kerala university mba subject

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Unit I: Introduction- definition- history- scope- limitations- need for social marketing- social
Marketing plan- process- Evolution in India vis a vis other countries
Definition:
Social marketing is 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.
Social marketing is the adaptation of commercial marketing technologies to
programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences to improve their personal
welfare and that of the society of which they are a part.
Social marketing is an approach used to develop activities aimed at changing or
maintaining people’s behaviour for the benefit of individuals and society as a whole.
Combining ideas from commercial marketing and the social sciences, social marketing is a
proven tool for influencing behaviour in a sustainable and cost-effective way.
It helps you to decide:
 Which people to work with
 What behaviour to influence
 How to go about it
 How to measure it
Social marketing is not the same as social media marketing. Find out more.
Approach
Social marketing is a systematic and planned process. It follows six steps
Behaviour
The goal of social marketing is always to change or maintain how people behave – not what they
think or how aware they are about an issue. If your goal is only to increase awareness or
knowledge, or change attitudes, you are not doing social marketing.
Benefits people and society

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This is the value – perceived or actual – as it is defined by the people who are targeted by a
social marketing intervention. It is not what is assumed to benefit them by the organisation that is
trying to encourage the behaviour change.
A social marketing approach
Even if you don‘t take social marketing any further, just considering these four questions will
add value to your projects and policies.
1. Do I really understand my target audience and see things from their perspective?
2. Am I clear about what I would like my target audience to do?
3. For my target audience, do the benefits of doing what I would like them to do outweigh the costs
or barriers to doing it?
4. Am I using a combination of activities in order to encourage people to achieve the desired
action?
How social marketing helps
Policy: social marketing helps to ensure policy is based on an understanding of people‘s lives,
making policy goals realistic and achievable. Policy example: water rationing in Jordan

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Strategy: social marketing enables you to target your resources cost-effectively, and select
interventions that have the best impact over time. Strategy example: lung disease strategy in
England
Implementation and delivery: social marketing enables you to develop products, services and
communications that fit people‘s needs and motivations. Delivery example: child car seats in
Texas
 Social Marketing provides four key methods to the agent of change.
1. It targets barriers to specific behaviors
2. It provides a set of tools that have proven effective in promoting behavior change.
3. Social marketing stresses the need to test and review programs targeting behavior change
4. Social marketing, like sophisticated and disciplined commercial marketing, is vitally
selfconscious. Program success must be evaluated, not on a pass/fail basis but in detail, to
determine how successful it was, what made it successful, and what interfered with even
greater success.
Social Marketing: three key factors
• A set of tools or technologies adapted from commercial or traditional marketing and applied to
behavioural issues
• Social marketing – via the core marketing concept (or philosophy) – way of approaching a specific
issue with a focus on the audience’s perspective
 Desire for socially just and fairer society “for social good”
How does Social Marketing Work?
8 Benchmark criteria:
1.Customer orientation
2. Clear focus on behaviour
3. Informed by behavioural theory
4. Insight – what moves/motivates?
5. Exchange – increase benefits/reduce barriers
6. Competition – internal/external
7. Segmentation – targets specific audience groups
8. Mix of methods – information/services/rules…
A brief history of social marketing
The roots of social marketing date back to the 1950s, when one psychologist argued that the
more non-profit organizations communicated like for-profit marketers, the better their prospects
for success. Then during the 1960s, practitioners in developing countries and marketing
academics set the stage for the emerging field. Social marketing was formally launched in the

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1970s; searched for an identity in the 1980s; and had found a unique niche by the 1990s. By
2000, social marketing was considered an established field; it now continues to grow and evolve.
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.
Scope/importance of social marketing
Societal Marketing creates a favorable image for the company increases the sales. It is not the
same as the terms social marketing and social media marketing. It is a term closely related to
CSR and sustainable development.
It emphasizes social responsibilities and suggests that to sustain.
It calls for sustainable marketing, socially and environmentally responsible marketing that meets
the present needs of consumers and businesses while also preserving or enhancing the ability of
future generations to meet their needs.
The global warming panic button is pushed and a revelation is required in the way we use our
resources. So companies are slowly either fully or partially trying to implement the societal
marketing concept.
 To maintain a long-term relationship with customers.
 To create a better image in the society for the company than it‘s competitors.
 To carry out its social responsibilities.
 Developing community awareness towards its brands.
 To carry out its social responsibilities.
 To increase the consumer base and market share.
 Encourage Engagement
Societal Marketing Concept Advantages and Benefits
 It helps to build a better image for the company.
 Gives a competitive advantage over the competitors.
 Useful in customer retention and long-term relationships.
 Increases the sales and market share.
 Facilitate expansion and growth in the long term.
 Products and company policy should prioritize the social welfare and society in general.
 Economic resources are properly used.
 Societal marketing raises the living standard of the people in society.
 It ensures the economic planning more significant and more fruitful to society.

