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Executive Summary
Social marketing as a field of marketing has been in existence for around 40 years yet
it is only relatively recently that it has gained popularity in the Australian government
marketing context. As a management practice, social marketing is based on the
adoption of the marketing philosophy, and adaptation of marketing tools and
techniques, to assist in facilitating behavioural change. Key areas where the social
marketing approach has been employed include health, road safety and physical
activity.
Social marketing, as the name implies, is grounded in commercial marketing theory
and practice. However, given that the application of social marketing is
predominantly in non commercial sectors, social marketing practice draws on a range
of related disciplines including sociology, psychology and other social welfare related
activities. As it grows in acceptance, social marketing has continued to evolve.
Currently it is a highly dynamic field with new emphases and perspectives emerging,
particularly in relation to the role that social marketers can play in contributing to
structural change.
This monograph was commissioned to give a current snap shot of the state of social
marketing and its potential application to the activities of government in Queensland.
The paper looks at the development of social marketing and its applications from a
theoretical and a practical perspective and covers the following key elements.
Marketing

Marketing is a two way process

Marketing strives to achieve mutually beneficial exchanges – or “sales”

Marketing is not a value free management tool

The individualistic philosophical underpinning of the marketing discipline can aid
and can also conflict with the role of the public sector in serving the public
interest
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Marketing in Government

Limited understanding of what marketing is often equates it with advertising and
promotion.

Marketing has developed a poor reputation as a result of the unethical behaviour
of a minority and misconceptions as to the power of marketing for changing
people’s behaviour

Limited duration campaigns with low level funding are given unrealistic
expectations and targets

Use as a quick fix solution limits the value to be gained from marketing

Key techniques such as market segmentation can have negative political
connotations.

Marketing’s role in the public sector is best suited to the development of suitable
implementation strategies designed to maximise both effectiveness and efficiency
Definition and Domain

Social marketing requires the adaptation of commercial marketing techniques and
tools, and the adoption of the marketing philosophy

Social marketing is not an education campaign or legislative change.

Not all public sector marketing is social marketing

There is a considerable overlap between social marketing, not for profit
marketing, profit marketing, pro-social marketing, cause marketing and other
forms of marketing. Social marketing can coexist with other forms of social
change agendas
Components of Successful Social Marketing

Marketing consists of three levels of philosophy, strategy and tactics.

Using ad hoc elements of the marketing mix, marketing strategies and tactics will
not result in the level of success than can be attained from a holistic approach to
marketing

The marketing mix consists of price, product, promotion, place, people, process
and physical evidence.

Each element of the marketing mix consists of sub components for example, price
consists of both financial and non financial costs.
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Advertising is a subset of promotion, which in turn is a subset of the marketing
mix, and as such, should be considered as one element of a total promotional mix,
rather than the totality of a social marketing campaign
Concepts of Social Change Campaigning

Weibe’s Five Forces Model of change campaigning illustrates the process a
person goes through in order to react to a social campaign.
o Force is the pre-existing motivation and desire to comply (or reject) the
campaign message
o Direction is the knowledge of how to act on the campaign message and is
closely associated with social promotion and education programs.
o Mechanism is the actual action, and the associate products, support
services or activities involved in carrying out the behaviour endorsed by
the campaign. It involves the whole of the social marketing mix, with
particular emphasis on product, people and place.
o Adequacy and compatibility are the extent to which the campaign delivers
on its promised benefits by undertaking the endorse activities. It is closely
associated with product and physical evidence
o Distance is the amount of effort required to performance the actions
required by the social change message, and is closely associated with
social price and social product

Social marketing operates in the macro and micro environment
o Micro environments include organisational culture, lobby groups, media
and general public.
o Macro environments include social environment, economic environment,
technological environment, legal environment, and competitive
environment.

Competition exists in social marketing between alternative solutions to a social
marketing problem
Where social marketing fits with other approaches

Social marketing is not always the best mechanism for social change
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Education, law, and social marketing are each appropriate for some forms of
change, but none are universally applicable as a solution to every problem

Social change can be implemented at a individual, community and society level,
with different methods required for each level and approach.
Ethical Issues in Social Marketing

Social marketing campaigns starts from a presumption of superiority over the
target audience since the campaigner believes that the target audience is either
engaged in an inappropriate behaviour, or not engaging in a 'superior' alternative
lifestyle

Ethical considerations for a change campaign include

whether to provide full information, partial information or only the most
persuasive information to the target adopter

the conflict between appropriate product strategies for the target market, and the
social values of other community groups.

clashes between appropriate promotional messages, and appropriate use of the
most effective or most efficient message channels, and wider community
perceptions of advertising and promotion.

Social marketing needs to consider both the intended and possible unintended
consequences of the campaign when assessing the ethics of the social change
program
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary ....................................................................................................... 1
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... 5
Marketing: An Overview ............................................................................................... 7
Core Principles: Exchange Theory ...................................................................................................... 8
Core Principles: Customer Orientation ................................................................................................ 9
Core Principles: Three Levels of Marketing ........................................................................................ 9
Marketing: A Summary ................................................................................................................ 10
Role of Marketing in the Public Sector........................................................................ 11
Failure of the Public Sector to use the holistic approach to marketing .............................................. 11
Misconceptions about the nature of Marketing ............................................................................. 11
Poor reputation of marketing ........................................................................................................ 12
Unrealistic Expectations ............................................................................................................... 12
Market Segmentation .................................................................................................................... 13
Limited involvement in the product development process ........................................................... 13
Application of Marketing in the Public Section................................................................................. 14
Marketing in Government: A Summary ....................................................................................... 14
Social Marketing: Definition and Domain ................................................................... 15
Definition ........................................................................................................................................... 15
What social marketing is ................................................................................................................... 16
Expanding the ‘marketing’ aspect of social marketing ................................................................. 16
What social marketing is not ............................................................................................................. 18
Social Marketing is not an education program.............................................................................. 18
Social Marketing is not Legislative Intervention .......................................................................... 18
Social Marketing and Other Socially Oriented Marketing Activities ................................................ 19
Government and socially orientated marketing activities ............................................................. 21
Definition and Domain: A Summary ............................................................................................ 22
Differences between Social and Commercial Marketing ............................................ 23
Components of Successful Social Marketing .............................................................. 24
Application and Adaptation of Commercial Marketing..................................................................... 24
The Three Levels of Social Marketing .............................................................................................. 25
Social Marketing Philosophy ........................................................................................................ 25
Social Marketing Strategy ............................................................................................................. 26
Tactical Implementation of Social Marketing ............................................................................... 28
The Social Marketing Mix ................................................................................................................. 29
Product .......................................................................................................................................... 29
Price .............................................................................................................................................. 33
Promotion...................................................................................................................................... 34
Place .............................................................................................................................................. 37
The Extended Marketing Mix ............................................................................................................ 38
People ........................................................................................................................................... 38
Processes ....................................................................................................................................... 39
Physical Evidence ......................................................................................................................... 39
Components of Successful Social Marketing – A Summary ........................................................ 40
Concepts of Social Change Campaigning.................................................................... 41
Five Forces Model ............................................................................................................................. 41
The Force ...................................................................................................................................... 41
The Direction. ............................................................................................................................... 42
The Mechanism. ............................................................................................................................ 42
Adequacy and Compatibility. ....................................................................................................... 43
Distance. ....................................................................................................................................... 43
Environment Factors and External Considerations ............................................................................ 44
Micro Environment ....................................................................................................................... 44
Macro Environment ...................................................................................................................... 46
Concepts of Social Change Campaigning – A Summary.............................................................. 51
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Where social marketing fits with other approaches to social change .......................... 52
Common Concepts - Education, Marketing and Law ........................................................................ 52
Continuum of Change Approach ....................................................................................................... 55
Problems, Barriers and Roles Approach: Dealing with the Blockages at Individual, Community and
Society Level ..................................................................................................................................... 56
Alternatives to Social Marketing at the Individual Change Level ..................................................... 60
Where social marketing fits with other approaches – A Summary ............................................... 61
Current Tools and Trends in Social Marketing............................................................ 62
Internet Marketing, Online Communities .......................................................................................... 62
Behavioural Cessation Marketing ...................................................................................................... 63
Ethical issues in social marketing ................................................................................ 64
Ethics of Change Process: Presumption of Superiority ..................................................................... 64
Ethics of the Change Campaign Content ........................................................................................... 65
Ethics of the Change Outcome: Consequences of Change ................................................................ 66
Intended Consequences ................................................................................................................. 66
Unintended Consequences ............................................................................................................ 67
Ethical Issues in Social Marketing - A Summary ......................................................................... 68
Practical issues in Social Marketing implementation .................................................. 69
When to use social marketing ............................................................................................................ 69
Will social marketing match the type of change? ......................................................................... 69
Do the conditions suit social marketing? ...................................................................................... 70
Market Research Driven Interventions ......................................................................................... 72
Whole of the Mix or Component Parts? ....................................................................................... 72
Is there a point to social marketing? .................................................................................................. 73
Internal Marketing of Social Marketing ............................................................................................ 73
Legitimising Marketing ................................................................................................................ 74
Acquiring the technical expertise .................................................................................................. 75
Ethical Issues in Social Marketing - A Summary ......................................................................... 77
Determining if the campaign is Social Marketing ....................................................... 78
References .................................................................................................................... 79
Government Campaigns ................................................................................................................ 81
Table 1 Differences between social and commercial marketers .................................. 23
Table 2 The Continuum of Change Mechanisms ........................................................ 55
Table 3 Collaborations between change method based on the type of barrier ............ 59
Table 4 Prochaska and DiClimente’s Stages of Change Model .................................. 61
Table 5 Type of Change ............................................................................................... 70
Table 6 Social Marketing Campaign Benchmarks ...................................................... 78
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Marketing: An Overview
Marketing is a well established core discipline of business and, as such, has become
incorporated into the functional activities of organisations of all types, whether they
fall within the profit or not for profit sector. Governments have been slower to adopt
marketing practices for a variety of reasons. However even within this sector there is
increasing acceptance that marketing has a role to play and can contribute to the
development and implementation of high quality responsive public policy.
Although the government is charged with operating "for the public interest", the
public sector is not a single homogenous organisation. Different departments and
agencies have differing objectives, and the extent to which marketing is accepted as
an appropriate tool will depend in part on the function of the specific government
entity that uses it. Research into the role of marketing as a public sector activity
confirms that marketing is consider to be more appropriate the closer the functions of
the government agency is to the private sector. For example, commercialised business
units within government departments and government owned corporations are more
likely to employ explicit marketing tools and techniques than more socially oriented
departments.
However, despite opposition to the use of 'marketing', a majority of agencies express
strong support for the use of the underpinning philosophy of marketing. In many
cases, core marketing tools are being effectively used throughout the public sector but
are not labelled as being a part of marketing. The challenge for marketers is to educate
their public sector colleagues as to what constitutes marketing practice and the
marketing discipline.
Confusion over the definition and domain of marketing practice constitutes much of
the opposition to its explicit incorporation as an element of managerial practice in the
public sector. In addition, the appropriateness of the marketing orientation is
questionable in specific circumstances. Unlike many other management tools,
marketing has an implicit ideological and philosophical underpinning which means
that, at times, it is not the most appropriate approach to conducting government
business and in some instances arguable should not be used.
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Core Principles: Exchange Theory
The core concept which underpins marketing, and which simultaneously is the
ultimate objective of all marketing activities, is the creation of mutually beneficial
voluntary exchanges. In commercial marketing exchange is easy to define with a
simple transaction of "I have money to exchange with you for goods and services". In
public sector, non profit and social marketing the exchange process is typically more
complex, often involving a chain of exchanges for the realisation of the final
exchange. For example, a complex exchange process may develop as follows:

Exchange 1: A company sponsors a charity dinner for the homeless as a tactic to
be seen as socially responsible and caring (which in turn should attract more
clients who share the same 'beliefs') – the charity needs the money to carry out its
programs and to maximise the benefits of the relationship, acknowledges the
sponsors financial contribution, and then encourages supporters to support the
company commercially;

Exchange 2: The charity uses the money to provide food and clothing to the
homeless along with an offer for counselling or other assistance – the clients
benefit from the charity's services;

Exchange 3: The charity benefits as it is praised for its work via public awards or
other recognition which in turn draws more donations - society benefits as the
charity provides the homeless with basic needs for survival which in turn reduces
the public’s perceived risk of theft or muggings (no need to steal for food) and
increases the well being of the majority in that they feel less guilt in that the
homeless are being taken care of.
Marketing is a two way process, not a one way approach to benefit distribution. For
some people involved in the social and public sector this model is incompatible with
the way that they perceive their role and the role of their agencies. It is often hard for
those in the social sector to accept the idea that the ultimate objective of their
activities is to be involved in an exchange or 'sale' where both parties benefit. This is
one of the key ideological bases of marketing which operates against its use in the
social sector.
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Core Principles: Customer Orientation
A second core principle of marketing is the customer orientation. Effective marketing
relies on finding out what individuals want, and then supplying them with that
“product” to the extent that that company can do this at a profit. Marketing’s focus on
the primacy of the desires of the individual ahead of needs of the broader society is
another area of potential conflict. Public policy is generally designed to serve “the
public interest”. In cases where there is a perception that a policy unfairly benefits an
individual or small group (known to marketers as the “target market” and considered
to be a good thing), public and media reaction is usually highly political and
extremely negative.
Core Principles: Three Levels of Marketing
Marketing as a managerial practice involves a multiple level approach which
encapsulates

the philosophy of client centredness,

strategic allocation of resources through market research and market
segmentation, and

tactical development of integrated programs of product distribution and
service delivery including the promotion of these programs.
Unfortunately, few marketers realise that 'marketing' is a holistic concept and
management practice which is not value free. Consequently when trying to implement
marketing into new contexts such as the public sector, they encounter apparently
insurmountable attitudinal barriers within the organisation. Many of these can be
broken down through a better understanding of the cause of the resistance. In some
cases, the conflicting ideologies and beliefs which underpin alternative approaches to
policy implementation are totally incompatible with the marketing orientation. In
those situations, one approach will inevitably override the other.
The application of the three levels of marketing in a social marketing context is
discussed later in this monograph. Within the public sector, the most common use of
marketing tools is at the tactical level.
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Marketing: A Summary

