The Ins and Outs of Using eMail and Text Messages in Your Wellness Communications

It probably comes as no surprise to you that more than half of all American adults own smartphones, and that the number of users continues to increase. Chances are many of your wellness program participants are in this growing group of people who rely on handheld electronic devices to receive communications.

If you haven’t already taken your wellness communications mobile, now is the time to start thinking about incorporating eMails and/or text messages.

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Give Your Employees What They Want When it Comes to Your Wellness Communications

Your wellness program participants are used to getting information when they want it and how they want it. This means that if you want your audience to pay attention to your health and wellness communications, you’d better give it to them the way they want it.

For most organizations, one approach doesn’t fit all. To effectively reach all your participants, you’ll likely need to rely on a mix of print, PDF, HTML, and mobile message delivery. Each medium has its place, and the various types can work together to reinforce the information that you want to provide.

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Spend a Little Time Looking for Health Information and be Rewarded With Billions of Dollars’ Worth of FREE Wellness Resources

Have you ever been on a scavenger hunt? It can be fun to locate the different items on your list, can’t it? Recreate the popular searching game next time you’re looking for free health and wellness information and resources for your wellness program. You may be surprised at just how much you can find if you comb through national resources.

The federal government and big national health organizations spend billions of dollars gathering and creating credible health and wellness information, tools, and other resources. The goal of these groups is to raise awareness of particular health-related issues to keep people in the best physical, emotional, and financial shape they can be. These groups want you to use what they provide, so do them a favor and use it.

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Call in the Medical Experts to Ensure Your Wellness Communications are as Healthy as They Can Be

If you’re researching topics for your wellness communications, you’ll find there is no shortage of information available. However, not all sources provide sound medical advice. How do you know what to trust?

It can be tricky – really tricky, even for wellness communication experts who keep up to date on the latest findings. Information may sound credible even when it’s not and what may have been the accepted recommendation last week could have changed already.

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Look to Your State for Wellness Program Support

Let’s face it: Many wellness programs grapple with budget constraints. Although company leadership may find having a wellness program a worthy initiative, they may not be able to find the funds necessary to support it effectively.

Creative and resourceful wellness managers don’t buckle under the budget battle pressure. Instead they find free or low-cost resources to maintain and enhance their wellness program. These wellness tools exist everywhere – many within the boundaries of your state. Consider looking statewide for no-cost wellness program help.

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New Trend in Communications… Give Your Wellness Program Participants Exactly What They Want with Variable-Data Printing

Coming up with content for a wellness newsletter that your audience can connect with can be challenging to say the least. If your organization is like most, it’s made up of a diverse group of people in various stages of life with different interests and attitudes. A one-size-fits-all approach to a wellness newsletter simply may not cut it.

So, what’s a wellness program manager to do?

Consider using variable-data printing (also known as variable-information printing). Think a mail merge on steroids. Wellness program participants pick out topics they are most interested in and a newsletter is created just for them.

The amount and type of customization can vary, depending on your wants and your variable-data printing vendor’s capabilities. You start with a basic design that includes:

  • Static elements – features that appear exactly the same on each newsletter, such as your wellness program logo and header information.
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Stay Close & Spend Less… Connect Your Wellness Program Participants with Local Organizations and Businesses

Hillary Clinton’s “It takes a village to raise a child” philosophy makes a lot of sense if you apply the same community-based approach to your wellness program.

Look to local organizations and business that could help nurture the health of your wellness program and, ultimately and more importantly, the health of participants.

Instead of operating your wellness program strictly at the company level and never going outside the walls of your organization, consider approaching local groups to provide experts, events, and other resources. Good organizations to ask for help include:

  • Hospitals – ask if they offer free screenings or send out specialists to your organization for lectures.
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4 Reasons Why Wall Calendars are an Effective Wellness Communication Tool

If you want your workplace wellness participants to think about – and use – your program on a daily basis, your program needs to be constantly in front of them. How do you do that without annoying them to the point that they tune out?

Use a tried and true marketing communication tool that has worked for decades and continues to be effective: the wall calendar. In this day and age, wall calendars are still a great way to promote – in this case, your wellness resources, events, and messages.

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Free Can be Costly to Wellness Communications if Not Done Properly

Wellness program managers have their hands full. These dedicated individuals must constantly brainstorm new ideas to inspire involvement in wellness programs and plan events to elevate health awareness.

It’s easy to understand how wellness program managers might be tempted to hand off communication responsibilities to someone else or use wellness messages that others have already created.

Before wellness program managers take their hands off communication responsibilities entirely, there are a couple of important considerations to think about.

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