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SOCIAL MARKETING

What is Social Marketing?

Introduced by Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman in 1971, combines


traditional approaches to social change with commercial marketing and
advertising techniques.

They defined social marketing as-

- the design, implementation and control of programs aimed


at increasing the acceptability of a social idea or practice in
one or more group of target adopters.

To this end, it makes use of methods from the commercial sector, such as:

- setting measurable objectives


- doing market research
- developing products and services that correspond to genuine
needs
- creating demand through advertising
- and finally marketing through a network of outlets
- at prices that make it possible to achieve the sales objective.

Social Marketing is a strategy for changing behavior. It combines -

- elements of the traditional approaches to social change


- in an integrated planning and action frame-work
- and utilizes advances in commercial technology and marketing
skills

Social Marketing could also be distinctly described as the planning and


implementation of programs designed to bring about social change
using concepts of commercial marketing and advertising.

The difference between commercial and social marketing thus lies not in
the methods they use but in their content and objectives.

Social Marketing is a somewhat more complex concept, however, and


sometimes also less effective than its commercial counterpart, since it
aims to influence people's ideas and behavior, for example, to make
them give up smoking.

Moreover, marketing social products with a tangible base is even more


complex, as demand has to be created for the idea or product concept,
such as family planning, as well as for the tools, such as condoms.

Commercial Marketing, in contrast, simply tries to steer existing


patterns of thought and behavior in a certain direction - convincing
consumers that a certain brand of toothpaste is superior, for instance,
rather than that it is important to brush the teeth regularly.

Social marketing also utilizes other concepts such as-

- Market segmentation
- Consumer research
- Product concept development
- Testing
- Directed communication
- Facilitation
- Incentives
- Exchange theory to maximize the target adopter's response.

What are the key concepts of marketing?

1. Action - influencing action is the ultimate objective of marketing.

2. Target audience - will undertake some action, when they believe that
the benefits they receive will be greater than the costs they incur.

3. Exchange is critical - programs to influence action will be more


effective if based on understanding of the target audience's own
perception of proposed exchange.

4. Segment Markets - target audiences perceptions are seldom uniform.


Marketing efforts therefore have to be partitioned into segments.

5. Use of all 4 P's-

Product-package of benefits or create an enticing product


Price-the target audience believes it must pay in exchange

Place- make the exchange and opportunities to exchange available


to places that reach the audience.

Promotion-the exchange opportunity with creativity and through


channels and tactics that maximize desired results.

6. Competition - must be understood and addressed with reference to


recommended behavior of target audience.

7. Monitor and be flexible with constantly changing market place,


program effect should be monitored and be prepared for rapidly
altering of strategies and tactics.

The goal of social marketing is change of adverse ideas/practice and


behavior or adoption of new ideas/practice.

Ideas/practice/behavior are social products.

There are 3 types of social products-

Beliefs
Idea Attitude

Value
Act
Social Product Practice
Behavior

Tangible object

I Idea may take the form -

Belief is a perception held about a factual matter. It does not include


evaluation. Beliefs range from –
- general world views, like views of religion
- culture specific notions like dowry system
- identification with a group like say employees of the Novartis
foundation
- persons self image like eg: Ms. Menaka Gandhi is a animal
activist.

Attitudes are positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, ideas or


events. e.g., the expression used in the family planning programs,
"planned babies are better cared for than babies from accidental
pregnancies".

Values are overall ideas of what is right and wrong e.g., human rights
promoted by governments, NGOs etc.

II Practice may be the occurrence of an

Act – a single act such as showing up for a vaccination program or


turning out for a vote.

Behavior – the establishment of a pattern or altered pattern such as


quitting smoking or using condoms.

III Tangible object is the tangible product base and therefore refers to
physical products that may accompany a campaign - such as
contraceptive pill or condoms distributed in a family planning campaign
or safety belt for marketing defensive planning campaigns.

Social Marketers promote ideas as well as social practices; the ultimate aim
is to change behavior e.g. the purpose of a nutritional campaign is not only
help consumers know about better nutrition, but to change their eating
habits.

Social marketing is built around the knowledge gained from business


practices like -

- the setting of measurable objectives


- understanding customer needs
- targeting products to specialized groups of consumers etc.
TARGET ADOPTERS
Social Marketing aims to target one or more group of target adopters and
therefore needs to distinguish such segments of markets like e.g., a family
planning program that wants to distribute contraceptive devices

There are numerous groups that are definable by way of age, socio economic
status, family size, geographic location etc. e.g. In USA one group could be
single white women who want to practice birth control; the other group
could be Hispanic married women who do not want more children.

