Social Marketing

SOCIAL MARKETING

The term social marketing was first coined by Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman in their 1971 article "Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change." Social marketing is the application of marketing concepts and principles by government agencies, for-profit businesses, and nonprofit organizations to influence individual behavior to improve the well-being of both the individual and society as a whole.

Traditional and social marketing campaigns differ in three distinct ways: competition, gain, and product. First, with traditional marketing, the competition is identified as those businesses offering similar products and services for sale. By contrast, with social marketing the individual behavior that is to be modified for the well-being of the individual and society is considered to be the competition. Second, monetary gain is the goal of traditional marketing campaigns for businesses involved in selling products and services. In comparison, societal gain is the goal of social marketing.

Lastly, the product of traditional marketing campaigns is the goods and services offered for sale. By contrast the product of social marketing is the social change that occurs because of the campaign. Traditional and social marketing campaigns are similar in that they apply the four Ps of marketing (product, price, promotion, and place), develop marketing campaigns based on market research, and segment target audiences.

Numerous examples of government agencies, for-profit businesses, and nonprofit organizations that have adapted social marketing are available. One government agency that applies social marketing is the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard applies social marketing with its various boating/water safety programs that are designed to reduce death and injuries. A for-profit business, Anheuser Busch Companies, also applies social marketing through its various responsible-drinking campaigns. Lastly, the American Heart Association, a nonprofit organization, applies social marketing through its various heart health programs.

In addition, the Ad Council of America has developed a number of social marketing campaigns to address a variety of issues such as adoption, blood donation, booster-seat education, bullying prevention, child asthma attack prevention, obesity prevention, drunk driving prevention, emergency preparedness, emergency preparedness, energy efficiency, environmental conservation, high school dropout prevention, math and science for girls, parental involvement in schools, reducing gun violence, secondhand smoke and children, underage drinking prevention, and wildfire prevention. More information regarding social marketing may be obtained from: The Social Marketing Institute, 1825 Connecticut

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Avenue NW, Suite S-852 Washington, DC, 20009; or http://www.social-marketing.org.

WEB SITES OF INTEREST

For examples of the U.S. Coast Guard boating/water safety social marketing campaigns: http://www.uscgboating.org

For more information regarding the social marketing campaigns of the Anheuser Busch Companies: http://www.anheuserbusch.com/Citizenship/default.htm

For more information regarding the American Heart Association heart health programs: http://www.americanheart.org

For more information about the social marketing campaigns of the Ad Council of America: http://www.adcouncil.org

see also Marketing ; Social Responsibility and Organizational Ethics

bibliography

Boone, Louis E., and Kurtz, David L. (2005). Contemporary marketing 2006 (12th ed.). Eagan, MN: Thomson South-Western.

Davidson, D. Kirk (2002). The moral dimension of marketing: Essays on business ethics. Chicago: American Marketing Association.

Goldberg, Marvin E., Fishbein, Martin, and Middlestadt, Susan E. (Eds.). (1997). Social marketing: Theoretical and practical perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Kotler, Philip, and Armstrong, Gary (2006). Principles of marketing (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Kotler, Philip, Roberto, Ned, and Lee, Nancy (2002). Social marketing: Improving the quality of life (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Kotler, Philip, and Zaltman, Gerald (1971, July). Social marketing: An approach to planned social change. Journal of Marketing, 35, 3–12.

Pride, William M., and Ferrell, O. C. (2006). Marketing concepts and strategies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Allen D. Truell