1. 1 NMIMS-2-Social Marketing. Unique Responsibilities Of Social Marketers.

2. 2 Differences In Social Marketing. Social Marketing differs from other areas of Marketing only with respect to the Objectives of The Marketer and of His or Her Organization. Social Marketing seeks to influence Social Behaviors not to Benefit the Marketer, but to Benefit the Target Adopters and the General Society. Social Marketing Programs, then, by definition, are Generic Marketing Programs carried out to change Behaviors that are in the Individual’s or Society’s Interest. Social Marketers have the following Unique Responsibilities: 1)They Face Intense Public Scrutiny: Since Social Marketers have as their Goal the Improvement of the Target Adopter’s or General Society’s Welfare, it is typical that some sort of Formal or Informal Public Scrutiny is accorded to Marketer’s Performance. This Scrutiny, may be by the Government, a Funding Source, and or General Public as represented by the Press or Academic Research/Critics This Scrutiny, among other effects, makes Risk Taking more difficult in Social Marketing and increases the importance of “Politics” and “ Public Relations” in the Social Marketing Mix.

3. 3 Unique Responsibilities Of Social Marketers. 2)They must meet Extravagant Expectations: In Commercial Markets, Marketers are often given Responsibility for improving Market Shares a few Percentage Points or Launching a New Product or Brand that will yield to a Firm a Reasonable Return on Investment. In Social Marketing, the Challenges may be for Complete Eradication of a Problem or Universal Adoption of some Desirable Behavior. Social Marketers must spend at least some of their time reducing Expectations of Key Oversight Public. 3) They are often asked to Influence Non Existing Demand: Many of the Attitudes and Behaviors Social Marketers are attempting to influence may be entirely New to their Target Adopters. Households who think that Children come “Naturally” or as “Part Of God’s Plan”, Need to Learn that Children are not Inevitable. This must take place long before any Behavioral Change Marketing can be done about Child Spacing, Particular Contraception Methods, Distribution Points and so on.

4. 4 Unique Responsibilities Of Social Marketers (Cont’d). 4)They are often asked to Influence Negative Demand: It is sometimes the case that Social Marketers must attempt to Promote a Behavior for which Target Adopters have a Clear Distaste For example, driving 55 KMPH or Wearing a Seat Belt is restricting to moat people. Exercising is not anticipated Positively by those who have never done it before. Drug or Alcohol Addicts are often afraid to Quit their Habits. Conserving Water, Separating Garbage for Recycling are Behaviors most Consumers would rather avoid. Private Sector Marketers are rarely challenged to Promote a Product or Service that Consumers Consciously or Unconsciously Detest. 5)They Often Target Non- Literate Adopters: Many Social Marketing Programs take place in developing Countries and or with Populations with limited Reading Skills. This restricts the kind of Media and Messages that can be used and creates Major Creative Challenges for Social Marketers. In some Markets, Cartoon Characters are used to achieve Identification among Non Literate Adopters Special Problems are presented, when complex information must be Communicated.

5. 5 Unique Responsibilities Of Social Marketers (Cont’d). 6)They Must Understand Highly Sensitive Issues: Most of the Behaviors that Social Marketers are asked to influence are much more highly involving the most of those found in the Private Sector. Asking a Rural Mother to regularly weigh her Child and Expose the fact that her Family has little Food is more Personal than asking someone to Buy a Maruti Car. One Consequence of this very high level of Involvement is that, it makes hard for Social Marketers to carry out the Customer Research that they stress is essential to their approach. 7)The Behaviors to be Influenced often have Invisible Benefits: Whereas in the Private Sector, it is usually clear what Benefits one is likely to get with a Hilton Hotel Room, or a New Xerox Machine, Social Marketers are often encouraging Behaviors, where nothing happens. Immunization is supposed to Prevent Disease in Future. The Trouble is that the Consumer has difficulty knowing whether Behavior has worked! Often the Consumer who agrees to the Behavior has the Nagging Feeling that same outcome would have occurred if he had not taken the Recommended Course of Action. It is much harder to Market Behaviors without Visible Consequences than Behaviors with them.

