Faculty Article
Social Marketing – Soch Badalna, Samaj Badalna Shahana Qutab Phd Scholar, IILM University ‘Power has only one duty – to secure the social welfare of the people.’ - Benjamin Disraeli World today is a free territory for the forces of technology and marketing to run their influence and rule. There is no escape from the clutches of these two forces on the systems of our life on this planet. If we just look around ourselves, we will not miss even one glimpse of technology and marketing in our surrounding. The ‘infestation’ is very deep rooted. Demands from the new ‘world order’ make it important to be technologically introduced, updated and simultaneously, continuously market ourselves to survive in the competitive wildfire. No doubt, life in many ways has become easy and comfortable, the drawbacks abound. Focus has shifted from real issues knocking hard at us e.g. drug abuse, poverty, malnutrition, hunger, depression, suicides etc. and these issues need urgent address. This is where ‘Social Marketing’ comes to the scene. Social marketing can be of tremendous help in aiding natural transformation towards adoption of positive social behaviours by the masses. In contrast to commercial marketing with its focus on profits and commercial benefits, social marketing aims at achieving social good and social benefits. In the 1960s and 70’s the unethical practices of many companies became public. The concept of Social Marketing surfaced in 1972; a more socially responsible, moral and ethical model of marketing, countering consumerism. Philip Kotler introduced the concept of social marketing and societal marketing. The societal marketing concept evolved from older concepts of CSR and sustainable development and implemented by several companies to improve their public image through activities of the customer and social welfare. In 1971, Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman published the first paper on social marketing as an official discipline in the Journal of Marketing. The title of the article was “Social Marketing, an
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approach to planned social change”. If one looks at it closely, social marketing has been prevalent from historical times. Ancient Romans and Greeks had launched campaigns against slavery. During Industrial Revolution many campaigns advocating women’s voting rights or abolition of child labour were launched. Social marketing in simple words intends to change human ‘behaviour’. It triggers a new thought process, even where beliefs are set in stone. It strives to achieve social benefit, not commercial profit which remains the focus of commercial marketing as we know. Social marketing is like a steering wheel that manoeuvres human social behaviours of its target market the way it intends to. Exclusive and in-depth analysis of mind-sets, belief systems, practices prevalent in target strata of society, is starting point of social marketing wherein nothing is left to generalisation. The term is fast picking up traction among intellectuals, academia, students and policy makers and significant research and projects are taken in the sphere, world over. The applications of social marketing are majorly found in public health and environmental issues but are not restricted to these two areas only. The relevance of social marketing is not only for the poor and underprivileged but applies to all strata of population wherever a behavioural transformation has possibility to result in social good. Three considerations in marketing strategies are balanced in Social Marketing: company profits, the consumer wants, and society’s interests. • Society (Human Welfare): Companies must make sure the products, services, actions, investment innovations servers society first. • Consumers (Satisfaction): Products and services should be satisfying the consumer’s needs. • Company (Profits): Building long-term customer relationships, being socially responsible, and providing satisfactory products are important
