4P’s of Social Marketing (Service Marketing 01.06.2021)

Chapter 4

Special aspects of Service Marketing

Social Marketing

Social marketing is marketing designed to create social change, not to directly benefit a brand. Using traditional marketing techniques, it raises awareness of a given problem or cause, and aims to convince an audience to change their behaviours.

 

So, instead of selling a product, social marketing “sells” a behaviour or lifestyle that benefits society, in order to create the desired change. Instead of showing how a product is better than competing products, social marketing “competes” against undesirable thoughts, behaviours, or actions.

 

4P’s of Social Marketing

Product

The social marketing "product" is not necessarily a physical offering. A product exists, ranging from tangible, physical products (e.g., medicines), to services (e.g., medical exams), practices (e.g., eating a heart-healthy diet) and finally, more intangible ideas (e.g., environmental protection). In order to have a viable product, people must first perceive that they have a genuine problem, and that the product offering is a good solution for that problem.

 

Price

"Price" refers to what the consumer must do in order to obtain the social marketing product. This cost may be monetary, or it may instead require the consumer to give up intangibles, such as time or effort, or to risk embarrassment and disapproval.

If the benefits are perceived as greater than their costs adoption of the product is much greater.

 

Place

"Place" describes the way that the product reaches the consumer. For a tangible product, this refers to the distribution system--including the warehouse, trucks, sales force, retail outlets where it is sold, or places where it is given out for free.

For an intangible product, this may include doctors' offices, shopping malls, mass media vehicles or in-home demonstrations.

 

Promotion

Promotion consists of the integrated use of advertising, public relations, promotions, media advocacy, personal selling and entertainment vehicles. Public service announcements or paid ads are one way, but there are other methods such as coupons, media events, editorials or in-store displays.

Additional Social Marketing "P's"

Publics / People

Social marketers often have many different audiences that their program has to address in order to be successful. "Publics" refers to both the external and internal groups involved in the program. External publics include the target audience, secondary audiences, policymakers, and gatekeepers, while the internal publics are those who are involved in some way with either approval or implementation of the program.

 

Partnership

Social and health issues are often so complex that one agency can't make a dent by itself. You need to team up with other organizations in the community to really be effective. You need to figure out which organizations have similar goals to yours--not necessarily the same goals--and identify ways you can work together.

 

Policy

Social marketing programs can do well in motivating individual behavior change, but that is difficult to sustain unless the environment they're in supports that change for the long run. Often, policy change is needed, and media advocacy programs can be an effective complement to a social marketing program.

 

Purse Strings (Funding)

Most organizations that develop social marketing programs operate through funds provided by sources such as foundations, governmental grants or donations. This adds another dimension to the strategy development-namely, where will you get the money to create your program?