FormalPara Chapter Overview

This chapter introduces social marketing as a tool to influence individual behavior and societal structure for the benefit of the individual and society, ethically using commercial marketing and other tools. Social marketing is needed because societies value personal freedom, and personal freedom often leads to negative externalities. The chapter stressed the importance of understanding the broader context within which individuals operate and addressing the barriers they face. Social marketing was differentiated from education and law by the use of incentives and barrier removal to encourage voluntary behavior change. Social marketing can occur at a macro-level, focusing on broader societal structures, or at a micro-level, focusing on individuals. When social marketing occurs at the macro-level, it examines the entire system and uses all available tools, including education and law when feasible. Social marketing can be focused downstream, upstream, or both. Downstream social marketing refers to efforts focusing on those whose behavior we wish to directly influence. Upstream social marketing refers to efforts focused on those who can influence the system within which the behavior occurs, such as policy makers, in order to encourage or discourage the behavior. Micro-social marketing focuses on individual behavior change. It may be used to influence the behavior of individuals directly (downstream), or it may be used to influence upstream policy makers and others whose decisions could influence the social environment. Finally, with social marketing it is important to understand strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relative to the program, as well as the behaviors that compete with your goals.

In the next chapter, we outline the specific steps involved with creating a social marketing program. Chapter 2 also addresses ethical issues in social marketing. Chapter 3 introduces research used in social marketing, Chap. 4 reviews key theories, and Chap. 5 provides a brief history of social marketing.

Introduction

Worldwide, over a billion tons of food is wasted each year. At the same time, 815 million people in the world go hungry. In Italy, Banco Alimentare, an Italian food bank, seeks to address these two major social issues at once—hunger and food waste. Banco Alimentare is working at several levels to bring about change. They work with restaurateurs and food retailers to bring unused food to a food bank for those in need. They also work with policy makers to advocate for policies to encourage food recovery. Their full story is told in Chap. 7. This is social marketing in action.

In this chapter, we provide a definition of social marketing, and discuss the context within which social marketing occurs. We start with a “bird’s eye view” of the field, considering the broader societal influences that impact individual behavior. We discuss the distinctions between macro- and micro-social marketing, and the importance of considering the entire system when developing a social marketing program instead of focusing exclusively on the individual. To help understand the importance of the environment, we introduce marketing’s SWOT model and the concept of competition. Finally, the appendix at the end of the chapter offers links to additional online resources so that you can study key topics in greater detail.

Influencing and changing behavior are the goals of commercial marketing. Social marketing applies these principles to behavior that benefits the individual, their community, or the environment. This may mean adopting a new, beneficial behavior such as exercising, or it may mean abandoning a current, undesirable behavior such as smoking. However, at times the social marketing effort may actually be focused on keeping people from starting an undesirable behavior. In these cases, social marketing is seeking to influence behavior rather than to actually change it (Andreasen, 1994). For example, social marketing may be used to discourage teens from starting to smoke. In addition to these individual-level behavior influence efforts, social marketing efforts are increasingly being applied at the community or larger societal level, to change structures and practices that are detrimental to individual and societal well-being. In commercial marketing, for example, fast-food companies try to cater to consumer demand by opening more locations to be more convenient while also competing on price. Similarly, social marketing can involve efforts to increase the availability of items that benefit social welfare—condoms for example—and lower their price to encourage use.

The principles of social marketing can be applied to a wide array of topics, both micro and macro. It involves applying principles from commercial marketing and related fields in order to influence behavior. Increasingly, these efforts are being applied to change societal structures as well as individual behaviors. Any time you would like to influence people’s behavior, social marketing is a potential strategy to achieve it. The Banco Alimentare (Chap. 7) described above encourages people in the food services industry to donate their food to those in need, but other social marketing efforts seek behavior change in different areas. Social marketing involves offering benefits and removing barriers, so people voluntarily choose to perform a behavior that is better for them and/or their community and natural environment. Chapter 16, for example, describes the UK’s Make Every Contact Count campaign. That campaign encourages a wide range of government workers to engage in health discussions with the general population, at every point of contact. Chapter 23 discusses how the community of Akureyri, Iceland used social marketing in their efforts to become carbon neutral. Examples of other social marketing efforts include efforts to encourage people to wash their hands to prevent disease transfer (Chaps. 13, 17, and 19), to eat smaller portion sizes (Chap. 14), or to pay their taxes (Chap. 11), among others. The cases in part 2 of this book offer insight into a wide variety of social marketing efforts and provide context for the foundational material presented in part 1.