6. 6 Unique Responsibilities Of Social Marketers (Cont’d). 8)Behaviors To Be Influenced Often Have Benefits Only To Third Parties: Some Behaviors advocated by Social Marketers have Pay Offs for Third Parties such as Poor People or Society in General and not to the Person undertaking the Behavior. Example: Energy Preservation and Obedience to Speed Laws. It is difficult to Motivate people to take actions, where they do not personally Benefit. 9)The Behaviors Often Involve Self Rewards out of Self Efforts: Commercial Marketers of Products and Services, have Major Control over the Benefits offered to their Consumers. They can manipulate the Qualities of their Offerings and change the Benefit Bundles they provide. However in Social Marketing, Managers often must try to encourage Behaviors like Dieting or Exercise where the Marketer can only hold out Promises. It is Consumer’s own actions that ultimately generate the Benefits. Thus the Nature and Quality of those Benefits are largely out of the Marketer’s Control and very difficult to Manipulate.

7. 7 Unique Responsibilities Of Social Marketers (Cont’d). 10)Behaviors Often Involve Intangibles That Are Difficult To Portray: Because the Consequences of Social Behavior Change are often Invisible, Long Term Self Generated, and or apply only to others, They are much more difficult to Portray in Promotional Messages. Marketers must be highly creative to develop Advertising indicating the Benefits to the Families of something like Growth Monitoring. Because Symbols in Communications became highly central to success, there is often the risk of sending wrong Signals, as when Rural Consumers in developing countries are Alienated by Promotions that seem too Western. 11)Long Term Changes Are Central: Because many of the proposed Behavior Changes are highly involving and or entail Changing Individuals from Negative to Positive Demand, the process for achieving Behavior Change can take a very long time. This will be because a) Often very large amount of Basic Information will have to be communicated. b) Basic Values will have to be changed. c) A great many Opinion Leaders and or Support Agencies will have to be “Brought on Board”. Marketers accustomed to Shorter Term Objectives, such as those found in Consumer Packaged Goods Markets can find the complications and length of time involved in Social Marketing very Frustrating.

8. 8 Unique Responsibilities Of Social Marketers (Cont’d). 12)There Are Fewer Opportunities To Modify: If Business People or Consumers want a Faster, More Flexible Computer, Apple will invent a better Macintosh. If a Commercial Marketer cannot satisfy a Customer with one Product, he or she simply creates another. But if Women want a Diarrhea Remedy that stops the Diarrhea, as well as Dehydration, it does not exist. Years of Research is required to develop such a Product. The Responsiveness of Many Social Marketers to Consumer Demand regarding Health Care is limited by Science. Products such as ORS ( Oral Dehydration Solution), which meets important Public Health Criteria for effectiveness, must be Marketed “Despite Inherent Disadvantages or Obstacles from Consumers point of view. 13)There are Severely Limited Budgets: Traditional Marketers are accustomed to working with relatively generous Budgets to meet a given Challenge or being able to convince Superiors on the Justice of enlarged Budgets and the need to take economic risks to achieve clearly defined Goals. Social Marketers have severely Restricted Budgets partly because there is not enough to go around and partly because of an implicit understanding that a Project that is too well funded is somehow not being Frugal with donated or Tax Payer’s Money. As a Consequence, Social Marketers must spend much time and effort, leveraging their meager Budgets by adding the assistance of Distributors, Advertising Agencies, Broadcast or Print Media, Business Firms, Unions, and so forth to carry out their Programs.

9. 9 Unique Responsibilities Of Social Marketers (Cont’d). 14)Social Marketers Often Need To Work With Those With A Suspicion Of Marketing: Social Marketers almost always work with those trained in other disciplines. It is not uncommon for such Individuals to have a Mistrust of Marketing and, often, of what they see (Negatively) as the “Business Mentality” in general. The Domain Of Social Marketing: It is clear that the outer bounds of Social Marketing’s Legitimate Domain are potentially extremely broad. They comprise any planned effort to influence any human behavior, where Change Agent’s Motives are on balance, more Selfless than Selfish. In practical terms, at any point the real potential Domain is only where members of Society will sanction its application. At present time, for example, most private sector Physicians, many Lawyers, and even a few Politicians do not feel it is “Appropriate” for certain Programs to use Marketing Techniques. To some extent, overcoming these reservations becomes a Social Marketing Task itself. Only when Social Marketing is implemented where it has a clear differential advantage and is implemented with the type of Customer Centered Philosophy, Structure, and Systems, will it come to be seen as one of the Potentially Effective Social Change Techniques.

