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Richard Remedios, 2013 ISSN 2319-345X www.ijmrbs.com Vol. 2, No. 2, April 2013 © 2013 IJMRBS. All Rights Reserved

SOCIAL MARKETING: A NEW PARADIGM IN MARKETING Richard Remedios1*

*Corresponding Author: Richard Remedios,  [email protected]

“Progress is possible, No one can stop it, but obstacle is there, we have to face it.” – Amartya Sen, Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. Social marketing can be applied to promote merits goods, or to make a society avoid demerit goods and thus to promote society’s well being as a whole. Using the benefits and of doing social good to secure and maintain customer engagement. In social marketing the distinguishing feature is therefore its primary focus on social good and not a secondary outcome. Public sector bodies can use standard marketing approaches to improve the promotion of their relevant services and organizational aims, this can be very important, but should not be confused with specific audiences in relation to different topics relevant to social good. Kotler and Andresen 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.” Keywords: Social, Marketing, Promotion, Audience, Marketing mix

INTRODUCTION

set out to ask what it would mean if one applied it to non-economic settings (Elliott, 1991). Social marketing was “born” as a discipline in the 19 70s. 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 Andersen 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

Using the benefits and of doing social good to secure and maintain customer engagement. In social marketing the distinguishing feature is therefore its primary focus on social good and its not a secondary outcome. Not all public sector and non-profit marketing is social marketing. Social marketing began as a formal discipline in 1971, with the publication of “Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change” in the Journal of Marketing by marketing experts Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman. Because Kotler saw marketing as a technology, he and his colleagues 1

SVET Commerce & Management College (Affiliated to Saurashtra University, Rajkot), Saru Section Road, Jamnagar.

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the general society.

3. Research in audience analysis and segmentation strategies.

DEFINITION OF SOCIAL MARKETING

4. The use of formative research in product and message design and the pretesting of these materials.

Social marketing has been defined in many different ways since the original offering by Kotler and Zaltman (1971). Central to most of them is that social marketing is the application of the ideas, processes and practices of the marketing discipline to improve conditions that determine and sustain personal, social and environmental health and well-being. People come to social marketing from different academic and professional backgrounds. This feature of the field, combined with the complex social problems that are tackled with this approach, lead to the incorporation of many different theoretical models and social change perspectives. Examples of this multidisciplinary and eclectic tradition are reflected throughout the materials and case studies available at this site. One simple way of understanding the different influences on social marketing is to refer to social marketing as having ‘two parents’ [NSM Centre, 2006]: (a) a social parent = social sciences / social policy / social reform and campaigning; (b) a marketing parent = commercial and public sector marketing social marketing is constantly evolving from “influencing ideas” as presented by Kotler and Zaltman (1971) to ‘large-scale, broad-based, behavior change focused programs’ offered by Lefebvre and Flora (1988). The essential components of social marketing outlined by Lefebvre and Flora still hold today. They are:

5. An analysis of distribution (or communication) channels. 6. Use of the marketing mix-utilizing and blending product, price, place and promotion characteristics in intervention planning and implementation. 7. A process tracking system with both integrative and control functions. 8. A management process that involves problem analysis, planning, implementation and feedback functions. A definition of social marketing offered by one of its early practitioners, Richard Manoff, suggested that it is more than research, product design and distribution, diffusion of information, or the formulation and implementation of a communication strategy. It may include introduction of a new product (e.g., oral rehydration salts), the modification of existing ones (e.g., iodized salt), restricted consumption of others (e.g., cigarettes, infant formula), and promotion of structural change in existing institutions (e.g., food stamps, hospital practices). Social marketing may be exclusively educational (e.g., restriction of sodium consumption) yet still be obliged to do missionary work with food companies for sodium-reduced products (Manoff, 1985). Indeed, especially in the development community, social marketing has often been defined as the procurement, distribution and promotion of health products (condoms, oral contraceptives, malaria nets for example) for sale at donor subsidized prices. This

1. A consumer-orientation to realize organizational (social) goals. 2. An emphasis on the voluntary exchanges of goods and services between providers and consumers.