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Limitations of social marketing/ Disadvantages
1. Exposure to competitors
Social media marketing enables you to study your competitors strategy. However, they can still
study your business methods through your social media platform. This puts your business at the
risk of being outdone.
2. Needs qualified personnel
In order to focus on core business issues, you will have to employ a qualified personnel to
manage your account and have the traffic under control. This implies that you have to invest both
in apparatus and salary for quality outcome.
3. Slow returns on investments
Social media marketing is a long term investment and one cannot expect returns in an overnight.
For companies looking for quick results, implementing traditional methods like word of mouth
would be appropriate.
4. Tarnish brand name
In the event that a negative information finds its way onto social media platform, the public will
have the chance to express their dissatisfaction. This will tarnish your product name and deter
potential customers from establishing relationships and doing business with the brand.
5.Time consuming
People may deliberately ignore your page because they may be interested in other sites. To get
them to appreciate and share your posts may take time. For this reason resources in terms of
money and time must be allocated to ensure frequent publishing of aesthetic posts.
Need for Social Marketing
Social Marketing works to help people change their behaviors to become healthier or to improve
society or the world in some way.
We can say that social marketing is the use of commercial marketing methods to persuade people
to change their behaviors for reasons that go beyond the rational facts to appeal to their core
values.
Social marketing provides a technique and a process for effectively making changes.It generally
consists of 5 steps :
• Research

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• Plan
• Design
• Execute
• Evaluate
Social marketing helps build brands, loyalty, customer base and much more. It helps by
• Connecting with customers
• Positioning businesses in the marketplace
• Promoting banding
• Increasing sales because of increases in exposure
 To alter people‘s beliefs, attitudes, and expectations, or
 To induce people to take certain actions or introduce changes in their behaviour.
Social Marketing plan
A well-built plan should include:
 A clear list of goals and objectives
 An audit of your existing social media presence
 Competitive analysis
 A basic social media content strategy outline
 Building a social media calendar
 Established methods for measurement and analysis
Building an effective strategy for social media takes time. But it's time well spent!
An effective plan is essential for assuring the success of your overall social media marketing
efforts.
A social media plan helps:
 Maintain consistent posting schedules across channels
 Avoid last-minute rushing to find content to share
 Stop missing the boat on trending topics due to poor planning
THE SOCIAL MARKETING PROCESS
The social marketing process consists of five stages, each of which involves its own set of
activities:
1. Formative evaluation and planning
2. Message and materials development
3. Pretesting and campaign adjustment
4. Implementation and materials dissemination

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5. Impact evaluation and feedback
The needed approach to make the social marketing campaign more effective is
discussed below under the following determinants:
1. Determining campaign objectives:
For the development of a successful social marketing programmes the objectives have to be
selected carefully. Clearly defined objectives help to plan within the given budget and also
later in evaluating the success of the campaign
2. Market segmentation:
To achieve an effective social marketing mix, a heterogeneous market needs to be divided
into homogeneous groups.
3. Customer analysis:
Once the target groups have been identified, it is necessary to explore their attitudes and
behaviour and identify their needs.
4. Marketing mix:
Here the four P‘s of marketing come in. The product is the social message.
Price:
Promotion:
It is the communication strategy which makes a product familiar and acceptable to the target
audience.
Place:
Strategies should include the necessary action outlets set up by the government or social
service organisations which are working towards this aim.
Evolution in India vis a vis other countries
Kotler‘s Definition of Social Marketing
The original definition of social marketing was coined in the 1970s by Philip Kotler and Gerald
Zaltman to describe a marketing technique seeking ―to influence social behaviors not to benefit
the marketer, but to benefit society‖. An example of this might be an anti-tobacco campaign or
health services. This definition of social marketing was originally actualized before the term
―social‖ applied to marketing in a technological sense, and it is still used today by many to
describe this particular facet of marketing.
The term social marketing was first coined by Kotler and Zaltman in 1971 to
refer to the application of marketing to the solution of social and health problems. Marketing has
been remarkably successful in encouraging people to buy products such as Coca Cola and Nike
trainers, so, the argument runs, it can also encourage people to adopt behaviours that will
enhance their own - and their fellow citizens‘ - lives.

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They outlined eight essential components of social marketing that still hold today. They are:
 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 pre testing of these
materials
 An analysis of distribution (or communication) channels
 Use of the marketing mix - utilizing 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.
The roots of social marketing date back to the 1950s, when one psychologist
argued that the more non-profit organizations communicated like for-profit marketers, the better
their prospects for success. Then during the 1960s, practitioners in developing countries and
marketing academics set the stage for the emerging field. Social marketing was formally
launched in the 1970s; searched for an identity in the 1980s; and had found a unique niche by the
1990s. By 2000, social marketing was considered an established field; it now continues to grow
and evolve.
The Development of Social Marketing
Social marketing evolved in parallel with commercial marketing. During the late 1950s and early 1960s,
marketing academics considered the potential and limitations of applying marketing to new arenas such
as the political or social.
Social Marketing Strategies of Companies in Indian Economy
Social marketing in era of globalization:
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, for example, merit goods, make the society avoid demerit
goods and thus to promote that considers society's well being as a whole. This may include
asking people not to smoke in public areas, for example, ask them to use seat belts, 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 aims 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

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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.
Social Marketing in India
India was one of the first countries globally to adopt the social marketing of contraceptives to
extend the coverage and outreach of the then family planning programme. By the end of the
sixties, commercial marketing of condoms was two decades old. By 1970s, private sector
companies with extensive distribution networks for consumer products were invited to assist
government in improving the reach of their programmes. Government initiated massive
advertising and awareness campaigns for social issues like smoking, family planning, caste
discrimination, etc. Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) also began to participate in the
social marketing programme, with funding from Government as also from other organisations
Social issues in India
Some of the social issues that has been addressed by our government are awareness about
 Health and hygiene among lower income group
 Family planning
 Caste discrimination
 smoking
 Alcoholism
 AIDS
 Child labour
 Female infanticide
Marketing Techniques used by Government
Some of the advertisement techniques used by government to reach the target segments are
Advertisements in TV
The Government prepares advertisements for specific social causes and relays it in televisions,
radio, etc. The main drawback of this is around 70% of the people in villages don‘t have
television or radio. Hence it cannot be exclusively used especially if the target segment is lower
income people or villagers.
Direct campaign
This is the most effective way of creating awareness. The government with help from NGOs will
send officers directly to the place to teach and create awareness among the people. The officers
will demonstrate how to use a product or what are the ill effects of alcoholism, smoking, etc.
Print advertisement
The Government give print advertisements in local newspapers, directly issue pamphlets or paste
posters in the locality.

