Topic: Social Marketing
(Nutrition Education and Awareness)
Social Marketing
Definition
“The term often refers to a systematic planning process that
focuses on consumer behavior (understanding the target group’s
values, attitudes, barriers, and incentives to change), developing
clear messages, designing interventions, implementing them, and
evaluating results on a continual basis. It also refers to a particular
conceptual framework about how to bring about behavior change.”
The definitions have in common the notion that social marketing is a set
of systematic procedures to promote personal and societal welfare.
The following subsections first describe the conceptual framework and
then the social marketing process.
Conceptual Framework
Social marketing is based on the following set of considerations (Kotler
& Zaltman 1971; Lefebvre & Flora 1988; Kotler & Roberto 1989;
Andreasen 1995; Rothschild 1999; Alcay & Bell 2000; Kotler & Lee
2008):
Social marketing is applied to causes that are considered to be
beneficial to both individuals and society.
It seeks to promote the voluntary behavior of intended audiences so as
to reduce risk or enhance health, not simply to increase awareness or
alter attitudes.
It does so by offering intended audience members reinforcing incentives
and/or consequences in an environment that invites voluntary change or
exchange.
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, Social marketing is tailored to the unique perspectives, needs, and
experiences of the intended audience with input from representatives of
that audience.
Social marketing strives to create conditions in the social structure that
facilitate the behavioral changes promoted.
Social marketing uses the processes and concepts of marketing.
Key Elements in Planning Social Marketing
The social marketing planning process systematically addresses the five
Ps of the “marketing mix” considered by commercial marketers (Alcay
& Bell 2000; Maibech, Rothschild, & Novelli 2002; Kotler & Lee
2008).
Product
Product refers to what is exchanged with the intended audience for a
price. The product may not be a tangible item but a service, practice, or
intangible idea such as health. For the product to be “buyable,” people
must first perceive that they have a problem and that the product being
offered is a good solution. Here, formative research is important to
unveil consumers’ perceptions about the problem and how strongly they
feel that they can do something to solve the problem. Thus, products are
desired behaviors, benefits of these behaviors, and any tangible objects
and services offered to support the behaviors.
Price
Price refers to the barriers or costs to the consumer associated with
obtaining the product, such as adopting the desired behavior, and any
monetary and nonmonetary incentives, recognition, and rewards used to
reduce the costs. Costs can include the economic costs of eating more
fruits and vegetables as well as the inconvenience and increased time
involved in the preparation of healthful foods, or perhaps the
psychological costs of learning new ways of eating. Social marketing
recognizes that decisions to act are based on considerations of both
benefits and costs. Individuals ask themselves, “What will I gain if I
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