Contemporary Marketing Review Vol. 1(2) pp.

10 13, April, 2011

Available online at http://wwww.businessjournalz.org/cmr

SSN: 2047 - 0398

A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MARKETING POLICY IN THE SOCIETY

Farhad Nezhad Haj Ali Irani, Public Management, PhD

Islamic Azad University, Bonab Branch, Iran
F_NejadHajiAliIrani@yahoo.com
Mohammad Reza Noruzi, EMBA, PhD Student (Corresponding Author)
Policy Making in Public Sector
Islamic Azad University, Bonab Branch, Iran
Young Researchers Club Member, IAU Bonab, Iran
mr.noruzi.pnu@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The involvement of individuals subject to the benefits of social policies makes it extremely important to promote
selling goods and services processes as a fundamental requirement of the responsibility with NGOs and
institutions and the market for the design, formulation and implementation of policies aimed at promoting and
improving the welfare of society. This paper discusses social marketing in general.
Keywords: society, marketing, social policy marketing

SOCIAL POLICY AND MARKETING

Many consumer agencies use information campaigns and marketing to influence peoples behavior and reduce
the risk of consumer detriment. Such strategies involve messages such as informing teenagers about the impact
of excessive debts, encouraging householders to use licensed trades people or informing businesses about ethical
processes for conducting real estate auctions.1 Evaluations of these information campaigns often measure the
penetration and accessibility of the information, but not its success in changing behavior. Sometimes, the target
audience is aware of the messages being delivered but does not respond by changing its behavior (Cousins,
2006).
THE HISTORY OF SOCIAL MARKETING
Social marketing was "born" as a discipline in the 1970s, when Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman realized that
the same marketing principles that were being used to sell products to consumers could be used to "sell" ideas,
attitudes and behaviors. Kotler and Andreasen define social marketing as "differing from other areas of
marketing only with respect to the objectives of the marketer and his or her organization. Social marketing seeks
to influence social behaviors not to benefit the marketer, but to benefit the target audience and the general
society." This technique has been used extensively in international health programs, especially for
contraceptives and oral rehydration therapy (ORT), and is being used with more frequency in the United States
for such diverse topics as drug abuse, heart disease and organ donation (Weinreich, 2010).
SOCIAL MARKETING
Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to
achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. Social marketing can be applied to promote merit goods, or
to make a society avoid demerit goods and thus to promote society's well being as a whole. For example, this

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Contemporary Marketing Review Vol. 1(2) pp. 10 13, April, 2011

Available online at http://wwww.businessjournalz.org/cmr

SSN: 2047 - 0398

may include asking people not to smoke in public areas, asking them to use seat belts, or prompting to make
them follow speed limits.
Although "social marketing" is sometimes seen only as using standard commercial marketing practices to
achieve non-commercial goals, this is an over-simplification.
The primary aim of social marketing is "social good", while in "commercial marketing" the aim is primarily
"financial". This does not mean that commercial marketers cannot contribute to achievement of social good.
Increasingly, social marketing is being described as having "two parents"a "social parent" = social sciences
and social policy, and a "marketing parent" = commercial and public sector marketing approaches.
Beginning in the 1970s, it has in the last decade matured into a much more integrative and inclusive discipline
that draws on the full range of social sciences and social policy approaches as well as marketing (Wikipedia,
2010).
Craig Lefebvre and June Flora introduced social marketing to the public health community in 1988 (Lefebvre,
1988) where it has been most widely used and explored. They noted that there was a need for "large scale,
broad-based, behavior change focused programs" to improve public health (the community wide prevention of
cardiovascular diseases in their respective projects), and outlined eight essential components of social marketing
that still hold today. They are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

A consumer orientation to realize organizational (social) goals

An emphasis on the voluntary exchanges of goods and services between providers and consumers
Research in audience analysis and segmentation strategies
The use of formative research in product and message design and the pretesting of these materials
An analysis of distribution (or communication) channels
Use of the marketing mixutilizing and blending product, price, place and promotion characteristics in
intervention planning and implementation
A process tracking system with both integrative and control functions
A management process that involves problem analysis, planning, implementation and feedback
functions (Lefebvre & flora, 1988; Wikipedia, 2010)

IMPORTANT AND EFFECTIVE FACTORS IN MARKETING POLICY

Frequently, the objective of consumer policy is to influence behavior, but the assumptions about what is needed
to generate behavioral change are often simplistic. Many policies assume that providing information or
increasing awareness automatically leads to behavioral change. These assumptions mean that consumer
marketing strategies have concentrated on:

publications targeting industry sectors

websites
leaflets and fact sheets
direct mail
publications distributed at point of sale
shows and exhibitions
conferences, forums and road shows, and
Media campaigns (Cousins, 2006).

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Contemporary Marketing Review Vol. 1(2) pp. 10 13, April, 2011

Available online at http://wwww.businessjournalz.org/cmr

SSN: 2047 - 0398

THE NOTION OF "P"S IN SOCIAL MARKETING PROCESS

The planning process takes this consumer focus into account by addressing the elements of the "marketing mix."
This refers to decisions about 1) the conception of a Product, 2) Price, 3) distribution (Place), and 4) Promotion.
These are often called the "Four Ps" of marketing. Social marketing also adds a few more "P's." At the end is an
example of the marketing mix.
ADDITIONAL SOCIAL MARKETING "P'S"
Publics--Social marketers often have many different audiences that their program has to address in order to be
successful. "Publics" refers to both the external and internal groups involved in the program. External publics
include the target audience, secondary audiences, policymakers, and gatekeepers, while the internal publics are
those who are involved in some way with either approval or implementation of the program.
Partnership--Social and health issues are often so complex that one agency can't make a dent by itself. You
need to team up with other organizations in the community to really be effective. You need to figure out which
organizations have similar goals to yours--not necessarily the same goals--and identify ways you can work
together.
Policy--Social marketing programs can do well in motivating individual behavior change, but that is difficult to
sustain unless the environment they're in supports that change for the long run. Often, policy change is needed,
and media advocacy programs can be an effective complement to a social marketing program.
Purse Strings--Most organizations that develop social marketing programs operate through funds provided by
sources such as foundations, governmental grants or donations. This adds another dimension to the strategy
development-namely, where will you get the money to create your program (Weinreich, 2010)?

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Contemporary Marketing Review Vol. 1(2) pp. 10 13, April, 2011

Available online at http://wwww.businessjournalz.org/cmr

SSN: 2047 - 0398

REFERENCES
Cousins, David, (2006), Consumer Affairs Victoria Social Marketing and Consumer Policy
Lefebvre, R. Craig; June A. Flora (1988). "Social Marketing and Public Health Intervention" (Portable
Document Format). Health Education Quarterly (John Wiley & Sons) 15 (3): 300, 301. Retrieved 2008-0430.
Lefebvre, R.C. & Flora, J.A. (1988). Social Marketing and Public Health Intervention (Portable Document
Format). Health Education Quarterly; 15 (3): 300, 301.
Research Paper No. 4 March 2006
Weinreich, Nedra Kline (2010), "Hands-On Social Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide to Designing Change for
Good." Available online at: http://www.social-marketing.com
Wikipedia, 2010, Social marketing, available online at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_marketing

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