NMIMS-1-SOCIAL MARKETING.

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL
MARKETING.

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 INTRODUCTION TO
SOCIAL MARKETING.
• The term “Social Marketing” was first introduced in 1971 to describe
the use of Marketing Principles & Techniques to advance a Social
Cause, Idea or Behavior.
• Social Marketing can be defined as the design, implementation and
control of programs seeking to increase the acceptability of a Social
Idea or Cause in a Target Group or Groups. It utilizes concepts of
Market Segmentation, Consumer Research, Concept Development,
Communication, Facilitation, Incentives, and Exchange Theory to
maximize Target Group Response.
• Social Marketing can also be defined as under.
• “ The Social Marketing Concept holds that the organization’s task is to
determine the Needs and Wants and Interests of Target Markets and to
deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than
competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the Consumer’s and
Society’s well being.”

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 Four Basic Approaches To
Social Change.
• One can best understand Social Marketing by seeing it in relationship to the
major approaches to producing Social Change- The Legal, Technological,
Economic and information approaches.
• Consider how these approaches apply to inducing people to reduce their
Cigarette Consumption.
• The Legal approach is to pass Laws that make Cigarette Smoking either
Illegal, costly or difficult.( Ex: Prohibiting smoking in public places)
• The Technological approach is to deliver an innovation that will help people
reduce their smoking or the harm thereof.( Ex: An Anti Smoking Pill, A
Harmless Cigarette.
• The Economic approach is to raise the price or cost of Smoking.( Ex:
Higher Cigarette Taxes, Higher Insurance Rates for Smokers.
• Finally, the Informational approach is to direct Persuasive Information at
Smokers about the Risks of Smoking and advantages of not Smoking.
( Ex:Warning: The Surgeon General has determined that Smoking is
injurious to your Health.”

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 The Emergence And Evolution
Of Social marketing.
• The roots of Social Marketing lie in the Informational approach, in the form of
Social Advertising.
• Many Cause Groups, struck by the apparent effectiveness of Commercial
Advertising, began to consider its potential for changing Public Attitudes and
Behaviors.
• Family Planning Organizations in India, Sri Lanka, Mexico, and several other
countries have sponsored major Advertisement Campaigns attempting to sell
people on the idea of having fewer children.
• Messages on billboards and over Radio tell the Public that they can have higher
standard of living with fewer children( India) or be happier (Sri Lanka)
• Nutrition Groups have also used Advertising extensively to encourage people to
adapt their eating habits.
• Properly designed, these campaigns can influence Attitudes and Behavior, and
by themselves.
• The problem is that all too often these campaigns are the only steps taken to
motivate New Behavior, and by themselves are usually inadequate.

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 The Emergence and Evolution
of Social Marketing.(Cont’d)
• First the message may be inadequately researched( For Ex: Media
Campaigns to encourage people in developing countries to improve
their diets miss the point that many people lack the knowledge of
which foods are more healthy; they may lack money to buy these
goods; and remote areas they may not find certain foods available.
• Second many people screen out the message through selective
perception, distortion and forgetting.
• Mass communications have much less direct influence on behavior
than has been thought, and much of their influence is mediated
through the opinion leadership of the people.
• Third, many people do not know what to do , after their exposure to
the message.
• The message “Stop Smoking-It might kill you” does not help the
Smoker how to handle the urge to Smoke or where to go for help.

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 The Emergence and Evolution
of Social Marketing(Cont’d)
• With the recognition of limitations of Social Advertising, it evolved into broader
approach which is known as “Social Communication”.
• Much of current Social Marketing has moved from a narrow Advertising approach
to a broad Social communication/Promotion approach to achieve its objectives.
• Social Communicators make greater use of personal selling and editorial support to
Mass Advertising.
• Thus, the Family Planning Campaign in India utilizes a network of agents,
including Doctors, Dentists, Nurses etc to “talk up” Family Planning to people with
whom the come in contact.
• Events such as “Family Planning Day” and Family Planning Fairs, together with
buttons, signs and other media get across the message.
• Only recently has Social Marketing begun to replace Social Communications as a
larger paradigm for effecting Social Change.
• Social Marketing adds at least four elements that are missing from a pure Social
Communication approach.These four elements are 1) Sophisticated Market
Research 2) Product Development 3) The use of Incentives. 4) Facilitation.

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 The Emergence and Evolution
of Social Marketing.(Cont’d).
• 1)Sophisticated Market Research.
• This is used to learn about the market and probable effectiveness of alternative
marketing approaches.
• Social Advertising amounts to “A Shot In The Dark”, Unless it is precede by careful
Marketing Research.
• Thus Social Marketers concerned with Smoking would examine the size of Smoking
Market, the major Market Segments, and the behavioral characteristics of each, and
the benefit- cost impact of targeting different segments and designing appropriate
campaigns for each segment.
• 2)Product Development.
• Faced with the problem of getting people to lower their thermostats in winter, a Social
Advertiser/Communicator will see the problem largely as one exhorting people to lower the
thermostat, using patriotic appeals, fuel cost saving appeals or whatever seems
appropriate.
• Wherever possible the Social Marketer does not stick with the existing product and
try to sell it-A sales approach-But searches for the best product to meet the need-a
Marketing Approach.

