Have you heard of the social marketing?, social marketing can be defined, in a simple way, as the use of techniques used by the market to spread beneficial ideas for society. The main objective is get people to adopt positive ideas or habits and/or avoid harmful attitudes.
In this post we are going to tell you a little about this set of techniques and research that are carried out to improve the marketing of products.
What is social marketing?
Briefly, it could be said that this type of marketing does not seek sales, but a deeper transformation of society.
Philip Kotler, one of the founders of "modern marketing", defined it as "the design, implementation and control of programs designed to increase the acceptance of an idea or social cause by certain target groups". To do this, tools are used in this marketing as in traditional marketing. That is, advertising and market research, but it sets objectives beyond the mere sales of said product or service.
Types of social marketing
Over the years, marketing has adopted a variety of usage methods, depending on the method sought, of which we have the following types:
- Internal Social Marketing. deals with how develop and promote cultural change among recipients related to the media, including politicians, social leaders, professionals, teachers, intellectuals, representatives of business groups, trade unions, etc.
- External Social Marketing. Includes advertising and publicity campaigns, social and cultural, as a social communication technique used to promote the change of values. The goal is to establish a way to communicate values and attitudes in society and create a matrix of opinions about the way people should think, feel and act. The mass media are an example of this type of marketing, which can reach a large number of people in a relatively short time.
- Interactive Social Marketing. Social interventions (people) who are recipients of activities are passive agents for their ability to criticize and analyze information while establishing causal relationships through a process of rational logic, when they have values that have a positive impact on social matters, development, beliefs and attitudes.
Features
Therefore, all social marketing campaigns need a social product. Depending on the type of requirements you have, we will find different characteristics:
- Demand in sight. There are often situations that affect society as a whole. Be it an epidemic, an attack or a serious economic crisis. At that point, the company has the opportunity to decide whether to participate in the solution and, if so, how.
- Injurious lawsuit. Other social problems, such as gambling, drugs or certain latent diseases, also trigger behaviors in society, and often in companies. It is in these types of actions that they end up with corporate profits that they could hardly obtain.
- Abstract demand. Unlike the previous ones, its objective is to get the public to identify with specific actions. An example of this is a charity evening held by all cities or media outlets to raise funds for a social event.
In addition to this, there are other types of social needs that give rise to different social marketing behaviors. They are all the people who adapt to the needs that society needs to cover.
social marketing examples
group of joined hands
These examples show us everything in a practical way and give you ideas too. Here are some examples of social marketing (corporate and non-corporate):
- IKEA. The Swedish company has teamed up with the Red Cross to raise awareness of the war in Syria and has produced a replica of a house in Syria in its shop, where information about the situation in the country can also be read.
In addition, they have another campaign “Stuffed Animals for Education” where the company collaborates with Unicef and Save the Children for the Education of children at risk of social exclusion. For each stuffed animal purchased, part of the amount will be allocated to said cause. - AUSONIA. Under the slogan “Join, every minute counts”, Ausonia has been helping to finance breast cancer research projects since 2009. On this occasion, it collaborates with the AECC (Spanish Association Against Cancer), in collaboration with the research project of Dr. Joaquín Arribas. The goal is to secure funding to find alternative treatments for various subtypes of breast cancer.
- Font Vella. The Spanish water brand created the "Eres Impulso" project to increase the visibility of women entrepreneurs and eliminate gender stereotypes to promote equality. One of his projects is the project Chroma Sum.
Other examples are those of Starbucks and FairTrade for a “fair coffee” or Lidl with its chocolate fair trade.
These have only been a few brief examples, but if you explore a little more in the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) section of companies, you will see how practically all of them have some social or environmental project. I hope this reading has been useful to you, and makes you see companies and Society from another point of view.