Defining Social Marketing

Marketing principles were being applied to the health sector as early as the 1960s, though the practice was not yet widely recognized by academics. For example, in 1967 the Nirodh project in India was the first known nation-wide condom project to use social marketing practices in an attempt to increase the use of condoms and other family planning activities (Lefebvre, 2011; Walsh, Rudd, Moeykens, & Moloney, 1993). The introduction of social marketing as an academic field of study is attributed to Kotler and Zaltman (1971), who offered the first formal social marketing 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. (Kotler & Zaltman, 1971)

The use of social marketing has continued to grow both in practice and as a field of study in universities. With this, academic debates emerged over the appropriate boundaries for the field. Additionally, academics claimed that practitioners were not always applying the principles of social marketing appropriately, sometimes resulting in ineffective programs that wasted money, failed to provide the desired outcomes, and were hurting the reputation of the field (Andreasen, 1994). To address these concerns, academic scholar Alan Andreasen proposed what was to become a very popular definition of social marketing:

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. (Andreasen, 1994, p. 110)

This definition focuses our attention on influencing behavior, rather than other outcomes such as attitude change or increased knowledge. It also highlights the voluntary nature of the behaviors which social marketing addresses. Social marketing does not force people to behave in a certain way—laws do that. It also does not merely share knowledge and information—that is the realm of education. Instead, social marketing motivates behavior change by effectively applying the principles of commercial marketing (Rothschild, 1999). As with Kotler and Zaltman’s (1971) definition, Andreasen’s (1994) definition suggests that social marketing is anchored firmly to the tools of commercial marketing, and in using these tools for social good. This definition of social marketing provided valuable grounding for the field in the earlier stages. As the field continued to grow, new debates emerged, and again social marketing scholars felt a need to offer a refined definition of social marketing. This time, rather than one or two respected authors offering a definition, three of the world’s leading social marketing organizations worked together to develop a new, research-based definition.

Specifically, the International Social Marketing Association, European Social Marketing Association, and Australian Association of Social Marketing proposed the following definition in 2013. The definition was developed by surveying members of these prominent social marketing organizations, and including in the definition the components cited as most important for successful social marketing efforts. The top two priorities for social marketing suggested by that research were (1) set and measure behavioral objectives and (2) use[s] audience insight and research (Morgan, 2012–2018), which are both included in the definition.

Definition of Social Marketing

Social marketing seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviors that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good. Social marketing practice is guided by ethical principles. It seeks to integrate research, best practice, theory, audience and partnership insight, to inform the delivery of competition sensitive and segmented social programs that are effective, efficient, equitable, and sustainable. (Morgan, 2012–2018)

This definition offers several important advancements over previous definitions of social marketing. First, we see explicit reference to the use of “other approaches” beyond traditional commercial marketing tools. Researchers within the field of social marketing have recognized that many fields offer useful tools to influence behavior, and the best social marketing practice involves using the most effective tools, regardless of their field of origin. Another important advancement with this definition is the inclusion of specific program components, such as theory and research that were identified by social marketers as vital to implementing a successful program. Finally, explicit reference is made to the ethical use of social marketing. There are many ways in which social marketing can raise ethical dilemmas; these are discussed in Chap. 2. Since social marketers are focused on efforts to benefit individuals and society, an explicit commitment to ethics is consistent with the goals of the field.

This is the definition of social marketing adopted within this textbook; however, we strongly support the notion of “using what works” for your current situation. If another definition of social marketing better suits your needs, then by all means use it. We also encourage you to examine, critique, and debate this and other definitions of social marketing. In doing so, you can gain a clearer understanding of what is and is not central to the effective practice of social marketing.

Social Marketing Versus Education Versus Law

Social marketing, education, and law each provide a means of influencing behavior change. Each is appropriate in certain circumstances. A seminal social marketing article by Rothschild (1999), entitled “Carrots, Sticks, and Promises: A Conceptual Framework for the Management of Public Health and Social Issues Behaviors”, offers a helpful guide to understanding when the use of each is appropriate. Here, we summarize those findings and encourage you to read the article for yourself, as it is quite insightful.

