Social Marketin

Introduction
Can marketing concepts and techniques be effectively applied to the promotion of social
objectives such as brotherhood, safe driving, and family planning?
The applicability of marketing concepts to such social problems is examined in this article. The
authors show how social causes can be advanced more successfully through applying principles
of marketing analysis, planning, and control to problems of social change. 1
N 1952, G. D. Wiebe raised the question"Why can't you sell brotherhood like you sell soap ?"
This statement implies that sellers of commodities such as soap are generally effective, while
"sellers" of social causes are generally ineffective.
Wiebe examined four social campaigns to determine what conditions or characteristics

accounted for their relative success or lack of success. He found that the more the conditions of
the social campaign resembled those of a product campaign, the more successful the social
campaign.1
What is Marketing?
Typically the subject of marketing is the exchange of goods or services for other goods or
services or for money1.
Marketing does not occur unless there are two or more parties, each with something to
exchange, and both able to carry out communications and distribution. 1
Marketing management is the analysis, planning, implementation, and control of programs

designed to bring about desired .exchanges with target audiences for the purpose of personal or
mutual gain. It relies heavily on the adaptation and coordination of product, price, promotion,
and place for achieving effective response. 1
Thus marketing management occurs when people become conscious of an opportunity to gain
from a more careful planning of their exchange relations.
Social Marketing
1
An increasing number of nonbusiness institutions have begun to examine marketing logic as a
means to furthering their institutional goals and products. Marketing men have advised
churches on how to increase membership, charities on how to raise money, and art museums
and symphonies on how to attract more patrons.
In the social sphere, the Advertising Council of America has conducted campaigns for social
objectives, including "Smokey the Bear," "Keep America Beautiful," "Join the Peace Corps," "Buy
Bonds," and "Go to College." 2
• Social marketing is a much larger idea than social advertising and even social communication.
2
The Requisite Conditions for Effective Social Marketing 2
Lazarsfeld and Merton's Analysis
Lazarsfeld and Merton took exception with the view of many people that mass media can easily
be used to control people's minds: "It is our tentative judgment that the social role played by
the very existence of the mass media has been commonly overestimated. They believed that
the effectiveness of mass media for propaganda purposes depended on three conditions, one
or more of which is lacking in most propaganda situations. 2
The first 2condition is real or psychological monopolization by the media; that is, a condition
marked by the absence of counterpropaganda.
Lazarsfeld and Merton said the second condition required for effective mass propaganda is
canalization, the presence of an existing attitudinal base for the feelings that the social
communicators are striving to shape.22
Lazarsfeld and Merton call the third condition supplementation by which they mean the effort
to follow up mass communication campaigns with programs of face-to-face contacts.2
Wiebe's Analysis
2
An additional contribution was made by Wiebe in his attempt to understand the differential
effectiveness of four social campaigns." He explained the relative effectiveness of these
campaigns in terms of the audience member's experience with regard to five factors:
1. The Force. The intensity of the person's motivation toward the goal as a combination of his
predisposition prior to the message and the stimulation of the message.
2. The Direction. Knowledge of how or where the person might go to consummate his
motivation.
3. The Mechanism. The existence of an agency that enables the person to translate his
motivation into action.
4. Adequacy and Compatibility. The ability and effectiveness of the agency in performing its
task.
5. Distance. The audience member's estimate of the energy and cost required to consummate
the motivation in relation to the reward. 3
The Social Marketing Approach
The Lazarsfeld and Merton conditions and the Wiebe factors provide a useful background for
viewing the conceptual framework used by marketing strategists. Marketers view the
marketing problem as one of developing the right product backed by the right promotion and
put in the right place at the right price.
These key variables in the marketing mix have been named the four P's by McCarthy.
1. Product
2. Promotion
3. Price
4. Placement
Social Implications of Social Marketing
3
The authors believe that specific social causes could benefit from marketing thinking and
planning. Problems of pollution control, mass transit, private education, drug abuse, and public
medicine are in need of innovative solutions and approaches for gaining public attention and
support.
Summary
Social marketing was defined as the design, implementation, and control of programs
calculated to influence the acceptability of social ideas and involving considerations of product
planning, price.
To the marketer, the success of the campaign depends on the proper development of product,
promotion, place, and price considerations. 4
A marketing planning approach does not guarantee that the social objectives will be achieved,
or that the costs will be acceptable.4It offers a useful framework for effective social planning at
a time when social issues have become more relevant and critical.
Conclusion 4
social marketing is a promising framework for planning and implementing social change.4
Typically the subject of marketing is the exchange of goods or services for other goods or
services or for money.
Marketing management examines the wants, attitudes, and behavior of potential customers
which could aid in designing a desired product and in merchandising, promoting, and
distributing it successfully.
Social marketing is the design, implementation, and control of programs calculated to influence
the acceptability of social ideas and involving considerations of product planning, pricing,
communication, distribution, and marketing research.4

Social Marketin

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Social Marketin

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Introduction

Wiebe examined four social campaigns to determine what conditions or characteristics

Marketing management is the analysis, planning, implementation, and control of programs

The Requisite Conditions for Effective Social Marketing 2

Lazarsfeld and Merton's Analysis

The Social Marketing Approach

Social Implications of Social Marketing

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