Social Marketing Social Marketing is the use of

commercial marketing techniques to help a target population acquire a beneficial health behavior.

Becoming more popular in governmental and not-for-profit sector.

Used in:› Family planning› Recruiting blood donors› Smoking prevention in

adolescents

History First started in India in the 1960s to promote

family planning.

In U.S. sociologist G.D. Wiebe, in 1950s first suggested that marketing might be applied to things such as "selling brotherhood" and other social applications.

Was incorporated into the work of Philip Kotler in the late 1960s.

In the 70s and 80s main type of social marketing was marketing of contraceptives.

History

Major advancements were made

in the late 80s and 1990s.

1989 first social marketing textbook

published by Kotler and Roberto.

In 1999, the Social Marketing Institute was

founded in Washington, DC

Social v. Commercial Primary difference between social

marketing and commercial marketing is their objectives.

Social marketing – to benefit the target audience and change behaviors that have social implications.

Commercial vs. Social 

Commercial Social

PurposeMaking Profits Making behavior

change for social cause

Expectations

Modest Demanding; complete eradication of the problem

Distasteful Behaviors

Usually caters to what the public likes

Often addresses what people don’t want to change

BenefitsClear in profits Often invisible

Commercial vs. Social 

Commercial Social

Self-rewards

Usually external Usually internal or self-rewards (weight loss)

BudgetsGenerous Limited

FundingUsually private Usually

government or not-for-profit foundations

Exchange Theory Transfer or transaction of

something valuable between two individuals or groups› Must be voluntary› Benefits must outweigh the costs

Social Marketing Wheel

Planning and Strategy Development

Formative Research› Analysis› Audience Segmentation› Strategy Development

Developing & Pretesting Concepts, Messages &

Materials Identifying appropriate channels Developing effective messages Developing creative strategy Pretest

› Acceptable› Attractive› Appropriate

Implementing the Program

Assessing Effectiveness &Making Refinements

Social Marketing Wheel

Product

Behavior or offering that is intended

for the target audience to adopt.

Types of products

Physical Product › Ex: Condoms

A service › Ex: Mammography

A practice › Ex: Eating 5 fruits or veggies a day

An intangable idea › Ex: Environmental protection

PriceTangible and intangible things that the target audience has to give up in order to adopt the new idea (product).

Tangible= Money

Intangible= Time, effort, giving up an old way

Place

Where the target audience will perform the behavior.

Example: Promote physical activity= TV, newspaper, internet, email, doctors office

(The product should be made available at that particular place.)

Promotion

Mechanism by which one gets the

message across to the target

audience.

Ex: advertisements, contests, press

events for policy change.

Constructs

Publics

Partnerships

Policy

Purse strings

Constructs Continued

Publics: refers to both primary and

secondary audiences involved in the

program.

› Primary audiences is the target audience

to whom the behavior change is targeted.

› Secondary audiences are policy makers

that influence any decision and need to

be involved.

Constructs Continued

Partnerships: refers to collaborating with

multiple individuals or organizations who

work on the same issue.

Policy: refers to creating the

environmental supports needed to

sustain the behavior change.

Constructs Continued

Purse strings: refers to the amount of $$$ available for the campaign.

AlcoholUse/AbuseMeetingInformationAbout the Use and Effects ofAlcohol

Tonight7 p.m.UnionBuilding

Free Food!!!

If You Feed Them Will They Come?

Aim of the study:› To increase

students’ interest in attending an alcohol program focused on reaching students who drink heavily.

Major issue:› How to reach

students who drink heavily and increase the likelihood that they will attend and benefit from programs regarding alcohol use.

Social Marketing In Practice

The Study:› Promoted two

message types, a basic informational and altruistic (concern for others) message.

› Offered different kinds of incentives Pizza and Soda Mocktails No Food

Constructs used› Price – Pizza and

Soda› Place –

Residence Halls› Promotion – How

program was advertised

› Product – Program Offered

The Results Pizza and Soda

resulted in the most reported interest for those receiving an altruistic message as compared with an informational message.

Mocktails; message did not affect interest level.

41.9% indicated the food offered in the advertisement impacted their interest in attending.

Strengths

Extensive

research

Pretesting

Integrating

“marketing mix”

Weaknesses

Focuses on specific groups; leaves out those that

may also need services.

Requires a lot of time for research and pretesting.

Doesn’t involve the community during planning

stages.

Not effective for long term behavior change.

Depends too much on commercial marketing theories

rather than forming its own theoretical reasoning.

Summary Social Marketing focuses on selling

ideas.

Five Steps:

› Planning

› Message and Material Development

› Pretesting

› Implementation

› Evaluation

Summary

First Four “P’s” – Known as

Marketing Mix

› Product (behavior)

› Price (costs and barriers)

› Place

› Promotion

Summary

Last Four “P’s”

› Publics

› Partnership

› Policy

› Purse Strings