We have just defined social marketing above. Education focuses on providing information and more general knowledge, often with the goal of influencing voluntary behavior change as well. Modern educational efforts certainly can be advanced and sophisticated, but the goal is not generally to attain a specific, focused behavior change. Also, education does not usually offer incentives, remove barriers, or facilitate the behavior change in any way as social marketing does. Law also seeks to change behavior. Like social marketing, law uses additional tools beyond merely educating in order to motivate behavior change. However, these legal efforts tend to be coercive and punitive, and therefore this approach is different from the voluntary approach of social marketing (Rothschild, 1999).

Each of these three tools (social marketing, education, and law) is useful in the right situation. When to use each depends largely on the individual’s motivation to change behavior, opportunity to change behavior, and ability to change behavior (MacInnis, Moorman, & Jaworski, 1991; Rothschild, 1999). If individuals are motivated to change, have the opportunity to perform the desired behavior, and the ability, then educating them on the need to do so may be sufficient. Education may be easier to execute than social marketing or law and more familiar in fields such as “health education,” so use education if it is sufficient to get the behavior you are seeking. If individuals have the opportunity and ability to perform the behavior, but are very resistant (lack the motivation), and you cannot identify sufficient incentives to voluntarily motivate them, implementing a law may be the only option. This tends to be a difficult route to implement so it is generally a last resort. If an individual has the motivation and ability, but lacks opportunity, social marketing can help to create this opportunity and should be the strategy chosen. If you consider all the possible scenarios of motivation, opportunity, and ability combinations, there are many situations where more than one strategy is viable. Social marketing is often the most reasonable choice in these cases, as it can be more compelling than simply providing education, and does not require the legal effort of implementing or changing laws (see Rothschild, 1999, p. 31 for an explanation of each specific condition). Additionally, some situations are so complex that a combination of all three is needed to attain the desired goal. In macro-social marketing, described below, all three are often used in tandem to address the most difficult societal problems.

Externalities, Free Will, and Self-interest

The impetus for social marketing programs often stems from a desire to reduce what economists call “negative externalities.” Externalities are the side effects that can occur from people’s behavior (or lack of behavior). Rothschild (1999) defines externalities as:

freely chosen behaviors that result in social costs for which other members of the society must pay either directly or indirectly. (Rothschild, 1999, p. 24)

Although not explicitly stated, Rothschild is referring to negative externalities in this definition. Externalities can be either positive or negative. Most of these side effects are unintended (Mundt, 1993). They can occur for the person performing the behavior (e.g., for a smoker, lung cancer would be a negative externality), or they may occur for others who are unintentionally impacted by their behavior (e.g., negative smoking externalities for others include second-hand smoke and increased burden on the healthcare system). As an example of a positive externality, imagine a company that instates a program that provides incentives to its employees to bicycle to work; this program is intended to improve employee health. Although not intended, a positive externality of this program could be to reduce traffic congestion near the company office.

In most societies today free will is valued, although this varies to greater or lesser degrees. Generally, citizens are allowed to perform a wide variety of behaviors if they so choose. In most cases, people will behave according to their own self-interest (Rothschild, 1999) and there are many political theorists such as Adam Smith who believe that acting in one’s one self-interest results in the overall greatest good. However, this is not always the case. The right to act freely and the tendency to put one’s own interests first can lead to a wide array of negative externalities. This creates a tension between the rights of some individuals to behave as they choose, and the rights of other individuals to be free of negative externalities thrust upon them. Additionally, within society, there are many shared resources or public goods. These include all things seen as public property or things to which we all feel we have a right, things like our public spaces, streets, and parks. They also include broader public goods, like fresh air and a clean water supply. If some people overuse or misuse a public good, it can have a damaging effect on others, creating a negative externality. Often, the focus of social marketing programs is to find ways to reduce these negative externalities without removing citizens’ rights to choose their behaviors.

