Principles of Social Marketing Theory

Principles of Social Marketing Theory
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Principles of Social Marketing Theory
Introduction
Social marketing theory is a model that employs concepts and strategies borrowed from commercial marketing to promote healthy and beneficial social behaviors, such as sexual abstinence in young people, responsible drinking, and cessation from drug abuse. Accordingly, social marketing theory argues that the aim of marketing is to have a positive influence on the target audience (consumers) by encouraging them to “voluntarily accept, reject, modify, or abandon a behavior for the benefit of the individuals, groups, or society as a whole” (Kotler, et al., 2002, qtd in Wymer & Basil, 2014, p. 58). In this regard, the goal of social marketing is to achieve a greater good for society.
Social marketing borrows its major principles from the commercial sector, and they include the 4P’s of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. However, these concepts are interpreted and applied in a way that overlooks the profit motive of commercial marketing. This is because the ultimate goal of social marketing is not to improve sales, but to achieve a positive behavior change in the target population.
Product
Product is the service or good being marketed. Whereas commercial marketing promotes goods and services, social marketing sells behavior change to the target audience. This approach differentiates social marketing from commercial marketing because while the former’s primary goal is financial gain, the latter aims at societal gain. As a result, the product in social marketing is targeted at vulnerable, marginalized, or hard-to-reach populations such as under-age drinkers and drug users, rather than profitable audiences as is the case in commercial marketing. Additionally, social marketing promotes a product (behavior change) that is often less desired by the target audience, unlike in commercial marketing where the product has a demand among the target audience. For instance, commercial marketing may promote a brand of beer, while social marketing promotes responsible drinking, which binge drinkers may find difficult to adopt. However, there are situations where the goals of commercial and social marketing may converge, although the motives are different. For example, commercial and social marketing could both promote the use of condoms. However, while the former’s motive is to increase profits, the latter’s aim is to reduce unwanted pregnancies and spread of STD’s.
Price
Price is the cost of the product being marketed. In social marketing, price includes the cost of changing a behavior or attitude in the target audience. For instance, the personal cost of promoting responsible drinking may involve lose of friends, less socialization, and reduced time for leisure or pleasure activities like clubbing. This understanding of price is different from the c...