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 The Emergence and Evolution
of Social Marketing.(Cont’d).
• 4)The Use Of Incentives.
• Social Communicators concentrate on composing messages dramatizing the benefits or
disbenefits of different kinds of behaviors.
• Social Marketers go further and design specific incentives to increase the level of motivation.
• For Ex: Social Marketers have advised public health officials who are running immunization
campaigns in villages to offer small gifts to people who show up for vaccination.
• 5)Facilitation.
• The Social Marketer realizes that people wishing to change their behavior must invest time
and effort, and consider ways and means to make it easier for them to adopt the new
behavior.
• For ex: Smoking cessation classes must be conveniently located and in a professional
manner.
• Marketers are keenly aware of the need to develop convenient and attractive response
channels to compliment the communication channel.
• Thus they are concerned not only with getting people to adopt a new behavior, but also with
finding ways to facilitate maintenance of behavior.

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 The Emergence and Evolution
of Social Marketing.(Cont’d)
• Social Marketing goes beyond Social Advertising & Social Communication
in that it involves all “Four P’s”, not just one. They advise the management,
what product will be acceptable to Target Publics, what incentives will
work best; what distribution system will be optimal; what should be the
right price and what communication program will be effective.
• Who does Social Marketing?
• All organizations including Business Firms as well as Non Profit
Organizations can do Social Marketing.
• Many Social Causes fall under Social Marketing- For Ex: Civil Rights,
Better Nutrition, Better Health Care, Environmental Protection, Family
Planning, Education, Sanitation, Potable Water, Afforestation, Small
Savings, AIDS Awareness and Prevention etc.
• Central and State Governments, Municipal Corporations etc can also carry
out Social Marketing.

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Social Marketing Vs Ordinary
Business Marketing.
• Social Marketing, in contrast to ordinary Business Marketing, is more a Change
Technology, than a Response Technology.
• For Ex: An Anti Cigarette Smoking Group is attempting to get people to stop
doing something they want to do.
• To this extent Social Marketing seems to be based on the Selling Concept rather
than the Marketing Concept.
• Yet the lesson of a Consumer Orientation is not lost on the Social Marketer.
• The Social Marketer tries to understand why smokers smoke, what pleasures
they get, and what difficulties they have in trying to stop Smoking.
• All of this is important in trying to formulate an effective Marketing Plan that
will encourage people to give up Smoking.
• Social Marketing may aim to produce one of the four types of change in a
Target Market.
1) Cognitive Change. 2) Action Change. 3) Behavioral Change. 4) Value Change.

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 Social Marketing Vs Ordinary
Business Marketing.(Cont’d)
• Cognitive Change. The first is a Cognitive Change, that is, a change in Target
Group’s knowledge or understanding of something.
• An example would be campaign to increase the Public’s understanding of
Nutritional Value of different foods.
• Action Change. The second is an Action Change, that is, an effort to get a
Target Market to carry out a special action, such as showing up for a
vaccination or voting in a referendum.
• Behavioral Change. The third is a Behavioral Change, seeking to get Target
Market to change a certain type of Behavior, such as, using a Auto Seat Belt or
giving up Smoking.
• Value Change. The fourth is Value Change, that is, attempting to alter a
Target Group’s deeply felt Beliefs or Values, towards some object or situation.
An example would be to change people’s ideas about Family Planning or
abortion.
• Social Marketing gets progressively more difficult as one goes from trying to
produce a cognitive change to trying to produce a Value Change.

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Certain Special Characteristics
Of Social Marketing.
• Social Marketing is more than Social Communication.
• Social Marketing goes beyond Communication Efforts and incorporates other
elements of the marketing Mix such as Product, Price, and Place to increase
the likelihood of achieving the desired response.
• Social Marketing can be carried out by any Group or Organization. Any
organization with a Cause can approach its task through developing a
Marketing Plan.
• Thus Social Marketing can be said to take place if Proctor& Gamble sponsors
a campaign in a developing nation aimed at encouraging people to take better
care of teeth or Coca Cola sponsors a campaign calling upon people not to
carelessly throw away their used soft drink containers in public places.
• Social Marketing is possible with any side of an Issue.
• The concepts and Techniques making up Social Marketing are available to all
sides of an Issue.
• Pro-Abortion Group and Anti-Abortion Group can both use Social Marketing.

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 Other Strategies Available to
Change Agents.
• Social Marketing is only one of the several Strategies available to
change agents. The other change Strategies are :
1) Violent Action. 2) Legal Action. 3) Social Engineering 4) Social –
Propaganda 5) Social Advertising 6) Economic Action.
• Social Marketing is substantially different in form and content from
Violent Action, Legal Action& Social Propaganda.
• On the other hand, it builds on the idea of Social Engineering, Social
Advertising and Economic Action.
• Social Marketing is not a pure approach, but rather a higher order
integration of the functions of Incentivisation, Facilitation, and
Communication as, applied to the problem of influencing the free and
voluntary Behavior of individuals and groups in an Open Society.
• It represents a democratic change technology that is positioned between
the extremes of force on the one hand and brain washing on the other.

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 Emerging Social Issues in the
Indian Context.
• We are on the brink of Environmental Disaster.
• We find majority of our population facing the problem of Safe Drinking Water.
(Potable Water.)
• We do not have adequate Sanitation Facilities.
• We find Educational Institutions dying.
• We find majority of our population not getting even the minimum Medicare
Facilities.
• We find Small Savers are not evincing interest in the developmental processes.
• We find De- Forestation gaining rapid momentum.
• We find Communication Organizations instrumental in making an invasion on
our culture.
• We find an invasion on our ethical values.
• We find goods manufacturing or services generating organizations instrumental
in endangering Social Interests.
• We find AIDS is spreading like wild fire in India.

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