10. 10 The Domain Of Social Marketing (Cont’d). Types Of Social Behavior Change Programs: Social Marketing aims to produce an Optimal Plan for bringing about Social Change. The fact that the Plan is Optimal, however, does not guarantee that the Target Change will be achieved. It depends on how easy or difficult the Target Social Change is. Some Social Changes are relatively easy to bring about, others are supremely difficult to bring about. Three Major Dimensions determine the difficulty of successfully changing Social Behavior.Here, we need to make a distinction between Exchanges that were: 1)Low Involvement or High Involvement. 2)One Time or Continuing and 3)By Individuals or Groups.

11. 11 A Taxonomy Of Social Behavior Change Programs. Low Involvement. High Involvement. One Time Behavior. Individual Group. Continuing Behavior. Individual. Group. Donating Money to a Charity. Registering to Vote. Signing up Medicaid. Voting for a change in a State Constitution. Not smoking in Elevators. Driving 50 KMPH. Driving on the correct side of the road. Donating Blood. Voting out restrictive membership rules in a Club. Stopping Smoking or Drug intake. Practicing Family Planning. Supporting concept of an all Volunteer Army.

12. 12 Basic Concepts Of Social Marketing. Good Social Marketing begins with a Philosophy deeply rooted in a Customer or Adopter Orientation. However, when developing Specific Programs and Strategies based on this Philosophy, a Social Marketer brings to bear Central Concepts and Processes that further differentiate their specific Orientation. Among these are the following: 1)Exchange is accorded a Central Role: Marketing Management involves influencing Exchanges. Marketers conceive of Decisions Consumers make as choices among alternative Behaviors that vary in the Benefits and Costs they will provide. For each alternative, the Individual is contemplating giving up-that is, exchanging-Costs for Benefits. In Social Marketing Situations, these Exchanges are Complex, Personal, and Anticipatory. 2)There is willingness to change the Offer: A Customer Oriented Social Marketer, while convinced of the desirability of the Behavior being promoted, is Totally Open to the Possibility that many Customers may not agree. If the Automobile Seat Belts offered are really uncomfortable and Consumers are not just using this as an excuse for Personal Bravado, then Seat Belts must be Re-Designed. Many Mothers feel that ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution) can induce Vomiting, and so Two Spoons are enough for a Sick Child. Marketers should Reposition ORS as a Tonic instead of Medicine, so that Mothers give more than Two Spoons.

13. 13 Basic Concepts Of Social Marketing (Cont’d). 3)There is a Focus on Coordinated Programs: Target Adopters fail to respond to a Marketer’s Program, because they see too few Benefits or too many Costs. Usually Truth is a Complex Mixture Effective Marketing therefore requires Coordinated attack on all the Major Benefits and Costs. 4)Market Research is Given a Central Role: Placing Customer Needs and Wants at the Center of Marketing Strategy puts a heavy reliance on the “Listening “ stage of planning. Good Marketers recognize that such Research must be carried out at the very start of the Strategy Development Process to find out where Target Adopters are “Coming From” and then, as Program Elements are put in place ( Ex: Specific Positioning Platforms, Packaging, Advertising and so forth), they must continue to “ check these out” with Target Adopters. Since the Challenge in High Involvement Behaviors is to influence Perceptions, Research must constantly check, what those Perceptions are and how they are being formed/affected. 5)There is a Predilection For Segmentation: Marketers who constantly keep attuned to their Target Adopters are confronted again and again by Market Diversity. As a consequence, they assume Markets almost always must be Segmented with Strategies fine tuned to the Needs and Wants of each Sub Population.

