Social marketing, not to be confused with social media marketing, is the use and integration of marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviour to benefit individuals and society as a whole. It is sometimes referred to as the marketing practice to achieve non-commercial goals - the primary aim is "social good" and not "financial gains".
The concept, developed in the 1970s, was born out of the idea that if marketing could be used to sell products, then why not use it to "sell" ideas, behaviours, and attitudes. Besides the core elements of the marketing mix, i.e; Product, Price, Place, and Promotion, social marketing adds a few more - Public, Partnership, Policy, and Purse Strings.
Social marketing is particularly popular in healthcare - marketing campaigns which emphasize on a healthy lifestyle fall under this category. The concern for the health of consumers becomes the prime motive behind the marketing campaign. Some examples may include campaigns around breast cancer screenings, AIDS awareness campaigns, suicide prevention. Another segment where Social Marketing is implemented widely is with charitable organizations, where they use viral marketing and social media campaigns as a tool to drive traffic to their websites, raise awareness and generate donations.
A powerful example of a social marketing campaign is by Amnesty International. Their ‘Stop Torture’ campaign in Belgium featured a series of well-known faces to drive home the message “Torture a man and he will tell you anything”. The following image shows a battered Iggy Pop admitting that Justin Bieber is the future of Rock n’ Roll. The idea behind the campaign was to show that if you torture people, they will admit to almost anything to make it stop.
Social marketing strategies are essentially the same as those used to sell products to consumers, however, in this case the product is a better society.
The concept, developed in the 1970s, was born out of the idea that if marketing could be used to sell products, then why not use it to "sell" ideas, behaviours, and attitudes. Besides the core elements of the marketing mix, i.e; Product, Price, Place, and Promotion, social marketing adds a few more - Public, Partnership, Policy, and Purse Strings.
Social marketing is particularly popular in healthcare - marketing campaigns which emphasize on a healthy lifestyle fall under this category. The concern for the health of consumers becomes the prime motive behind the marketing campaign. Some examples may include campaigns around breast cancer screenings, AIDS awareness campaigns, suicide prevention. Another segment where Social Marketing is implemented widely is with charitable organizations, where they use viral marketing and social media campaigns as a tool to drive traffic to their websites, raise awareness and generate donations.
A powerful example of a social marketing campaign is by Amnesty International. Their ‘Stop Torture’ campaign in Belgium featured a series of well-known faces to drive home the message “Torture a man and he will tell you anything”. The following image shows a battered Iggy Pop admitting that Justin Bieber is the future of Rock n’ Roll. The idea behind the campaign was to show that if you torture people, they will admit to almost anything to make it stop.
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| Source: Amnesty International |
Social marketing strategies are essentially the same as those used to sell products to consumers, however, in this case the product is a better society.
Written by: Shruti Gakhar @Shruti_Gakhar
Shruti has a Masters in International Economic Policy from the University of Westminster, London. She is currently working as a researcher in a reputed think tank in Delhi. Her research interests include development economics - particularly financial inclusion - energy and environment. While she’s not researching for work, Shruti likes to spend her time reading, watching A LOT of TV, making origami cranes (which she believes she is an expert in),and sometimes not doing anything.
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