Therefore social marketing requires knowledge of each target adopter group,


which includes -

1. Socio-demographic characteristics; these are external attributes like


social class, income, education, age, family size.

2. Psychological profile; these are internal attributes such as attitudes,


values, motivation and personality.

3. Behavioral characteristics which are patterns of behavior like buying


habits, decision making characteristics.

Based on the above information a social marketer can make more accurate
predictions of the target adopters.

However for a program to be successful social marketers will also have to


identify influence holding groups –

- There are groups who can influence or affect a programs success/


failure.

- The aim is to neutralize opposition and gain support of influential


for the program.

These groups can be classified as -

1. Permission granting group - such as regulatory bodies, whose


permission/legal sanction/authorization may be required for a
particular program.
2. Support groups such as physicians and other medical staff required
for contraceptive distribution program.

3. Opposition groups could be religious groups.

4. Evaluation groups such as legislative committees who generally


conduct post-evaluation.

An effective social marketing program therefore requires

1. Knowledge of the characteristics of each influence holding group.

2. Addressing the needs of each group through/with an appropriate


marketing strategy.

To do so effectively we need to develop a Social Marketing Plan.

Social Marketers will have to develop an integrated social marketing plan


whose mix of elements is coherent and appealing to the target adopters.

It is not sufficient to develop each element of the marketing mix


separately. Putting together dissimilar elements will not necessarily result
in an optimal plan for a social change campaign.

One marketing element or phrase may be incompatible with others when


combined in a mix. For example low pricing may be incompatible with
high-quality positioning, meager advertising expenditures may be
incompatible with high-quality positioning, and intensive sales-
promotion efforts may be incompatible with social-product positioning.

Ultimately, adoptions of a social product will depend on an optimal mix


of elements, rather than on the discrete separate elements themselves.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A SOCIAL MAREKTING PLAN

Social marketers will plan a campaign and establish its objectives


systematically, comprehensively, and deliberately, in writing and with a
purpose. A marketing plan establishes standards for implementing a
campaign and evaluating its outcomes.
Parts of the Plan

A marketing plan has several parts –

- an executive summary,
- assessment of the current social marketing situation,
- identification of opportunities and threats,
- objectives for the social product,
- proposed social marketing strategies,
- action programs, budgets and controls, etc.

A social marketing plan begins with a brief summary of the principal


goals and recommendations in the plan (the executive summary). A table
of contents is included to identify the plan's major elements. The
executive summary is useful to the staff of the social marketing
campaign, as well as to influence groups and benefactors, because it
allows them to grasp its main thrust quickly.

The plan's first section describes the target-adopter population and its
segments and the social product's position in those segments. This
information includes (1) the profile of the target adopters, (2) a review of
the social product (3) an assessment of alternative sources that could
satisfy the target adopters' needs, and (4) a scan of the environment.

The profile of the target adopters characterizes the target –adopter


population and its segments, measuring their sizes with available social-
demographic data. Use is made of an up-to-date awareness, knowledge,
attitude, and practice survey, which indicate the status of the target-
adopter population in relation to desired responses from the segmented
target-adopter group.

The review of the social product is an inventory of the social product's


past performance and its impact on target-adopter markets. This section
analyses the needs of each segment of the target-adopter population that
the social product aims to satisfy.

The assessment of alternative sources of satisfaction for the target-


adopter's needs, is a marketing plan that not only identifies these
principal alternative sources but examines the appeal of substitute
products to the target-adopter segments.
In the scan of the environment, the key demographic, economic, physical,
technological, political/legal, and socio-cultural environmental forces that
affect the social product are assessed. The scan's function is strategic
selectivity, rather than comprehensiveness, that is, the identification of
one, or two critical environmental forces that affect the social product's
marketing.

The plan also includes an assessment of opportunities and threats among


which priorities must be set. Social marketers will take advantage of the
highest priorities, monitor the median priorities, and discard the lowest
priorities. Opportunities and threats that are the highest priorities define
the critical social marketing issues.

Assessing, opportunities and providing contingency plans for threats


poses an early test of a campaign's capabilities and resources. The
assessment will have to answer the following questions:

1. How can each major opportunity be used to advantage in terms of


staff, money, materials, activities, and time?
2. How can each threat be countered in terms of staff, money, materials,
activities, and time?
3. Does the campaign have the required resources? Can resources be
obtained in a reasonable time and at a reasonable cost?

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