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Although multiple definitions of social marketing exist, three common themes were identified by the NSM centre in the preparation of

‘social marketing’ approach has been contrasted with efforts to distribute commodities for free or to offer products at their full costs (plus margins) in the commercial marketplace. One of the most commonly cited definitions is from Andreasen, (1995), positioning social marketing as: “the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution, and evaluation of programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of their society.” It should be noted however that Andreasen has moved on from this definition recognizing that social marketing draws on more than just commercial marketing and while in the history of a developing definition this was useful, thus it has been overtaken by a wider appreciation of different disciplines informing it. Kotler et al. (2002) outline social marketing as the use of marketing principles and techniques to influence a target audience to voluntarily accept, reject, modify, or abandon behavior for the benefit of individuals, groups or society as a whole. Donovan and Henley (2003) define it as the application of the marketing concept, commercial marketing techniques and other social change techniques to achieve individual behavior changes and social structural changes that are consistent with the UN Declaration of Human Rights. In 2006, the National Social Marketing Centre in the UK reviewed the historic development of definitions and descriptions of social marketing and produced an updated and more inclusive definition to recognize the different influences on social marketing: “Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing, alongside other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals, for a social good”.

their working definition. The commonalities between the definitions are as follows: 1. Social marketing as the primary aim of achieving a particular ‘social good’ (rather than a specific commercial benefit), through the use of specific behavioral goals clearly identified and targeted. 2. Social marketing is a systematic process phased to address short, medium and longterm issues. 3. Social marketing utilizes a range of marketing techniques and approaches. Whilst differences exist between the definitions of each other, this is a feature of the dynamic nature of social marketing, and should be seen as an area of debate and discussion that is ongoing to ensure social marketing remains relevant in the social change marketplace.

PURPOSE OF SOCIAL MARKETING Social marketing is used to: •

Establish themes and provide focus/profile for health promotion strategy .

•

Reach many people at same time.

•

Inform public that government is concerned about a specific issue.

•

Main task is to influence behavior change.

A social marketing program has as its core the wants and needs of its consumers. These are determined through market research methods that aim to learn as much about the target

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channels, the program uses to reach the target audience, such as mass media or community. In commercial marketing promotion includes selling, advertising and sales promotion, while in social marketing it is about how the exchange is communicated, and appeals used for doing that. Some social marketers add more P’s to the commercial marketing ones. They add (1) Politics: sometimes politics interfere in government related programs, where they can affect the development or implementation of a campaign. (2) Purse strings: the

audience and how it thinks, feels and behaves in relation to the issue the program is addressing. These methods include quantitative research, such as a Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior (KAB) survey, which reveals how many people think or do something. Qualitative research, on the other hand, provides insight into why people think or do what they do, through techniques such as focus groups and individual interviews.

SOCIAL MARKETING AND COMMERCIAL MARKETING

amount of funding needed or available for the campaign. (3) Partnership: refers to other organi-

There are some important differences between social and commercial marketing. Specifically, in social marketing: (1) the products tend to be more complex. (2) demand is more varied. (3) target groups are more challenging to reach. (4) consumer involvement is more intense. (5) the competition is more subtle and varied. Social marketing is the use of commercial sector marketing concepts and technologies to solve social problems and achieve behavior change. Commercial marketing’s 4 P’s concept (product, price, place and promotion) is often used by social marketers to help them achieve their social marketing goals. In commercial marketing product includes packaging design, branding, trademarks, product life cycles and new product development, while in social marketing it’s about what is the program trying to change in target audience. In commercial marketing price means setting profitable and justifiable costs or values, while in social marketing, it’s about what a consumer must give up in order to receive the program’s benefits. The costs here may be either tangible such as money, time or travel or intangible, like changes in beliefs or habits. In commercial marketing place covers the physical distribution of goods, while in social marketing it means the