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Smoking
Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco cannabis, is burned and the
smoke tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational
drug use; combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them
available for absorption through the lungs. It can also be done as a part of rituals, to induce
trances and spiritual enlightenment. The most common method of smoking today is
through cigarettes, primarily industrially manufactured but also hand-rolled from loose tobacco
and rolling paper. Other smoking tools include pipes, cigars, hookahs, vaporizers and bongs. It
has been suggested that smoking related disease kills one half of all long term smokers but these
diseases may also be contracted by non-smokers. A 2007 report states that about 4.9 million
people worldwide each year die as a result of smoking.
RELEVANCE OF SOCIAL MARKETING IN INDIA
The Indian society has been facing problems such as, poverty, population explosion, illiteracy,
lower capital formation and other social problems. The development strategies so far adopted
resulted in degradation in social, cultural, environmental and health care, so the need of
application of social marketing principles is felt urgently enrich the life Indian citizen. A
research study has included that the industrial units situated in Champur. Mumbai, emit more
than 111 tonnes of hazardous carbon dioxide daily. According to observation of Centre of
Science Environment, Delhi, of the total water reservoir in India, more than 70% water is
polluted.
The NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Institute, Nagpur) has shown that ill-habits of
people result in 60% water pollution while industrialisation is responsible for 40% water
pollution in India. Due to consumption of polluted water more than 15 lakh children die of
diarrhoea per year.5 The major aluminium corporate in Orissa are damaging environment and are
responsible for displacement of more than 2000 tribal families.6 Out of 3119 cities in India, only
209 cities are having sewage water treatment plants. The river Yamuna gets daily 2 crore litre
untreated water. Calcutta and Mumbai have noise above 80 decibels. Bhopal gas Tragedy (1984)
look victim of more than 2500 citizens, more than 40000 were handicapped and blind and still
are suffering from various diseases. Ozone layer has been depleting because of pollution agents
like chlorofluorocarbon and methyl chloroform emitted by cold storages, refrigerators and greed
houses. Due to this we experience hot waves having intensity of 45 to 500c in our country. The
worst oil spill during the 1991 gulf war killed thousands of sea birds, fish and other aquatic lives.
Deforestation is not only ruining environment but causing economic loss of Rs. 2.30 billions per
year India. In Agra city, the pollution created by industries is ruining the beauty of the world
famous ‗Taj Mahal‘. Deforestation in India is going on at a fast speed, running valuable flora and
fauna coupled with irreparable loss to soil to soil. So the need of the hour is to protect
environment from further loss. Business organisations, marketers, Govt. Organisation and
NGOs, social organisations must apply principles of social marketing to achieve their respective
goals coupled with the goal of enrichmental, cultural and health facilitates. In India social
marketing principles are being used for achieving business as well as health care, population

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control, adult education etc. Still social marketing has a long to go in a developing country like
India.
Unit II: Segmentation- Evaluation and Differentiation- Targeting audiences for social
marketing- Consumer behaviour issues in social marketing- Need for marketing research – scope
of Public health promotions and social marketing
THE MARKETING STRATEGY: SEGMENTATION, TARGETING,
POSITIONING & DIFFERENTIATION
Marketing‘s goal is to create value for customers and build profitable customer relationships in
order to capture value back afterwards. But how does the company create this customer value?
The marketing strategy addresses exactly that. It is the marketing logic by which the firm wants
to create this customer value and achieve these profitable customer relationships. But consumers
are in the centre of marketing. Therefore, we should not just establish a marketing strategy – it
should be a customer-driven marketing strategy. How to create customer value and how to
achieve profitable relationships?
First of all, the company has to know which customers it will serve. It must segment
the market based on certain criteria that are relevant to the company. Then, it has to select one or
several market segments to serve. We call these two steps segmentation and targeting. Finally,
the company decides how it is going to serve the selected customers. This
involves differentiating itself from other offerings in the market (differentiation) and aiming at a
position in the market and in customers‘ minds (positioning).
In order to do so, the company must identify the total market, then divide it into
smaller segments. Next, select the most promising ones and then focus on how to serve and
satisfy the customers in the selected segments. The company should never neglect the crucial
importance of centering the marketing strategy around the customers‘ needs by delivering
superior value. Only then, it can survive in today‘s competitive marketplace. But before we can
satisfy customers, we first have to understand their needs and wants. Therefore, the process of
establishing a marketing strategy requires thorough and careful customer analysis.