Marketing is a two way process

Marketing strives to achieve mutually beneficial exchanges – or “sales”

Marketing is not a value free management tool

The individualistic philosophical underpinning of the marketing discipline can aid
and can also conflict with the role of the public sector in serving the public
interest
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Role of Marketing in the Public Sector
A brief overview of the issues related to adopting any form of marketing in the public
sector is needed to fully appreciate the potential for social marketing to contribute to
the development of effective public policy aimed at attitudinal and behavioural
change. Historically public sector agencies have had a tendency to use various
marketing tools, particularly communication tools, on an as needs basis rather than
adopting the whole of the marketing concept. In taking this approach, government
agencies miss out on the full strength of marketing as a managerial tool.
Failure of the Public Sector to use the holistic approach to marketing
There are a number of reasons why the Public Sector does not perceive marketing as a
holistic exercise. These include

A limited understanding of the nature of marketing

Poor reputation of marketing by the unethical actions of the few

Unrealistic and often unreasonable expectations for success rates for short
term, low cost campaigns.

Problems with the use of market segmentation

Limited access to involvement in the development of products which
marketing is later required to ‘market’ to the end consumer
Misconceptions about the nature of Marketing
First, as referred to previously, many public sector employees have a limited
understanding of what marketing is and equate it with advertising and promotion.
Promotion, which includes advertising, is both the most visible element of marketing
while simultaneously tending to be the most expensive. As the most publicly
conspicuous element of the program, the promotional activities associated with a
marketing program are also the element that is most open to media and public
scrutiny. Complaints about the cost of government marketing campaigns are a
'standard' media story which recurs on a regular basis irrespective of the content of the
campaign or the perceived need for the program in the wider community.
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Sample Newspaper Headlines
“Carr vows to hunt down ad dollars unwisely spent” Sydney Morning Herald 11
September 2002
"A high price to tell us nothing" Herald Sun, June 30 2004
"Howard labels Opposition's ad policy a stunt" The Age, June 29 2004
"Labor vows to outlaw ad blitzes" Sydney Morning Herald, June 28 2004
"Ad blitz is an ad blitz whoever's paying" The Australian, June 24 2004
“Is the Government Dipping into the War Chest” B & T 10 September 2004
“Government Sold Itself for $100 Million” Sydney Morning Herald 18 October 2003
Poor reputation of marketing
Second, marketing has developed a poor reputation as a result of the unethical
behaviour of a minority. Marketing is perceived by some as manipulative and
deceptive. Again, much of marketing’s negative reputation is based on a
misunderstanding of what marketing is and what it can do. While marketing can be a
powerful tool when appropriately used, it is limited and cannot force anyone to buy,
eat or do anything against their will. Misconceptions as to the power of marketing
form the basis of a number of the arguments used by critics who see marketing as
inappropriate for use by government which already wield significant power in the
community.
Unrealistic Expectations
Third, many social marketing campaigns are of limited duration yet the expectations
for success are unrealistically high. Social marketing campaigns look for 100%
compliance (or market share). The aim of road safety campaigns is for everyone in a
moving vehicle to wear a seat belt or for no-one driving a car to be over the 0.05
alcohol limit. One of the most successful companies in the world, Coca-Cola,
dominates the US soft drink market with a combined market share from all its
products and product variations of only 43%.
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If less than half the population adopted a social marketing product such as road safety
by either not speeding or wearing a seat belt or not drink driving (but not necessarily
all three) after a over half a century of sustained high cost media advertising, the
campaign would be considered a total failure. Social marketers and government
marketers often set unrealistic goals for themselves by expecting a 3 month, low cost
campaign to deliver close to 100% market share – something which no commercial
company would even consider.
Market Segmentation
Fourth, market segmentation - dividing the overall population into smaller, targeted
groups for special attention - can have negative political connotations. Whenever a
government policy explicitly benefits a defined group in society, regardless of
whether the policy is economically or socially motivated, the government is open to
criticism that it is playing political favourites. Commercial marketing does not attempt
to be all things to all people. Rather the basis of marketing is to recognise individual
and small group differences and to customise marketing activities to best match the
needs of these small groups. For those who are committed to serving "the public
interest" the argument that serving sectional interests in the short term may result in
the long term public interest, is often difficult to sell. This is particularly true when
the beneficiaries of the policy are considered to be already socially advantaged. This
occurs, for example, when economic incentives are offered to major businesses to
relocate, an activity which results in an immediate financial benefit to the business but
a sustained benefit to the community through increased employment.
Limited involvement in the product development process
Finally, as well as promotion, marketing is also intimately involved in the
development of products based on the expressed desires of the marketing public. In
the case of government the “product” is policy or a specific program. While
marketing contributes indirectly to policy development via advice based on a
combination of prior experience of the client base and formal market research,
ultimately it is the role and duty of the political arm of government to take a
leadership role in creating the policy “product”.
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Application of Marketing in the Public Section
Marketing’s role in the public sector is more appropriately directed at the
development of suitable implementation strategies designed to maximise both
effectiveness (getting the program to the target clients in the way that will best fulfil
program objectives) and efficiency (reducing costs by developing highly targeted
implementation strategies designed to minimise waste).
Public sector marketers are normally presented with a pre-determined policy or
program and then required to 'market' it. This is one of the major misconceptions
regarding the process of marketing - that it is a a short term set of tactics which can be
called in as a quick fix. Public sector marketers are often called in to 'market' a
product or program when the public or media turn against a policy, or when the
government needs to justify itself in the mind of the voting public.
The use of marketing as a quick fix, or short term solution, limits the value the public
sector can gain from marketing. Marketing personnel should be involved at all stages
of the product development and deployment, rather than just being presented with a
product and expected to perform a social change miracle with limited resources.
Marketing in Government: A Summary

Limited understanding of what marketing is often equates it with advertising and
promotion.

Marketing has developed a poor reputation as a result of the unethical behaviour
of a minority and misconceptions as to the power of marketing for changing
people’s behaviour

Limited duration campaigns with low level funding are given unrealistic
expectations and targets

Use as a quick fix solution limits the value to be gained from marketing

Key techniques such as market segmentation can have negative political
connotations.

Marketing’s role in the public sector is best suited to the development of suitable
implementation strategies designed to maximise both effectiveness and efficiency
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Social Marketing: Definition and Domain
Social marketing is a defined subdiscipline of marketing. In the Australian context the
majority of social marketing activity is undertaken by, or funded by, government
agencies. While social marketing is an important part of government marketing, not
all government marketing is social marketing and not all social marketing is
undertaken by government. To clarify what is meant by "social marketing" the
following section defines the term, the uses of social marketing and the limits of what
constitutes social marketing. For those not familiar with marketing and social
marketing terminology Appendix 1, provides a list of definitions of key terms.
Definition
Social marketing has had a range of definitions over the past thirty years, from the
foundation definition in 1971
Social marketing is the design, implementation, and control of programs
calculated to influence the acceptability of product planning, pricing,
communication, distribution and marketing research. (Kotler and Zaltman,
1971)
through to the definition used most widely and consistently which defines 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." (Andreasen, 1993)
Due to the substantial differences in the environment within which social marketing
operates, and the issues or causes which form the focus of campaigns, it is not
possible to import commercial marketing practice wholesale into the social marketing
environment. Consequently, social marketing involves the simultaneous adoption of
marketing philosophy and the adaptation of marketing tools to develop programs
which, in the eyes of the social marketer, will lead to socially beneficial outcomes. In
essence, social marketing is the adaptation, rather than direct transference, of
marketing tools and techniques for social change campaigns.
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What social marketing is
Social marketing is a part of the overall field of strategic marketing management, and
draws its underpinning philosophy and core theoretical frameworks from the
marketing discipline. It aims for voluntary behaviour change based on providing a
superior alternative to a specific current behaviour. Social marketing does not coerce
individuals into changing their behaviour. Instead, the new behaviour is 'sold' to target
adopters as a preferable lifestyle choice. Change therefore is based on persuasion. As
a result of being focused on individual voluntary change, the practice of social
marketing is client, rather than expert driven. It is this emphasis on client driven
solutions which is the key defining principle of social marketing.
According to the Andreasen definition given above he aim of social marketing is “ to
improve [their] personal welfare and that of their society”. Social marketing sees the
role of the individual contributing to social change in two ways. First social change is
conceptualised as the sum of individual change and second, each individual has an
impact on those around them, Therefore individual change impacts at a social and
societal level by ensuring that these impacts are positive.
Expanding the ‘marketing’ aspect of social marketing
As part of the overall marketing discipline, social marketing shares common traits
with broader commercial marketing applications. These are:

the adoption of the customer centric marketing philosophy which puts the
needs of the client at the centre of organisational activities;

market research based decision making and tracking of campaigns;

segmentation of target audiences;

the creation of mutually beneficial exchanges between the organisation and its
client base;

