Social Marketing

What is social marketing?

Use of marketing principles and techniques to

influence a target audience to voluntarily

accept, reject, modify, or abandon a
behaviour for the benefit of individuals,
groups, or society as a whole.
Kotler et al., 2002

What is different from commercial

sector marketing?
Product sold: goods and services vs.

behaviour change
Goal: financial gain vs. individual/societal
gain
Competition: other organisations offering
similar goods vs. current or preferred
behaviour

Social marketing is
not.
just advertising
just communications
an image campaign
done in a vacuum
a quick process

Steps in Social Marketing

Plan
Where are we?
Where do we want to go?
How will we get there?
How will we stay on track?

Steps in Social Marketing Plan

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Define the problem

Select and analyse target audience
Set objectives, goals
Product, price, place, promotion
Evaluation plan
Implementation plan

Step 1 Define the

Problem
Review data sources
Determine campaign purpose
What actions/behaviour change could reduce
the problem)
Who must act to solve the problem?
SWOT analysis
Review current and past efforts

Step 2 Select/Analyze target

audience
Collect and analyze demographic,

socioeconomic, cultural, behavioural data on

target audience
Segment audience
Select target audience(s) - size, reachability,
readiness

Step 2 Select/Analyze target

audience
Competition
Current knowledge, beliefs and behaviours
Perceived benefits and barriers to action

Step 3 Set goals and objectives

What do you want audience to do
Will achieving this goal impact the problem?
Behavioural objectives
Feasibility

Step 4 Apply Marketing Principles

Product

Behaviour, service being exchanged with audience for a

price and benefit

Must compete successfully against benefit of current
behaviour
Fun, easy, popular

Price

Cost to the target audience of changing (financial, time,

effort, lifestyle, etc.)

Place

Channels where products, programs are available

Make accessible, move programs/products to places

audience frequents

Promotion

Communication with audience about product/program,

price and place

Advertising, media relations, events, direct mail,
entertainment, personal selling

5th P
Politics
Stimulate policy that influences voluntary
behaviour change (system and environmental
change)

Step 6 Evaluation Plan

Based on goals and objectives
What will be measured
Process (campaign elements and execution)
Outcome (impact)
How it will be measured
When will it be measured
How results will be reported

Step 7 Implementation
Plan
Who will do what, when, how (how much)

Elements of successful campaigns

(Kotler et al., 2002)

Use what has been done before

Start with target group most ready

for action
Promote clear message
Promote a service to support the
behaviour
Address perceived benefits and costs
Make access easy

Elements of successful campaigns

Develop attention-getting,

motivational messages
Use appropriate media (exploit
audience participation)
Make it easy and convenient for
action (fun, easy, popular)
Allocate resources for effective reach
Allocate resources for research
Track results, adjust

Audience Analysis & Segmentation

Choose most important audience
Analyse those who have adopted the

behaviour and those who have not

Demographic data
Needs, benefits
Barriers
Influencers
Media habits
Membership
Segmentation

References
Kotler, P., Roberto, N, Lee, N. 2002. Social Marketing:

Improving the Quality of Life. Thousand Oaks,CA:Sage

Productions Inc.
Social Marketing National Excellence Collaborative. The
Managers Guide to Social Marketing.
Lagarde, F. 2004. Worksheets to Introduce Some Basic
Concepts of Social Marketing Practices. Social Marketing
Quarterly, 10(1).