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Segmentation – Step 1 of the Marketing Strategy
Segmentation can be defined as subgroup of people or organization, sharing one or more
characteristics that cause them to have similar product needs.
Benefits:
 Market segmentation is customer-oriented.
 Marketer will identify the customer need and want then only decide if it is practical to
develop marketing mix to satisfy those wants.
 The management can respond to meet changing market demand.
 Management can do a better marketing job.
 Develop strong positions in spealized market segment.
Any company should know that it cannot serve all consumers in the total market
– at least not profitably and in the same way. The variety of different kinds of consumers and
their needs is simply too large. There are too many differing types of customers, characteristics,
needs, wants, and behaviours. Also, most companies can serve some segments better than others,
because there is a greater fit between the company‘s strengths and the segments‘ opportunities.
Thus, every company should not try to focus on the complete market. Instead, it should divide it
up into small segments. This is the first step of setting up a marketing strategy.
The market can be seen as a huge pie. But the company has only one mouth.
So, it should choose the part of the pie which appears most delicious for the company. In other
words, the marketer must determine which of all the segments offer the best opportunities. We
can define market segmentation as the process of dividing a market into distinct groups of
customers who have different characteristics, needs and behaviours and therefore require
different products or marketing programmes. Consequently, we can look at a market segment as
a group of consumers responding in a similar way to a set of marketing efforts.
Therefore, we have to group consumers, based on various variables which are relevant to the
company. These variables can be based on geographic, demographic, psychographic and
behavioural factors. But not every variable is equally useful for each company. For instance, a
car manufacturer would gain little by distinguishing between vegetarians and non-vegetarians.
However, for a meat company, this may be the most important variable in the marketing strategy.
An example for segmentation can easily be recognized in nearly every market. Let‘s take a look
at the automotive industry. You will find small, economical cars for those who care mainly about
price and operating economy. But on the other side there are big, sportive cars with large engines
for those who want the best performing cars regardless of price. It would not be wise for the car

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manufacturer to try to create one offering for both segments. The resulting marketing strategy
would never result in satisfying results. Instead, the company should focus on meeting the
distinct needs of each individual market segment it wants to serve.
Targeting – Step 2 of the Marketing Strategy
Once the market segmentation has been completed, the company should be aware of the needs
and wants of its selected segments. It is in the interest of the business to identify any untapped
needs in the marketplace, as there could be customers who may not be adequately served by
competitors. It is then necessary to identify the most profitable segments and to decide which
segments will be served. There are three market coverage alternatives which can be applied;
undifferentiated marketing; differentiated marketing and concentrated marketing.
After having distinguished between the separate segments in a market, the
company can select one or more of these segments to enter. Before doing this blindly, each
segment should be assessed. Therefore, targeting is concerned with evaluating each segment‘s
attractiveness for the company and selecting one or more segments to enter. The evaluation of
segments is based on the question which segment the company can serve best. In other words,
we should concentrate on and enter those segments in which we can generate the greatest
customer value over time.
Whether a company decides to enter one or more segments may also depend on its resources. If
these are limited, it may be better served to focus on one or a few smaller segments, which we
call market niches. In the best case, the company should look for segments competitors overlook
or ignore. Alternatively, a company can decide to enter several segments. This may be based on
a strong relation between the segment in terms of resembling needs, or on the company‘s
widespread resources. For instance, clothing companies often target more than only one segment:
males, females, children and so on. A large company such as a major car manufacturer might
even decide to serve all market segments by offering a complete range of products.
An Undifferentiated Marketing Strategy
An undifferentiated marketing strategy ignores any differences in the market. Therefore, this
strategy involves approaching the customers with one market offer. In this day and age,
discerned customers are increasingly becoming more demanding. It will prove difficult for the
business to develop a product or a brand which will satisfy all consumers who may have
different needs, wants and expectations.
A Differentiated Marketing Strategy

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A differentiated marketing strategy will usually involve targeting a number of segments. This
marketing coverage strategy entails developing an individual product or service offering, and
creating a marketing plan for each and every segment. Hence, the company should carry out a
thorough market research to learn about how it can satisfy its selected segments. This will
translate to more costs than an undifferentiated strategy. Therefore, it is extremely important for
the company to decide which services are of critical importance to its chosen segments. The
marketing managers should determine whether there will be significant margins when opting for
differentiated marketing. For example, the legacy airlines‘ provision of additional facilities, such
as; separate check-in desks, airport lounge facilities, separate cabins with comfortable seating for
first class or business class passengers, as well as superior inflight meals, will translate to greater
costs for the airline.
Concentrated marketing
The companies with limited resources will usually target just one or a few sub-markets. If a
segment is successfully chosen, there is a possibility that the firm may earn a high rate of return
on its investment. However, this form of marketing could also involve a high-risk factor. If the
selected segment fails, the company can experience hefty losses.
In sum, the appropriate market coverage strategy may be determined by a number of factors:
 The company‘s resources. If the resources are limited, concentrated marketing
could be the most logical choice;
 The type of service which is to be offered. For example, airlines could offer
chartered or scheduled service, low-cost or full-service, long-haul or short-haul
services, business or leisure services, and so on;
 Diversities within the market. The companies need to understand their customers‘
requirements. For example, independent business travellers may have different
needs and wants than those of the corporate business travellers who are sponsored
by their employers;
Differentiation and Positioning – Steps 3 + 4 of the Marketing Strategy
Now that we know which segments there are in the market and having chosen
one or more to serve, we have to decide on the how. How will the company differentiate its

