Mediaboss Marketing

Opinions of Monday, 8 February 2021

Columnist: Gertrude Agyemang

COVID-19 cases in Ghana keep rising

The coronavirus outbreak has had its toll on every continent of the world as such, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a pandemic last year in March. Upon declaration, several behavior-related facts were emphasized to minimize the spread of the deadly virus. The deadly virus is easily spread by close contact between people without a mask on, as well as droplets from infected people through coughing, sneezing or even talking. Another way one may catch COVID-19 is by touching a contaminated surface and then their face, nose, ears or mouth.

The World Health Organization (WHO) strongly encouraged certain behavioural change like the frequent washing of hands for at least twenty (20) seconds, the wearing of mask, eating fruits and vegetables, exercising and importantly, keeping a social distance to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In view of these directives, particularly in Ghana, government sectors, corporate institutions, non-for-profit organisations and the mass media took it as a responsibility to engage in various campaigns to help prevent the spread of the disease. However, the campaigns seem to produce no satisfactory impact on the change in behaviour of the general public as the number of active cases in Ghana keep on rising.

The behavioural change proposed for the general public of Ghana is quite different from our usual way of life before the outbreak of the virus and it competes with already existing lifestyles. It is very difficult for individuals to change from a particular pattern or trait all of a sudden by just giving them information and expecting them to simply comply by it. Unless, there is a voluntary behaviour change by individual, positive outcome is quite challenging to achieve. However, changing behaviour patterns voluntarily is also very much complex as it entails an understanding of the changed behaviour and under what circumstance such behaviour is desired.

With this situation in place, having an in-depth knowledge of Social Marketing which spans across sociology, psychology, economics and anthropology can help in the understanding of individuals behavioural change. Through the application of Social Marketing, many countries have successfully implemented social marketing techniques to achieve various social objectives through behavioural change intervention programmes of smoking cessation, road safety, disease prevention and screening, physical activities and environmental issues. Social marketing is a systematic process of influencing behaviour change of different target market segments by utilizing a planning process that applies marketing principles and tactics to deliver positive societal benefits.

Thus, the primary objective of Social Marketing is not to sell goods and services rather to influence targeted markets to adopt a desired behaviour. An individuals behaviour can be influenced in one of the four ways, firstly to accepting a new behaviour, for instance, wearing a mask; rejecting an undesirable behaviour such as overcrowding; modifying a current behaviour like washing of hands frequently and abandoning an old undesirable behaviour of coughing here and there.

In applying the concept of Social Marketing in eliminating the spread of the pandemic in Ghana, at least four broad aspects must be emphasized: first, a clear definition of the problem at hand; second, a thorough environmental scan to segment the entire market and analyse the target audiences characteristics to influence their behaviours through the right message circulated at the right media and location; third, an analysis of social norms, potential barriers and competitions toward the desired behaviours and fourth, establish the monitoring policies and criteria for evaluating the intervention programme. As it stands now, many countries are now experiencing what could possibly be a second wave.

Therefore, it is high time for the authorities to understand the underpinning attitudes and beliefs held by the general public in Ghana regarding the WHO prescribed desired behaviours. Gaining information on the current status of people's new behavioural acceptance can provide insights on the reasons behind the compliance and non-compliance of the desired behaviours. Understanding the difficulty in changing to desired behaviours through environmental scanning demands a clear segmentation or division of communities before communicating the message of behavioural change in Ghana. This could be done by dividing the entire populace based on geographic (according to cities, neighbourhood), demographic (according to age, education level, gender) and psychographic (according to attitude, beliefs, values, social norms, needs).

Each segment is unique and thus may respond differently to campaign elements, therefore, different techniques must be utilized to reach and motivate the different segments. The creativity of the message, use of words, images and its explanation should be tailored to a particular segment's characteristics to get maximum reach of the target audience. With the attainment of the division of segments and its different communication techniques achieved, the next step is to understand the existing social norms, potential barriers of behavioral change and competing behaviours (which are the behaviours that the general public would prefer to do).

It is important to make the desired behaviours attractive as possible to adopt, by emphasizing on the dangers and risk one may go through because of the disregard of the preventive measures put in place. There is also a need for consistent and continuous monitoring to minimize the spread of the virus. Specific criteria-based evaluation of intervention programme at a specific interval can also yield actionable insights about what worked well and what did not. The risk of infection is still prevalent and therefore, there is no other alternative than to adopt these new and desired behaviours to combat the spread in Ghana.

