So you’ve cleared a few hurdles. You might have a good program with proven results. Still, you can’t get it to enough people. What do you do? The presenters at the Society for Prevention Research Conference in Denver tried to answer that question on the second day.

The problem is reach. How do you get the word out? Do you fund a website? Do you create public service announcements? What is the best use of your program’s limited time and money?

Research that measures the success of an integrated media strategy is relatively rare. There isn’t much data that has tracked how well a program’s media strategy really changes behavior.

That doesn’t mean there’s no data. Campaigns to promote seatbelt use and anti-smoking PSAs are two media strategies that have been studied. But while those campaigns reach a wide audience, the effect sizes can be small. Often these campaigns are all smoke and no fire. The ads make up the entire program. There is no outreach into the community to reinforce the media’s messages.

One place where you can find integrated media and programmatic strategy is in the parenting programs that were the focus of yesterday’s morning sessions.

Two presentations looked at the US and UK parenting program called Triple P. Triple P is using both Web and televised media. Rachel Calam from the University of Manchester said Triple P was able to make use of the popular UK television series “Driving Mum and Dad Mad”. She said it was used to teach parents how to deal with difficult children.

“The TV show was a hit,” she said. “It got better ratings than Desperate Housewives!”

Calam went on to describe how Triple P is also making use of Web-based seminars, a radio show and a newsletter, which underscores that there are a dizzying amount of ways to construct a media strategy. Gone are the days where there are only a few ‘old media’ outlets —newspapers, radio, and television—and even fewer choices –like funding a PSA, or hounding a reporter—to get the word out. Now groups can set up a website, write a blog, send out email blasts, or buy webbanners.

Carol Metzler from the Oregon Research Institute said it’s important to match the media with the population to be reached. For example, call in radio programs, web portals and a TV Program called the “Every Parent Initiative” proved effective in extending the reach of the Triple P program in Queensland, Australia, and were developed at little if no cost at all.

But while its clear that media strategies have grown more sophisticated, it’s not yet known if they are working any better than the old strategies. A study of the Triple P program only tracked whether families engaged with the media. It didn’t look at how their behavior might have changed. More research is needed. Fully integrated media strategies seem promising, but it is still too early to say whether they are worth the money.