Step 6: Craft an effective message

Best practices

Best practices for developing appropriate and compelling messages

Impactful campaigns convey messages in a compelling and engaging way to connect with the audience. Campaign language is most effective when it is concise, written in plain language, and centered around a behavior-changing call to action. For additional help on how to develop effective suicide prevention-related messaging, review the Framework for Successful Messaging.

Exercise 9 in the Brainstorm Book will help you think through campaign messaging and design elements that align with your call to action.

Certain messaging and imagery for a suicide prevention communication campaign could be upsetting to some audience members. Some agreed-upon best practices include:

• Emphasize that suicide is preventable.
• Tell stories of hope, resilience, and survivorship.
• Use appropriate terminology to destigmatize suicide. For example, use the phrase "die by suicide" rather than "commit suicide" or "successful/failed suicide attempt." See National Action Alliance's Suicide Prevention's Framework for Successful Messaging for further guidance.
• Use people-first language like "people who are experiencing homelessness" rather than labels like "homeless people."
• Encourage seeking help and give information about where to find help.
• Use images that demonstrate help seeking or support.

Best practices for campaign design elements

Design elements will depend on your campaign audience and their preferences, and decisions made in crafting your messages and call to action. Use findings from the audience research in Steps 3 and 4 to guide decision-making across the following campaign design elements:

• Imagery – What imagery will your campaign contain? What imagery is appropriate for/reflects your campaign audience?
• Branding – What color palate will you use throughout your campaign? What fonts will you use in written campaign components? What will your campaign logo look like?
• Messengers – Who will be portrayed within the communication? Who are trusted messengers that could communicate your campaign's message?
• Products –What type of product(s) will be most effective? Examples include videos, reels, animated gifs, static images, radio or tv ads, print material, billboards, etc.

Avoid the following design elements in suicide prevention campaigns:

• Colors that denote death or have specific negative cultural interpretations held by your campaign audience.
• Photographs of specific suicide locations or images that depict a suicide act or means. These may include bridges, tall buildings, grieving relatives, firearms, or suicide notes.
• Imagery that implies a person is in pain such as looking sad or clutching their heads.

Consider the following design elements to help build a safe suicide prevention campaign:

• Select compelling images that align with your campaign's message to evoke empathy, hope, or support and help engage viewers.
• Consider diverse content types and the best mechanisms for your content, campaign audience, and platform. This could include short videos, stories, or audio.
• Research and use recommended file sizes and types to avoid distorting or cropping content.
• Use consistent visual and branding elements such as colors, fonts, and logos throughout your campaign materials.
• Create templates that align with platform specifications. This allows designers to create content efficiently, maintain a cohesive visual identity, and adhere to any technical requirements.
• Use graphic design software or online tools like Canva or Adobe Spark to create professional-looking visuals for social media posts. These tools offer pre-designed templates, drag-and-drop functionality, and various customization options. These make it easier for people without extensive design experience to create visually appealing content.
• Adhere to accessibility best practices on social media platforms to enhance your campaign's reach. It makes content accessible to people with visual impairments or other accessibility needs. This involves using:
  • Alt text for images
  • Closed captioning for videos
  • Readable font sizes
  • Distinguishable colors and color combinations
  • ASL interpreters in video, as appropriate

• Test and preview your content before publishing to social media or the web. This helps identify formatting issues, align visuals and text properly, and adjust as needed.

Evaluate

Evaluate campaign materials and messages to gauge how they resonate with your audience

Materials testing involves evaluating different versions of a campaign piece to determine which one will help achieve your goal. Testing can validate that your messaging, design, and call to action are clear and resonate with your audience. Messages and products that are based on feedback and data lead to a more engaging and impactful campaign.

People from your audience and those with lived experience can provide valuable input. Include them as much as possible during your materials testing. This will help the materials be sensitive to existing stigmas and other considerations around suicide/suicide prevention. These testing techniques below can help you gather feedback:

• Surveys help to understand:
  • Your audience's perception of key messages
  • How memorable the campaign is
  • The campaign's credibility
  • Likelihood that they will take the desired action
• Focus Groups are great for collecting in-depth qualitative feedback through open-ended discussions. Participants can react in real-time to different messages and content. Group conversation can spark creativity and generate ideas for refining content.
• A/B Testing or Split Testing compares two different versions of a message to determine which one performs better. You can create variations of campaign elements such as the wording, formatting, visuals, and calls to action. Assign different versions to your key message testing groups and track metrics to compare and iterate on your campaign's content.
• Key Informant Interviews are qualitative, in-depth, one-on-one conversations with people who have specialized knowledge or insights about a particular topic, community, or issue. These interviews can help you gather detailed, nuanced information that might not be accessible through other research methods.