View post:
Halting the spread of COVID-19 in Ghana: social marketing, the answer? - GhanaWeb

A new survey designed by University of Wyoming Extension and the Cent$ible Nutrition Program to better understand how Wyomingites gather information is open for residents to share their experiences.

We are a rural state, so having accurate information about how populations in rural states engage with media and social media is hard to find from national groups, Kali McCrackin Goodenough, CNP marketing coordinator, said.

According to McCrackin Goodenough, the survey is completely anonymous. Consent form and contact information will be kept separate from results, which will be used to explore trends across Wyoming.

Those who complete the survey will receive a four-in-one kitchen tool as a thank-you. The survey requires approximately 20 minutes to complete and can be found here.

The data from the survey will provide insights on which social media and traditional media platforms people in Wyoming primarily use to gather information and allow groups, including UW Extension and CNP, to better serve their audiences, McCrackin Goodenough said.

Having data for our state that is relevant and real is valuable, she said.

CNP aims to develop a social marketing campaign related to healthy habits and plans to use this data to better share that campaign across the state, according to McCrackin Goodenough.

This is a chance for people in Wyoming to say where they want to get their information from, she said.

For questions or comments, email CNP at cnp-info@uwyo.edu.

CNP offers nutrition education classes and engages in community interventions to help families in every Wyoming county and the Wind River Indian Reservation. CNP classes are free to anyone who meets household monthly or yearly income guidelines, and classes help participants eat better for less.

Read this article:
UW Extension survey seeks how Wyoming residents receive information Sheridan Media - Sheridan Media