the use of all elements of the "marketing mix"; and

careful attention to positioning the organisation’s "product" relative to its
competition.
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In the case of social marketing, the full set of tools developed to further the
commercial interests of the firm are adapted to maximise the objectives of the social
marketing agency. In commercial marketing, the desired outcomes are financially
based and focus on profit. For social marketers, the bottom line is behavioural change.
Social marketing focuses on finding out what target adopters know and how they feel
about an issue before developing a campaign designed to modify their attitudes or
behaviours. In order to reach the point of sustained behavioural change, the "product"
offered by the social marketing needs to be communicated and positioned in such a
way as to make it more attractive to the target market than their current behaviours, or
any other behavioural alternative, including those which are equally as damaging.
The introduction of random breath testing has had an overall impact of increased
responsible driving behaviour with the initial incentive to change being the fear of
losing the capacity to drive for a defined period. However there is a subset of former
drink drivers who see the alternative of "drugged driving" as acceptable in that their
intoxication won’t be picked up by standard breathalyser testing. By understanding
the motivations of drink and drugged drivers, social marketing campaigns can
supplement existing policies to maximise voluntary conformity.
Examples of alternative behavioural products
Initial Behaviour
Positive Alternative
Negative Alternative
Drink driving
Sober driving
Drugged driving
Overweight
Increased exercise
Take up smoking
Stress
Meditation
Excess alcohol consumption
The emphasis of social marketing is on understanding the motivations, current
attitudes and behaviours of the target market, rather than applying an expert
developed solution for the social problem. It is this focus on researching the needs,
motivations and desires of the target market, and then using this data to form the
development of programs to achieve socially beneficially outcomes through
individual behavioural change that differentiates social marketing from competing
alternative approaches to behavioural change.
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What social marketing is not
Social marketing is not the only approach used to encourage behavioural change
amongst target groups. Governments may use alternative methods to social marketing
to enforce changes in behaviour, with two of the more common approaches identified
by Rothschild (1999) as education programs and legislative interventions.
Social Marketing is not an education program
Social marketers do not assume that people are rational. Education programs differ
from social marketing in that they implicitly assume that, when presented with the
relevant facts about an issue, individuals will make a rational decision to change their
behaviour. In reality this approach does not work for a large number of people.
As a result of in-school education programs few, if any adolescents, are unaware of
the potential dangers associated with smoking yet each year thousands of teenagers
take up the habit. Similarly speeding, drink driving and other road safety issues have
not been resolved simply by educating the public as to the dangers. Whilst education
may be part of the process of introducing behavioural change, it is not the whole of
the process. Consequently, it is possible for an education campaign to be 100%
effective in creating awareness and improving knowledge about an issue, yet result in
an increase in the behaviour targeted for reduction.
Education programs are primarily of value where there is a gap in the target markets'
knowledge about an issue. An inappropriate use of an education campaign would be
in the reinforcement of well established and accepted 'facts' about an issue without
furthering the knowledge base of the target adopters.
Social Marketing is not Legislative Intervention
The second societal level approach adopted by governments to change behaviour is to
pass legislation. While this is a very effective way of ensuring significant shifts in
behaviour in a short time frame, it is not social marketing – even if the change is
heavily advertised – in that the decision to change the behaviour is not voluntary.
Rather it is a coercive approach which makes it outside of the domain of social
marketing practice.
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Upstream Marketing
A new trend in social marketing practice which should be mentioned at this point is
that of “upstream” social marketing. Traditionally social marketing has been directed
“down stream” to the individuals whose would benefit from a change in behaviour.
“Upstream” social marketing focuses the marketing activities at the policy makers and
institutions that create the environments within which the behaviours take place. An
example of upstream social marketing would be the targeting of legislators to place a
ban on smoking in all entertainment venues rather than simply focus on trying to stop
individuals smoking in recreational situations. Philosophically upstream social
marketing activity still involves a degree of voluntary compliance, although on the
part of the legislator rather than the user.
Given the relatively new emphasis on the upstream approach, a full debate of the
implications of the changing emphasis has not yet been possible. At this point a clear
definition of upstream social marketing and how this differs from traditional lobbying
activities or stakeholder management has not yet been developed however it is
important to acknowledge this trend within the context of legislative intervention –
often the outcome of a successful upstream campaign.
Social Marketing and Other Socially Oriented Marketing Activities
Donovan and Henley (2003) succinctly demonstrate in the following diagram how
social marketing fits in with other marketing activities.
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Overlap of Socially Orientated Marketing Activities
Profit
Marketing
Cause
Related
Marketing
Pro social
Marketing
Social
Marketing
Non-profit
Marketing
Corporate
Philanthropy
Briefly, each of the marketing activities highlighted above is defined as follows:
Not for profit marketing: marketing activities used by not for profit
organisations to achieve organisational goals which may or may not include
behavioural change;
Cause related marketing: occurs when a for profit organisation forms a
partnership with a pro-social organisation such that sales of the commercial
entity's products assist in promoting or funding the cause eg where a
percentage of sales of a product is directed to a specific charity or cause such
as cancer research;
Pro-social marketing: refers to a commercial organisation promoting a cause
that is directly related to its target audience eg condom manufacturer
providing information on HIV transmission;
Societal marketing: occurs when an organisation balances not only the needs
of the organisation and its clients, but explicitly acts to be socially responsible
in pursuit of its commercial goals, eg voluntary adoption of production
methods which minimise harm to the environment; and
Corporate philanthropy: adoption of causes by a commercial entity which
have no direct relationship to sales or to the company’s target market.
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There is considerable overlap between different elements of socially oriented
marketing activity. It can be seen that social marketing activities can operate in
conjunction with both profit oriented and not for profit organisations. However, not
all not for profit marketing falls under the umbrella of social marketing. Similarly,
while for profit organisations may become involved in pro-social marketing activities,
the majority of marketing activities undertaken in the for profit sector do not fall
within the boundaries of social marketing. Public sector marketing adds to the
complexity in that the diversity of government activities means that different public
sector entities can be involved with any or all of these sub sets of marketing.
Government and socially orientated marketing activities
While government is the main funding body and source of social marketing
campaigns in Australia, it is important to remember that not all marketing by
government is social marketing. Commercialised business units in government adopt
profit oriented marketing approaches in their sale of services but at the same time may
become involved in various prosocial activities, for example, through sponsorships.
Further even in line departments with a strong social focus, social marketing is not
always the appropriate marketing approach to use. Sometimes all that is needed is
information dissemination, for example when a regulation changes. In this case,
standard advertising or direct mail is more relevant and less costly than undertaking a
fully blown social marketing campaign.
Government funding of social marketing campaigns can be direct or indirect.
Campaigns that are directly funded are any that are designed, developed and
implemented by a government department or agency. An example of a directly funded
campaign would be any Queensland Transport based road safety campaign. Indirect
funding of campaigns occurs when a government agency provides a grant or other
assistance to a third party organisation to develop or implement a social marketing
program. An extension of the indirect funding model is the use of third parties to
assist in the implementation of government funded initiatives. One good example of
this is the AFL Kickstart program which is funded from a range of government and
non government sources and which operates in the indigenous communities of the
Northern Territory, Western Australia and North Queensland.
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Definition and Domain: A Summary

Social marketing requires the adaptation of commercial marketing techniques and
tools, and the adoption of the marketing philosophy

Social marketing is not an education campaign or legislative change.

Not all public sector marketing is social marketing

There is a considerable overlap between social marketing, not for profit
marketing, profit marketing, pro-social marketing, cause marketing and other
forms of marketing. Social marketing can coexist with other forms of social
change agendas
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Differences between Social and Commercial Marketing
Social marketing draws its framework from the standard strategic marketing
frameworks employed by business however there are a number of key differences in
the application of marketing tools and techniques in social marketing. These are
summarised in Table 1.
Table 1 Differences between social and commercial marketers
Social Marketers
Commercial Marketers
Want to do good
Want to make money
Funded by taxes and donations
Funded by investments
Publicly accountable
Privately accountable
Performance hard to measure
Performance easily measured in profit,
market share
Long term behavioural goal
Short term behavioural goal
Often targets controversial behaviours
Typically targets non-controversial
behaviours, may elect to target
controversial products
Often choose high-risk, hard to reach
Choose most accessible low risk target
targets
Risk-averse management
Risk-accepting management
Participative decision marketing
Hierarchical decision making
Relationships based on trust
Relationships based on competition
Decisions influenced by political
Decisions made on Return on Investment
imperatives
or profit imperative
Frequent elections (3 – 5 year cycles)
Relatively infrequent managerial shifts
(adapted from Andreasen, A (2000), Ethics in Social Marketing, Georgetown
University Press)
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Components of Successful Social Marketing
The contemporary success of social marketing depends on numerous factors, both
inside and outside of the control of the social marketer. In this section, the emphasis
is on the factors that can be controlled, adjusted or applied by social marketing
practitioners. To this end, the section examines:

the application and adaptation of commercial marketing

the three levels of social marketing

the social marketing mix

issues in the successful implementation of social marketing, and

the five forces model of social marketing.
Application and Adaptation of Commercial Marketing
Marketing in the commercial field is perceived as an extremely powerful tool. In fact,
critics of marketing often ascribe power to the marketing process that goes well
beyond what it can realistically achieve. For example, the marketing of fast foods is
being seen as a major contributing factor to the current problem of childhood obesity
with calls in some quarters to ban advertising of junk food to children. Yet the same
activists advocating such a ban in response to the perceived power of commercial
advertising do not seem to have the same faith in the method when it comes to
changing behaviours. The 7 serves of fruit and vegetables a day campaign is not
considered strong enough to counteract pizza, hamburger or chocolate advertising.
When harnessing the power of marketing to bring about individual behavioural
change in the public interest it is important to assess marketing holistically. It is not
enough to pick and choose elements of marketing and then expect the same level of
success as a commercial marketer who takes an integrated approach to researching the
consumer and their needs, wants and motivations and then develops a series of clearly
targeted messages and appeals based on quality segmentation of the market.
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The Three Levels of Social Marketing
Marketing grew out of the capitalist environment and is grounded in the liberal,
individualistic philosophy. Under this philosophical framework the needs and actions
of the individual are the focus of both the commercial and non commercial
application of the discipline. At the conceptual level, marketing exists as three levels
of abstraction, which are:

The marketing philosophy

Marketing strategy

Tactical implementation of marketing techniques
As a subset of marketing, social marketing is also conceptualised at these three levels.
Social Marketing Philosophy
The underpinning philosophy of social marketing is that social change is best brought
about through persuading the individual to change their current behaviour to a new
behaviour with a superior social outcome. The emphasis of the social marketing
philosophy on individualism is further supported by the core philosophical acceptance
that the individual must want to choose this change in behaviour because the new
behaviour is demonstrably superior to their alternative choices. Whilst the state may
display a maternalistic/paternalistic role in demonstrating and promoting "socially
superior lifestyle choices" (eg non smoking over smoking, equity over
discrimination), the philosophy allows for social marketing to "accept the right of the
consumers to be as banal or wise as they want to be" (Smith, 2002).
The philosophy of social marketing is in accordance with political orientations that
seek self determination, individual freedom, and self regulation (both of business and
personal activities). This philosophy is in direct conflict with political values that
support collective belief, or which exhibit strong paternalistic government behaviours
whereby the individual's life is more strictly regulated. To this extent social
marketing differs from other approaches to social change in that it conceptualises
social change as being the sum of voluntary individual behavioural change. Thus
social change philosophies which operate at a societal level are largely incompatible
with the social marketing approach.
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Social marketing does not suit all forms of behaviour change. Behaviours which are
regarded as a necessary or mandatory aspect of society are best addressed through law
reform, backed with education to explain the new laws. Whilst social marketing may
accept that the consumer can choose freely to not comply to their suggestions, violent
anti-social behaviours such as assaults and murders are best implemented under a less
laissez-faire legal structure.
Social Marketing Strategy
Successful social marketing campaigns are based on the application of a strategic
approach to address a social problem with the resources available to implement the
campaign. The strategic level is where social marketing needs to implement decisions
regarding core marketing practices such as market segmentation, positioning,
targeting, information gathering, database development and product development. It
is this level of social marketing where the first point of potential conflict between the
role of government and the mechanics of marketing practice will take place.
Issues of Segmentation and Targeting
In commercial marketing, the decision to focus the resources of an organisation on a
particular market segment is a standard method of business practice. In government,
establishing an exclusive focus on a specific target market is often met with
considerable criticism or accusations of bias, cronyism or politicisation. Where a
target market is geographically defined, accusation of political bias, particularly
during election years, may result in sub optimal social marketing strategies being
developed.
While in the private sector segmentation is used to find the easiest to access and most
responsive groups in the market, public sector based social marketing is often directed
at hard to access groups who are most resistant to change. The private sector will
serve those who deliver a profit while the public sector is expected to act in the public
interest and pick up the remaining population.
Consequently it is not surprising that government sponsored marketing initiatives are
often less 'successful' than their private sector counterparts. The private sector filters
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out a large proportion of potential clients or adopters if they are unlikely to conform
to the campaign’s message and only focus those who are likely to add to the success
of the program.
Similar problems arise when adapting marketing strategies, such as market research,
into government programs. Whilst commercial marketing is expected to examine the
needs of the market, and is grudgingly permitted to develop databases of frequent
users, government programs which engage in similar data collection, storage and
analysis can be criticised as being part of a 'Big Brother' style surveillance program.
Political Pressures and Community Service Obligations
The final problematic aspect of the strategic level of social marketing is that it is more
vulnerable to political pressures and public interference than private sector marketing.
Social marketing strategies regarding distribution and product development may be
subjected to more stringent tendering systems, or the requirement to use local
suppliers in preference to best price or most capable providers.
Government authorities may be expected to provide products and services in
conjunction with a social marketing campaign that will be very expensive and
represent a large financial cost to the organisation in the name of the public interest.
Pricing can also be limited by political imperatives whereby the government may
require equity of access to social marketing products regardless of the cost of
provision to geographic locations or capacity to pay.
Conflicts of individualism and collectivism
The strategic level of social marketing practice brings the conflict between the
philosophy of marketing (individualism) and the philosophy of government
(collectivism) into concrete areas of dispute – should the government support a
program which can be targeted for maximum benefit to a small number? Or should
they support a strategy whereby more people are reached, but with each receiving a
reduced benefit?
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Resolving the confliction between individual good and societal good
In order to develop a successful social marketing campaign, the government agency
will need to address the conflict between role of government (provider to all of the
people) and the role of the campaign (provision to a target market) by demonstrating
that the provision of this campaign (social product) to this specific market has an
overall benefit to the whole of the community. For example, targeting high risk drug
use behaviour amongst adolescent females can be demonstrated to have wider social
benefit (reduced prospect of criminal behaviour from the target market, reduced
demand for health services) as well as individual benefit (less likely to need medical
treatment for avoidable drug related illness, reduced risk of unplanned pregnancy).
Tactical Implementation of Social Marketing
The tactical implementation of social marketing is the most visible aspect, and
consequently, the most likely level to be raised in the media or in parliament. The
tactical level of social marketing refers to the application of the mechanisms, tools
and techniques of marketing to implement the marketing strategy, and to deliver the
social marketing product to the 'best' target market at the 'best' social price, and the
'best' time within the constraints of the program's budgets.
The high visibility of the tactical level of marketing often provides technical
challenges for government driven social marketing campaigns in terms of defending
their budget allocations. One of the most common issues raised in regards to social
marketing campaigns is the allocation of funds to promotional activities (eg
advertising) ahead of using the funds for service or product provision (eg clinics).
The key consideration for the social marketing practitioner is to justify and defend
their budget allocations on the basis of efficiency and effectiveness of the promotional
materials combined with the service provision, rather than just immediately
abandoning the higher profile aspects of the campaign to avoid criticism in the media.
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Tactical elements of social marketing include:

market research

social products

pricing

any form of advertising or promotional activity

the roles of contact staff, sales people, and those involved in the delivery of
social services