In order to influence voluntary behaviors, marketers first must understand the elements that determine people’s current behaviors. Effective social marketing requires us to understand the social, environmental, structural, and economic forces that influence individuals’ behavior in order to fully understand it. Various perspectives exist regarding behavior and free will. In this book, we view behavior as partly dictated by free will and individual choice, but also partly dictated by one’s environment and how the particular individual responds to their particular environment. Therefore, if you want to be effective at influencing people’s behavior, it is essential to first understand the social and environmental factors that influence that behavior.

The “social” aspect of social marketing is that we want to influence individual behaviors that will benefit individuals and society. To do this effectively, we often need to focus on ways to insure that the cards are not stacked against the individual. Consider if you encouraged a group of friends to participate in a game in which there is no realistic way they could win. Most likely, they would choose not to play. The same is true with social marketing. If the situation is structured so that success is unlikely, the individual would most likely choose not to participate (Fig. 1.1).

Fig. 1.1
figure 1

Artistic credit Lisa Basil

Forces influencing individual behavior.

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Structural Barriers to Behavior Change

For many of the behaviors being advocated by social marketers, structural barriers can stand in the way of individual behavior change. Consider, for example, efforts to encourage healthier eating habits. To be successful, individuals must first have affordable and convenient access to healthy foods. Many lower-income people may live in a “food desert,” where the nearby stores are small convenience stores which do not sell fresh fruits and vegetables. Similarly, buying a salad at a fast-food restaurant is generally quite a bit more expensive than buying less healthy options. Often too, restaurant foods assumed to be healthy, such as salads, are actually laden with calories, fat, and sodium. All of these structural barriers make it more difficult for motivated individuals to eat a healthy diet. A good social marketing program, in addition to focusing on individual change, would also try to identify and eliminate or reduce these barriers.

Before initiating change, it is important to create infrastructure to enable change. That is, by considering the behavioral ecological environment in which behaviors occur and managing the environment in addition to the individuals. Changing attitudes to motivate people to behave is pointless if people have no opportunity or ability to undertake the desired behaviors. (Brennan & Parker, 2014, online)

This quotation aptly summarizes growing sentiment toward social marketing. Social marketers should think broadly, using traditional tools from commercial marketing as well as other strategies that may fall outside of marketing. Social marketers should examine societal, environmental, economic, and infrastructure influences, and attempt to remove any barriers these pose before advocating behavior change. Wymer (2011) embraces this philosophy and proposes a four-step model for addressing public health initiatives. In his model, he suggests first addressing any lack of basic sustenance needed to survive, then removing harmful elements from the environment. Only after these basic essentials have been addressed does it make sense to proceed. The third step would be to assure the individual has sufficient knowledge about the healthy behavior, and then the final step is to increase the individual’s motivation to perform the behavior. All too often, social marketing programs attempt to start at steps three or four, which greatly reduces program success.

Macro Versus Micro and Upstream Versus Downstream Approaches to Social Marketing

Social marketing often focuses on influencing behavior at the micro, individual level, based on principles from psychology and sociology. This can lead to a narrow perspective that fails to address the root of the problem. Effective social marketing requires that we take a macro-approach by taking a broader perspective, looking at the big picture, and considering all factors that influence the behavior we are trying to influence. This approach draws more from the fields of economics, anthropology, as well as sociology. Additionally, social marketing can focus downstream, on those whose behavior we wish to influence, or it can focus upstream, on policies and decision makers who have the power to facilitate the desired behavior change (Gordon, 2013). When the program focuses on individual behavior change, whether it is the downstream behavior we directly wish to influence or the upstream behavior of individual policy makers and influencers, we are practicing at the micro-level. When we consider all of the forces that influence the behavior we wish to change, including structural, economic, social, and policy forces, we are practicing macro-social marketing (Kennedy, 2016). In this section, we examine these principles (Fig. 1.2).

Fig. 1.2
figure 2

Artistic credit Debra Z. Basil, Unbox Science and Pixabay

Upstream versus downstream focus.

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For a variety of reasons, traditional approaches to social marketing tended to focus primarily on simply applying commercial marketing principles to individual behavior change. More recently, however, many social marketers have adopted the perspective that we should use a wider variety of tools if they will help us attain the desired goal (e.g., Wymer, 2011). Social marketers are recognizing that, in order to attain many desired goals, the change needed may be at the community or societal level, rather than at the individual level. For example, consider a community that has a roadway intersection with a particularly high rate of accidents and fatalities. Various social marketing programs could be implemented to encourage people to change their driving behavior, including placing signs that say “drive safely.” However, a more effective strategy might be to structurally change the intersection itself—such as adding a traffic signal.