TipRanks

How important are dividends to a stock investors profits? Speaking before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on October 15, 2007, investing guru John Bogle laid out the case: Over the past 81 years reinvested dividend income accounted for approximately 95 percent of the compound long-term return earned by the companies in the S&P 500. These stunning figures would seem to demand that mutual funds highlight the importance of dividend income. So in other words, dividends are pretty important! Of course, right now the average stock on the S&P 500 is only paying about a 2% dividend yield, which isnt a lot. If you want to do better than that, though, the REIT sector is a great place to begin your search for high-yield dividend stocks. REITs are companies that acquire, own, operate, and manage real estate portfolios, usually some combination of residential or commercial real properties, or their associated mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities. Tax law requires that these companies return profits directly to shareholders, and most of them choose dividends as their vehicle of choice for compliance, resulting in frequent high dividend yields across the sector. The slowly ebbing COVID pandemic was hard on real estate managers, as tenants had trouble making rents and owners had trouble leasing vacant space. However, BTIG analyst Tim Hayes believes there are reasons to stay bullish on CRE properties specifically. "While we recognize the headwinds to commercial real estate (CRE) fundamentals and the potential risk to equity/earnings power, we believe there are several reasons to be constructive, especially with the sector trading at a discount to historical levels and offering attractive dividend yields at wide spreads to benchmark rates," Hayes commented. Against this backdrop, weve opened up the TipRanks database to get the latest stats on Hayes CRE choices. These are stocks that the analyst initiated Buy ratings on, pointing out their high dividend yield. We are talking about at least 9% here. Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) The first dividend pick we are looking at is Ares Commercial Real Estate, a company focused on the commercial real estate mortgage sector. Ares boasts a diversified portfolio featuring office space, apartments, hotels, and mixed-use properties mainly across the Southeast and West. The company has over $2 billion invested in 49 separate loans, 95% of which are senior mortgage loans. At the end of October, the company released 3Q20 earnings (the last reported quarter), showing $22.4 million in total revenue, for a 13% year-over-year gain. The 45-cents earnings per common share was up 40% since the prior year. Furthermore, Ares closed a $667 million commercial real estate collateralized loan obligation, with firmed up funding on 23 senior loans. On the dividend front, Ares declared in December its 4Q20 dividend. The payment, at 33 cents per common share, was paid out on January 15 and is fully covered by current income levels. At current rates, the dividend annualizes to $1.32 and gives an impressive yield of 10.50%. Among the bulls is Hayes, who wrote: We believe shares of ACRE are unfairly discounted relative to other commercial mREITs given strong Ares sponsorship, a very healthy balance sheet, and limited exposure to at-risk assets. In his view, this leaves the company well positioned to face the headwinds from COVID-19. In line with these comments, Hayes rates ACRE a Buy, and his $13.50 price target implies a 10% upside from current levels. (To watch Hayes track record, click here) Only one other analyst has posted a recent ACRE review, also rating the stock a Buy, which makes the analyst consensus here a Moderate Buy. Shares are priced at $12.28, and their $12.75 average price target suggests room for modest ~4% growth. (See ACRE stock analysis on TipRanks) KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (KREF) Next up we have KKR, which operates in the commercial real estate sector, with almost half of its holdings in the states of New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. The company both owns and finances commercial properties; 83% of its activities are with apartment dwellings and office spaces in desirable urban locations. KKRs quality can be seen in the companys quarterly results. The liquidity position was strong KKR reported $700.6 million available at the end of 3Q20, the last quarter reported. The 56-cent EPS was up 7% sequentially, and 36% year-over-year. Further evidence of KKRs sound position came at the beginning of January, when the announced it had closed 7 new commercial loans in Q4, totaling $565.4 million. This level of activity is a clear sign that KKR is recovering from the pandemic-related economic turndown. The solid foundation put the company in position to continue its dividend which has been kept reliable for four years now. The most recent declaration, made in December, was for a 43-cent per common share dividend that was paid out in mid-January. That rate gives an annual payment of $1.72 per common share, and a robust yield of 9.7%. Covering KREF, Hayes is most impressed by the companys move back toward proactive loan origination, saying, We view 4Q20 origination activity to be in line with pre-pandemic production, and demonstrates a shift from defense to offense as transaction activity has picked up and the capital markets remain accommodative. We expect increased capital deployment to support earnings power and dividend coverage, and could potentially warrant an increase in the dividend as the macroeconomic outlook improves. To this end, Hayes gives KREF a Buy and sets a $19.50 price target that indicates ~6% growth from current levels. (To watch Hayes track record, click here) Wall Street has been keeping quiet on all things KREF, and the only other recent review also recommends a Buy. Put together, the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating. Meanwhile, the average price target stands at 19.26 and implies a modest ~5% upside. (See KREF stock analysis on TipRanks) Starwood Property Trust (STWD) For the third stock on Hayes list of picks, we turn to Starwood, a commercial mortgage REIT with a varied portfolio of first mortgages and mezzanine loans, in the $50 million to $500 million range. The company operates in the US and Europe, boasts a $5.9 billion market cap, and has offices in New York, London, and San Francisco. Starwoods high-end portfolio has brought it solid earnings, even during the corona recession of 2020. The company recorded $152 million in GAAP earnings for 3Q20, coming out to 53 cents per share, for gains of 8% sequentially and 6% year-over-year. With that in the background, we can note the companys dividend, which has been held steady at 48 cents per share for over two years. The last declaration was made in December, and the dividend was paid out on January 15. At the current rate, it annualizes to $1.92 and the yield is 9.23%. Once again, were looking at a stock that Hayes recommends to Buy. We view STWD to be one of the few blue chips in the commercial mREIT sector given its size, liquidity, best-in-class management team, strong balance sheet, and diversified investment platform which has consistently generated stronger ROEs than peers. To that end, STWD is one of few commercial mREITs that neither restructured its liabilities with expensive rescue capital nor cut its dividend since the onset of COVID-19, Hayes opined. Overall, there is little action on the Street heading STWD's way right now, with only one other analyst chiming in with a view on the company's prospects. An additional Buy rating means STWD qualifies as a Moderate Buy. However, the $21 average price target suggests shares will remain range bound for the foreseeable future. (See STWD stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for dividend stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

Continue reading here:
How Andy Audate Is Changing The Way Companies Look At Social Media And Rhe Marketing World - Yahoo Finance

Overview

Senior Adaptive Implementation and Learning Advisor, HIV Biomedical Prevention

Based in Zimbabwe

Reports to Project Director

Who we are

With over 50 years of experience, working in over 40+ countries, Population Services International (PSI) is the world's leading non-profit social marketing organization. PSI is reimagining healthcare, by putting the consumer at the center, and wherever possible bringing care to the front door. We are working to fix market failures, shape future health markets and shift policy and funding to better support consumer powered healthcare.

There are over 5,000 PSI'ers around the world. We are a diverse group of entrepreneurial development professionals with a wide range of backgrounds and experience. All with unique skills that we bring to the critically important work that we do.

Join us!

PSI/Zimbabwe is looking for a Senior Adaptive Implementation and Learning Advisor to help us design, roll-out and implement a national HIV biomedical prevention learning agenda, and support the Government of Zimbabwe to build expertise in knowledge transfer, articulate thoughtful learning questions, build mechanisms by which to collect fit-for purpose evidence to respond to learning questions, application of questions for routine program adaptions, and strategic packaging and promotion of learning for external influences. This position is based in Harare.

