OPINION: Social marketing set to make a big difference to businesses

Jul 31 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

ALTHOUGH social marketing is one of the fastest growing areas of marketing and communications, it’s also frequently one of the most misunderstood.

At the heart of social marketing is the desire to change people’s behaviour and attitudes for the better.

Many academics have argued it can only be applied in a social setting because it focuses on achieving a “social good”, but I believe social marketing also has a place in helping to change behaviours and cultures within corporate organisations too.

Until now, it’s true social marketing has been used mainly by government departments and throughout the health sector, to bring about sustainable benefits for local communities such as initiatives around responsible drinking, healthy eating, environmentalism and safer sex.

There’s no doubt this approach is producing positive effects for the public sector, and that government spending on social marketing has increased dramatically year on year, while traditional social campaigning and advertising spend has decreased.

But I believe there are real opportunities for businesses to embrace the basic principles of social marketing as well.

Social marketers build long-term relationships with their target audiences, using in-depth research techniques such as consumer behaviour profiling and focus groups to help understand why people behave in the way they do, to explore what it would take to positive behavioural motivate change, and to develop messages and interventions which will successfully support that change.

It also explores the competing messages people face when considering making changes, the barriers they face and what they need to receive in exchange for changing their behaviour.

I think the financial, political and human resource implications for businesses could be wide-ranging, as some of the largest multi-national corporations are already discovering, particularly those looking to engage with social change issues.

It may well also offer a greater scope to positively impact and support its productivity and growth.

Amanda Jackson is director of social marketing at Wirral agency ICE