distribution, and

non marketing communications such as lobbying, policy statements,
legislative change, and government regulations.
The Social Marketing Mix
The marketing mix is the core framework of marketing management that has been
adopted across all areas of marketing practice. The mix represents those elements of
marketing management that are able to be controlled and manipulated by marketing
managers to ensure the maximum appeal of their campaign. The difficulty for social
marketing is that it involves intangible products, often supported by other institutions,
which differ significantly from the services or physical goods of commercial
marketing. Consequently is not possible to simply transfer the commercial marketing
mix to the social sector without making conceptual modifications to the strategies,
and practical modifications to the tactics of the mix. The following section will
examine the seven elements of the social marketing mix.
Product
Product is the first element of the marketing mix. Unlike the popular conception of a
product as a physical “thing” product in the marketing sense is more broadly defined
as being the “bundle of benefits” that the marketer offers to the market for exchange.
Products can, therefore, be objects, services, ideas and behaviours.
In social marketing the term product refers to the "bundle of benefits" that form the
basis of the campaign, and which marketers are hoping that their target markets will
adopt. The ultimate product of any social marketing campaign is a change in
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behaviour. However, in order to achieve this change, a series of facilitating products
are usually involved which can include physical goods or services. Social marketing
product can consist of ideas, practices and in some cases, tangible objects, or a
combination of all three. The following diagram outlines the key elements of the total
social marketing product:
Components of the Social Product
(Kotler, P. and Roberto, E. (1989) Social Marketing: Strategies for Changing Public
Behaviour)
Ideas
The first step in a social change campaign is convincing the targeted individual that
the behavioural change being recommended is worth adopting. To do this, existing
ideas about the issue need to be addressed so that the person moves from being either
having no fixed attitude (apathy) or a negative attitude (active opposition) to the
proposed change to being persuaded that it is a good idea (positive support).
Behavioural change is the ultimate bottom line of any social marketing campaign.
However attitudinal change is often a pre-requisite to behavioural change. In the early
stages of a social marketing program the emphasis may be on the idea product even
though the ultimate product is behaviour.
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Ideas management is both a pre-condition and a product of social marketing. To
effectively manage ideas, however, it is necessary to understand and target the right
element of the idea product which itself is divided into three elements:
Belief – a belief is what the target market believes to be true about an issue.
Where beliefs amongst the target market are inaccurate, it is not unusual to
set the initial focus of the campaign around an education campaign designed
to modify beliefs as a pre-requisite for behaviour change.
Attitude – refers to what the target market feels towards an issue irrespective
of what they know to be true. Attitudes are therefore more emotionally based
than beliefs
Value – values are more deep seated than either beliefs or attitudes and refer
to overall ideas as to what is right and what is wrong. Consequently they are
the hardest element of the ideas product to change.
Beliefs, Attitudes and Values in Skin Cancer Prevention
The image of the “sun bronzed Aussie” as a pinnacle of health has remained in the
mindsets of the public, even after decades of skin cancer awareness campaigns. In
addressing the skin cancer prevention, social marketers must deal with the beliefs,
attitudes and values of the public. Samples of these are illustrated below.
Belief - Pale skin is a sign of poor health while tanned skin is a sign of good health
rather than skin damage.
Attitude - Tanned skin is more attractive than pale skin. Hence even if the market is
aware that sun tans are a sign of skin damage, this knowledge is not enough to
change behaviour.
Value - An active outdoors lifestyle is the epitome of healthy, family living. Sunburn is
an unfortunate but inevitable outcome of living this highly valued lifestyle.
In order to reduce skin cancer incidence, campaigns must alter the belief that pale skin
is a sign of poor health, and reduce the desirability of tanned skin as an indicator of
health, wealth and status.
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Practice
Behavioural change is the ultimate goal of any social marketing campaign and is
therefore the true product of the campaign. It consists of two types of practice:
Act: which is a social product that requires a single act to achieve the social
outcomes being promoted, for example, presenting a child for immunisation.
Behaviour: which refers to ongoing and sustained changes to an individual’s
activities such as modifying diet to include 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a
day or taking 30 minutes exercise three times a week, consistently over a
sustained time period.
Behaviours are more difficult to 'sell' than acts in that they require ongoing
reinforcement and motivation as well as a change in lifestyle.
Tangible products
The primary product of any social marketing is never a physical product. However, to
achieve the behavioural outcomes of a campaign, physical goods are sometimes
required as facilitating products. For example sunscreen is one physical product which
facilitates sun safe practices. However, the central product of the campaign is the
behaviour of minimising skin damage through sun exposure where the sunscreen is
one of many methods of achieving the desire outcome.
Safe Sex
Effective safe sex campaigns rely on an integrated adoption of all levels of the social
marketing product. At the idea level, target adopters need to believe that they are at
risk and that safe sex practices such as the use of condoms will reduce infection.
Second, as a precondition to sustained behaviour rather than occasional use (adoption
of the positive behaviour), the target market must see the use of condoms as a positive
practice rather than focussing on negative attributes. On a practical level, as the
physical product required to facilitate safe sex practices, condoms, must be readily
available and affordable for the target market.
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Price
Price is the second element of the marketing mix which requires significant
modification on a conceptual and practical level to fit into the social marketing
framework. Many proponents of social marketing campaigns take a narrow view of
pricing as consisting of only financial considerations and consequently believe that
their products are free. For example, there are a number of health screening services
available to specific target markets which do not attract a direct financial fee.
From the adopters perspective, however, price however consists of more than the
financial elements involved in the purchase and use of the product in social
marketing. Broader marketing theory defines price as "what a person gives up to use
or own a product". Social price is the sum of all the different costs that a person incurs
to adopt a new behaviour. This may include a financial element however the main
focus is usually more related to psychological and lifestyle issues. Joyce and Morris
(in Fine, 1990) outline three basic types of social price:
Psychic costs: the mental cost of having to change an attitude or behaviour.
The more a person is involved in the previous behaviour (eg cultural belief in
the appropriateness of the activity), the higher the psychic cost to change that
attitude or behaviour.
Time Costs: the amount of time required to undertake a behaviour – for
example, travelling by public transport has a relatively high time cost
compared to driving a private car.
Energy costs: the amount of effort required to undertake the behaviour – for
example, whilst regular exercise is seen as having a high energy cost (it
requires considerable sustained effort), sorting recyclable and non recyclable
garbage into two bins is seen as low energy cost.
The role of social marketing with respect to price is to minimise perceived costs of the
positive behaviour (thereby decreasing the price) while increasing the perceived costs
of not changing.
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"Free" Breast Screening
"Free" breast screening services offered nationwide by health departments incur a
number of non financial costs. These include the time taken for examination, travel
costs incurred to get to the screening venue as well as the psychological costs such as
the fear of discovering a malignant lump and the potential embarrassment felt during
the process of examination.
Promotion
Promotion is only one element of an integrated marketing strategy despite being the
most visible element of the marketing mix. Promotion refers to any communication
that occurs between the originator of the program and the public. Communications
can be conducted either on a mass scale, reaching a large audience with a single
message or on a personal, one to one basis.
For a campaign to be considered social marketing, rather than social advertising, the
program needs to adopt the client centred focus of marketing along with the full
marketing mix, and other strategic marketing tools. For example, a health promotion
program with extensive advertising and other communications is not necessarily a
social marketing program, unless it addresses the other areas of the marketing mix and
adopts the client focussed marketing philosophy, as opposed to an expert driven, top
down approach “telling” the market what it “should” do.
Just as there is a marketing mix, there is also a promotional mix which includes the
following elements:

Advertising

Publicity

Personal selling

Internet

Direct mail

Points of sale

Help lines
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Advertising
Advertising is the best known of the marketing communications methods. It is
characterised by its ability to reach large numbers of people with a single message,
either through electronic or print media. It is a paid form of communication, giving
the marketer total control over the message and placement of the advertisement. By
virtue of being a paid statement, it has less credibility in the market place and also has
the disadvantage of incurring significant up front costs. Despite these financial costs,
advertising is generally the most cost effective method on a per person reached basis
and is therefore very suitable for whole of population campaigns.
Publicity
Publicity defined as a single message, mass method of communication. Unlike
advertising, however, it is not paid for by the marketer. This can and does reduces
control over both the content and placement of the message. The trade off between
publicity and the control of advertising is that publicity is considered a more credible
form of communication as it is distributed through a third party, usually the media.
Personal selling
Personal selling is a one on few communication methods whereby a marketer or sales
person directly speaks with target market members. Personal selling has the advantage
of being a two way communication process which allows the marketer to modify the
message to suit the audience and to field questions on the spot if something is not
clear.
Personal selling is more expensive on a per person reached basis however, when using
volunteers and partners for personal selling, it can be an effective way of spreading
social messages. It is used, for example, in presentations to schools and community
groups and is particularly suited to complex messages which require detailed
explanations or demonstrations.
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Web based promotion
The internet provides marketers with a unique ability to simultaneously engage in the
mass communication of a single message with the option of creating a unique
personal interaction. Each visitor to a website will read different levels of information
according to their needs, thereby customising the message and, if necessary, make
personal contact via email for further information not otherwise available.
Direct Marketing, Brochures and Pamphlets:
Where an issue has a clearly defined target market which is known and relatively easy
to access, direct marketing whether by email or traditional mail, is an effective way of
getting information to potential adopters. Direct marketing is usually accompanied by
some form of print material such as pamphlets or brochures which add to persuasive
or reminder messages. For example, the National Pap Smear Register provides a
database from which reminder letters can be sent to women throughout Australia
when they are due for routine screening for cervical cancer.
Point of 'Sale'
Doctors’ surgeries, sports clubs and other venues where social marketing campaigns
are implemented provide a common meeting ground for the distribution of "point of
sale" materials. Again the most common materials distributed this way are brochures,
posters and information booklets although messages have been distributed via less
traditional media such as on printed beer mats.
Help Lines
Many campaigns now include a help line facility which is promoted via mass
communication methods such as advertising but which allow for personalised one on
one communications. Examples of this approach include the Kids Help Line, the
QUIT Help Line and the Domestic Violence Help Line. The incorporation of a help
line as part of a campaign provides potential adopters with a low risk initial act to help
start them on the process of behavioural change.
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Place
Because social products are intangible and often conceptual, the role of place – or
distribution – is problematic. The distribution of ideas is often merged with
promotion, and regarded as an aspect of the promotional mix. However, where the
main social product is an idea, the movement of that idea to the market has to be
examined in the marketing mix. In social marketing, place is traditionally the most
neglected element of the marketing mix. Yet without an effective distribution channel
to facilitate behavioural change, campaigns are unlikely to succeed.
The distribution of the facilitating tangible products needed to effectively adopt a new
behaviour is fundamentally the same as any form of commercial product distribution.
Subtle differences arise primarily in the type of outlet where the product can be
purchased, or obtained. Social campaigns usually have a stronger emphasis on supply
through government agencies, schools, pharmacies and health clinics. For example,
with the advent of HIV/AIDS the distribution channels for condoms were rapidly
expanded to include vending machines, supermarkets and service stations so that
access and availability were significantly increased.
For idea products, distribution channels such as the media are often the same as used
in promotion. One of the convenient aspects of an ideas based campaign is that the
idea can be spread in a promotional campaign without requiring a separate
distribution concept. Also, ideas are socially communicated, and can easily be passed
on by word of mouth with no direct funding on the part of the sponsoring agency. In
addition to traditional communications media, there is a strong emphasis in social
marketing distribution on the 'selling' role of professionals and volunteers, particularly
in the health sector.
The role of distribution channels in social marketing focuses on facilitating
behavioural change. Typically social marketers do not own the channels of
distribution - instead the role of social marketing is to maximise the use of existing
channels to assist in the delivery of different elements of the social marketing product.
Effective social marketing therefore relies on quality relationships with partners and
intermediaries both in the public and private sectors.
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The Extended Marketing Mix
The next three elements of the marketing mix are derived from the extended services
marketing mix. Given the strong reliance that many social marketing programs have
on service delivery, it is appropriate to include these as elements of the social
marketing mix.
People
The first and most commonly accepted addition to the traditional marketing mix is
people. Services are performed by people and so the performance and attitude of the
individuals involved in delivering the service is critical in the perception of the quality
of that service on the part of the client. Many social marketing programs require an
element of personal service via the use of health professionals or counsellors. To be
incorporated into an effective social marketing program, those people who directly
interact with the target market must be fully trained in, and be committed to, the
objectives of the campaign.
Services are also, at times, personified by the contact staff. For example, most people
talk about going to “the doctor” or “the dentist”, and have a specific person in mind,
not to a medical professional. In commercial services marketing the use of an
individual as the “face” of the company is common. Celebrity endorsements of social
campaigns work on this principle by providing a known and respected person to bring
focus to the campaign and its message.
The Role of People in the Promotion of The Public Trustee
The Public Trustee of Queensland presented an interesting opportunity for social
marketing. Unlike most government agencies, such as the Department of Energy or
Housing, the position of the Public Trustee is occupied by a single person, and as
such, the operations of the organisation can be personified for a marketing campaign.
In 2004, the Public Trustee Greg Klein appeared in a series of radio advertisements
designed to explain the purpose and role of the office of the Public Trustee, and the
importance of the product range offered by his department. By giving a human voice
to the department, it created a stronger case for the products by the use of the
“celebrity” endorsement of the Public Trustee.
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Processes
Consistency of delivery is a key to ensuring that the messages and services received
by clients are the same irrespective of who delivers the message and who receives it.
Consistency is also the most important variable that individuals use to judge service
quality. By developing easily communicated, consistent processes for service
delivery, staff and volunteers are able to assist clients in the process of behavioural
change.
Where a change in behaviour is focused primarily on individually motivated and
monitored activity, a clear staged process is important to guide adopters from the
initial change attempt through to the final incorporation of the behaviour in their day
to day activities. For example a 5 step program to improving diet, which starts off
with minor modifications which are gradually built upon, allows individuals to take
control and work through change at their own pace.
Physical Evidence
To help potential clients identify and make judgements about the services which
support a social marketing campaign some type of physical evidence is needed. This
can come in many forms including branded rewards, such as T shirts given to
participants in a program.
Alternatively, the appearance of service facilities such as a clinic can be used to
portray a message about the service. The décor for a family clinic for example could
be designed as being brighter and more attractive to children compared to an adult
facility where the focus may be more on the perceived quality of the medical
environment.
Finally, consistent branding across the project to identify it with a particular campaign
assists as demonstrable physical evidence of the social change idea. The long running
Life Be In It campaign, for example, used the same characters and symbolism to
represent a range of activities all designed to improve physical activity amongst the
population.
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As stated previously, the marketing mix represents the controllable internal elements
of marketing management. In addition to the marketing mix, a number of other factors
contribute to the effectiveness of social marketing campaigns. A number of these
influences are outside of the direct control of the marketing manager and can as
include the potential adopter of new behaviours and the environments in which the
marketing campaign is implemented.
Components of Successful Social Marketing – A Summary

Marketing consists of three levels of philosophy, strategy and tactics.