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offerings for each targeted segment and what position does it aim at in those segments? That are
the last steps in setting up the marketing strategy.
Differentiation and Positioning are strongly related and depend on each other.
Positioning, which is the process of arranging for a product to occupy a clear, distinctive and
desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target customers, depends on the
differentiation. Because through the differentiation, which is the process of actually
differentiating the product to create superior customer value, we can achieve the desired position
in customers‘ minds.
Firstly, we need a plan on what position we want to achieve with our product in
the minds of our target customers. The position is the first thing a customer would think of
hearing the name of the product or the brand. This position should be chosen so that it is
distinguished from competing products to the greatest extent possible and lead to the greatest
advantage in the target market. Therefore, the company should first identify possible customer
value differences which provide competitive advantages on that the position can be built on.
Should the customer think of our product as the cheapest one, or the best one, or the nicest one?
Or should the customer think it is the most sustainable and environmentally beneficial one? This
must be determined before establishing the marketing strategy.
But only promising those values is not sufficient. If the company promises greater
customer value to achieve a certain position in customers‘ minds, it needs to deliver that value.
The marketing strategy means nothing without the means to carry it out. Therefore, positioning
depends on differentiation, by which we actually differ our product from competing ones so that
it gives consumers more value. After the company has chosen a desired position, it can take the
steps necessary to deliver and communicate that position to target customers by differentiation. If
the desired position is to be seen as the cheapest product in the market, the product should be
differentiated by an exceptionally low price. If the desired position is to be thought of as the
highest quality product in the market, the product should be differentiated by
actually delivering that exceptional quality competing products do not offer.
Consumer behaviour issues in social marketing
The factors which influence consumer behaviour
A large number of factors influence our behaviour. Kotler and Armstrong (2008) classify these
as:
1. Psychological (motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes)
2. Personal (age and life-cycle stage, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle,
personality and self concept)
3. Social (reference groups, family, roles and status)
4. Cultural (culture, subculture, social class system).

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Need and Importance of Marketing Research!
The most important task of a marketer is to get the right product at the right place with the right
price to the right person. Besides, it was also necessary to go back and find whether consumer is
getting optimum satisfaction, so that consumer remains loyal. These aspects made it imperative
for the marketers to conduct marketing research.
The following points explain the need for and importance of marketing research:
1. Identifying problem and opportunities in the market:
It helps in identifying new market opportunities for existing and new products. It provides
information on market share, nature of competition, customer satisfaction levels, sales
performances and channel of distribution. This helps the firms is solving problems.
2. Formulating market strategies:
Today, markets are no more local. They have become global. Manufactures find it difficult to
contact customers and control distribution channels. Competition is equally severe. The
consumer needs are difficult to predict. Market segmentation is a compli-cated task in such wide
markets. The marketing intelligence provided through marketing research not only helps in
framing but also in implementing the market strategies.
3. Determining consumer needs and wants:
Marketing has become customer-centric. However, large-scale production needs intermediaries
for mass distribution. Due to prevalence of multi channels of distribution, there is an information
gap. Marketing research helps in collecting information on consumers from structured
distribution research and helps in making marketing customer oriented.
4. For effective communication mix:
In an era of micro- rather than mass-marketing, communica-tion plays a vital role. Marketing
research uses promotional research to study media mix, adver-tising effectiveness and integrated

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communication tools. Research on such aspects will help in promoting effectively a company‘s
product in the market.
5. Improving selling activities:
Marketing research is used to analyse and evaluate performances of a company within a market.
It also studies effectiveness of a sales force. It helps in identify-ing sales territories. Such
information helps the companies in identifying areas of shortcoming in sales. It also examines
alternative methods for distribution of goods.
6. For sales forecasting:
The most challenging task for any production manager is to keep optimum levels of inventory.
However, production is undertaken in anticipation of demand. Therefore, scientific forecast of
sales is required. Marketing research helps in sales forecasting by using market share method,
sales force estimate method and jury method. This can also help in fixing sales quotas and
marketing plans.
7. To revitalize brands:
Marketing research is used to study and find out the existing brand position. It finds out the recall
value of brands. It explores the possibilities of brand extension or prospects of changing existing
brand names. The main purpose of marketing is to create brand loyalty. Marketing research helps
in developing techniques to popularize and retain brand loyalty.
8. To facilitate smooth introduction of new products:
Marketing research helps in testing the new products in one or two markets on a small scale. This
helps in finding out consumer response to new product and develop a suitable marketing mix. It
reveals the problems of the customers regarding new products. Thus, it controls the risk involved
in introducing a new product.
9. Determine export potentials:
The development in transport and communication has helped in globalization and digitalization
of world trade. This has helped in boosting the growth of international markets. Marketing
research helps in conducting market survey for export. It. collects information on marketing
environ-ment prevailing in a country. By collecting data on consumers from different countries,
it indicates export potentials
10. Managerial decision-making:
Marketing research plays a vital role in the decision-making processes by supplying relevant, up-
to-date and accurate data to the decision-makers. Managers need up-to-date information to
access customer needs and wants, market situation, technological change and extent of
competition.
Scope of Public health promotions and social marketing

