| Course | HD480 Health Communication, Social Marketing, and Advocacy |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 2 |
| Paper type | Audience segmentation profile |
| Length | About 600 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health and Wellness |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HD480 Unit 2
Fifty-Seven, Hourly, Insured and Not Yet Vaccinated: A Unit 2 Audience Segmentation Profile for a Shingles Vaccine Campaign
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HD480: Health Communication, Social Marketing, and Advocacy
Unit 2 Audience Segmentation Profile
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Larch County, its employers and the segment's figures are composite; the segmentation article, the vaccine recommendation and the social marketing text cited are real.
Step by Step
Start: Larch County's [26,000] adults aged 50 and older, all recommended for the shingles vaccine if healthy (Dooling et al., 2018). Narrow by age: 50 to 64, about [14,000], who are rarely the focus of existing messages, which mostly target Medicare-age adults. Narrow by work: employed full time, about [8,500]. They cannot reach weekday daytime clinics easily. Narrow by schedule and job: hourly workers on shifts in warehousing, manufacturing and health care support, about [3,900]. Their time off is limited and unpaid sick time is scarce. Narrow by status: insured through an employer but not yet vaccinated, estimated at about [3,100] from state registry and employer health plan data. Cost is not their barrier; timing, beliefs and side effects are.
The segment is defined by what it would take to reach them and change one behavior, not by demographics alone, which is the point of segmentation (Slater, 1996).
The Representative Reader
Donna, a composite, fifty-seven, a lead on the outbound dock at the county's largest distribution center. She works Tuesday to Friday, from six in the morning until half past four. She has employer insurance and a primary care doctor she sees once a year. She has heard of the shingles shot.
What She Believes
That shingles is something that happens to people in their seventies. That the shot "knocks you out for a couple of days," which a coworker told her. That one shot is enough. That she would have to see her doctor to get it.
What She Fears
Missing a shift. Her attendance record matters for the lead position, and the plant's points system counts unplanned absences. She also fears being slow on the dock if her arm is sore, because her team depends on her pace.
Where She Hears New Information
The break room, where a monitor runs company announcements. Text alerts from the company's scheduling app. The morning country radio station during her twenty-five-minute commute. The pharmacist at the grocery store where she shops on Saturdays. Her sister, a nurse.
Whom She Trusts
Coworkers who have had shingles, especially the one who was out for two weeks. Her shift supervisor, for anything about work schedules. The pharmacist, more than television.
Donna does not need to be persuaded that shingles is bad; she needs to learn that she qualifies now, that two doses can fit around her shifts, and that a day of feeling unwell can be planned rather than feared.
Implications for the Campaign
The message must name age fifty, explain two doses, and be honest about side effects while offering a way to plan around them, such as getting each dose on the last day of the work week. It should reach her at work and on her commute, and be delivered or endorsed by a coworker or the pharmacist. Social marketing calls this designing the offer around the audience's costs as they see them (Lee & Kotler, 2020).
Limits
Donna is a composite, and the segment includes men, younger workers and people in other industries. Registry estimates of vaccination by age and employer are approximate. Interviews with a sample of the segment would test whether her beliefs are typical.
References
Dooling, K. L., Guo, A., Patel, M., Lee, G. M., Moore, K., Belongia, E. A., & Harpaz, R. (2018). Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for use of herpes zoster vaccines. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 67(3), 103-108. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6703a5
Lee, N. R., & Kotler, P. (2020). Social marketing: Behavior change for social good (6th ed.). SAGE.
Slater, M. D. (1996). Theory and method in health audience segmentation. Journal of Health Communication, 1(3), 267-284. https://doi.org/10.1080/108107396128059
The Purdue Global HD480 Unit 2 instructions
Unit 2 typically asks you to define a target audience segment for a health communication effort and describe a representative member in enough detail to write for. What earns marks is a narrowing process with a reason at each step, a segment defined by what moves and reaches it rather than by demographics alone, and a portrait covering beliefs, fears, information sources and trusted messengers. Many sections reward estimating the segment's size and stating the limits of the profile. A persona should be composite and labeled as such. Cite segmentation research and the health recommendation involved, and end with what the profile implies for the message, the channel and the messenger.