Often the most effective way to encourage behavior change is to focus “upstream” of the problem, to remove the barriers to positive behaviors, rather than simply addressing outcomes. The notion of upstream social marketing stems from a story about people drowning in a stream that is credited to Irving Zola (French, 2014). The story has been told in many different ways—here is our abridged version. Imagine that you come upon a rushing stream, and see many people drowning. A downstream social marketing effort would look for ways to help those who are drowning now. A midstream effort would go a bit farther up the stream, to where people are getting into the water, and teach them to swim. An upstream social effort would go even farther up the stream to influence government officials to build a dam in order to regulate water flow, so those who choose to get into the stream will not drown.

Upstream social marketing focuses on identifying the causes of the problem, by influencing policies, structures, and decision makers that can help to alleviate the problem “upstream” of where the behavior actually occurs. The food bank described in the opening scenario, Banco Alimentare (Chap. 7), offers a good example of taking an upstream approach. They seek to influence government policy to reduce food waste. Generally, upstream efforts focus on adding incentives and removing barriers that impact the downstream behavior we wish to address.

There are many problems in this world that unfortunately are too large and complex to address with one tool. They require the use of everything we can possibly throw at them. These are “wicked problems,” such as the obesity epidemic in developed countries, climate change, or indigenous disadvantage (Kennedy & Parsons, 2012). So many interdependent factors are working together with problems such as these that the entire system must be considered. Macro-social marketing applies social marketing principles at the societal level to address the issue, often in a government-led effort (Domegan, 2008). “Macro-social marketing seeks to use social marketing techniques in a holistic way to effect systemic change, as opposed to individual level change” (Kennedy, 2016, p. 344). For example, where micro-level social marketing may address the “wicked problem” of nicotine addiction by developing a program to help individuals overcome their smoking habit, macro-level social marketing may involve government efforts to reduce the commercial effectiveness of cigarette marketing, perhaps through limitations on how and where cigarettes can be promoted and displayed. Macro-social marketing uses a systems approach, removing barriers, and adding benefits throughout the entire system to encourage the desired behavior.

For effective social marketing, the entire system within which the problem resides must be considered. We must recognize all the forces working upon individuals, and the way these forces work within society. This systems’ perspective should consider the forces that have enabled the problem to grow, the precipitating circumstances that contribute to the problem, and the general societal motivation to address the issue (Duhame, Mctavish, & Ross, 1985; Kennedy & Parsons, 2012). With a view to the entire system, macro-social marketing not only uses traditional social marketing tools, but can also engage education and law to address the issue, and any other tool available. Often the most effective solution for a large problem is to provide new infrastructure that will allow individuals to more easily change their behavior. Macro-social marketing can do this. Macro-social marketing generally involves both the use of social marketing tools and policy change (Hoek & Jones, 2011; Kennedy & Parsons, 2012). For example, rather than engaging in social marketing programs to encourage citizens to boil their water to avoid disease, installing a water purification system would address the issue more efficiently. While this may appear to come at greater financial cost, examining the entire system may reveal that it would save costs in other areas such as health care or lost worker productivity. Examining the issue at a systems perspective provides a clearer view of the overall cost of the problem and the proposed solutions.

Planning a Social Marketing Program

Understanding the macro environment is an important initial step in developing a social marketing program. To do this, you need a clear view of your purpose, and a thorough understanding of the entire system within which your behavior influencing efforts are positioned. In the remainder of this chapter, we discuss two key steps to understanding your macro-system—conducting a situation analysis and identifying your competition. Both of these steps focus on being aware of the bigger picture within which your problem resides. In Chap. 2, we introduce the remaining steps in creating a social marketing program.

Situation Analysis

A critical step in any social marketing effort is to clearly identify your purpose. What is it you are seeking to accomplish? What problem must be addressed? What behavior or behaviors are you trying to influence? This is the big-picture statement regarding your reason for creating this program. For example, in Chap. 11, the program purpose is to reduce tax evasion, and in Chap. 12, the program purpose is to reduce clothing waste, which is done by reducing the frequency of clothing repurchase.

