Lecture 2 - Social Marketing Theory

Social Marketing
Theory
Dr. Ifra Iftikhar
Listen to Audio
● Unlike diffusion theory that was largely focused on
innovations, social marketing theory focused on
audience.
● It is not a single theory but rather an integrated

collection of middle-range theories dealing with the
promotion of beliefs and actions elite sources
deem to be socially valuable.
Social Marketing Theory
● Social marketing is the adaptation of commercial
marketing technologies to programs designed to
influence the voluntary behavior of target
audiences to improve their personal welfare and
that of the society of which they are a part.
● It involves the deliberate use of influence and

persuasion to move a target audience towards a
specific course of action
Public health practitioners have been especially
drawn to this theory and use it to promote or
discourage many different behaviors.
Stages in Social Marketing
1. Creating awareness
2. Targeting the most responsive audience
3. Reinforcing messages within targeted segments
4. Cultivating images and impressions
5. Stimulating interest
6. Inducing desired decision making or positioning
7. Stimulating action
Creating awareness
To make people aware of their message
● Television advertising campaign
● News coverage
● Internet and Social media

2. Targeting the most responsive audience
● By identifying the most responsive segments and

then reaching them with the most efficient channel
available.
● Such targeting strategies reduce promotional costs

while increasing efficiency in the marketing terms.
3. Reinforcing messages within targeted
segments
● Even vulnerable audience members are likely to
forget or fail to act on messages unless those
messages are reinforced by similar information
coming from several channels.
○ Reinforcement strategies include
○ visits by change agents
○ group discussions
○ messages placed simultaneously in several media
○ door-to-door canvassing
● These people in turn influence others through

face-to-face communication.
4. Cultivating images and impressions
● Image advertising is used in which easily

recognizable, visually compelling images are
presented.
● Relationships are implied between these and the

objects being promoted.
● For example, presenting exercising and consuming
organic food is presented as it is done by very
attractive people in an interesting setting.
5. Stimulating interest
● Information seeking occurs when a sufficient level of
interest in ideas or products can be generated.
● Numerous techniques are used to that stimulate interest
and induce information seeking.
● For example, as in politicians appear in stage dramatic
events designed to call attention to and stimulate interest
in their positions on issues.
○ donating food to demonstrate their concern for the poor,
○ participating in walks to represent their commitment to the
environment.
● To provide easy access to those forms of information
serving the campaign planners’ interests once the
information seeking has been induced.
6. Inducing desired decision making or
positioning
● Once people are aware and informed, or at least
have formed strong images or impressions, they
can be moved toward either a conscious decision
or an unconscious prioritization or positioning.
● Media is used to highlight the value of choosing a
specific option or prioritizing one product, service,
or candidate relative to others.
● Change agents and opinion leaders can also be
used, though these are more expensive.
● This is a critical stage in any communication
campaign because it prepares people to take an
action desired by campaign planners.
7. Stimulating action
● A variety of techniques can be used to activate people to
engage and actually demonstrate their decision. This may
include
○ change agents
○ free merchandise,
○ free and convenient transportation
○ free services
○ moderate fear appeals, and
○ broadcast or telephone appeals from high-status sources.
● Many communication campaigns fail because they lack a
mechanism for stimulating action.
Hierarchy-of-effects
● Hierarchy-of-effect recognizes that certain stages

must be completed before moving on to the next
more complex stages.
● The behaviors associated with the hierarchy-of-
effects theory can be boiled down to "think,"
"feel," and "do," or cognitive, affective and
conative behaviors.
Hierarchy-of-effects
● The hierarchy-of-effects thus, permits development
of a step by- step persuasion strategy in which the
effort begins with easily induced effects, such as
awareness, and monitors them using survey
research.
● Feedback from that research is used to decide

when to transmit messages designed to produce
more difficult effects, such as decision making or
activation.
Summarizing..
In social marketing the effort begins
● by creating audience awareness, then cultivates
images or induces interest and information
seeking, reinforces learning of information or
images, aids people in making the “right” decisions,
and then activates those people.
● At each step, the effectiveness of the campaign to

that point is monitored, and the messages are
changed when the proper results aren’t obtained.
Strengths of SMT
● Provides practical guide for information campaigns
● Can be applied to serve good ends
● Builds on attitude change and diffusion theories
● Is gaining acceptance among media campaign

planners and researchers
Weaknesses of SMT
● Is source-dominated
● Doesn’t consider ends of campaigns
● Underestimates intellect of average people
● Ignores constraints to reciprocal flow of
information
● Can be costly to implement
● Has difficulty assessing cultural barriers to
influence

Lecture 2 - Social Marketing Theory

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecture 2 - Social Marketing Theory

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecture 2 - Social Marketing Theory

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Social Marketing

● It is not a single theory but rather an integrated

● It involves the deliberate use of influence and

2. Targeting the most responsive audience

3. Reinforcing messages within targeted segments

4. Cultivating images and impressions

6. Inducing desired decision making or positioning

● Internet and Social media

● By identifying the most responsive segments and

● Such targeting strategies reduce promotional costs

● These people in turn influence others through

● Image advertising is used in which easily

● Relationships are implied between these and the

● Hierarchy-of-effect recognizes that certain stages

● Feedback from that research is used to decide

● At each step, the effectiveness of the campaign to

● Can be applied to serve good ends

● Builds on attitude change and diffusion theories

● Is gaining acceptance among media campaign

You might also like