Mediaboss Marketing

Posted By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab on 4 Oct, 2021

Social marketingis the branch of marketing that aims to promote social causes or general interest. Social marketing will notably play on thesocial valuesof targets to convince them. Philip Kotler summarized the challenge in the title of hisbookpublished in 2008: social marketing: changing behavior to do good.

The term social marketing wascoinedby Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman in 1971. At the time, it was used to describe marketing actions that could change social behavior.

Social marketing should not be confused with social advertising or even social communication. In the words of Kotler and Zaltman:

Social marketing is the design, implementation, and monitoring of programs designed to influence the acceptability of social ideas and that embeds planning, pricing, communication, distribution, and marketing research considerations.

Logically, Kotler and Zaltman developed the concept of social marketing in 1971 according to McCarthys 4Ps (for more information, see our article on the marketing mix).

In a classical business framework,market researchis conducted, a product is developed to meet the targets needs, and then marketed. This ad hoc development dimension also exists in social marketing but is not limited to a specific product. Selling the social idea (dont drink and drive, respect speed limits, sort your waste) requires that different products be developed to make the actions possible. In the case of prevention against drink-driving, we must amend specific laws to increase the penalties incurred. We must adapt insurers policies, develop vehicle starting mechanisms coupled with a breathalyzer, and introduce disposable breathalyzers to the market.

Promotion is also a central aspect. It is not limited to traditional advertising. All channels can be used to sell the social idea. To take the previous example of the fight against drink-driving, Belgium offers an excellent example of successful promotion with its Bob campaign. Launched in 1995, it has been adopted by 17 European countries. It is available in various ways: radio, poster campaigns, animations, awareness-raising during controls by the police. At each touchpoint, the famous Bob key ring is handed out to extend the communication effort and materialize the individuals commitment to the social cause.

For social marketing to be effective, you have to empower the targets to act. This is where the problem often lies. While the product is well-designated and the marketing is well-thought-out, the target and its desire to serve are entirely forgotten. The question to be answered here is: What do I need to do to get the individual to take action? For example, if you want to promote waste sorting, what do you need to put in place to enable everyone to take action?

In theory, the price is zero for the individuals targeted by social marketing. But every action has a cost, and the idea here is to reduce it as much as possible to encourage the individual to practice his good resolutions. A good example is an implementation of donation boxes in airports. Their presence in places where people are captive and non-exchangeable coins in their pockets is a perfect combination to lower the cost of participation.

Alcohol abuse and tobacco consumption are societal scourges. As such, they are fought against by society, notably by applying a socially oriented pricing strategy. The sale of tobacco is thus burdened with high taxes to dissuade smokers, and alcohol is subject to an additional levy in the form of excise taxes.

As Kotler and Zaltman (1971) point out:

The art of selling cigarettes [] may have some bearing on the art of selling social causes.

As provocative as it sounds, this statement is, in fact, not far from the truth. The tobacco industry has implemented a marketing strategy specifically aimed at women seeking emancipation. Theadvertisements, an integral part of themarketing mix, perfectly reflected this objective. Women started smoking because of the use of social marketing techniques. As early as 1929, they were convinced that tobacco would allow them to emancipate themselves and serve feminist interests. The publicist Edward Bernays is at the origin of the operation Torches of Freedom, which will make the cigarette pass as socially acceptable among women.

Below are a few diverse examples to illustrate the concept of social marketing.

Bernays, E. L., & Bazon, I. (2012). Propaganda (1928). Alexandria Publishing House.

Kotler, Philip, and Nancy Lee. Social marketing: Influencing behaviors for good. Sage, 2008.

Kotler, Philip, and Gerald Zaltman. Social marketing: an approach to planned social change. Journal of marketing 35.3 (1971): 3-12.

Originally posted here:
Social Marketing: Definition, Implementation, Examples [Guide 2021]