14. 14 Basic Concepts Of Social Marketing (Cont’d). 6)There Is a Bottom Line Orientation: Good Social Marketers are constantly mindful that their Goal is to influence Behavior. They also recognize that they have limited Resources to do so. These two features give them sometimes Brutal Yardstick against which to evaluate many of the things they do and others would like to do: Cost Effectiveness. This Bottom Line Approach means constant attention to Efficiency and Effectiveness. 7)There is a Commitment To Planning: As a part of their sense of Responsibility for the “Bottom Line”, good Social Marketers believe strongly in the need to Reasoned Action. This encourages them to think Systematically through Major Steps they undertake, both in determining Long Range Strategy and in making Tactical Decisions. 8)There is a Willingness to Take “Reasoned Risks”: Social Marketers recognize that they are operating in a Battle Ground for Target Adopter’s Mind and while they attempt to use Research as much as possible to understand where those “Minds” are now and/or how they might respond to a course of action under consideration, they recognize that Minds are imperfectly Knowable. This recognition has two Consequences: First, Marketers realize that some proportion of their actions are going to fail. Good Marketers are rarely immobilized by that prospect, unlike those less accustomed to living with day to day risk.

15. 15 Basic Concepts Of Social Marketing (Cont’d). 8)There Is a Willingness to Take Reasoned Risks (Cont’d): Social Marketers routinely take Reasoned Risks, often incorporating some formal calculations of Inherent Risk into their Decision Making Processes. Second, because they know their Environment is in many ways Unknowable or at least Unpredictable, Good Social Marketers are by nature Experimental. They do not always go ahead and make Major Irrevocable Commitments to “One Best Strategy”. They always have Contingency Plans ready. Group Behavior: Group Behavior is more difficult to Change than Individual Behavior. Social Marketers take the help of Opinion Leaders and Opinion Formers while trying to Change Group Behavior. Opinion Leaders: They are those Individuals, who have the ability to Influence Behavior because of their Perceived Status within their Social Group. Opinion Formers: Unlike Opinion Leaders, Opinion Formers exert Influence over Group Behavior, because of their Actual Authority, Education or Status. Thus Government Ministers, Community Group Leaders, News Paper Editors etc can be viewed as Opinion Formers, who can be targeted by Social Marketers.

16. 16 Cause Related Marketing. Cause Related Marketing is a form of Social Marketing Concept with a slight difference. The Social Marketing Concept calls upon Marketers to build Social and Ethical Considerations into their Marketing Practices. They must Balance and Juggle the often Conflicting Criteria of Company Profits, Consumer Wants, and Public Interest. Yet some Companies like Hindustan Lever, Air Tel, Rallies India, etc have achieved notable Sales and Profits by Adopting and Practicing some Social Marketing Process. These Companies Practice a form of Social Marketing Concept called “Cause Related Marketing”. Pringle and Thomson define this as “ Activity by which a Company with an Image, Product, or Service to Market, Builds a Relationship or Partnership with a CAUSE or a Number Of CAUSES, for Mutual Benefit”. Companies see Cause Related Marketing as an Opportunity to Enhance their Corporate Reputation, Raise Brand Awareness, Increase Customer Loyalty, Build Sales and Increase Press Coverage. They believe that Customers will increasingly look for Demonstrations of Good Corporate Citizenship that go beyond Rational and Emotional Benefits.

17. 17 Project “Shakti” From Hindustan Lever. Examples Of Cause Related Marketing: 1)Project Shakti Launched By Hindustan Lever: This Project Shakti has been Launched by Hindustan Lever in Rural Areas of India. The “CAUSE” is Developing Income creating Capabilities of Underprivileged Rural Women by providing them a Sustainable Enterprise Opportunity and to improve Living Standards through Health and Hygiene Awareness. Typically, a Rural Woman from Self Help Group is selected as “Shakti Entrepreneur” ( Distribution Model). She is trained by Hindustan Lever and given their FMCG Products for Distribution in the Village. She goes from Door to Door and sells these Products to Rural Households and earns Commission on the Sale made by her. On an average she earns Rs 2000’ to Rs 3000” ( Distribution Model). She is trained by Hindustan Lever and given their FMCG Products for Distribution in the Village. She goes from Door to Door and sells these Products to Rural Households and earns Commission on the Sale made by her. On an average she earns Rs 2000’ to Rs 3000/ month. 2)Air Tel Provides Mobile Phones to selected Rural Women to use it as PCO for Rural People and earns a decent Commission.