Using adhoc elements of the marketing mix, marketing strategies and tactics will
not result in the level of success than can be attained from a holistic approach to
marketing

The marketing mix consists of price, product, promotion, place, people, process
and physical evidence.

Each element of the marketing mix consists of sub components for example, price
consists of both financial and non financial costs.

Advertising is a subset of promotion, which in turn is a subset of the marketing
mix, and as such, should be considered as one element of a total promotional mix,
rather than the totality of a social marketing campaign
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Concepts of Social Change Campaigning
Social marketing has a strong pedigree in both academic and practitioner spheres. As
a consequence, it is worth examining the some of the theoretical models of the social
marketing process to demonstrate how these core principles can be applied to
government social marketing campaigns.
Five Forces Model
Weibe (1951) identified five elements that influence the likelihood of success of a
social marketing campaign. These are as follows:

the force

the direction

the mechanism

adequacy and compatibility

distance.
The Force
Force is the intensity of the person's motivation towards the (social) goal as a
combination of [their] predisposition prior to the message and the stimulation
of the message.
Force is both the pre-existing demand in the community and the individual's existing
desire to comply with the new behaviours proposed by the social change campaign.
From a social marketing perspective, this is the baseline for the social marketing
campaign, and as such, it exists prior to the intervention proposed by the social
change message.
For a social marketing campaign to be successful, force needs to be understood,
researched and used to shape the campaign. This usually requires marketing research,
either the analysis of secondary data such as public opinion polls, media coverage or
through limited primary data collection. The key value of understanding force is that
it allows the campaign to be shaped to either create or reduce the 'force' . Where the
force is supporting change, it can be enhanced by demonstrating the value of the
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social change idea and raising demand for the change behaviour. Campaign can focus
on drawing on the pre-existing motivations with 'how-to' messages demonstrating the
alternative behaviours. Where there is opposition, the messages can be tailored to
reduce the level of the force of opposition, and to persuade the targets either to
inaction (where the current activity is a negative behaviour) or to a positive alternative
attitude (creating force as a precondition for change).
The Direction.
Knowledge how or where the person might go to consummate their motivation
Direction exists in two forms – pre-existing knowledge, and knowledge provided by
the social change campaign. For the majority of social change campaigns, the
emphasis in direction is to explain to a motivated person how they can act on their
motivation. For example, whilst a person may be in favour of blood donation, unless
they know where to go to donate blood, they can't convert their motivation (Force)
into a specific behaviour (Direction). At a more complicated level, motivations for
social change such as anti-discrimination may tap into existing support, however,
unless information exists as to how the individual can act in a non-discriminatory
manner, the negative behaviours may persist.
Direction is closely associated with social promotion and education programs.
The Mechanism.
The existence of an agency that enables the person to translate [their]
motivation into action.
Mechanism is the actual behaviour required to be performed by the individual in order
to have acted on the social change idea. It can occasionally be mistaken for the
existence of an organisation that controls the change campaign. For example, the
recycling campaigns where end users separate their garbage into recyclable and non
recyclable items requires two garbage bins (and two collections) as the mechanism for
social change. Whilst the individual could feel positively inclined to recycle, they
would be unable to act on this inclination unless the garbage collection mechanism
was in place.
Mechanism is associated with the whole of the social marketing mix.
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Adequacy and Compatibility.
The ability and effectiveness of the agency in performing its task [of
translating motivation into action]
These twin aspects represent the ability of the social marketing campaign to deliver
the promised benefits in exchange for the changed behaviour. In order to be
successful in this regard, the campaign must have a demonstrable link between the
action the individual is undertaking and the outcome the campaign is promising. For
example, a children's hospital charity drive will often be able to demonstrate the
physical object that was purchased with the campaign funds. In contrast, if the
campaign can not demonstrate a link between the act (recycling waste water for
gardens) and the desired outcome (lower water usage) in that the consumer's use of
recycled water doesn't apparently impact on the water restrictions (continued limits),
the campaign is likely to face problems in encouraging continued behavioural change.
Adequacy and compatibility are associated with product and physical evidence
Distance.
The [person's] estimate of the energy and cost required to consummate the
motivation in relation to the reward
Distance represents the gap between the target individual's current behaviour
(smoking), the social marketer's desired behaviour (not smoking), and the effort
required to move from one to the other (withdrawal). It is the point where the rewards
(or promise of reward) must exceed the benefits the individual currently experiences
from their behaviour. The important factor in assessing distance is that it is the
estimate of the individual being asked to change that determines whether the social
price is too high. Many social marketers become sufficiently involved in their
products and causes that they can see 'inherent benefits' in the behaviour that may not
be as obvious to the target market.
Distance is most closely associated with social price and social product
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Environment Factors and External Considerations
To this point the discussion has focussed primarily on the elements of social
marketing campaigns which can be controlled by the social marketer. However, all
marketing is subject to the reactions and influences of the environments in which it is
implemented. Unlike the marketing strategy and marketing mix which can be
designed and controlled by the marketing manager or originating organisation,
marketing environments and other external forces can only be monitored and
responded to. There are two key environments in which marketing operates – the
micro environment and the macro environment. Each of these is in turn subdivided
into a number of elements, the key ones of which are outlined in the following
sections.
Micro Environment
The micro environment consists of all of those forces close the marketer and
organisation which impact on the effectiveness of the marketing program. Key
elements in the micro environment include:

organisational culture;

lobby groups;

media; and

general public.
Organisation Culture
Marketing is not universally accepted as a key element of organisational success. For
profit firms as well as not for profit and government organisations have a variety of
business models and organisational philosophies to choose from, of which the
marketing orientation is only one. Consequently the first major ‘external’ influence
that impacts on the marketing teams’ ability to do their job is the status and
positioning of marketing within the organisation.
Perceptions regarding the role and importance of marketing within the organisational
structure will impact on fundamental issues such as resource allocation, internal
support for marketing initiatives and the extent to which all staff adopt a client
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focussed approach to doing business. Marketing in the government context is often
seen as a quick fix. Where this is the case elements of promotion are used simply to
communicate and 'sell' a pre-existing policy rather than fully contribute to the overall
design of the content and delivery of the associated programs.
Lobby Groups
Lobby groups refer to organised groups external to the organisation who have an
interest in the success, or otherwise, of the marketing campaign. In the case of social
marketing, lobby groups vary from highly developed, established organisations such
as the AMA, QCOSS or trade unions through to loose coalitions of interested
individuals who have come together for a single purpose such as to draw attention to a
particular environmental or health issue.
Lobby groups can be either a positive or negative force for the implementation of
social marketing programs. For many issues, lobby groups can be incorporated into
the social marketing process at both the planning stage – through consultation about
the issue – and during implementation. Lobby groups often provide a sustainable
distribution channel to deliver messages into the affected sections of the community.
Where lobby groups raise an issue which is either not addressed, or addressed in a
way that they consider inappropriate, there is a risk is that the group’s activities will
systematically undermine the effectiveness of policy implementation.
Media
The media plays a critical role in any modern democratic society. In terms of social
marketing, the media's role as both a shaper and reflector of public opinion means the
support of the media is essential. Unfortunately, government spending on advertising
is an easy target for journalists. Without adequate pre-campaign briefing, the
misleading story of equating $1 million on advertising spending in one area of
government with a decline in services in a specific region or for a specific
disadvantaged group is an easy story.
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The majority of marketing and social marketing activities undertaken by government
agencies do not involve high spend media advertising. However, when high spending
advertising campaigns are run, they are usually delivered through the same media
vehicles that often criticise the government for 'wasting' money on advertising.
Working in partnership with the media and ensuring ongoing briefings from the
inception and throughout the development of a campaign will minimise, although
never fully prevent, media criticism of government marketing activities.
General Public
Ultimately the general public are both the final customers and bosses of government.
The electoral process ensures that every citizen has an equal right to determine the
future of the government and its individual members every three years. While the
general public exert an influence on private sector operators, their influence is more
decisive and direct on government. To maintain power, governments need the overall
support of the general public, which in part, depends on how well the government's
policies and programs are received.
While marketing has a clear role to play in ensuring quality programs and the
acceptance of public policy, there is always a genuine concern that public money used
in such activities is being use for party political rather than public interest purposes.
This is a difficult and genuine issue for governments using marketing – a balance
needs to be struck between effective policy for the public good and the perception by
the public of party political benefits. Even if the public has benefited from a policy
and its marketing, if the process is perceived as politicised, the outcomes can be a
negative vote at the next election.
Macro Environment
The macro environments which impact on the development and implementation of
social marketing activities include:

social environment

economic environment

technological environment

legal environment, and

competitive environment.
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The difference between the micro and macro environments is that while the micro
environments are those forces close to the organisation which directly and
immediately impact on the organisations' marketing activities, the macro
environments represent the wider society in which the organisation operates.
Consequently changes in these environments tend to be more substantial involving
long term, sustainable trends.
Social environment
The social environment consists of all those forces which impact on the way in which
people live in a society. Included in the social environment are factors such as the
changing demographic structure of society, trends in the way in which people live
such as the increase in single person households, delayed marriage and child bearing
and the trend towards inner city living as well as cultural factors such as immigration,
religious beliefs and changing educational and lifestyle expectations.
Many social marketing issues arise out of the social environment. For example,
changing family structures mean that attitudes towards the concept of family may
need to be modified. One trend in the social environment which it is anticipated will
have a profound influence on a range of behaviours from attitude change through to
personal financial planning and modifying health behaviours is the aging of the
population.
Department of Communities - Queensland 2020: A State for All Ages
In April 2004, the Queensland Government undertook a public consultation exercise
to receive community feedback as to how best to establish future policy regarding the
aging of the population. As part of the preparations for the dealing with an aging
population, the Department of Communities has engaged in understanding how the
aging population will impact on Queensland society. As part of this process, the
Department has undertaking research into the impact of ‘ageism’ in the media
portrayal of older people, and in the broader societal attitudes.
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Technological Environment
The technological environment refers to the application of science to develop new
ways of doing things. Changes in the technological environment can have a wide
ranging impact on social marketing in terms of both the management of social
marketing, and the content or focus of social marketing activities.
The technological advancements which currently impact most significantly on social
marketing are those related to communications technology. The rapid adoption and
acceptance of the internet as a source of information and means of communication
strongly influences how information relating to social marketing issues is distributed.
Official websites for social marketing campaigns both distribute information and
allow target adopters to interact directly with those responsible for campaigns. The
inclusion of on line support communities means that the problems of distance
experienced by rural adopters are reduced. As the variety of communication methods
continues to expand, social marketers need to be more imaginative in getting their
message to the target market.
The decline in the importance of commercial free to air television advertising as a
source of credible information amongst young adults means that social marketers
need to become more innovative in their use of emerging communications media such
as SMS or develop more experiential marketing activities where the message of the
campaign is integrated into some other entertainment activity, eg. the use of message
placement in story lines of television shows and movies.
Legal Environment
As is the case for all marketers, there are a number of legal restrictions that social
marketers must take into consideration in the creation of any campaign. Given the
sensitive nature of many of the topics that fall within the domain of social marketing,
legal restrictions may impede the effective development and implementation of
communications and distribution strategies. For example, needle exchange programs
initially ran into problems due to technical breaches of the Drugs Misuse Act.
Messages involving sex related social marketing issues, whether they related to
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pregnancy or disease, need to be carefully crafted to ensure that appropriate and
relevant materials are developed while at the same time being mindful of the content
in light of target markets that may be in the early to mid teens.
Government based social marketers are in an unusual position in that they are ideally
placed to influence the legal environment through direct access to relevant ministers.
Changes in restrictive legislation, or modifications to specific acts, are possible to
avoid technical breaches or to draw attention to anomalies whereby the
implementation of a program in one ministerial portfolio may contravene legislation
which emanates from a totally different portfolio. To this extent government based
social marketers are in a relatively stronger position to effectively lobby when
compared to their private sector equivalents. They are both the originators of social
marketing campaigns while being the target of upstream social marketing campaigns
on the part of external groups.
Competitive Environment
Although commercial interests are often intimately involved, competition in social
marketing is very different to competition in commercial marketing. The social
marketing product is conceptual, therefore the competition is not as clear cut as it is in
the case of relatively simple tangible products. Since the ultimate aim of social
marketing is behavioural change, the competing product is also a behaviour – whether
it is an existing behaviour or an alternative, less beneficial behaviour. Again while
physical products may facilitate the behaviour that social marketers are trying to
change, the physical product and the commercial businesses which produce them are
not the competition.
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Social Competition in the Obesity Fight
Taking the current issue of childhood and teenage obesity as an example, the social
product which is the focus of the campaigns is a complex lifestyle modification
involving changes to the composition and amount of food consumed combined with
increased physical activity.
The competing product is a combination of high fat, high calorie, processed foods;
low levels of knowledge regarding nutrition; attitudes towards obesity; and a
sedentary lifestyle. While the facilitating products of the competing lifestyle may be
sold by companies such as McDonalds, Pizza Hut or Cadbury’s, these companies are
not the competition in the same way that McDonalds is a direct competitor of Pizza
Hut. Recent changes to the menus of many fast food outlets clearly demonstrates how
these commercial interests can actually work with social marketing campaigns and be
employed as part of the distribution network for facilitating social products.
The competition for the second component of the anti obesity push, an active lifestyle,
is a combination of alternative sedentary activities (which are relatively easy to
condemn) such as watching television or playing video games along with more
beneficial but equally sedentary activities such as playing musical instrument,
studying or engaging in part time work.
To develop a relevant and acceptable social marketing campaign, a full examination
of the potential alternative behaviours needs to be undertaken. These alternatives can
then be either superseded by a superior behaviour or modified to be incorporated into
a holistic lifestyle involving a complex range of behavioural and attitudinal change. If
the competition is seen simplistically, then it will be difficult, if not impossible, to
identify and focus on the underlying motivations of the target market.
Further, in the first instance, the issue may need to focus on education with the first
element of the social marketing campaign being either an increase in knowledge or a
change in attitude. For example, young teenage girls may avoid sport and an active
lifestyle because they perceive it as unfeminine. Instead, they choose to control their
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weight through inappropriate alternative behaviours such as using smoking as an
appetite suppressant or avoiding weight gain by simply not eating at a healthy level.
The goal of reduced obesity is achieved, but through the substitution of one damaging
behaviour for another - hence the need for preparatory education and attitudinal
change.
Concepts of Social Change Campaigning – A Summary

