Social marketing has been defined in many different ways since the original offering by Kotler & Zaltman in 1971. Central to most of them is that social marketing is the application of the ideas, processes and practices of the marketing discipline to improve conditions that determine and sustain personal, social and environmental health and well-being.

People come to social marketing from different academic and professional backgrounds. This feature of the field, combined with the complex social problems that are tackled with this approach, lead to the incorporation of many different theoretical models and social change perspectives. Examples of this multidisciplinary and eclectic tradition are reflected throughout the materials and case studies available at this site. One simple way of understanding the different influences on social marketing is to refer to social marketing as having 'two parents' [NSM Centre 2006]:
a) a social parent = social sciences / social policy / social reform and campaigning
b) a marketing parent = commericial and public sector marketing

Social marketing is constantly evolving from “influencing ideas” as presented by Kotler & Zaltman (1971) to 'large scale, broad-based,behavior change focused programs' offered by Lefebvre & Flora (1988). The essential components of social marketing outlined by Lefebvre & Flora still hold today. They are:

1. A consumer orientation to realize organizational (social) goals
2. An emphasis on the voluntary exchanges of goods and services between providers and consumers
3. Research in audience analysis and segmentation strategies
4. The use of formative research in product and message design and the pretesting of these materials
5. An analysis of distribution (or communication) channels
6. Use of the marketing mix - utilizing and blending product, price, place and promotion characteristics in intervention planning and implementation
7. A process tracking system with both integrative and control functions
8. A management process that involves problem analysis, planning, implementation and feedback functions

A definition of social marketing offered by one of its early practiioners, Richard Manoff, suggested that…it is more than research, product design and distribution, diffusion of information, or the formulation and implementation of a communication strategy. It may include introduction of a new product (e.g., oral rehydration salts), the modification of existing ones (e.g., iodized salt), restricted consumption of others (e.g., cigarettes, infant formula), and promotion of structural change in existing institutions (e.g., food stamps, hospital practices). Social marketing may be exclusively educational (e.g., restriction of sodium consumption) yet still be obliged to do missionary work with food companies for sodium-reduced products (Manoff, 1985,)

Indeed, especially in the development community, social marketing has often been defined as the procurement, distribution and promotion of health products (condoms, oral contraceptives, malaria nets for example) for sale at donor subsidized prices. This 'social marketing' approach has been contrasted with efforts to distribute commodities for free or to offer products at their full costs (plus margins) in the commercial marketplace.

One of the most commonly cited definitions is from Andreasen, (1995), positioning social marketing as:

"the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution, and evaluation of programs designed to influence the voluntary behaviour of target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of their society."

It should be noted however that Andreasen has moved on from this definition recognising that social marketing draws on more than just commerical marketing and while in the history of a developing definition this was useful, it has since been overtaken by a wider appreciation of different disciplines informing it.

Kotler, Roberto and Lee (2002) outline social marketing asthe use of marketing principles and techniques to influence a target audience to voluntarily accept, reject, modify, or abandon a behaviour for the benefit of individuals, groups or society as a whole.

Donovan & Henley (2003) define it asthe application of the marketing concept, commercial marketing techniques and other social change techniques to achieving individual behaviour changes and social structural changes that are consistent with the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

In 2006, the National Social Marketing Centre in the UK reviewed the historic development of definitions and descriptions of social marketing and produced an updated and more inclusive definition to recognise the different influences on social marketing:

"Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing, alongside other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioural goals, for a social good".

They also go on to describe an additional element of 'health related social marketing' as:

"the systematic application of marketing, alongside other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioural goals, to improve health and reduce inequalities". (French, Blair-Stevens 2006).

Although multiple definitions of social marketing exist, three common themes were identified by the NSM Centre in the preparation of their working definition. The commonality between the definitions are as follows:

1. Social marketing as the primary aim of achieving a particular 'social good' (rather than a specific commercial benefit), through the use of specific behavioural goals clearly identified and targeted.
2. Social marketing is a systematic process phased to address short, medium and long-term issues.
3. Social marketing utilises a range of marketing techniques and approaches

The National Social Marketing Centre have since gone on to produce an 8 point social marketing National Benchmark Criteria (building on earlier work by Alan Andreasen and Lefebvre & Flora) that is being used to help encourage and promote greater consistency in the use and application of social marketing:

1: Clear focus on behaviour and achieving specific behavioural goals
2: Centred on understanding the customer using a variety of customer and market research
3: Is theory-based and informed
4: Is 'insight' driven
5: Uses 'exchange' concept and analysis
6: Uses 'competition' concept and analysis
7: Has a more developed 'segmentation' approach (going beyond basic targeting)
8: Utilises an 'intervention mix' or 'marketing mix' (rather than relying on single methods)

Whilst differences exist between the definitions of each other, this is a feature of the dynamic nature of social marketing, and should be seen as an area of debate and discussion that is ongoing to ensure social marketing remains relevant in the social change marketplace.

Definitions of the 4Ps of social marketing.


Prosumer-oriented Social Marketing

Wikinomics introduces with transparent Open Business a new component of Social Marketing, that reduces the differences between consumers and producers.
While Open Source opened as Wealth Generator the source code for general participation, open business opens even more resources for sharing within and with online communities.
As contribution to this trend, the author has set up a realworld public domain portfolio, he is willing to share and reflect on it -- fridemar
PS.:
(This contribution is ClipMarked for interfacing different Social Communities)


References

Andreasen, A. (1995). Marketing social change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Donovan, R, Henley, N. (2003) Social marketing: Principles and practice. Victoria, Australia: IP Communications.

French, J, and Blair Stevens, C. (2005) Social Marketing Pocket guide (1st Edition) National Social Marketing Centre for Excellence, (www.nsms.org.uk)

Kotler, P, Zaltman, G. (1971) Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change. Journal of Marketing 35:3-12.

Kotler, P,- Roberto, W and Lee, N. (2002) Social Marketing - Improving the quality of life (2nd Edition) Sage Publications.

Lefebvre, RC, Flora, JA. (1988) Social marketing and public health intervention. Health Education Quarterly 15:299-315.

Manoff, R. (1985) Social marketing: New imperative for public health. New York: Praeger.