Marketing and promoting your scheme

Marketing your health walk scheme might seem quite daunting at first - but it's really just the process of telling people about your scheme.

You'll find in-depth advice on this subject in Guidance note 6: Marketing and promoting your scheme (opens pdf).

Below is a summary of some of the things to consider, and the resources available to you.

On this page:

• Marketing health walks
• Motivations and barriers
• Local media
• WfH publications
• Developing your own publications
• Photographs
• Websites and online social media

Marketing health walks

Remember, any marketing campaign is going to need time before you see the results. Here are some useful things to consider when marketing your walks:

• Focus on the benefits: fresh air, meeting people, being environmentally friendly. Sometimes these benefits will appeal more than the benefits on health.
• Remember to emphasise that walking to improve your health means walking briskly for 30 minutes a day.
• Mention the consequences of lack of exercise.
• Show people how easy it is to get started and how you can support them.
• Choose a catchy name!
• Launch the scheme with a public event.
• Use incentives such as pedometers, sweatshirts or branded material.

In our recent survey, 31% said they joined the scheme to meet new people and only 17% joined for health reasons so our promotion now concentrates on the social benefits of walking – health benefits are an added bonus.

Debbie Chesterman, Rosliston Forestry Centre, Derbyshire

Motivation and barriers

It's useful to consider how you will address some of the motivating factors and barriers that will influence someone's decision to come on a health walk.

Local media

A good way to start is by listing all possible local media – television, radio, magazines, newsletters and local papers as well as free local publications. Listen to, watch and read all of these with target audiences in mind.

Here's some thoughts about two possible media you can use:

Press releases

• Use headlines to grab the reader's attention.
• Use the present tense.
• Most important details first.
• Include who, what, when, where and why in the first paragraph.
• Keep it short and sweet - 1 page maximum.
• Layout the page clearly.
• Give contact details.
• Include a good photograph.
• Send a copy of the press release to anyone affected by it, or mentioned it.

In June 2011 we produced a set of press release templates for schemes to use. These should be extremely beneficial in helping you produce usable press releases.

Local radio/television

Using a spot on the radio requires research, preparation and skill. Find out what questions will be asked so you can prepare short, sharp answers.

Make sure you know what message you are communicating and keep it in mind. Stick to no more than 2 or 3 key points, and summarise at the end.

WfH publications

We've produced a number of national publications which you could use to help promote your scheme, including an introductory leaflet and poster templates. There are also lots of case stories on this site.

• WfH publications
• Case stories

We've also developed a set of brand guidelines to help professional designers produce work in a consistent way. Please contact us for more details.

Developing your own publications

We've produced some template documents that make creating stylish posters and leaflets possible for anyone with access to a computer.

These are available in MS Word format, and include WfH logos, branding, page layouts and graphics which can be edited and printed on a standard office printer.

• WfH posters and templates

When producing leaflets, although quality is important, it's essential to plan how you will distribute them.The main aim of leaflets is to tempt the reader to take the first step - keep it simple to ensure it's engaging.

The same goes for posters - make sure they are located in places where people will see them such as supermarkets, local shops, libraries, GP surgeries etc.

Photographs

Walking for Health has a library of health walk images, taken by a professional photographer, which are available for use by WfH schemes and other organisations to promote our work. We've placed these on the public photo-sharing website Flickr.

• Sign up to Flickr to access these photos
• You'll need a Yahoo! ID to sign up to Flickr
• Join the Walking for Health Flickr group

Any photos you use must be credited to © Walking for Health/Paul Glendell.

If your scheme is taking and using its own photographs, you must make sure you get permission from anyone who features prominently in the photo. We use a photo permission form for schemes that send us photos to use.

• Download the photo permission form

General group shots of 10 or more people do not need permission.

Websites and online social media

WalkFinder

Your health walk scheme can promote its walks via its own dedicated page on our WalkFinder database.

• Add a new walk scheme to WalkFinder
• WalkFinder
• Widgetbox website (get a WalkFinder widget)

You can even add WalkFinder to your own websites, blog or Facebook page. To get a 'widget' like the one below, follow the link.

Social media

Walking for Health has a presence on the social media sites Facebook and Twitter, and you could do the same.

• Making the most of Twitter
• Creating a page on Facebook
• Join our online community

Local websites

Many schemes are able to create their own web pages, or take advantage of partners' websites to promote their walks. It doesn't matter if you're a large local authority such as East Kent Health Walks or a smaller, volunteer-led scheme such as Mansfield: InStep.

Beware: your website will only be credible if you keep it up to date!

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