Social Marketing

Cause-related marketing supports a cause. Social marketing by nonprofit or government organizations furthers a cause, such as “say no to drugs” or “exercise more and eat better.”³⁹ Different types of organizations conduct social marketing in the United States. Government agencies include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Nonprofit organizations include the American Red Cross, the United Way, and the American Cancer Society.

While social marketing uses a number of different tactics to achieve its goals, the planning process follows many of the same steps as for traditional products and services (see Table 18.2). Social marketing programs are complex; they take time and may require phased programs or actions. Marketers should evaluate program success in terms of their objectives, measuring criteria like incidence of adoption, speed of adoption, continuance of adoption, low cost per unit of adoption, and absence of counterproductive consequences.