Weibe’s Five Forces Model of change campaigning illustrates the process a
person goes through in order to react to a social campaign.
o Force is the prexisiting motivation and desire to comply (or reject) the
campaign message
o Direction is the knowledge of how to act on the campaign message and is
closely associated with social promotion and education programs.
o Mechanism is the actual action, and the associate products, support
services or activities involved in carrying out the behaviour endorsed by
the campaign. It involves the whole of the social marketing mix, with
particular emphasis on product, people and place.
o Adequacy and compatibility are the extent to which the campaign delivers
on its promised benefits by undertaking the endorse activities. It is closely
associated with product and physical evidence
o Distance is the amount of effort required to performance the actions
required by the social change message, and is closely associated with
social price and social product

Social marketing operates in the macro and micro environment
o Micro environments include organisational culture, lobby groups, media
and general public.
o Macro environments include social environment, economic environment,
technological environment, legal environment, and competitive
environment.

Competition exists in social marketing between alternative solutions to a social
marketing problem
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Where social marketing fits with other approaches to social
change
Social marketing is not always the best mechanism for social change. The techniques
of social marketing have their benefits, but they also have their limitations, and as
such, should be considered as part of a broad range of tools for social change and
government marketing.
Whilst a large amount of social change can be implemented through motivating the
population to change specific attitudes, behaviours and beliefs, not all forms of social
change can be achieved through voluntary mechanisms. Social marketing is most
effective and appropriate where the emphasis is on the individual, and as such,
represents an approach government may undertake to achieve specific behavioural
outcomes.
This section overviews the ways in which social marketing interacts with other
methods of social change such as education and law reform.
Common Concepts - Education, Marketing and Law
The three key domain areas of social change examined in this section are:
Education: refers to any type of message which attempts to inform or a person
to make a voluntary change based on promoting the benefits of that change.
Education delivers an awareness of benefits, however it requires the individual to seek
out the mechanism for attaining those benefits for themselves. It also assume a certain
degree of rationality on the part of the target adopter in that it is assumed that, when
given the appropriate information about the benefits of the superior lifestyle, a
rational person will naturally change their behaviour. In summary, education
campaigns provide the information and expect the individual to go out and take the
appropriate action without any further assistance
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Marketing refers to the attempts to manage behaviour through creating an
environment which supports voluntary behaviour change by exchanging the
benefits of one behaviour for those of an alternative behaviour.
The creation of this environment includes the manipulation of social price, the nature
of the offer (product), the time and place of the opportunity (distribution/place) and
the provision of a reward for undertaking the behaviour (exchange). Social marketing
campaigns provide both the information, and assist in guiding the individual through
the steps required to perform the appropriate behaviour
Law is the use of government endorsed coercion to achieve a behavioural
outcome
Law can include penalties to force active involvement in an event (mandatory voting),
threats of punishment for non-compliance (jail, loss of licence for drink driving), or a
manipulation of the opportunities to comply through negative intervention (heavy
taxes increasing the financial costs of cigarettes) or positive invention (subsidised
prices for environmentally friendly fuels).
Whilst law is usually defined as coercive, it can be used for positively to reinforce
behaviour for example, where a law specifies a bonus for compliance (eg subsidy) or
where the law is used to override opposing social pressures (helmet wearing amongst
teenage cyclists). Coercion, despite its apparent negative context, is in this sense, a
neutral term describing the non voluntary nature of the influence exerted by
legislative intervention.
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There is a level of interaction and overlap between education and marketing, and
between marketing and law. This is illustrated as follows
Interrelationship between Education, Marketing and Law
Marketing
n
tio
an
ch
lu
nt
ar
y
ea
cr
Vo
ty
ni
tu
or
pp
ge
O
Education
Law
Both education and marketing emphasise voluntary change, with education providing
the knowledge required to undertake the change, and marketing providing knowledge
along with appropriate incentives for change. Similarly, both marketing and law can
provide environments that support change. They differ in how the individual may use
the environment ie whether it is voluntary (marketing) or compulsory (law). Where
an opportunity for change is presented by law, it is usually a non-negotiable
arrangement – whilst the laws that support the wearing of seatbelts nullify any social
pressure against seat belt use, they also nullify any sense of voluntary compliance. As
such, marketing's overlap between education and law leads to it being part of a
continuum of social change options.
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Continuum of Change Approach
Social change can be seen as the middle ground between the individual's selffulfilment of change based on education through to their compliance, willing or
otherwise, based on legal requirements and judicial penalties. Maibach (2003)
outlined a broad matrix approach to determining when social marketing was best
suited to being involved in a social change campaign. This is summarised in Table 2
Table 2 The Continuum of Change Mechanisms
When to use
Educational Approach
Social Marketing
Law based
neither prone to nor
is prone to appropriate
The target Market…
resistant to the
resistant to the
behaviour
appropriate behaviour
appropriate behaviour
can be enhanced by
cannot be conveyed to
are easily conveyed
managing the offer
and match the self
conveyed to the market
interests of the market
to best match their self
The benefits of the
the target market or do
behaviour…
not match the market's
self interest
interest
The level of
competition for the
minimal or non existent
active but manageable
unmanageable
message is
(adapted from Maibach, 2003)
The key application of social marketing is where the market is ambivalent regarding
the social change message, and has yet to fully identify how the proposed behaviours
can actually be of benefit to their self interest. Social marketing in this context is very
heavily focused on demonstrating how the individual will gain from their voluntary
compliance with the behaviour.
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Child Safety
Most parents are positively predisposed to child safety, a social marketing campaign
aimed at a specific target market (home renovators) with a tailored and managed
offering (specific advice for renovating the house to be child safe and examples of
how child safety in home renovations can be easily included at a lower cost) would
achieve a better rate of child safety outcomes than non-specific child safety
information.
Similarly, whilst most pool owners are positively disposed towards child safety, the
introduction of pool fencing requirements met with considerable resistance in
adoption (time and money costs for fencing) and did not easily match with the self
interest of many pool owners (eg pool owners without children). Consequently, even
with widespread community support for child safety, it was necessary to introduce
laws to force compliance with the behaviour (installing fencing).
Problems, Barriers and Roles Approach: Dealing with the Blockages at
Individual, Community and Society Level
Whilst the previous model looked at where social marketing was positioned across the
spectrum of social change, Andreasen (2002) draws upon a wide range of social
marketing research to examine where social marketing was positioned when applied
to barriers to social change. Motivation, opportunity and ability are the three key
sources of barriers.

Motivation is the desire to action the proposed behaviour and is heavily influenced
by the extent to which the behaviour will serve an individual's self interest (eg
donations to charity will serve the self interest of feeling good about oneself, and
receiving a tax deduction for the donation)
o Individual barriers to action are the individual's willingness to accept the
costs and effort involved in changing their behaviour (eg time cost of
preparing fresh food versus purchasing take away)
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o Community barriers which are the social norms pressuring against the
behaviour (eg social expectations that males are supposed to resolve
conflict through aggression rather than negotiation)
o Structural barriers are laws which penalise the positive behaviour (eg the
Marriage Bars which prohibited the employment of married women is a
barrier to equitable employment practices)

Opportunity: is extent to which a behaviour can be performed, either through
access to resources or an appropriate environment (eg the opportunity to undergo
a skin cancer check is limited by the availability of suitably qualified medical staff
with the appropriate equipment).
o Individual barriers to opportunities can include a lack of knowledge of
where to access resources (eg not knowing where the free medical centre is
located)
o Community barriers to opportunity include distance and regional isolation
(for example, indigenous communities in the Torres Strait lack access to
many opportunities present in larger mainland communities)
o Structural barriers to opportunity include a lack of government services,
centralised resources or a closure of regional outposts in favour of
centralised structures

Ability: is the actual capacity of the individual to undertake the behaviour, and
includes their set of skills, education, mental and physical capacities, abilities to
break habitual behaviours and willingness to counter the arguments and
discouragement of their friends (eg, whilst a person may wish change to a more
healthy diet, they may lack the basic knowledge of nutrition).
o Individual barriers to ability can include a lack of access to training or
information (eg inability to read)
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o Community barriers to ability can include factors such as low literacy rates
in the community, and the expectations that education is a waste of effort
o Structural barriers to ability may include discrimination against
individual's accessing resources (eg discouraging or prohibiting girls from
playing sport at an arbitrary age limit)
Andreasen (2002) views the role of the social marketing campaign as a
complimentary mechanism to support community mobilisation and structural change.
Community mobilisation is where the social pressure of the community structure is
brought to bear to support the change campaign, or at least, not actively oppose those
individuals who are changing their behaviour. This may be as high level as securing
media support for a social change campaign (eg Easter long weekend road safety
campaigns) through to as low level as peer pressure being used in teenage
intervention campaigns (eg Just Say No campaigns). Table 3 outlines the
collaborative overlap between the different types of change methods.
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Table 3 Collaborations between change method based on the type of barrier
Role for
Problem
Barrier
Community
Social Marketing
Mobilisation
Creating
awareness;
Urging media
Individual
promoting high
cooperation
benefits, low costs
Motivation
Opportunity
Ability
59
Structural Change
Approach
Building web
links to hard-toreach people
Community
Urging opinion
leaders to
motivate others
Creating
awareness; raising
public concerns
Creating
incentives for
group
organisation
Structural
Urging changes in
structural rewards
/ penalties (eg
taxes)*
Holding briefings
Changing
structural rewards
/ penalties
Individual
Creating
awareness of
behavioural
opportunities
Urging business,
political
cooperation
Community
Urging businesses
to provide access
to change agents
Changing
repressive social
norms
Structural
Urging use of
government
facilities for
programs
Bringing pressure
to bear on
legislators
Individual
Providing
modelling of ideal
behaviour
Pointing group
members to
individualised
change tools
Community
Providing
communications
tools for outreach
Conducting group
training
Structural
Urging removal
of public
disincentives
Changing
community
structures
voluntarily
Changing
economic barriers
to individual
action
Eliminating
antitrust
restriction on
business
cooperation
Providing
government
subsidies;
changing physical
environment
Allowing
government
agencies to
provide training
Allowing
government
premises (e.g.
schools) for group
training
Removing public
disincentives
*This is an example of upstream social marketing activity.
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Alternatives to Social Marketing at the Individual Change Level
Andreasen (2002) identifies six key approaches that directly compete with social
marketing at the level of voluntary, individual behavioural change, which may be
considered as supplemental or alternative mechanisms for implementing social
change. These are:
1. Stages of change approaches (Prochaska and DiClimente, 1984) which
emphasise tailoring interventions to the stage the target audience has reached
along the road to high involvement behavioural change. This model has been
popularised within the social marketing context and used to explain consumer
behaviour. It will be discussed in more detail in the following section;
2. The health belief model (Rosenstock, 1990) which emphasises communicating
information about the risks and benefits of action so as to change the
knowledge, attitudes, and intentions of target individuals;
3. Social learning theory (Bandura, 1997) which, among other features,
emphasises building up the target audience’s sense of self efficacy: their belief
that they can make the behaviour happen;
4. Behavioural reinforcement theory (Bickel and Vuchinich, 2000; Rothschild,
1999) which emphasises the manipulation of rewards and punishments in the
environment surrounding desirable and undesirable behaviours;
5. Strategic communications (eg health communications and health promotion)
which emphasises the creation of appropriate and powerful messages about
change; and
6. Enter-educate programs (Piotrow and Coleman, 1992) which combine
educational message with entertainment to change behaviours.
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Within Australia, Prochaska and DiClimente’s (1984) stages of change model has
gained popularity as a general framework for understanding how to target social
marketing campaigns. The model basically states that behavioural change occurs over
five phases, and that to be effective, behavioural change campaigns need to
understand at what stage the target market is at, and tailor their information and
campaign accordingly. The five stage of change in the model are as follows.
Table 4 Prochaska and DiClimente’s (1984) Stages of Change Model
Stage
Description
Marketing’s Role
Pre-contemplation
Consumers are not thinking about the
Raise awareness
behaviour or its relevance
Attitude change – i.e. this is relevant
to me
Emphasis on promotion
Contemplation
Consumers are thinking about and evaluating
Education and persuasion
behaviours
Information about the costs and
benefits of different behaviours
Preparation
Consumers have decided to act and are trying
Distribution of facilitating products
to put in place whatever is needed to carry out and services
the behaviour
Appropriate pricing
Action
Consumers are doing the behaviour for the
Focus on facilitating behaviour
first time
Distribution and service
Sales promotion – eg no joining fee
for gym
Confirmation
Consumers are committed to the behaviour
Reinforcement promotions
and have no desire or intention to return to
Length of service promotions eg 50
prior behaviour
blood donation badge
Most current social marketing campaigns in Australia seem to have adopted this
model, or a similar staged approach.
Where social marketing fits with other approaches – A Summary

