Social marketing: can we utilize marketing concepts and techniques for the promotion of social objectives?

Abstract

Social marketing emerged as a valuable commercial tactic in the 1970s; it was created by Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman. Its basic notion is that the same marketing ideologies that utilized to sell consumer goods can also be employed to promote concepts, attitudes, and behaviors. Rather than aiming to persuade the public to buy whatever the firm happens to be selling, both marketing methods aim to understand what consumers want, need, and then provide it. In contrast to consumer marketing, social marketing "seeks to influence social behaviors not for the advantage of the marketer, but for the benefit of the target audience and society as a whole ." This method has proven to be immensely effective for states, politicians, and social strategists; it can also help in fighting addiction, terrorism and promoting peace among any target sample. Moreover, social marketing techniques can be considered a vital factor international health programs, especially for such diverse topics as drug abuse, heart disease, and organ donation . The effectiveness of social marketing relies heavily on techniques from marketing that are used to persuade consumers to purchase products and services. In addition to various kinds of advertising, other strategies like market segmentation, product design, etc. can be valuable. Similar to traditional marketing, the primary focus of social marketing is based on the consumer. The planning process of social marketing takes the elements of the “marketing mix,” which refers to (1) the conception of a Product, (2) Price, (3) distribution (Place), and (4) Promotion. The marketing mix is often called the “Four Ps” of marketing . Social marketing: can we utilize marketing concepts and techniques for the promotion of social objectives?