Sound like you? Read on.

Responsibilities

Your contribution

The Senior Adaptive Implementation and Learning Advisor will lead learning and adaptive implementation as a core strategy for continuous quality improvement and sustainable scale-up within the newly awarded Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded project: Catalyzing Integrated Sustainable Subnational Biomedical Prevention. This subnational health systems strengthening project is focused on building resilient local systems that successfully plan, manage, and execute HIV biomedical prevention programming efficiently, effectively, and at scale, at district, facility and community levels. This position is key personnel and critical team member which will work closely with PSI's global HIV biomedical technical, evidence, and external relations and communications teams to lead and cultivate knowledge across PSI/HQ, local partners, civil societies, and ministry, to create a community of practice across the 27 target project districts, more broadly in Zimbabwe and beyond, regionally and globally.

Core responsibilities:

What are we looking for?

The candidate we hire will embody PSI's corporate values:

Measurement: You use hard evidence to make decisions and guide your work. You set clear goalposts in advance and explain clearly if you need to move them.

Pragmatism: You'll strive to deliver the best possible result with the resources available. You won't be paralyzed by a need to make things perfect.

Honesty: You own your mistakes and are open about your shortcomings it's the only way you'll learn and improve.

Collaboration: You'll quickly establish a mental map of whom you can rely on for what, on your team, at headquarters, and in our country offices if you try to do it all yourself, you won't succeed.

Trust: You accept limits to your sphere of control and give colleagues the benefit of the doubt

Commitment: You are in it for the long-haul and want to grow with the organization, just like PSI serves its consumers and partners with host-country governments through thick and thin

The basics

S/he will have the following qualifications, skills, and experience:

What would get us excited?

The successful candidate will be confident, articulate and persuasive; a proactive self-starter and creative thinker with the ability to effectively lead, inspire and collaborate; have excellent communication, presentation, analytical, organizational, interpersonal, and writing skills.

STATUS

*Due to the high volume of applications, only finalists will be contacted. Curious about your status? Please log in to your iCIMS account to find out.

PSI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from qualified individuals regardless of actual or perceived race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, personal appearance, matriculation, political affiliation, family status or responsibilities, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions or breastfeeding, genetic information, amnesty, veteran, special disabled veteran or uniform service member status or employment status.

PI130057236

Apply Here

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Sr. Adaptive Implementation and Learning Advisor - ReliefWeb