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Social marketing applies commercial marketing strategies to promote public health.
• ―the application of proven concepts and techniques drawn from the commercial sector to
promote changes in diverse socially important behaviors such as drug use, smoking, sexual
behavior... ―
How is social marketing applied to health?
• Social marketers use a wide range of health communication strategies based on mass media.
• Communication channels for health information have changed greatly in recent years.
• Audience Segmentation: – Audience segmentation is usually based on sociodemographic,
cultural, and behavioural characteristics that may be associated with the intended behaviour
change. – Broadest approach is targeted communication. – Tailored communication is more
specific.
Media trends and adapting commercial marketing
• Digital Divide
• Commercial marketing into healthcare.
• Key trends include the recognition that messages on health behaviour vary along a continuum
from prevention to promotion and maintenance.
• Prevention vs promotion: – Anti drug campaigns and anti smoking campaigns by US Centre of
Disease control and prevention.
• Competing for attention: – Digital communications proffer countless unhealthy eating
messages along with lifestyle images associated with cigarette brands

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Strengths of the Social Marketing Approach in Public Health
1. KNOWING THE AUDIENCE
Social marketing has had a beneficial impact on how the public health sector educates the public
and persuades communities and individuals to adopt healthy practices. With its emphasis on
clients, social marketing has sharpened the focus on the public. It has brought more precision to
audience analysis and segmentation. In addition to demographics, psychographic data (attitudes,
preferences, personality traits) and social structure data (church, worksite, family) are
increasingly seen as vital in designing projects. These data provide critical information for the
formulation of better targeted and more effective messages, thus leading to more appropriate
message design, more effective delivery, and, above all, better reception by the public, the
ultimate beneficiaries of public health measures.
2. SYSTEMATIC USE OF QUALITATIVE METHODS
Marketers are diligent users of focus groups and other qualitative research methods, which add
insight to the quantitative information gathered by such instruments as questionnaires.
Health educators have long used group discussion primarily to resolve community issues. But,
their more recent use of focus groups to obtain customers' views of their campaigns and products
and to pretest messages reveals the positive influence of marketing.
3. USE OF INCENTIVES
Social marketers make deliberate and systematic use of incentives and special promotion efforts,
such as contests and competitions, which use rewards to draw clients to the market place. This
method was not a regular feature of the motivational efforts of public health projects in the past.
Purists might consider any offer of reward a kind of bribery, but the competition for attention in
the midst of the exploding commercial clutter has made it an acceptable practice.
4. CLOSER MONITORING
Most public health projects pay insufficient attention to monitoring and often neglect
management. Social marketers are committed to close tracking of progress, an important
management principle.
5. STRATEGIC USE OF MASS MEDIA
Social marketers use of mass media in delivering messages to specific audiences to create
awareness or foster and reinforce certain health practices contrasts sharply with the media
outreach of the majority of public health projects. Marketing projects, which usually include
intensive and prolonged use of broadcast media, purchase air time slots specifically aimed at
targeted audiences, whereas underfunded public health projects often depend on the largess of
the media for free air time.
6. REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

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Although risk-taking is part of the commercial world, entrepreneurs do not take on impossible
odds and would refuse any hopeless venture. Social marketers follow that tradition. Social
marketing cannot help but improve the chances of public health programs through more realistic
estimations of the requirements for success.
7. ASPIRING TO HIGH STANDARDS
Just as important, social marketing, with its roots in the commercial world, often aspires to attain
the best information materials and talent. This has alerted many public health professionals who
have all too often been compelled to accept second rate work as a result of perennial budgetary
constraints.
8. RECOGNITION OF PRICE
Operating from the conceptual framework of the 4 Ps, marketers accept that there is a price for
any new product or behavior even in a voluntary exchange, although not necessarily in monetary
terms. Public health professionals have only recently accepted that cost comes in many forms,
such as inconvenience, opportunity costs, and incongruence with local culture.

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Unit III: Theoretical and conceptual models of social marketing- Designing the right
offer-methods and process- approaches to disease prevention – new offers
development- pricing the Services
Theoretical and conceptual models of social marketing
Health Belief Model (HBM)
This is one of the most widely used theories among public health practitioners, and many of its
major tenets have found their way into numerous social marketing projects. HBM was originally
designed to explain why people did not participate in programs to prevent or detect diseases. The
core components of HBM include:
♦ Perceived susceptibility: the subjective perception of risk of developing a particular
health condition.
♦ Perceived severity: feelings about the seriousness of the consequences of developing
a specific health problem.
♦ Perceived benefits: beliefs about the effectiveness of various actions that might
reduce susceptibility and severity (the latter two taken together are labeled ―threat‘).
♦ Perceived barriers: potential negative aspects of taking specific actions.
♦ Cues to action: bodily or environmental events that trigger action.
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)
TRA organizes itself around the constructs of behavioral and normative beliefs, attitudes,
intentions and behavior. An extension of TRA, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) adds the
additional construct of self-efficacy – one‘s perceived control over performance of the behavior.
In TRA, the most important predictor of subsequent behavior is one‘s intention to act. This
behavioral intention is influenced by one‘s attitude toward engaging in the behavior and the
subjective norm one has about the behavior. Attitude, in turn, is determined by one‘s beliefs
about both the outcomes and attributes associated with the behavior. Subjective norms are based

