CHAPTER ONE
OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL
MARKETING
1.1 Introduction
• Social marketing, as a discipline, has made
enormous strides since its inception in the
early 1970s, and has had a profound positive
impact on social issues in the areas of public
health, injury prevention, the environment,
community involvement, and more recently,
financial well-being
• Social marketing as a term, however, is still a
mystery to most, misunderstood by many, and
increasingly confused with other terms such as
behavioural economics and social media (one
of many potential promotional tactics to
choose from).
1.2 Meaning of Social Marketing
• Social marketing is a distinct marketing
discipline, one that has been leveled as such
since the early 1970s and refers primarily to
efforts focused on influencing behaviors that
will improve health, prevent injuries, protect
the environment, contribute to communities,
and more recently, enhance financial well –
being. Several definitions from social
marketing “veterans” are listed in
Social marketing is about
a. influencing behaviours,
b. utilizing a systematic planning process that
applies marketing principles and techniques,
c. focusing on priority target audience
segments, and
d. delivering a positive benefit for individuals
and society..
a. Focus on behaviour
According to N. Lee and P. Kotler (2016), similar to commercial sector
marketers’ objectives, which is to sell goods and services, social
marketers’ objective is to successfully influence desired behaviors.
Social marketers typically want to influence target audiences to do one
the following four things:
1.accept a new behaviour (e.g., composing food waste);
2. reject a potentially undesirable behavior (e.g., starting smoking), which
is why we refer more to behavior influencing than behavior change;
3. modify a current behavior (e.g., increase physical activity from three to
five days of the week or decrease the number of fat grams consumed); or
4. abandon an old undesirable behavior (e.g., texting while driving). More
recently, Alen Andreasen suggested fifth arena, in which social marketers
want to influence people to continue a desired behaviour (e.g., donating
blood on an annual basis) and a sixth, in which social marketers want
people to switch a behaviour (e.g., take the stairs instead of the elevator).
b. Use a systematic Planning Process that applies
Traditional Marketing Principles and techniques
The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines
marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and
processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and
exchanging offerings that have value for customers,
clients, partners, and society at large.” The most
fundamental principle underlying this approach is application
of a customer orientation to understanding barriers target
audience perceive to adopting desired behavior and benefits
they want and believe they can realize.
The process begins with alignment on the social issues
to be addressed and an environmental scan to establish
a purpose and focus for a specific plan. A situation
analysis (SWOT) helps to identify organizational
strengths to maximize and weaknesses to minimize, as
well as external opportunities to take advantage of and
threats to prepare for. Marketers then select target
audiences they can best influence and satisfy. They
establish clear behavior objectives and target goals the
plan will be developed to achieve.
c. Select and influence a target audience
Marketers know that the marketplace is a rich collage of
diverse populations, each having a distinct set of wants and
needs. Social marketers know that what appeals to one
individual may not appeal to another and therefore divide
the market in to similar groups (market segment), measure
the relative potential of each segment to meet organizational
and marketing objectives, and then choose one or more
segments (target audiences) on which to concentrate our
efforts and resources. For each target, a distinct mix of the
4ps is developed, one designed to uniquely appeal to that
segment’s barriers, motivators, completion, and influential
others.
(d) The primary Beneficiary is Society
Unlike commercial marketing, in which the primary intended beneficiary is the
corporate shareholder, the primary beneficiary of the social marketing program
is society. The question many pose and banter about is who determines
whether the social change created by the program is beneficial? Although most
cause supported by social marketing efforts tend to draw high consensus that
the cause is good, this model can also be used by organizations who have the
opposite view of what is good. Abortion is an example of an issue where both
sides argue that they are on the “good” side, and both use social marketing
techniques to influence public behavior. Who, then, gets to define “good”?
Some propose the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(retrieved from http: www.un.org/en/document/udhr) as a baseline with respect
to the common good. Some share the opinion of social marketing consultant
Crage Lefebver, who posted the following on Georgetown Social Marketing
Listerve:
“Good” is in the eyes of the beholder. What I
consider to be an absolute right and therefore
worthy of extensive publicly funded social
marketing campaigns, you may consider being an
absolute wrong.
Organ donation is an absolute wrong for those
whose religious beliefs preclude the desecration of
bodies yet it is considered an important cause
worthy of social marketing dollars by those not
constrained by the same belief structure.
