What is Social Marketing?

Marketing ideas for social good is better known as social marketing. Philip Kotler [1], a renowned author of many marketing books, created the term Social Marketing in the 1970s. He along with Andreasen defined social marketing as "differing from other areas of marketing only with respect to the objectives of the marketer and his or her organization". Social marketing according to him is different, in that it is for a social gain and not commercial gain. In most other areas however, it is similar to commercial marketing.

Social marketing, like commercial marketing, is aimed at the consumer. It is targeted at determining what people want and need, rather than persuading them to buy what is being produced [2]. The difference being that the product is being marketed for a social benefit rather than for any financial or commercial gain. Thus it is also directed by the 4 Ps of marketing namely, product, price, place and promotion [3].

Product:
The product in the case of social marketing, need not be in a tangible form. Physical products (such as condoms and other health products), service products (like health checkups), and even intangible concepts and ideas (such as environment protection) are all parts of products available for social marketing. [4]

Price:
The price for a product which is being socially marketed has to be selected with great care. If the cost of the product is high and if the risk and cost outweigh the benefits; it is most likely that the product will not be adopted by the people. Since a social cause is involved, a majority of the people must consume the product being marketed. This calls for a reasonable pricing for the product. [4]

Place:
The means by which the consumer reaches the service or vice versa, is described under the heading of "Place". For intangible products such as information on a topic, the channel of distribution of the information such as a television advertisement, hoarding boards or even charts placed in hospitals and clinics have to be decided. Tangible products on the other hand require a distribution system, including warehousing, transportation, a sales team, retail outlets where the product will be available or given for free. [4]

Promotion:
Social marketing is greatly thought to have been comprised of this 4^th P - Promotion. However, it must be recognized that the other 3 P's are equally important. Promotion plays a vital role in making the people aware of your product. In this decisions for how the product is going to be advertised and the media of advertisement has to be decided. Also if popular figures can act as brand ambassadors for the social product, it would add to the ability of your product to reach to the masses. Promotion is a key step in any social marketing campaign. [4]

Social marketing for many health products and services have been done. It must be noted that people like to do things that are good for them, and hence social marketing is successful with little efforts. However, it must be realized that the product offered in the social marketing campaign must also be feasible for the target audience to adopt.

References:
1. Kotler, Philip and Eduardo L. Roberto. Social Marketing, 1971.
2. Kotler, Philip, Ned Roberto and Nancy Lee. Social Marketing: Improving the Quality of Life, SAGE, 2002
3. Kotler, Philip, Keller, Lane (2005) "Marketing Management", Prentice Hall,
4. What is Social Marketing? by Nedra Kline Weinreich