zations with similar goals that could be partners. 4) Publics: include audience that need to be involved. (5) Policy: changes in policies that may be needed to create environments that help in adopting and sustaining the proposed behavior. 6) Positioning: stands for considering competing communications when making decisions about the commercial 4 ps. It is always interesting to see developments in (social) marketing theory. Assuming that we in social marketing continue to borrow concepts from commercial marketing, I hope we do not feel obligated to borrow some of the latest, more recent thinking on the P’s. The P’s have been criticized for being too focused on the activities of the entity providing the product/ service; instead we need to focus now on the consumer (and their needs and wants) instead of the product we are trying to promote. So now we have the traditional P’s being replaced by C’s and even more recently by V’s: Product is now replaced by consumer, and more recently by validity; price is now replaced by cost, and more recently by value; place is now replaced by convenience, and more recently by venue; promotion is now replaced by communication, and more recently by vogue.

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SOCIAL MARKETING IN INDIA

ness. Some general Examples (1) Substance abuse: tobacco, alcohol and drugs impaired driving (2) Healthy living: physical activity, nutrition, diabetes prevention and (3) Healthy pregnancy: folic acid, tobacco etc. (4) Children issues: injury prevention, parenting immunization, (5) Communicable diseases: hepatitis C, H1N1, AIDS, (6) Others: healthy environment, organ and tissue donation, blood donation, seniors issues, aboriginal campaigns.

Social marketing approaches have been adopted worldwide. In India, state and local governments and a significant number of non-profit organizations have adopted social marketing as a part of social responsibility. Examples are Social Marketing Strategies and Results Safe Water Project Uttaranchal, India. Lifebuoy “Swasthya Chetna”: Unilever’s Social Marketing Campaign: Swasthya Chetna is not about philanthropy. It’s a

INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL MARKEITNG EFFORTS

marketing program with social benefits. We recognize that the health of our business is totally interconnected with the health of the communities

1. The Nirodh condom project in India was the first nationwide contraceptive social marketing program (1967).

we serve and if we are to grow sales of our brand, we have to increase the number of people who use soap.” Initiating a behavior change it is

2. Health promotion campaigns in the late 1980s began applying social marketing in practice. Notable early developments took place in Australia.

estimated that across the world, diarrhea results in the death of about 3 million children each year. In India, around 600,000 children die every year on account of diarrhea. Diseases like diarrhea

3. Anti-tobacco campaign “Quit” (1988).

also lead to loss of workdays that directly affect labor productivity in rural India.

4. Campaign against skin cancer “Sun Smart” (1988).

OTHER INITIATIVES

5. USAID was one of many agencies that have applied social marketing extensively in their

The handwashing campaign was extended to urban areas in August 2003 with the “Healthy Hindustan” campaign. For this, HLL partnered with McDonald’s Western India across cities like Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Vadodara to educate children about the benefits of handwashing with soap. Tata Tea, along with its creative agency Lowe, is taking forward its immensely popular Jaago Re anti-corruption campaign with an integrated communication approach. Idea Cellular has unveiled its campaign called, “Education for all”, use mobiles, save trees, Walk n Talk”, etc., contribute a lot towards social aware-

strategies. Social Marketing for Change (SOMARC) project was funded by USAID (1980-1998). 6. DFID started funding social marketing programs from 1991: DFID currently uses SM primarily in relation to its health and population development programmes (family planning, HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), and communicable diseases, especially malaria). DFID-funded SM programs are currently operating in over 30 countries.

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accessible and affordable condoms to the low-income segments of the population for HIV/STD prevention.

