The Social Marketing Solution

Social marketing is a process that applies marketing principles and techniques to create, communicate, and deliver value in order to influence target audience behaviors that benefit society, as well as the target audience.

Consider the impact we would have on the number of people in poverty in various parts of the world if we could support and persuade more people to get immunized on time, put mosquito nets over their beds, take their tuberculosis medicines, use condoms, reduce saturated fats in their diets, quit smoking, breastfeed for six months, get screened for cancer, say no to drugs, use alcohol only in moderation, purify their water, access services for the homeless, and wash their hands often, for as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice.

What would it mean if we were also successful in influencing more children to be prepared for their first year in school, and more teens to finish high school and then go on to college, to then get and keep a job, live within their means, and be prepared when bringing a child into the world?

What difference would it make if we had more volunteer tutors, mentors, and informed voters, and were better prepared as communities for natural disasters?

And then picture, most importantly, perhaps, government agencies, civil organizations, philanthropists, and corporations providing integrated support to make these behaviors more affordable, popular, and easy – everywhere in the world.

This is in fact is what social marketers do every day, around the world, as they influence behaviors for good

Our focus is on people who have some desire to help themselves. They are the homeless who don’t know what resources are available or how to access them; the millions of women who want to use family planning, but can’t convince their husbands; poor farmers who are afraid to try chemical fertilizers because they heard they might kill their chickens; sexworkers who fear they will lose business, even be jailed, if they suggest that their clients use condoms; fishermen who thought the mosquito net delivered to their door was for catching more fish; young adults wanting a job requiring computer skills they don’t have; tuberculosis patients who think because they feel better they can discontinue their medications; poor families wanting to save money but not trusting financial institutions; children dropping out of school because their itching from riverblindness makes them the brunt of teasing; and the high school students who end up not graduating because their attendance is so poor they get behind.