Mediaboss Marketing

Social marketing seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviors that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good. It seeks to integrate research, best practice, theory, audience and partnership insight, to inform the delivery of competition sensitive and segmented social change programs that are effective, efficient, equitable and sustainable.[1]

Although "social marketing" is sometimes seen only as using standard commercial marketing practices to achieve non-commercial goals, this is an oversimplification. The primary aim of social marketing is "social good", while in "commercial marketing" the aim is primarily "financial". This does not mean that commercial marketers can not contribute to achievement of social good.

Increasingly, social marketing is being described as having "two parents"a "social parent", including social science and social policy approaches, and a "marketing parent", including commercial and public sector marketing approaches.[2]

The first documented evidence of the deliberate use of marketing to address a social issue was by the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, India. The authors proposed, and subsequently implemented, a national family planning program that included high quality condoms with a government trademark be distributed and sold throughout the country at a low cost, that an intense consumer advertising campaign be run with active and open promotion at the point of sale, that retailers be trained to sell the product aggressively, and that a new organization be created with the responsibility of implementing the program.[3] In developing countries, the use of social marketing expanded to HIV prevention, control of childhood diarrhea (through the use of oral re-hydration therapies), malaria control and treatment, point-of-use water sanitation methods and the provision of basic health services.[4]

Health promotion campaigns began applying social marketing in practice in the 1980s. In the United States, The National High Blood Pressure Education Program [5] and the community heart disease prevention studies in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and at Stanford University [6] demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach to address population-based risk factor behavior change. Notable early developments also took place in Australia. These included the Victoria Cancer Council developing its anti-tobacco campaign "Quit" (1988) and "SunSmart" (1988), its campaign against skin cancer which had the slogan "Slip! Slop! Slap!"[7]

Since the 1980s, the field has rapidly expanded around the world to include active living communities, disaster preparedness and response, ecosystem and species conservation, environmental issues, development of volunteer or indigenous workforce's, financial literacy, global threats of antibiotic resistance, government corruption, improving the quality of health care, injury prevention, landowner education, marine conservation and ocean sustainability, patient-centered health care, reducing health disparities, sanitation demand, sustainable consumption, transportation demand management, water treatment systems and youth gambling problems, among other social needs (See [8][9]).

On a wider front, by 2007, government in the United Kingdom announced the development of its first social marketing strategy for all aspects of health.[10] In 2010, the US national health objectives [11] included increasing the number of state health departments that report using social marketing in health promotion and disease prevention programs and increasing the number of schools of public health that offer courses and workforce development activities in social marketing.

Two other public health applications include the CDC's CDCynergy training and software application[12] and SMART (Social Marketing and Assessment Response Tool) in the U.S.[13]

Social marketing theory and practice has been progressed in several countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and in the latter a number of key government policy papers have adopted a strategic social marketing approach. Publications such as "Choosing Health" in 2004,[10] "It's our health!" in 2006 and "Health Challenge England" in 2006, represent steps to achieve a strategic and operational use of social marketing. In India, AIDS controlling programs are largely using social marketing and social workers are largely working for it. Most of the social workers are professionally trained for this task.[citation needed]

A variation of social marketing has emerged as a systematic way to foster more sustainable behavior. Referred to as community-based social marketing (CBSM) by Canadian environmental psychologist Doug McKenzie-Mohr, CBSM strives to change the behavior of communities to reduce their impact on the environment.[14] Realizing that simply providing information is usually not sufficient to initiate behavior change, CBSM uses tools and findings from social psychology to discover the perceived barriers to behavior change and ways of overcoming these barriers. Among the tools and techniques used by CBSM are focus groups and surveys (to discover barriers) and commitments, prompts, social norms, social diffusion, feedback and incentives (to change behavior). The tools of CBSM have been used to foster sustainable behavior in many areas, including energy conservation,[15] environmental regulation [16] and recycling.[17]

See original here:
Social marketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What is Social Marketing?

by Nedra Kline Weinreich

The health communications field has been rapidly changing over the past two decades. It has evolved from a one-dimensional reliance on public service announcements to a more sophisticated approach which draws from successful techniques used by commercial marketers, termed "social marketing." Rather than dictating the way that information is to be conveyed from the top-down, public health professionals are learning to listen to the needs and desires of the target audience themselves, and building the program from there. This focus on the "consumer" involves in-depth research and constant re-evaluation of every aspect of the program. In fact, research and evaluation together form the very cornerstone of the social marketing process.

Social marketing was "born" as a discipline in the 1970s, when Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman realized that the same marketing principles that were being used to sell products to consumers could be used to "sell" ideas, attitudes and behaviors. Kotler and Andreasen define social marketing as "differing from other areas of marketing only with respect to the objectives of the marketer and his or her organization. Social marketing seeks to influence social behaviors not to benefit the marketer, but to benefit the target audience and the general society." This technique has been used extensively in international health programs, especially for contraceptives and oral rehydration therapy (ORT), and is being used with more frequency in the United States for such diverse topics as drug abuse, heart disease and organ donation.