Social marketing is not always the best mechanism for social change

Education, law, and social marketing are each appropriate for some forms of
change, but none are universally applicable as a solution to every problem

Social change can be implemented at a individual, community and society level,
with different methods required for each level and approach.
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Current Tools and Trends in Social Marketing
This section examines areas of social marketing theory and practice which are
emerging outside of the mainstream commercial marketing field. For example, whilst
commercial marketing struggles to make profitable use of internet based
communities, and is progressively moving away from the technique, social marketing
is able to use the online community framework to develop subsidised social support
networks.
Internet Marketing, Online Communities
The relatively widespread diffusion of the internet across Australian, and developed
societies, has led to a rise in the level of social marketing that is conducted in
cyberspace. This area of social marketing predates many commercial ventures, with
research demonstrating the successful use of online communities as a social change
support mechanisms in the 1990s, prior to the dot-com boom and bust.
Online social marketing has been used to provide levels of interactive information for
a campaign, and to develop communities structures where the individual seeking to
engage in behaviour change has access to the requisite knowledge to change, and can
seek additional encouragement from those also undertaking a similar behavioural
change.
Where the target market has access the internet, and the type of behaviour change
being proposed requires ongoing support (eg quitting smoking), or where the
individuals involved in changing behaviour encounter new or complex circumstances
(eg support groups for parents with children suffering chronic childhood illness),
online groups allow access to the skills and experiences of other people undertaking
the same process.
Networks of support also reduce the level to which the campaign is required to second
guess every possible outcome in advance. Being able to monitor the electronic
support groups forums creates a type of observational market research which can be
used to determine where additional information and support is be required.
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Behavioural Cessation Marketing
One of the dominant trends in contemporary social change campaigns has been the
emphasis on change behaviour from levels of acceptable risk to complete cessation of
the risk behaviour. Complete cessation is exemplified in the anti-smoking campaign
"Every cigarette is doing damage" which puts the emphasis on any incidence of the
behaviour being a damaging event, to 'responsible' levels of the behaviour, such as
occurs in the case of gambling or drinking,.
Cessation style campaigns have also emerged in the area of sexual health advocacy in
the USA where abstinence (full cessation of behaviour) has been emphasised ahead of
condoms (moderated safe behaviour). Cessation based change is also a uniquely
social marketing challenge insofar as a 100% adoption is not within the dreams of
commercial marketing (even where a business monopoly exists, there are those nonadopters that prevent the company from having 100% adoption of their products).
Behavioural cessation campaigns, by their nature, are likely to have relatively low
“success” rates as the behaviour competes directly not only with the high risk
behaviour but also with risk-reduction. It has also had a propensity to leave the
campaign recipients more vulnerable to risk behaviours in case of failure – simply
because it has advocated an all-or-nothing approach to dealing with the social
problem. For example, an abstinence campaign (no alcohol intake) will not provide
behavioural alternatives (moderate drinking, safe drinking) should the target audience
fail to adopt.
Finally, objectives for behavioural cessation campaigns need to be carefully framed.
Success, in these campaigns, needs to be the full cessation of the target behaviour by
an individual adopter, rather than the complete cessation of the behaviour throughout
society. Many campaigns of this style believe that one person behaving in a manner
contrary to the campaign (eg one drink driver) means that the campaign, and social
marketing, has failed.
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Ethical issues in social marketing
Ethical areas of social marketing can be divided into three practical considerations
which are as follows:

the ethics of the change process

the ethics of the change campaign content

the ethics of the change outcomes
Ethics of Change Process: Presumption of Superiority
Social marketing is an inherently biased process, and as such, proponents of social
marketing must recognise that they will always perceive their campaign as coming
from an ethical position. One of the consequences of Andreasen (1993) including the
phrase "in order to improve their personal welfare and that of their society" in the
definition of social marketing is that each campaign starts from a presumption that it
is acting in order to improve society, through improving the lives of the targets of the
campaign. Government based social marketing campaigns also start from the innate
presumption that they are acting in the public interest – either from implementing
existing policy, or through the implementation of policy and campaigns from newly
or recently elected parties.
The key consideration in addressing the bias inherent in social marketing is to
recognise that a social marketing campaign starts from a presumption of superiority
over the target audience. By implementing a change campaign, the campaigner
believes that the target audience is either engaged in an inappropriate behaviour, or
not engaging in a 'superior' alternative lifestyle. Even where a campaign is run to
support and encourage an existing behaviour, the assumption is that in the absence of
the campaign, the target market would not continue the 'superior' or 'appropriate'
behaviours.
The advantage social marketing has in dealing with the ethics of assumed superiority
is that social marketing deals with voluntary change. Where a campaign is infringing
on the cultural values of a target market (eg proposing safe sexual behaviours before
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marriage is contrary to cultural values which support abstinence until wedlock), social
marketing is offering a choice to adopt or not adopt. It becomes a conflict between
the product offering of the two lifestyle choices (eg current culture versus new social
marketing behaviour), rather that an attempt by government or social change agencies
to eradicate a specific targeted culture. This may not always be appreciated by the
cultural group on the receiving end of the campaign, however, it then becomes a
matter for them to promote the inherent benefits / superiority of their own social
product ahead of that provided by the social marketing campaign.
Ethics of the Change Campaign Content
Each social marketing campaign will face a distinct set of ethical issues based on the
content of the campaign materials. Common issues in the ethics of the content of the
campaign include:

whether to provide full information, partial information or only the most
persuasive information to the target adopter. Many social marketing campaigns
prefer to err on the side of maximum information, and as such, end up with less
effective messaging strategies. However, where simple messages are used, such
as the Speed Kills campaign (drugs, not road safety), critics argue that the
simplistic message encourages ignorance of the full facts of the issue.

the conflict between appropriate product strategies for the target market, and the
social values of other community groups. In particular, this area is often
highlighted by the conflict between those promoting harm minimisation (if you
must engage in risk behaviour, these are safe guard steps to lower the risk) versus
those promoting behavioural cessation (any part of the risk behaviour is too
dangerous to perform).

clashes between appropriate promotional messages, and appropriate use of the
most effective or most efficient message channels, and wider community
perceptions of advertising and promotion. For example, whilst a safe injecting
message may be most appropriately delivered by direct mail aimed at high risk
teenage populations, it would be easy to criticise the direct mail campaign as
encouraging the risk behaviour (eg providing information for safe injecting is to
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promote or encourage injecting). Similarly, message channels such as television
commercials or billboards may be perceived as the more expensive method of
communicating with a target market, and may be criticised on the perceived cost –
even if the media space was donated by the broadcaster or billboard owner.
Ethics of the Change Outcome: Consequences of Change
The final broad area of social marketing ethics are the consequences, both foreseen
and unintended that result from the successful social change campaign.
Intended Consequences
The most obvious area of ethical consideration for social marketing campaigns is to
look at the intended consequences of the change campaign. For example, whilst
literacy and education campaigns are rarely considered to be unethical, the intended
consequences of the campaigns raise both ethical and practical considerations.
The most overt practical consideration is whether the infrastructure exists to assist the
target market in learning – for example, a campaign to encourage school attendance
has the intended consequence of children attending high school. At a practical level,
does the school have room for that many students? Are there sufficient resources to
deal with the influx of students? At the ethical level, is it ethical to create a demand
for education where there may not be sufficient resources for the provision of that
education?
Similarly, does encouraging students who would not ordinarily attend classes to
attend school result in lowering the standard of the experience for those who would be
attending them without the interference of the change campaign? These are some of
the ethical considerations that are encountered even with a low-controversy campaign
such as childhood literacy and education.
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Unintended Consequences
Suggesting marketers need to consider the unexpected consequences of an unforeseen
outcome as an ethical issue is often met with justifiable levels of disbelief. However,
before dismissing the unintended or unforeseen consequences of a social change
campaign as requiring a psychic ability, all social marketing campaigns need to be
aware of where they draw the boundary around what impact that they can claim as
'theirs' from the campaign. In the previous example, encouraging education could
result in intelligent students from rural and regional areas deciding that there are
insufficient career and education opportunities presented in their local areas, and as a
result, they move to the larger population centres.
The intended consequence of the campaign was to raise literacy and education levels,
and the unintended outcome was to facilitate a population migration from rural to
regional to city centres as people sought out higher levels of education with a
resulting negative impact on the rural community.
One area of consistent unintended consequence is the result of implementing change
campaigns that focus on self empowerment and individual control in cultures where
certain individuals or social groups are expected to be dominated by another.
Historically, campaigns involving female reproduction have resulted in a shift in the
gender power dynamic. Where the decision as to the number of children in the family
was traditionally left with the male impregnating his partner, the use of oral
contraception alters the power dynamic of the relationship.
Similarly, where cultures are based around adherence to the advice of elders, the
introduction of peer based support networks undermines traditional cultural values.
There are considerable ethical concerns with providing campaigns based on
individualism, self control and self-development to cultural groups with a strong
tendency towards authoritarian figures providing guidance and community leadership.
Finally, the use of peer based campaigning has the unintended consequence of
reinforcing the value of peer pressure as a social mechanism. A consequence of this is
that whilst the peer pressure mechanism is acceptable for use in social marketing to
encourage 'positive' behaviours, social marketing cannot disclaim responsibility if that
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same mechanism is used by people in seeking support for 'negative behaviours'. In
other words, if it was okay to rely on peer approval to not drink drive, then the
community should not be surprised that these same people, faced with peer approval
for drug use, then follow this peer pressured behaviour. Sensitising people to peer
opinion is a dual edge campaign tool and the ethical consequences of using this
technique must be considered before applying it to vulnerable populations.
Ethical Issues in Social Marketing - A Summary

Social marketing campaigns starts from a presumption of superiority over the
target audience since the campaigner believes that the target audience is either
engaged in an inappropriate behaviour, or not engaging in a 'superior' alternative
lifestyle

Ethical considerations for a change campaign include

whether to provide full information, partial information or only the most
persuasive information to the target adopter

the conflict between appropriate product strategies for the target market, and the
social values of other community groups.

clashes between appropriate promotional messages, and appropriate use of the
most effective or most efficient message channels, and wider community
perceptions of advertising and promotion.