Once you have a clear purpose, you should conduct background research to better understand the overall situation, including any structural barriers that may impact your efforts. This involves thoroughly examining your landscape. You need a clear picture of the scope of the issue, its sources, factors that contribute to it and exacerbate it, and factors that reduce it. You need to understand how it is viewed in society, who it affects directly, who it affects indirectly, and how. In short, you want to gather as much information as you possibly can about the issue. Information is your strongest weapon.

A variety of resources exist to help you gather background information. Many federal governments have free statistical data online. For example, Statistics Canada offers a wealth of information and reports that are useful for Canadian social marketers (www.statcan.gc.ca). In the USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer many reports and statistics relevant to the health arena (www.cdc.gov). Additionally, many non-profit organizations post free articles and reports online that can be very helpful. The Points of Light Foundation offers information and articles to help with volunteer management, which is often an important part of a social marketing effort (www.pointsoflight.org). Case studies about social marketing programs related to your focal issue can provide valuable background and guidance. A simple Internet search will often reveal a wealth of resources. To dig more deeply into existing academic literature and case studies, search Google Scholar, which is a repository of a vast number of academic articles (www.scholar.google.com). Even for-profit companies that work in the social benefit space may offer valuable online resources. Globescan (www.globescan.com) and Euromonitor International (www.euromonitor.co) both offer free reports and webinars that can be helpful. In order to identify structural barriers, it is often necessary to conduct formative research regarding your topic. A common mistake made by social marketers is to mistakenly assume an understanding of the situation, but such assumptions are often wrong. It is important to speak directly with those whose behavior you wish to influence, to see the situation from their perspective. More information on research is provided in Chap. 3.

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats)

A SWOT analysis is a useful tool adopted from commercial marketing that you can apply to better understand your landscape. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The origin of SWOT is contested (Helms & Nixon, 2010) with credit often being given to researchers at Stanford and/or Harvard in the early 1960s. The idea behind SWOT is to examine the positive and negative influences you face both within your own organization (strengths and weaknesses) and outside of your organization (opportunities and threats). Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the organization; they represent your own assets and liabilities. Think broadly, considering all characteristics of your organization, and the people and resources of your organization, that might affect your social marketing effort. For example, is your organization slow to approve new programs? This could be a weakness for your program. Do you have a strong existing volunteer base who are eager to help, as with the Coulee Clean-up litter removal effort in Chap. 24? This is a strength.

SWOT involves considering external factors as well, in the form of opportunities and threats. What opportunities external to your organization might help your efforts? For example, if the city has just passed a law increasing the number of riders necessary for a car to legally use the carpool lane, this may represent an opportunity for a social marketing program seeking to increase bicycle ridership. What threats to your program exist? Threats come in many forms—any factor external to your organization that will make it more difficult for your program to succeed, is a threat. For example, if your purpose is to reduce all forms of smoking, and your state or province has just approved the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes, this is a threat to your program.

It is important to think deeply and broadly when considering your SWOT. Is the influencing factor positive or negative? Is it controlled within your organization, or is it external to your organization? These pieces of information are essential in order to properly categorize influencing factors. See Fig. 1.3 for a SWOT framework.

Fig. 1.3
figure 3

SWOT framework

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Competition

With social marketing, it is important to understand strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relative to the program, as well as the behaviors that compete with your goals. All successful commercial marketers know the importance of understanding the competition. Social marketing is no different. You need to understand the behaviors that are competing with your efforts. Lee and Kotler (2011) position competition as what the target would prefer to do, including habits people have formed that might keep them from doing what you advocate, as well the individuals, organizations, and programs that will lead them away from your efforts (Lee & Kotler, 2011). Other theorists define competition more broadly, seeing competition as “competing ideas” (Peattie & Peattie, 2003, p. 376), and these may come from commercial competition, social discouragement (such as social norms), general apathy (such as an involuntary disinclination) or other forms of influence, such as addiction (Peattie & Peattie, 2003). Free choice, apathy, and inertia serve as strong competitors to most social marketing programs (Rothschild, 1999), as these factors deter the target audience from the desired behavior.