Like commercial marketing, the primary focus is on the consumer--on learning what people want and need rather than trying to persuade them to buy what we happen to be producing. Marketing talks to the consumer, not about the product. The planning process takes this consumer focus into account by addressing the elements of the "marketing mix." This refers to decisions about 1) the conception of a Product, 2) Price, 3) distribution (Place), and 4) Promotion. These are often called the "Four Ps" of marketing. Social marketing also adds a few more "P's." At the end is an example of the marketing mix.

Product

The social marketing "product" is not necessarily a physical offering. A continuum of products exists, ranging from tangible, physical products (e.g., condoms), to services (e.g., medical exams), practices (e.g., breastfeeding, ORT or eating a heart-healthy diet) and finally, more intangible ideas (e.g., environmental protection). In order to have a viable product, people must first perceive that they have a genuine problem, and that the product offering is a good solution for that problem. The role of research here is to discover the consumers' perceptions of the problem and the product, and to determine how important they feel it is to take action against the problem.

Price

"Price" refers to what the consumer must do in order to obtain the social marketing product. This cost may be monetary, or it may instead require the consumer to give up intangibles, such as time or effort, or to risk embarrassment and disapproval. If the costs outweigh the benefits for an individual, the perceived value of the offering will be low and it will be unlikely to be adopted. However, if the benefits are perceived as greater than their costs, chances of trial and adoption of the product is much greater.

Read the original here:
What Is Social Marketing?

The health and social communications field has been rapidly changing over the past two decades. It has evolved from a one-dimensional reliance on public service announcements to a more sophisticated approach which draws from successful techniques used by commercial marketers, termed "social marketing." Rather than dictating the way that information is to be conveyed from the top-down, public health professionals are learning to listen to the needs and desires of the target audience themselves, and building the program from there. This focus on the "consumer" involves in-depth research and constant re-evaluation of every aspect of the program. In fact, research and evaluation together form the very cornerstone of the social marketing process.

Social marketing was "born" as a discipline in the 1970s, when Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman realized that the same marketing principles that were being used to sell products to consumers could be used to "sell" ideas, attitudes and behaviors. Kotler and Andreasen define social marketing as "differing from other areas of marketing only with respect to the objectives of the marketer and his or her organization. Social marketing seeks to influence social behaviors not to benefit the marketer, but to benefit the target audience and the general society." This technique has been used extensively in international health programs, and is being used with more frequency in the United States at the national, state and local levels for such diverse topics as drug abuse, exercise and human trafficking.

Excerpt from:
Social Marketing - Squidoo

The embrace of social marketing around the world as a way to address wicked problems is certainly welcomed. However, there is a pressing need to establish competency standards for the field. For example, in the US there is the call for schools of public health to offer courses and workforce development activities in social marketing, as well as for more State health departments to apply social marketing in their health promotion and disease prevention programs (Healthy People 2020).

If we are to meet the demand for more people to address wicked problems and create innovations for social change, we might be well served to understand what a social marketer actually looks, sounds and acts like. The current system (if I can call it that) for education includes a growing number of colleges and universities that may offer a course in social marketing, an array of one-off social marketing workshops and training programs and a growing number of global, national and local conferences. PSI and Rare, international NGOs, have established their own training programs to educate staff in social marketing concepts and methods.

There is the desire by many social marketers to generate a set of social marketing competencies that can guide academics in designing appropriate education and training experiences in social marketing; help prospective students and professionals identify opportunities that will provide them with the information and skills they want; and assure prospective employers and funding agencies whether the people or agencies they are considering for hire possess the skills and knowledge competencies they are searching for.

Fourali (2009) described the process of developing best practice standards for social marketing in the United Kingdom by the Marketing and Sales Standards Setting Board (MSSSB). The process for developing the standards included four steps:

The best practices were organized into five key functions with subcompetencies (from the MSSSB Social Marketing Functional Map, 2008; click on image to enlarge).

Carry out social marketing research

1. Plan, manage, and evaluate social marketing research programs

2. Collect data on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of priority groups

3. Develop understanding of theories and evidence about what might influence the behavior of priority groups

4. Analyze, interpret, and synthesize data and research findings to inform social marketing strategy

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On Social Marketing and Social Change

(PRWEB) December 12, 2013

topseos.mx, an independent research firm, has named the ratings of the 10 top social media marketing firms in Mexico for the month of December 2013. The ratings are disclosed on a monthly basis to determine the top firms based on their strength and competitive advantages. Businesses scouring for an competent social media marketing agency access the ratings online to find firms which have been disclosed by an independent research firm.

To view the ratings of the best social media marketing firms in Mexico, click here.

While many social media marketing agencies in Mexico are considered for the in-depth evaluation process each month, only the top agencies are highlighted in the listings. The rankings are revised each month in order to account for the latest developments and achievements of competing social media marketing agencies in areas most commonly associated with successful social media marketing services. The five areas of evaluation used to determine the best agencies include consultation, methodology, reach, brand management, and timeliness.

ABOUT topseos.mx

topseos.mx is an established independent research firm in Mexico focusing on the investigation and rankings of online marketing services all around the world. The rankings are crafted by the independent research team each month to showcase the top social media marketing services based on their performance and their rating achieved through the proprietary investigation process.

Social media marketing companies interested in being evaluated and issued can visit:

http://topseos.news-prs.com/mx/apply-for-rankings.

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Ten Top Social Media Marketing Firms in Mexico Promoted in December 2013 by topseos.mx