3 Basics of Social Marketing

1. Detailed Definition of Social Marketing

A detailed definition of social marketing describes the subject as the use of commercial marketing techniques to enable social change through consumer behavioral change.

This definition implies that social marketing puts the focus on practical behavioral change over attitude adjustment or simply raising awareness. The results of social marketing should always benefit society and individual consumers, rather than benefiting the business or organization first. A social marketing approach is focused on the target audience taking a primary, interactive role in the campaign.

Social marketing looks at each element of the commercial marketing toolkit and considers how it can be applied to the social goals. It also divides large target audiences into small segments which allow for better campaign management. Consumers are the focus of social marketing programs, so the campaign must address cost and benefit from the consumer’s point of view.

2. Designing a Social Marketing Program

Designing a social marketing program involves translating the specifics of the social problem you are addressing into campaign tactics and strategies that will have the highest chance of positively impacting public health behaviors.

Researchers Phil Kotler and Nancy Lee have been leading advocates of the social marketing model and they have developed model outlines of social marketing plans that are gaining a lot of attention in the social marketing world. Their work builds on principles of success that have become a standard in the field.

Their outline for a social marketing program starts with a brief executive summary which highlights the stakeholders, target audience, background and basics of the plan, along with the marketing objectives and desired channels. There should also be a mention of the budget for the plan, the timescale and how the results will be evaluated.

3. Using the 4 P’s of Social Marketing

The 4 P’s of social marketing are price, product, place and promotion. All four should be taken into account when designing social marketing campaigns.

Product can refer to a tangible product or service which can help to promote behavior change. Whether it is a new product or service or an adaption of one which already exists, it’s primary purpose should be to promote positive behavior change in the target audience. Another aspect to focus on is price, and social marketing interventions should specifically try to decrease the costs of positive behavior change to encourage the desired action.

Place refers to where the audience can best be engaged and also when it will be most convenient for them to engage with your campaign. Finally, promotion refers to the use of market research to identify the best promotional channels to get your message across.

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