Outcome

Create a complete marketing and promotions strategy with consistent and appealing messaging and collateral. Focus on using communication channels which your target audience are using.

Why is it important

With planning and preparation completed, it is time to start promoting your offer.

Getting your message heard isn’t always easy in a world saturated with information and advertising.

In this phase you’re not informing, you’re promoting on the value of regional work and lifestyle.

Marketing needs to be targeted. In the planning and preparation phases, you should have identified your target cohort (e.g. establishers, young families, empty nesters) and designed your marketing material to appeal to them.

Before you release any information, start any advertising or activate networks, you must have in place customer service systems ready to manage enquiries and coordinate timely and accurate responses.

Steps you can take

1. Employ or designate someone who can respond quickly and ‘case manage’ enquiries, including after hours, and make them the contact person – you don’t want to lose the first enquiry.
2. Word of mouth is the most powerful medium – consider how to activate professional networks.
3. Consider a separate website, ideally one with testimonials from and connections to local health professionals.
4. Provide ‘real life’ connections to locals, services and networks, people who can talk about what it is like to live in your region and provide a tour and friendly face  if prospective workers come to visit.
5. Tell the full story – potential workers need to be convinced of the complete lifestyle picture, not just a career opportunity. Short videos can be a powerful tool to help convey the message.
6. If you want to be part of the solution, you must:
   1. Make sure you have a clear and competitive offer that addresses the interests and concerns of potential residents.
   2. Make it easy, spell out earning capacity, service costs, career benefits, scope of practice, professional support – the things that early career health workers worry about.

Tips

• Keep it real – if you cannot deliver, do not promise. Be honest about any limitations.
• If you’re not experienced in designing effective marketing and communications campaigns, seek out professionals.
• Test your marketing with your target audience before you launch. Rework it until it is right.
• Identify any other workforce attraction programs running in your area. You don’t want to confuse the message. It might be better to team up with an existing program than create a new one.

Next steps in the Regional Health Workforce Toolkit