stress• Financial decisions• Spending time outside• Family dinner• Time management• Sleep

The Marketers Already Know This

WHY ARE WE STILL TRYING TO SELL BETTER HEALTH?

Communications to Create Buy-In

Which product sales INCREASE in a poor economy?ALCOHOLAs the economy goes down, drinking goes up.

Topics that increase life satisfaction

• Inspire to Move– Encourages movement and physical activity.

• Nourishing You– Promoting healthy foods for body and mind.

• Health Harmony– Work/life balance, stress and emotional well-

being, self-care and various health topics.• Good Decisions

– Decision guidance for areas such as financial, medical or any life-changing choices.

Statistics Get Lost

Statistics are good credibility, but lack human context.

Posters/ Flyers

Integrate to Avoid Overload

• Who is sending what and how often? Vendors (Wellness, EAP, Carrier, Consultants) Internal (HR/Benefits, Wellness Team)• Frequency? Weekly- Tips, Monthly-Newsletters, Posters, Videos Quarterly-Flyers, Presentations/Webinars/Workshops Annually-Calendars, Self-Care

Strategy

• Frequency• Budget• Topics• Media

Resources Integrated

Drive to Online Resources

• Less than 1% of employees visit health plan wellness sites.

* Dr. Bruce Sherman

• Direct to the resources you want them to use.

Empowering and Educational• Inspiring, Engaging & Visually appealing • Emphasize headlines, subheads, call outs and

bullets.Don’t Just SAY it…CONVEY it!