Social Marketing

Executive Summary


Social marketing as a field of marketing has been in existence for around 40 years yet it is only relatively recently that it has gained popularity in the Australian government marketing context. As a management practice, social marketing is based on the adoption of the marketing philosophy, and adaptation of marketing tools and techniques, to assist in facilitatingbehavioural change. Key areas where the social marketing approach has been employed include health, road safety and physical activity.

Social marketing, as the name implies, is grounded in commercial marketing theory and practice. However, given that the application of social marketing is predominantly in non commercial sectors, social marketing practice draws on a range of related disciplinesincluding sociology, psychology and other social welfare related activities. As it grows in acceptance, social marketing has continued to evolve. Currently it is a highly dynamic field with new emphases and perspectives emerging, particularly in relation to the role that social marketers can play in contributing to structural change.

This monograph was commissioned to give a current snap shot of thestate of social marketing and its potential application to the activities of government in Queensland. The paper looks at the development of social marketing and its applications from a theoretical and a practical perspective and covers the following key elements.

Marketing

• Marketing is a two way process
• Marketing strives to achieve mutually beneficial exchanges – or “sales”
•Marketing is not a value free management tool
• The individualistic philosophical underpinning of the marketing discipline can aid and can also conflict with the role of the public sector in serving the public interest


Marketing in Government

• Limited understanding of what marketing is often equates it with advertising and promotion.
• Marketing has developed a poor reputation as a resultof the unethical behaviour of a minority and misconceptions as to the power of marketing for changing people’s behaviour
• Limited duration campaigns with low level funding are given unrealistic expectations and targets
• Use as a quick fix solution limits the value to be gained from marketing
• Key techniques such as market segmentation can have negative political connotations.
•Marketing’s role in the public sector is best suited to the development of suitable implementation strategies designed to maximise both effectiveness and efficiency


Definition and Domain

• Social marketing requires the adaptation of commercial marketing techniques and tools, and the adoption of the marketing philosophy
• Social marketing is not an education campaign or legislative change.
•Not all public sector marketing is social marketing
• There is a considerable overlap between social marketing, not for profit marketing, profit marketing, pro-social marketing, cause marketing and other forms of marketing. Social marketing can coexist with other forms of social change agendas


Components of Successful Social Marketing

• Marketing consists of three levels of philosophy,strategy and tactics.
• Using ad hoc elements of the marketing mix, marketing strategies and tactics will not result in the level of success than can be attained from a holistic approach to marketing
• The marketing mix consists of price, product, promotion, place, people, process and physical evidence.
• Each element of the marketing mix consists of sub components for example, priceconsists of both financial and non financial costs.
• Advertising is a subset of promotion, which in turn is a subset of the marketing mix, and as such, should be considered as one element of a total promotional mix, rather than the totality of a social marketing campaign



Concepts of Social Change Campaigning

• Weibe’s Five Forces Model of change campaigning illustrates the process a...