What theory assists in segmenting a priority population for a health promotion marketing strategy?

The diffusion theory is particularly useful for segmenting a priority population in health promotion marketing strategies because it focuses on how new ideas, behaviors, and practices spread within a community or population. This theory highlights the importance of understanding various adopter categories—innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards—which can help health educators identify specific segments within their target audience based on their readiness to adopt new health behaviors or interventions.

By applying diffusion theory, health educators can tailor their messaging and outreach strategies to meet the unique needs and characteristics of different segments. This ensures that the marketing effort resonates with each group appropriately, thus increasing the chances of successful health behavior adoption.

In contrast, while the health belief model emphasizes individual perceptions of risk and benefits related to health behaviors, it does not provide a framework for segmenting populations based on diffusion characteristics. The theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior both focus on intentions and perceived control over behaviors but are less suited to population segmentation compared to the diffusion theory.