Inside the HD480 Unit 2 example
The profile narrows step by step from all adults over fifty to the final segment, with a count and a reason at each stage, and cites segmentation research on defining groups by what moves them. A representative composite reader is introduced with her job, schedule and coverage. Sections set out her beliefs, her fears about attendance points and pace, where she hears new information and whom she trusts. The highlighted sentence states what the message must do for her. An implications section turns the profile into requirements for message, channel and messenger, citing a social marketing text. A limits section notes the profile's composite reader and approximate estimates. Every later campaign choice can be checked against this one profile.
HD480 Unit 2 rubric: what earns full points
In a segmentation profile the marks follow four things: the logic of the narrowing, the usefulness of the segment definition, the depth of the portrait and the link to campaign decisions. The narrowing logic and the portrait's usefulness usually earn the most, since a vivid persona built on an arbitrary segment, or a sound segment with a thin portrait, both leave the writer guessing. Credit for the segment definition rewards criteria tied to behavior and reach. The portrait earns points for specific beliefs, fears and channels. Implications are rewarded when each later decision can be traced back to a finding. Size estimates and stated limits add credibility and often earn separate marks.
HD480 Unit 2 help from the desk
A frequent problem is defining the segment by age and gender alone, which says nothing about how to reach or persuade it. Another is a persona with hobbies and a name but no beliefs or fears that bear on the behavior. Some students choose a segment too large to reach with one approach. Others never connect the profile to the message or channels. Presenting a composite persona as a real person, without saying so, is misleading. If your campaign targets a different behavior, perhaps colorectal screening or hearing protection, describe the population you start from, and the narrowing can proceed one reasoned step at a time.
Get an HD480 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
Say who your HD480 campaign is meant to reach and which health behavior it concerns, and include the Unit 2 prompt and rubric. The free first custom sample arrives within 24-48h, narrowing that audience with a reason at every step and ending on one described reader whose beliefs appear in that reader's own words. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More HD480 papers and BS in Health and Wellness samples
- HD480 Unit 1: Missed Audience Discussion Post
- HD480 Unit 3: Educational Material Draft
- HD480 Unit 4: Social Marketing Exchange Analysis
- HD480 Unit 5: Campaign Concept
- HD480 Unit 6: Seminar Reflection
- HD480 Unit 7: Message Testing Plan
- HD480 Unit 8: Advocacy Strategy
- HD480 Unit 9: Media and Channel Plan
- HD480 Unit 10: Communication Portfolio
- HD460 Unit 2: Implementation Checklist
- HD440 Unit 2: Data Source Review
- HD420 Unit 2: Determinants Analysis
HD480 Unit 2 questions, answered
How do I choose which segment to target?
Look for a group whose behavior matters to the health problem, who can realistically change it, and whom you can reach. Data on who is affected, and on who is present when the risk occurs, often points to a segment generic campaigns miss. Explain the choice so a reader sees why this group comes first.
Is a persona the same as a segment?
No. A segment is the group, defined by shared characteristics; a persona is one composite person who represents it. Many profiles include both: the segment justified with data, then a persona written so the author can picture a real reader. Label the persona as composite so nobody mistakes it for an actual individual.
Where do I find information about my audience's beliefs?
Published studies, community surveys, focus group reports and program intake data are common sources. Qualitative research is especially useful because it records beliefs in people's own words. Where no local data exists, cite what is available for similar groups and mark your profile's assumptions so message testing can check them later.
Where can I find a free HD480 Unit 2 sample paper?
You can read the complete Unit 2 profile here, narrowing a county's adults over fifty to shift workers who have not had the shingles vaccine.
Why define a segment by behavior and reach rather than age alone?
Because people of the same age can hold different beliefs and use different channels. A segment that shares those features can be reached with one message.