A Study on Social Marketing - A Communication Approach to Development

1. SOCIAL
MARKETING
A communication
approach to Development

2. The Diffusion of Innovations
approach to development:
strong but insufficient
Diffusion concepts: imprecise
and did not properly record
recipient feedback
Diffusion research gave way to a
new communication approach to
development: Social Marketing

3. The design, implementation, and
control of programs calculated to
influence the acceptability of social
ideas and involving considerations of
product, planning, pricing,
communication, distribution, and
marketing research – Kotler &
Zaltman
Science-based commercial marketing
strategies to disseminate ideas to
promote social causes
What is Social Marketing?

4. Social marketing…
- Intended to change values,
attitudes and behavior
- Offered means to maximize
spread of innovations
- Brought out concepts such as
audience segmentation, market
research, product development,
incentives, facilitation

5. MARKETING
+
SOCIAL WELFARE
= DEVELOPMENT

6. Market Research
Product Development
Incentives
Facilitation
Marketing maneuvers?

7. - Investigating the market for the
specific product, idea or service
- Dividing the broad audience groups
based on knowledge, cultural
characteristics
- Identifying cost-effective means of
communication to segregated
audiences
1. Market Research

8. - Promoting a host of products to
target audience
- Identifying the product which
appeals the most to the audience,
and pushing it forward
- sales approach:one vital product is
marketed extensively to promote
sales; marketing technique to find
the product the people need
2. Product development

9. - Offering motivation to adopt a
product or service
- Monetary or psychological
incentives
Example: GOI gives Rs.1000 to
expectant women in last 3 months
of pregnancy, in rural areas, for
delivery and post-natal care
3. Incentives

10. - Making the product or service readily
available to the target audience
- Reducing time and effort for the
target to adopt the innovation and
continue its usage
- Also adjusting cost to suit the needs
of the audience
Example. Rural health clinics, Condom
dispensers, etc.
4. Facilitation

11. Therefore…
Social marketing takes a
holistic view of the process of
dissemination of innovations,
by emphasizing the four Ps in
the marketing chain:
Product, Pricing,
Placement, Promotion

12. Started with ‘clinic approach’ in
1970s
Contraceptives and products to limit
child-birth promoted through mass
media and clinics
Replaced by ‘field approach’
Trained health extension agents
took messages to homes and
communities
Family Planning
Communication

13. Extension approach vs. Clinic
approach??
Extension or field approach was a
clear winner.
- Supplemented by radio shows,
posters, folk media
performances, mobile film vans,
etc.

14. Awareness increased rapidly
Favorable attitude towards
family planning
Contraceptives not an ill
anymore
Boons…

15. Relatively low adoption rates for
following reasons:
- Coherence of communication
messages seldom checked
- Lack of multimedia campaigns
and attention to segregated
audience
Banes…

16. - Lack of systematic pretesting of
messages
- Lack of clear understanding
between communication messages
and behavior change
- Lack of formative and summative
evaluations of communication
campaigns
- Assumption that awareness and
knowledge will lead to behavior
change

17. Callfor strategic family planning
programs
Use of social marketing concepts
Formative research approaches like
focus groups, surveys, pretesting of
messages
- Population Communication Services
(aided by USAID)
The 1990s

18. Communication in
HIV/AIDS Prevention
Tomorrow…