Social marketing needs to consider both the intended and possible unintended
consequences of the campaign when assessing the ethics of the social change
program
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Practical issues in Social Marketing implementation
The final section of the monograph overviews a selection of practical issues
associated with the implementation of social marketing. This section is book ended
by two extracts from Andreasen (2002), examining when to use social marketing, and
concluding the section with a checklist for identifying if a campaign falls within the
boundaries of social marketing. Between the "when" and the "what" of social
marketing is an overview of how to use internal marketing to promote social
marketing within an organisation.
When to use social marketing
Social marketing is not the only arrow in the quiver of social change, and as such,
should be considered one of a series of alternatives, rather than the definitive method
for all social change. Andreasen (2002) established a short check list to determine
whether social marketing is the best method of implementing change.
Will social marketing match the type of change?
The first step in the process of matching social marketing to a social change agenda is
to establish what type of change is being sought (See Table 4 previously for the types
of changes). Social marketing is designed to encourage voluntary change by
individuals, which, when performed as a collective can also bring about community
change.
Table 5 outlines the three types of change, and possible interventions to use to
implement each type of reform.
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Table 5 Type of Change
Type of change?
Structural change
Possible Options
Legislation and regulation
70
Examples
Tobacco Laws, Queensland
Health
Government subsidy or tax relief
Queensland Fuel Subsidy
Scheme, Office of State Revenue,
Queensland Treasury
Government funded infrastructure
Pacific Film and Television
Commission
Community Change
Social Marketing
Cross Government Project to
Reduce the Social Isolation of
Older People, Department of
Communities
Lobbying, pressure groups
QPIX
Peer support networks
Queensland Spinal Cord Injuries
Service, Queensland Health
Business, community groups
Office of Rural Communities,
Department of Primary Industries
Individual Change
Social Marketing
Every K over is a Killer,
Queensland Transport
Education campaigns
Stopping abuse and violence:
Information for people who use
abusive and violent behaviour in
relationships, Department of
Communities
Awareness campaigns
Recreational Fishing Rules in
Queensland, DPI
Financial incentives
FarmBis
Do the conditions suit social marketing?
Social marketing relies on a series of preconditions for change, and these are:

the right to remain banal: the willingness of the change agency to accept noncompliance with the proposed new behaviour,

the willingness to take a client centred focus on the behavioural change.

market research driven interventions

the use of the whole of the marketing mix.
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The Right to Remain Banal
As Smith (2002) illustrated previously, social marketing's strength and limits are
based around the principle of voluntary compliance. Where non-voluntary compliance
is required, social marketing is ineffective in bringing about change. However, where
the market can bear individuals deviating from the campaign's proscribed behaviour,
social marketing can be used. If social change absolutely has to occur, then social
marketing's tolerance for voluntary rejection of the change message will not achieve
the outcome.
Client Centred Campaigning
The second key to social marketing is the willingness of the campaigners to base
interventions on the actual needs and desires of the target adopter rather than working
from an expert driven set of assumptions. Client centred campaigning allows the
social change agency to tailor their products to needs of the market, and to address
issues such as the social cost of adopting the intervention. In order to conduct this
style of campaign, it is necessary to understand the market, and that requires market
research.
Segmenting the Road Safety Market
In the field of road safety, there has been a significant body of research on the
motivations, attitudes and behaviours of the at-risk populations of drivers.
Queensland Transport identifies two key at-risk groups for message targeting as being
the demographic groupings of males aged between 17 and 20 years, and 21 to 24
years of age. However, the research demonstrates that inside the broad segment of
male drivers aged 17-24, there are specific attitudinal and behavioural segments who
need to be addressed separetly. By using market research, and a client centred
strategy, it was possible to design campaigns tailored to the appropriate risk
behaviours since the people who engaged in high risk high speed driving are
necessarily the same type of people who would engage in drink and driving. By
isolating the behaviour, and focusing the segmentation on attitudinal, behaviour and
demographic segments, it is possible to deliver the best message fit (eg anti-speeding
to drivers prone to speeding) rather than a blanket message strategy with a high level
of irrelevant messages (eg anti-fatigue messages to people who don’t wear seat belts).
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Market Research Driven Interventions
The third element is the use of market research to support client centred campaigning
by actually researching the needs, wants, motives, levels of understand of existing
campaigns, reasons for adoption and non adoption of the social product and other
related issues. Investing funds up front in market research in order to maximise the
value of the intervention is a more cost effective method of campaign than not
conducting the research, and using the money into a less focused campaign.
Whole of the Mix or Component Parts?
The final question of whether social marketing is the relevant method is whether the
campaign is willing to use the whole of the marketing mix in the design and
implementation of the campaign. If the agency is either incapable or unwilling to
adopt the full marketing mix, then social marketing will not be the most appropriate
method as it requires a commitment to the holistic approach to marketing, rather than
just the use of one or two elements of the portfolio.
Queensland Transport and Elements of the Marketing Mix
Whilst the road safety campaigns are one of the most visible aspect of the Department
of Transport’s marketing activities, not every aspect of road safety needs to use social
marketing, or even the whole of the marketing mix. The Department frequently only
needs to either inform the public of the availability of a new online service, or the
changes to an existing road law or penalty. Rather than engaging in a full campaign,
the Department makes use of the basic elements of promotion to alert the public to the
new information.
Will social marketing make a difference?
In this case, the question being raised is whether social marketing is both appropriate
and effective for the proposed campaign. In terms of appropriateness, this is
addressed by answering three questions:

Is the campaign based on persuading or educating?
Where the campaign is focused on persuading the consumer to adopt a new
behaviour, social marketing is of more use than other methods. However, where the
target market needs to be informed of a change of penalty or a fine, commercial
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marketing and advertising would be more effective. Similarly, where education is
more important than persuasion, social marketing is not required.

Are the goals best suited by voluntary change?
Where the goal is not suited to voluntary change, there is a need for non-social
marketing intervention.

Does the goals require the support of law, education or technology changes?
In terms of effectiveness, can social marketing manage the change process alone or in
conjunction with additional factors such as law reform (tax incentives for fitting seat
belts in buses), educational campaigns (teaching how to use seat belts on a bus), or
shifts in technology (production of buses with seat belts)
Is there a point to social marketing?
After reviewing a checklist of the application of social marketing, it may appear that it
is very limited in its application. However, as a specialist tool, what it does
(voluntary behaviour change) it does well, and what it doesn't do well, should be done
by some other tool. Social marketing specialises in individual voluntary behaviour,
which, when applied to a collected group of individuals can bring about community
change, but should not be considered a universal solution to social change
campaigning.
Internal Marketing of Social Marketing
Having elected to use social marketing for the campaign, the immediate priority for
the organisation is to assess the level of support for marketing and social marketing
within the ogranisation. Where resistance to the use of social marketing exists,
Novelli (1989) recommends three steps to assist in adapting social marketing for use
in the organisation. These are:

legitimise marketing

understand the culture of the organisation

acquire the technical expertise
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Legitimising Marketing
The first step in the process of implementing a social marketing campaign is to
familiarise any government officials who will be involved in the planning,
implementation or review of the campaign with the meaning and importance of social
marketing as a mechanism for social change (Novelli, 1989).
Similarly, social
marketers, be they from a government body or external contractors need to familiarise
themselves with the politics, political processes and government decision making
frame works before commencing the social marketing program.
There are four broad areas that should be considered when developing social
marketing familiarisation for personnel involved in social marketing. These are

conceptual problems

macro-political issues

micro-political issues

methodology
Conceptual problems
Social marketing is a broad area where numerous definitions and concepts have been
discussed, with varying degrees of accuracy. A successful campaign will need to
ensure that those people involved in the planning and implementation share an
understanding of the key elements of social marketing. In addition, seemingly minor
issues of semantics, such as establishing a common set of definitions, can assist in
reducing misunderstandings in the implementation of the campaign (for example:
what constitutes "young" or "old" is based on the context. In a health campaign
promoting sport, an "older player" is between 25-30, whereas an "older citizen" is
more likely to be in the 65+ age bracket)
Macro-political issues
These are the issues that will arise at the parliamentary and political level for a
campaign. It is important that policy directives, election promises, and political
ideologies are understood when developing a social marketing campaign. The extent
to which these issues can be identified and shared between the strategic and tactical
levels of campaign is important – whilst the optimal outcome for social change may
be implemented at the tactical level (eg provision of free condoms in high schools), a
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political agenda of not wanting to be seen to encourage teenage sexual activity may
preclude this from being implemented. Understanding the existence and likely
impacts of political agendas can improve support for campaigns at the macro-political
level. Informed understanding of political constraints on a social marketing campaign
can be used by social marketers to lobby the macro-political level for support. .
Micro-political issues
Whilst the macro-political level deals with the parliamentary level issues, micropolitical issues address the lower levels of compromise and adjustment required to
address issues such as inter-departmental disputes of territory (eg who has the
responsibility for funding a campaign? Who will be receiving the credit or blame for
the outcome?). Clarifying and addressing micro-level issues at the outset of a
campaign can also allow those participants in the social marketing planning process
who have limited experience in the micro-politics of the issue to make the necessary
adjustments to their understanding of the environment.
Methodology
Methodological issues involve all aspects of converting the social marketing plan,
framework and ideas into an implemented campaign. It includes the selection of what
mechanisms will be used to review, assess and evaluate the outcomes of the
campaign. Clarification of methodological goals will also include what limits will be
in place as a result of micro and macro-political issues – for example, whilst a formal
scientific testing process (double blind tests, control groups and placebo applications)
may be the optimum method of assessing the relative strength of a social health
campaign, it is unlikely to receive political support for allowing a group in need to
receive a placebo in place of an actual (if uncertain) intervention.
Acquiring the technical expertise
One of the misconceptions surrounding commercial marketing has been the
devolution of the role of marketing from a specific department to the overly broad
"everyone in the organisation is in marketing" approach. Consequently, marketing is
often mistakenly perceived as a lower skill area than accounting or law. Intro to law
does not a lawyer make, nor does psychology 101 make a psychologist. However it is
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not uncommon for staff to be appointed into marketing positions with training limited
to a single subject in marketing or no formal training at all. One of the factors that
contribute to the relatively poor understanding of marketing and what it can and can’t
do, particularly in the public sector, is a lack of rigorous standards governing who can
practise as a marketer.
Given the relatively recent adoption of marketing into the public sector, two common
scenarios exist as to the backgrounds of public sector marketers. In one scenario, the
marketing staff are redeployed from within the agency so that, while they may have
an enthusiasm for the portfolio and the policy area, they lack the technical marketing
skills and knowledge and instead try to learn on the job. The second common scenario
is where lateral recruitment is used and an experienced marketer is employed with
high levels of technical skills but with little or no appreciation of the unique
responsibilities of government in relation to accountability. Ideally, given the
complexity of the public sector environment and social marketing issues, marketers
would have some clear training in both government and marketing.
Problems arising from the lack of knowledge and training in both marketing and the
public sector need to be acknowledged. It is often the lack of appreciation of the
differing constraints that face public sector employees that make government
marketing seem less innovative or less effective. Government marketers do not have
the same freedom as their private sector counterparts to only work with responsive
target markets hence any judgement of the effectiveness or otherwise of government
marketing should be considered in light of the need of government agencies to not
only serve their clients, but interests and welfare of the broader public.
Marketing technical expertise can be divided into creative, scientific and strategic.
Creative marketing expertise relates to the design and development of message
strategies, advertising materials and product concepts. Scientific marketing is the
research and analytical aspects of marketing. Strategic expertise relates to the
planning processes of marketing, from the macro level intervention strategy through
to the development of specific market plans for each program.
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External marketing resources may be required in the following areas:

market research

marketing communications

media buying and communications

marketing audit

external review of programs
If the project requires research to be conduct via focus groups or structured
interviews, these should be handled by third party researchers. Cost cutting by trying
to handle complicated research such as focus groups in house ultimately results in a
false economy. 'Saving' money by producing poor research that leads to a misdirected
campaign ultimately wastes the taxpayer's dollars.
Ethical Issues in Social Marketing - A Summary

Social marketing campaigns starts from a presumption of superiority over the
target audience since the campaigner believes that the target audience is either
engaged in an inappropriate behaviour, or not engaging in a 'superior' alternative
lifestyle

Ethical considerations for a change campaign include

whether to provide full information, partial information or only the most
persuasive information to the target adopter

the conflict between appropriate product strategies for the target market, and the
social values of other community groups.

clashes between appropriate promotional messages, and appropriate use of the
most effective or most efficient message channels, and wider community
perceptions of advertising and promotion.

Social marketing needs to consider both the intended and possible unintended
consequences of the campaign when assessing the ethics of the social change
program
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Determining if the campaign is Social Marketing
Andreasen (2002) proposed a series of benchmarks to determine whether a campaign
could be considered social marketing. These are presented in Table 6
Table 6 Social Marketing Campaign Benchmarks
Does the campaign
Yes
No
…use behaviour change as the benchmark for

designing the intervention

implementing the intervention?
…use market research to

understand the target audience?

pretest the campaign?

monitor the implementation and outcome of the campaign?
… uses market segmentation to target a specific audience or behaviour?
… create an influence strategy based on creating an exchange of value
for the target adopter?
…use the whole of the marketing mix?
… consider, assess and compensate for competition from other
behaviours and messages in the design of the program?
If the campaign meets all of these criteria, it can be considered a social marketing
campaign.
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References
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Government Campaigns
Tobacco Laws, Queensland Health http://www.health.qld.gov.au/atods/tobaccolaws/index.asp
Queensland Fuel Subsidy Scheme, Office of State Revenue, Queensland Treasury http://www.osr.qld.gov.au/gas/fuel/index.htm
Pacific Film and Television Commission –
http://www.pftc.com.au/
Cross Government Project to Reduce the Social Isolation of Older People,
Department of Communities - http://www.communities.qld.gov.au/
QPIX http://www.qpix.org.au/
Queensland Spinal Cord Injuries Service, Queensland Health http://www.health.qld.gov.au/qscis/
Office of Rural Communities, Department of Primary Industries,
http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/orc/
Every K over is a Killer, Queensland Transport http://www.roadsafety.qld.gov.au/
Stopping abuse and violence: Information for people who use abusive and violent
behaviour in relationships, Department of Communities http://www.communities.qld.gov.au/violenceprevention/
Recreational Fishing Rules in Queensland, DPI http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb/2881.html
FarmBis http://www.farmbis.gov.au/
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