TipRanks

How important are dividends to a stock investors profits? Speaking before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on October 15, 2007, investing guru John Bogle laid out the case: Over the past 81 years reinvested dividend income accounted for approximately 95 percent of the compound long-term return earned by the companies in the S&P 500. These stunning figures would seem to demand that mutual funds highlight the importance of dividend income. So in other words, dividends are pretty important! Of course, right now the average stock on the S&P 500 is only paying about a 2% dividend yield, which isnt a lot. If you want to do better than that, though, the REIT sector is a great place to begin your search for high-yield dividend stocks. REITs are companies that acquire, own, operate, and manage real estate portfolios, usually some combination of residential or commercial real properties, or their associated mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities. Tax law requires that these companies return profits directly to shareholders, and most of them choose dividends as their vehicle of choice for compliance, resulting in frequent high dividend yields across the sector. The slowly ebbing COVID pandemic was hard on real estate managers, as tenants had trouble making rents and owners had trouble leasing vacant space. However, BTIG analyst Tim Hayes believes there are reasons to stay bullish on CRE properties specifically. "While we recognize the headwinds to commercial real estate (CRE) fundamentals and the potential risk to equity/earnings power, we believe there are several reasons to be constructive, especially with the sector trading at a discount to historical levels and offering attractive dividend yields at wide spreads to benchmark rates," Hayes commented. Against this backdrop, weve opened up the TipRanks database to get the latest stats on Hayes CRE choices. These are stocks that the analyst initiated Buy ratings on, pointing out their high dividend yield. We are talking about at least 9% here. Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) The first dividend pick we are looking at is Ares Commercial Real Estate, a company focused on the commercial real estate mortgage sector. Ares boasts a diversified portfolio featuring office space, apartments, hotels, and mixed-use properties mainly across the Southeast and West. The company has over $2 billion invested in 49 separate loans, 95% of which are senior mortgage loans. At the end of October, the company released 3Q20 earnings (the last reported quarter), showing $22.4 million in total revenue, for a 13% year-over-year gain. The 45-cents earnings per common share was up 40% since the prior year. Furthermore, Ares closed a $667 million commercial real estate collateralized loan obligation, with firmed up funding on 23 senior loans. On the dividend front, Ares declared in December its 4Q20 dividend. The payment, at 33 cents per common share, was paid out on January 15 and is fully covered by current income levels. At current rates, the dividend annualizes to $1.32 and gives an impressive yield of 10.50%. Among the bulls is Hayes, who wrote: We believe shares of ACRE are unfairly discounted relative to other commercial mREITs given strong Ares sponsorship, a very healthy balance sheet, and limited exposure to at-risk assets. In his view, this leaves the company well positioned to face the headwinds from COVID-19. In line with these comments, Hayes rates ACRE a Buy, and his $13.50 price target implies a 10% upside from current levels. (To watch Hayes track record, click here) Only one other analyst has posted a recent ACRE review, also rating the stock a Buy, which makes the analyst consensus here a Moderate Buy. Shares are priced at $12.28, and their $12.75 average price target suggests room for modest ~4% growth. (See ACRE stock analysis on TipRanks) KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (KREF) Next up we have KKR, which operates in the commercial real estate sector, with almost half of its holdings in the states of New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. The company both owns and finances commercial properties; 83% of its activities are with apartment dwellings and office spaces in desirable urban locations. KKRs quality can be seen in the companys quarterly results. The liquidity position was strong KKR reported $700.6 million available at the end of 3Q20, the last quarter reported. The 56-cent EPS was up 7% sequentially, and 36% year-over-year. Further evidence of KKRs sound position came at the beginning of January, when the announced it had closed 7 new commercial loans in Q4, totaling $565.4 million. This level of activity is a clear sign that KKR is recovering from the pandemic-related economic turndown. The solid foundation put the company in position to continue its dividend which has been kept reliable for four years now. The most recent declaration, made in December, was for a 43-cent per common share dividend that was paid out in mid-January. That rate gives an annual payment of $1.72 per common share, and a robust yield of 9.7%. Covering KREF, Hayes is most impressed by the companys move back toward proactive loan origination, saying, We view 4Q20 origination activity to be in line with pre-pandemic production, and demonstrates a shift from defense to offense as transaction activity has picked up and the capital markets remain accommodative. We expect increased capital deployment to support earnings power and dividend coverage, and could potentially warrant an increase in the dividend as the macroeconomic outlook improves. To this end, Hayes gives KREF a Buy and sets a $19.50 price target that indicates ~6% growth from current levels. (To watch Hayes track record, click here) Wall Street has been keeping quiet on all things KREF, and the only other recent review also recommends a Buy. Put together, the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating. Meanwhile, the average price target stands at 19.26 and implies a modest ~5% upside. (See KREF stock analysis on TipRanks) Starwood Property Trust (STWD) For the third stock on Hayes list of picks, we turn to Starwood, a commercial mortgage REIT with a varied portfolio of first mortgages and mezzanine loans, in the $50 million to $500 million range. The company operates in the US and Europe, boasts a $5.9 billion market cap, and has offices in New York, London, and San Francisco. Starwoods high-end portfolio has brought it solid earnings, even during the corona recession of 2020. The company recorded $152 million in GAAP earnings for 3Q20, coming out to 53 cents per share, for gains of 8% sequentially and 6% year-over-year. With that in the background, we can note the companys dividend, which has been held steady at 48 cents per share for over two years. The last declaration was made in December, and the dividend was paid out on January 15. At the current rate, it annualizes to $1.92 and the yield is 9.23%. Once again, were looking at a stock that Hayes recommends to Buy. We view STWD to be one of the few blue chips in the commercial mREIT sector given its size, liquidity, best-in-class management team, strong balance sheet, and diversified investment platform which has consistently generated stronger ROEs than peers. To that end, STWD is one of few commercial mREITs that neither restructured its liabilities with expensive rescue capital nor cut its dividend since the onset of COVID-19, Hayes opined. Overall, there is little action on the Street heading STWD's way right now, with only one other analyst chiming in with a view on the company's prospects. An additional Buy rating means STWD qualifies as a Moderate Buy. However, the $21 average price target suggests shares will remain range bound for the foreseeable future. (See STWD stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for dividend stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

Continue reading here:
International Condom Day: DKT International Highlights Importance of Condoms with Virtual and In-Person Activities Around the World - Yahoo Finance