1.2.2 Where did the Concept Originate?
When we think of social marketing as “influencing public
behaviors,” it is clear that this is not a new phenomenon. Consider
efforts to free slaves, abolish child labor, influence women’s to vote, and
recruit women into the workforce.
Launching the discipline formally more than 40 years ago, the term
social marketing was first introduced by Philip Kotler and Gerald
Zaltman, in a pioneering article in the Journal of Marketing, to describe
“the use of marketing principles and techniques to advance a social
cause, idea or behavior.”
In intervening decades, interest in and use of social marketing concepts,
tools, and practices has spread from the arena of public health and safety
and into the work of environmentalists, community advocates, and
poverty workers, as is evident in the partial list of seminal events, texts
and journals.
1.3 Comparing Social Marketing and
Commercial Marketing
Similarities between Social marketing and
Commercial marketing
customer orientation is critical. The marketer knows that the
offer (product, price, and place) needs to appeal to the target
audience, solving a problem they have or satisfying a want or
need.
Exchange theory is fundamental. The target audience must
perceive benefits that equal or exceed the perceived costs.
Marketing research is used throughout the process. Only by
researching and understanding the specific needs, desires,
beliefs, and attitudes of target adopters can the marketer build
effective strategies
Audiences are segmented. Strategies must be tailored to the
unique wants, needs, resources, and current behavior of
differing market segments.
All Four Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) are
considered. A winning strategy requires an integrated
approach, one utilizing all the tools in the toolbox, not just
relying on advertising and other persuasive communications.
Results are measured and used for improvement.
Feedback is valued and seen as “free advice” on how to do
better next time.
Differences between Social Marketing and
Commercial Marketing
• There are several important differences between social and commercial
marketing:
a) In the case of commercial marketing, the marketing process aims to
sell a tangible product or service. In the case of social marketing, the
marketing process is used to sell a desired behavior.
b) Not surprisingly, in the commercial sector, the primary aim is financial
gain. In social marketing, the primary aim is individual or societal gain.
c) Commercial marketers choose target audiences that will provide the
greatest volume of profitable sales. In social marketing, segments are
selected based on a different set of criteria, such as what will produce the
greatest amount of behaviour change. In both cases, however, marketers
seek to gain the greatest returns for their investment of resources.
d) Competitors are very different. The commercial marketer sees
competitors as other organizations offering similar goods and services, or
ones that satisfy similar needs.
Social marketers see the competition as the current or preferred behaviour
of the target audience and the perceived benefits and costs of that
behaviour. This includes any organizations that sell or promote competing
behaviours (such as the tobacco industry).
e. Social marketing is more difficult than commercial marketing.
Consider the financial resources that the competition has available to make
smoking look cool, to promote alcoholic beverages, to glamorize sexual
promiscuity. And consider the challenges faced when trying to influence
people to give up an addictive behavior (stop smoking), resist peer
pressure (be sexually protected), go out of their way (avoid drinking
contaminated water), hear bad news
1.4 Applications of Social Marketing
. Most social marketing efforts are applied to:
Improving public health (e.g. HIV/AIDS, tobacco
use, obesity, teen pregnancy, tuberculosis)
Preventing injuries (e.g., traffic collisions, domestic
violence, senior falls, drowning)
Protecting the environment (e.g., water quality, air
quality, water conservation, habitat protection)
Contributing to communities (e.g., voting, spaying
and neutering pets, volunteering, crime prevention)
1.5. Other Ways to Impact Social Issues
a) Technology.
b) Science. Medical discoveries may eventually
provide inoculations for certain cancers, such as one
recently released for young girls to help prevent
cervical cancer.
c) Improved infrastructures and built
environments.
Clean water became more accessible in some
communities when an entrepreneurial company
came up with a device to replace hand pumps.
d) Schools. School district policies and offerings can
contribute significantly in all social arenas: health
(offering healthier options in school cafeterias and
regularly scheduled physical activity classes), safety
(requiring students to wear ID badges), environmental
protection (providing recycling containers in each
classroom), and community involvement (offering
school gymnasiums for blood donation drives).
e) Education. The line between social marketing and
education is a clear one. Education serves as a useful
tool for the social marketer, but one that does not work
alone.
f) Media. News and entertainment media have a
powerful influence on individual behaviours because
they shape values, are relied on for current events and
trends, and create social norms.
