What is social marketing?

  • ParticipAction
  • Stupid.ca
  • Reduce, Reuse, Recyle
  • Imagine (volunteering)

These are just some examples of the many social marketing campaigns that we have been exposed to for years.

Kotler, Roberto and Lee1 define social marketing as the “use of marketing principles and techniques to influence a target audience to voluntarily accept, reject, modify or abandon a behavior for the benefit of individuals, groups, or society as a whole.”

More recently, some authors, including Alan Andreasen2, have argued that the traditional definitions – and practices – of social marketing have placed too much of an emphasis on changing individual behaviour (downstream approach) and not enough on other target audiences, including policy makers (upstream approach).

In short, social marketing (versus corporate marketing) is ultimately about selling a change in behavior instead of selling a product or service, regardless of the audience. Campaigns to promote flu vaccinations, hand washing, reduced use of electricity, taking public transit, workplace literacy, breastfeeding, going back to school, and quitting smoking are all examples that use social marketing to effect the desired change.

Other sources of information on social marketing include:

Health Canada’s Website: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/activit/marketsoc/whatis-qui_e.html

The Social Marketing Institute: http://www.social-marketing.org/

Tools of Change: http://www.toolsofchange.com/English/firstsplit.asp

The Health Communication Unit: http://www.thcu.ca/infoandresources/persuasive_communication.htm

1Philip Kotler, Ned Roberto and Nancy Lee, Social Marketing: Improving the Quality of Life, 2nd ed.. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2002.

2 Alan R. Andreasen, Social Marketing in the 21st Century. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2006.