Competition can exist at various levels of abstraction (generic, entity, product, and brand; Andreasen, 2006; Noble & Basil, 2011). In some cases, something can be seen as a competitor at one level, but as complementary at another. Chapter 17’s social marketing program promotes hand washing with Lifebuoy soap to reduce childhood mortality. At a generic level, any behavior that keeps the individual from washing is competition; therefore, apathy serves as a key competitor. At the entity level, any form of hand cleaning other than washing is competition, so wiping hands on one’s clothing or rubbing with sand would be competing behaviors. At the product level, any form of hand cleansing other than soap would be a competitor; thus, the use of hand sanitizer could be seen as competition at this level. Finally, the narrowest form of competition is the brand level, where use of any soap brand other than Lifebuoy brand soap could be seen as competition. Though social marketers would undoubtedly be pleased with any form of hand cleansing that sufficiently kills germs, it is helpful to consider the various levels of competition (generic, entity, product, and brand) in order to thoroughly understand the many things that can detract from your effort.

Increasingly, organizations that might normally be seen as competitors are working together for common goals, a practice labeled co-opetition (Noble & Basil, 2011). Turning a competitor into a complementor or collaborator is an excellent way to reduce competition. For example, when addressing drunk driving, a social marketer might consider working with alcohol companies to offer programs such as free soft drinks for designated drivers.

Appendix: Additional Resources for the Big Picture in Social Marketing

Debra Z. Basil

This appendix provides open source links for the major topics discussed in this chapter. These links will allow you to explore the chapter topics in greater detail. Given the fleeting nature of the Internet, some links may no longer be working, so we have provided three resources per topic.

  1. 1.

    Competition

  2. 2.

    Externalities

  3. 3.

    Macro- Versus Micro-Social Marketing

  4. 4.

    Situation Analysis

  5. 5.

    SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats)

  6. 6.

    Upstream Versus Downstream Social Marketing

  7. 7.

    Social Marketing Centers and Organizations: This is a non-exhaustive listing of some of the major social marketing centers internationally.

  • The Australian Association of Social Marketing:

“The Australian Association of Social Marketing is an independent, volunteer based organization. It is the peak body representing social marketers in Australia and aims to provide support for social marketers throughout the country and act as a central resource for those engaged in, or interested in, social marketing practice and research.” https://www.aasm.org.au/

  • Bristol Social Marketing Centre:

“Contributing to the improvement of health, the environment, and overall quality of life via world class behavior change and social marketing research.” https://www.ecojam.org/organisation/bristol-social-marketing-centre

  • The Institute for Consumer and Social Well-being (formerly the Centre for Socially Responsible Marketing), University of Lethbridge:

“The Institute for Consumer and Social Well-being is a Dhillon School of Business research team with the objective to foster research, to teach and to generate involvement in three related areas: Social Marketing…Social Responsibility and Sustainability…Not-for-Profit Marketing.” https://www.uleth.ca/dhillon/about-the-school/research/centre-socially-responsible-marketing

  • European Social Marketing Association:

“By creating a community where people practicing and researching social marketing in Europe can connect with other colleagues to share experiences, knowledge, findings, methods, and practices ESMA endeavors to contribute to the development, evidence base, and promotion of the social marketing discipline in Europe. ESMA aims: To establish a community of Social Marketers in Europe. To enhance and facilitate knowledge and experience exchange in the different fields of social and behavior change. To promote the use of social marketing as an approach to social change in Europe.” http://www.europeansocialmarketing.org/2016/05/12/the-role-of-strategic-social-marketing-in-public-policy/

  • International Social Marketing Association:

“iSMA’s Mission is to:

Advance social marketing practice, research, and teaching through collaborative networks of professionals, supporters, and enthusiasts. Educate the public, organizations, professionals, and governments about the value of social marketing to facilitate behavioral change and social progress.

Develop, document, and market international standards and best practices in social marketing theory, research, and practice. Encourage and enable wider use of social marketing in addressing complex social issues. Foster and support the development of local, national, and regional social marketing associations.” https://www.i-socialmarketing.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32:mission&catid=20:about&Itemid=111#.W4Qd585KjIV

  • The National Social Marketing Centre:

“The NSMC is the centre of excellence for social marketing and behavior change based in the UK. Our mission is to maximize the effectiveness of behavior change programmes across the globe. We do this by working directly with clients and by promoting and sharing best practice.” http://www.thensmc.com/