7. Mass Media and Health Practices Project (Honduras) (1978): Under funding by USAID this was the first major test of social marketing applied to reduction in infant

12. Social Marketing of Bednets (Tanzania) 1997: Funded by the World Bank, Population Service International (PSI) and Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre (IHRDC) have implemented social marketing of insecticide-treated nets in Tanzania as an effective malaria control strategy.

mortality in developing countries to address the growing epidemic of acute diarrhea dehydration in infants. 8. National Breast-feeding program (Brazil) (1981): One of the successes of social marketing methods is that it is remarkable for its

INTERNATIONAL MODELS OF SOCIAL MARKETING (1980’S-1990’S)

broad scope, including activities aimed at protecting (employment legislation, control of marketing of substitutes for mother’s milk), promoting (use of the media, professional

1. The Manufacturer’s Model: Relied to a large extent on an established commercial partner (or supplier), who is provided with incentives (e.g., marketing support) to enter a new market, but who continues to operate as an independent, commercial, for profit player. The manufacturer maintains control over the brand, and is usually responsible for sales and distribution. A manufacturer’s model can have varying degrees of market intervention: large subsidies can support brand building, distribution, product price reduction, etc., over a long period of time; alternatively, temporary brand building and market support with quick transition to independence and subsidy withdrawal can be provided.

training), and supporting breast feeding (mothers’ groups, information material, and direct counseling). 9. “Stop Aids” (Switzerland) (1987): Developed by the Swiss Aids Foundation, this is one of the longest running and most carefully evaluated social marketing programs for AIDS prevention in the world. 10. Condom Social Marketing: In the mid-1980s, Condom Social Marketing (CSM) emerged as an effective tool in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS. Social marketing has been widely used globally to promote the distribution, sale and use of condoms by organi-

2. Product Social Marketing: The traditional product social marketing program involves developing a brand; establishing an incountry management unit; and selling and promoting through the local infrastructure.

zations such as UNAIDS and the World Bank especially in developing countries. 11. Social Marketing for AIDS Prevention (Haiti) 1989: PSI has been active in social marketing for reproductive health and reduction in high-

3. Non-Product Social Marketing: Involves the changing of behavior without a tangible product or service being marketed. These

risk sexual behavior in Haiti since 1989, focusing its efforts principally on providing

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brand). In social marketing, you must know your audience well enough to understand what will motivate them to make changes in their lives. What benefits can you offer to help them over the hump? How can you make it easier for them?

transactions are typically not economic, as in the case of many social marketing program and campaigns Influences behavior to address social issues. Examples of issues: (1) Smoking Domestic violence (2) Child gender issues (3) Corruption (4) HIV/AIDS discrimination.

4. COMPETITION always exists. Your audience can always choose to do something else.

PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL MARKETING

5. Keep “THE FOUR P’s” of Marketing,” and policy, in mind. Social marketing projects need to include detailed distribution and marketing plans and adequate marketing funds to achieve target sales. Project preparation and appraisal should involve a social marketing specialist. Monitoring systems, evaluation methods and performance indicators should be defined at the design stage, and agreed with the implementing agency. They should be capable of measuring the achievement of defined objectives, not simply volume sales. Alternatively, objectives should be limited to those for which achievement can be measured in a cost-effective way. In situations where an intermediary organization is involved in managing a project, its role and inputs should be clearly agreed at the outset.

Social marketing is the use of marketing principles to influence human behavior in order to improve health or benefit society. You don’t have to be a marketing expert to practice social marketing. It does, however, help to understand a few basic marketing principles: 1. Know your AUDIENCE (really!) and put them at the center of every decision you make. Social marketing begins and ends with your target audience. In order to understand why your audience isn’t doing what you want them to do, you must understand what barriers are getting in their way. Understand also that you are not the target audience! 2. It’s about ACTION. The process of heightening awareness, shifting attitudes, and strengthening knowledge is valuable if, and only if, it leads to action. Be clear in what you want your audience to do.

CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL MARKETING

3. There must be an EXCHANGE. If you want someone to give up, or modify, an old behavior or accept a new one, you must offer that person something very appealing in return. In commercial marketing, there are tangible exchanges (give me a $1 and $11 give you a Pepsi) and intangible exchanges (by drinking Pepsi, you’re also receiving everything that goes with the image of the

1. More difficult to change behaviors that are: high involvement (e.g., donating blood, stop smoking,) vs. lower involvement. 2. Continuing (stopping smoking, flossing) vs. one-time only decisions (donating blood). 3. Low situational involvement for most people many people not interested in social and health causes.

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IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS SOCIAL MARKETING

4. Level of perceived consumer efficacy often low even when people aware of a social or health problem they feel helpless and

(1) Social choice theory: social marketing includes social choice. Social choice theory is a theoretical framework for measuring individual interests, values, or welfares as an aggregate towards collective decision. (2) Social coercion: Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner (whether through action or inaction) by the use of threats, intimidation, trickery, or some other form of pressure or force. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way. (3) Contribution dilemma: companies face a dilemma between social contribution and business viability, while people facing dilemma to contribute. (4) Consequentialism refers to those moral theories which hold that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgement about that action or create a structure for judgement. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right action is one that produces a good outcome, or consequence. Example: Global warming. (5) OR preferances: It argues that the human tendency to act in an other-regarding fashion (to sacrifice in order to help or harm others) is far more pervasive, powerful, and important than generally recognized.

ineffective to help solve it (no property right, only use right). 5. Attitude change is difficult and the less palatable the behaviour change, the more difficult it is change. 6. Lack of immediate reinforcement. Often solution to problems depends on collective action of many people reduces sense of selfefficacy.

KEY CHALLENGES 1. Confusion about what is marketing, i.e. advertising/promotion/cost recovery. 2. Concern that Government is in the business of change. 3. Difference between social marketing and: ‘Health education’, ‘Public education’, ‘Strategic Communications‘, ‘Community Outreach’. 4. Issue overload. 5. Many social marketing initiatives are not designed or lead by marketers and tend to be strategic communication/public relations initiatives.

CONCLUSION

6. Political environment and public scrutiny.

It is important to understand that change mostly happens on the “installment plan.” Social marketing is particularly useful in removing barriers that prevent behavior change. Advantages that the audience identifies, which may or may not be directly associated with a behavior. These can be framed as the positive results, feelings, attributes, and so forth that the audience will obtain

7. Marketing in public sector is much different than private sector (Madill article) ?? Uncontrollable factors (tax cuts on alcohol and tobacco, new legislation). 8. Attribution is “tough nut” for social marketers… strategic evaluation.

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from the desired behavior change. Benefits are what you offer to the audience in exchange for the new behavior and can be thought of as “whats in it for them.” “With social marketing, you can have some truly improved outcomes. Because it is evidence based—based on what works—you have more effective use of resources.” Leah Devlin, State Health Director Division of Public Health, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services “If we walk together, a path will emerge.”

5.

Contraceptive Social Marketing India.

6.

Historical Highlights of Social Marketing 1969-2000-Steven W Honeyman Population Services International March-2008.

7.

Phillip Kotler And Geralnd Zaltman (1971), “Social Marketing: An Approach to Palnned Social Change”, Social Marketing Quartelry, Reprinted:Journal of Marketing July, Vol. 35, pp. 3-12.

8.

Social Marketing …New Weapon in an Old Struggle—Jim Mintz ,Director, Marketing and Corporate Communications Division, Health Canada, www.hcsc.gc.ca/socialmarketing.

9.

REFERENCES 1.

The Basics of Social Marketing-Turning Point National Program Office.

2.

www.turningpointprogram.org

3.

Social Marketing-The use of marketing techniques and concepts to market social/ health messages – The Alfred workforce development team, DPMI june 2005.

The Concept of Social Marketing: From Local Development Initiatives to Global Integration - The Example of Health Care in Rural India—Marc Pilkington International Review of Business Research Papers, Vol. 3, No. 5, November 2007, pp. 328-346

4.

Sanitation marketing—W orld social marketing conference-UK-sept-2008.

10. The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability.

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