The Role of Social Marketing Marisol Barrientos

Definition of Social Marketing…  “Social Marketing is the design, implantation, and control of programs calculated to influence the acceptability of social ideas involving considerations of product planning, pricing, communication, distribution and marketing research.” Kotler and Zaltman, 1971

What is Social Marketing?  An approach used to develop activities aimed at changing or maintaining people’s behavior for the benefit of individuals and society as a whole.

What is Social Marketing? Uses traditional marketing principles and techniques:  Focuses on the consumer (audience-centered)  Marketing research  Segmentation  Defined objectives/goals  Exchange theory  Marketing mix: product, price, place, & promotion  Evaluation

Social Marketing… Is About:  Adoption of ideas or behaviors  For social good  Population of individual level behavior change  The adoption of commercial marketing techniques  Voluntary behavior change Is NOT About:  Social Networking/Media  Advocacy  Not-for-profit marketing  Cause-related marketing  Advertising and communication  Health promotion/education

Steps in Social Marketing Plan…  Define the problem  Select and analyze target audience  Set objectives and goals  Marketing mix: product, price, place, & promotion  Evaluation plan  Implementation plan

Applying Marketing Principles Product  Behavior, service, product being exchanged with the target audience for a price and benefit  Behavior, service, product must compete successfully against the benefit of the current behavior Price  Cost to the target audience of changing behavior  Can be financial, or more often related to other “costs” effort lifestyle time psychological cost

Place  Channels through which products or programs are available (access)  Move programs or products to places that the audience frequents, in order to ease access Promotion  Communicating to the audience about product/program, price, and place variables advertising media relations events personal selling entertainment direct mail

Politics  Stimulate policy/rules that influence voluntary behavior change systems and environmental change factors  Not policies that punish “bad” behaviors

Additional 4 P’s in Social Marketing:  Publics: Refers to both the external and internal groups involved in the program. External publics include the target audience, secondary audiences, policymakers, and gatekeepers, while the internal publics are those who are involved in some way with either approval or implementation of the program.  Partnerships: Team up with other organizations in the community to really be effective.  Policy: Campaigns could do well in stimulating individual behavior change, but for sustainability, environmental change is necessary.  Purse Strings: Organizations that operate through funds provided by sources such as foundations, governmental grants or donations.

Elements of Successful Campaigns (Kotler, 2002)  Use what has been done before  Start with target group most ready for action  Promote a service to support the behavior  Make access easy  Develop attention-getting, motivational messages  Make it easy & convenient for action  Allocate resources for effective reach & research  Track results & adjust

4 P’s Implications:  New or improved offering to make it more attractive and easy  Ways of making it less costly or time consuming  Ways to reduce barriers and improve access  Messages, channels, and messengers

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