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on one‘s normative beliefs that reflect how significant referent people apprise the behavior –
positively or negatively. Referents may range from one‘s family, to one‘s physician, peers or
models. The TPB adds the additional construct of perceived behavioral control that is determined
by one‘s ―control beliefs.
Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)
SCT explains behavior in terms of triadic reciprocality (―reciprocal determinism‖) in which
behavior, cognitive and other interpersonal factors, and environmental events all operate as
interacting determinants of each other. One of the key concepts in SCT is an environmental
variable: observational learning.
The Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change
This model, popularly known as ―stages of change‖, has become one of the more often used
models in social marketing programs. Although this model was being applied by social
marketing programs in the early 1990‘s to increase physical activity levels of community
residents. The model emerged from an analysis of leading theories of psychotherapy and
behavior change in which ten distinct processes of change were identified. These processes then
suggest certain types of interventions that will be most appropriate for moving people through
six specific stages of change.
♦Consciousness raising: increases awareness of the causes, consequences and cures for a
problem behavior. Feedback, education, confrontation and media campaigns are possible
intervention modalities.
♦ Self-reevaluation: uses assessments of one‘s self-image with and without a particular unhealthy
behavior. Value clarification, healthy role models and imagery techniques can help people move
evaluatively.
♦ Social liberation: increases the social opportunities or alternatives especially for people already
relatively deprived or oppressed. Advocacy, empowerment techniques and policy changes are
procedures that can be used to meet these goals.
♦ Helping relationships; combines caring, trust, openness, acceptance and support for health
behavior change. Strategies such as relationship building, counselor calls and buddy systems can
be sources for such support.
Designing the right offer
Ten Steps for Developing a Social Marketing Campaign
Most successful social marketing campaigns can be broken down into the following 10 steps:
Step 1: Define Your Audience
Be specific and learn as much as possible about the target audience. One way to define the target
audience is to describe their. In addition, paint a vivid picture of the individuals within the group;
understand their attitudes, feelings, beliefs, values, motivation, and culture—all the factors that
might influence their behavior.
Step 2: Identify Evaluation Measures

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Evaluation is a big part of all prevention efforts. This is no exception. Evaluate whether the
campaign was implemented as intended and if the specific goals were met. Start developing the
evaluation strategy early in the planning process. Think carefully about the evaluation questions,
the best ways to collect the necessary information, and the type of people to bring on board to
help in the process.
Step 3: Identify Channels
It‘s important to think about how to communicate the intended message. One option is to deliver
the message directly to the target audience. Common marketing channels include television or
radio commercials, interviews, and public service announcements. They include newspaper or
magazine articles, editorials, and print ads; billboards; and banners across main streets. In
addition, websites, email lists, bulk mailings, and special events, contests, and awards can be
used. In selecting appropriate dissemination channels, consider the costs involved.
Step 4: Identify Benefits
The exchange principle asserts that in order for people to voluntarily give something up or try
something new, they must benefit in some way. Ask the following question: Why would the
target audience want to adopt the behavior promoted in the campaign? Think about this question
from the audience‘s perspective.
Step 5: Identify Obstacles
To achieve an exchange, it is also important to identify any obstacles that might prevent
members of the target audience from adopting a given behavior. For example, when promoting
treatment for alcohol and drug issues, find out whether treatment slots are, in fact available;
whether members of the target audience have insurance coverage; and if the programs can be
reached using public transportation.
Step 6: Determine the Message
This is a critical step. When creating a message, be very clear about the behavior you want to
elicit. Do you want the audience to make a telephone call? Send for information? Stop doing
something—like smoking—or start doing something—like talking to their children about
alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs? People who see or hear the message must be clear about what
is expected of them.
Next, create a message that builds on what has been learned about the audience: their existing
knowledge, concerns, and interests. Try to emphasize positive behavior change rather than
negative consequences. For example, the message ―Use a designated driver‖ offers people
concrete information for how to get home safely, whereas ―Don't Drink and Drive‖ simply tells
people what not to do.

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Finally, determine the tone and the style of the message. Tone is an elusive quality but is very
important in a social marketing campaign. Determine if the message is intended to be
informative? Emotional? Humorous? A combination of the above?
Step 7: Test and Refine
It‘s very important to ―pre-test‖ the message. The best way to do this is to test the message on
focus groups that represent the target audience. Present them with several message samples and
record their impressions and reactions. Then use their feedback to refine the message. Test the
message for comprehension, attention, and recall; strong and weak points; personal relevance to
the target audience; and sensitivity to cultural and/or audience-specific characteristics.
Step 8: Collect Data
Collect data to determine whether the message is having an impact. Data collection might
involve conducting more focus groups, administering surveys, or doing telephone interviews.
Data collection methods should be dictated not only by cost, but also by the questions you want
answered and the kind of information you want to collect. Whenever possible, work with an
evaluator to design and implement your data collection efforts. Learn more about finding and
analyzing epidemiological data.
Step 9: Modify Your Work, Based on the Data
Even the best-researched campaign often needs some tweaking once it has been launched. Use
the data collected to refine and adjust the message, communication channels, and promotion
strategies. If something isn‘t working, a small alteration is often enough to improve it
significantly. If unsure, go back to the target audience and ask them what they think.
Step 10: Write an Evaluation Report
This is often required by the funder. Yet, even when it is not, creating a report is a helpful way to
organize the information collected so that it can be shared with others and garner support for
future efforts. In the report, present the intended campaign accomplishments, broad lessons
learned, and remaining tasks or recommendations for follow-up. Try to be concise, avoid jargon,
and present a balanced set of findings.
Approaches to disease prevention
How is social marketing applied to health?
Social marketing is widely used to influence health behaviour. Social marketers use a wide range
of health communication strategies based on mass media; they also use mediated (for example,
through a healthcare provider), interpersonal, and other modes of communication; and marketing
methods such as message placement (for example, in clinics), promotion, dissemination, and
community level outreach. Social marketing encompasses all of these strategies.

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Communication channels for health information have changed greatly in recent years. One-way
dissemination of information has given way to a multimodal transactional model of
communication. Social marketers face challenges such as increased numbers and types of health
issues competing for the public's attention; limitations on people's time; and increased numbers
and types of communication channels, including the internet. A multimodal approach is the most
effective way to reach audiences about health issues.
fig 1
Figure 1 summarizes the basic elements or stages of social marketing.6
The six basic stages are:
developing plans and strategies using behavioral theory; selecting communication channels and
materials based on the required behavioural change and knowledge of the target audience;
developing and pretesting materials, typically using qualitative methods; implementing the
communication programme or ―campaign‖; assessing effectiveness in terms of exposure and
awareness of the audience, reactions to messages, and behavioural outcomes (such as improved
diet or not smoking); and refining the materials for future communications. The last stage feeds
back into the first to create a continuous loop of planning, implementation, and improvement.
How is social marketing used to change health behaviour?
Social marketing uses behavioural, persuasion, and exposure theories to target changes in health
risk behaviour. Social cognitive theory based on response consequences (of individual
behaviour), observational learning, and behavioural modelling is widely used. Persuasion theory
indicates that people must engage in message ―elaboration‖ (developing favourable thoughts
about a message's arguments) for long term persuasion to occur. Exposure theorists study how
the intensity of and length of exposure to a message affects behaviour.
Social marketers use theory to identify behavioural determinants that can be modified. For
example, social marketing aimed at obesity might use behavioural theory to identify connections
between behavioural determinants of poor nutrition, such as eating habits within the family,
availability of food with high calorie and low nutrient density (junk food) in the community, and
the glamorization of fast food in advertising. Social marketers use such factors to construct
conceptual frameworks that model complex pathways from messages to changes in behaviour

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fig: social marketing conceptual framework
In applying theory based conceptual models, social marketers again use commercial marketing
strategies based on the marketing mix.2
For example, they develop brands on the basis of health
behaviour and lifestyles, as commercial marketers would with products. Targeted and tailored
message strategies have been used in antismoking campaigns to build ―brand equity‖—a set of
attributes that a consumer has for a product, service, or (in the case health campaigns) set of
behaviours.Brands underlying the VERB campaign (which encourages young people to be
physically active) and Truth campaigns were based on alternative healthy behaviours, marketed
using socially appealing images that portrayed healthy lifestyles as preferable to junk food or fast
food and cigarettes.
Pricing the Services
Pricing a service can be trickier than pricing a product. Getting it right means valuing your time
and expertise and accurately weighing up customer perceptions
Pricing of services
Pricing is a vital area in marketing. Price is one of the significant elements in the marketing mix.
It is the sole and an important element in the marketing mix of a firm that brings revenue to the
business. Organizations should use a sophisticated approach to pricing. While pricing the
services, due regard should be given to shifts in demand, the rate at which supply can be
expanded, prices of available substitutes, the price – volume relationship and the availability of
future substitutes. Service companies must understand how customers perceive prices of
services.
How do customers perceive?
The price charged by the service provider must be acceptable to the target customers. It should
coordinate well with the other components of the marketing mix. Pricing decisions have an

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impact on all – suppliers, sales force, distributors, competitors and customers. Price also
indicates to the customers the kind of quality of the service that they are likely to receive. For
example, the menu card in a restaurant indicates the quality of its food and service in terms of
price.
Objectives of pricing
A firm approaches its target market with a tailor-made marketing mix of variables. The
marketing strategy of the firm represents the combination of strategic variables (product, price,
promotion and place). This strategy will vary from one market segment to another. This
necessitates the firm to develop pricing objectives. A firm may have a number of objectives in
the area of pricing. Some of these will be long-term while others will be short-term. Also some
will be primary objectives while others will be secondary.
The below chart shows the various pricing objectives of the firms.
1. Survival price: Survival price is only a short-run objective. A firm follows survival price
policy when there is an intense competition and changing consumption pattern in the target
market. Generally, it is a low pricing objective to maintain demand for the firm‘s product. Many
ready-made garment sellers dealing in foreign brands like Lee, Arrow, Peter England, Van
Heusen etc., have followed pricing below cost. So pricing below cost involves foregoing desired
levels of profits to ensure survival. Factors such as intense competition, changing consumer
wants, critical cash conditions etc., force the service provider to follow this objective.
2. Current profit maximization price: Profit maximization is the oldest objective of pricing. It is
generally a long term objective. It is the opposite to the survival price. The firm charges high
price that will maximize current profit of the firm. This pricing objective is set when a good
demand exists for the services of the firm. Profit maximization pricing ensures maximization of
profitability over a given period. The period concerned may be related to the life cycle of the
service.
3. Market share price: Price helps improve market share. Market share means that portion of
industry‘s sale which a marketer wishes to retain Market share also represents. a sensitive
indicator of customer as well as trade acceptance. Maximization of market share is adopted by
those firms which are able to realize economies of scale in distribution and promotion. When a

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marketer attains a high market share in the market, he is able to enjoy lowest costs and highest
long-term profits. A market share leader charges a low price to maintain his market sharp.
4. Service quality leadership: A service company may use a pricing policy to prove its prestige.
The high price charged impresses the quality of the service. It also leads to price – quality
leadership in the target market. Service offerings positioned in high price category build a quality
image for the service provider. High-priced restaurants and personal care centres aim at
achieving leadership in service and quality by setting ‗service quality‘ price for their services.

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