Thinking and Working Like a Social Marketer

François LAGARDESocial Marketing ConsultantAdjunct Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montrealwww.francoislagarde.com October 21, 2008

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Outline

8:15 Introduction to social marketing9:15 How much are you already doing9:30 Setting behavioural objectives10:00 Break10:30 Conducting an audience analysis

and segmentation11:10 Developing a strategy11:45 Q&A

Social Marketing

Social marketing is the use of marketing principles and techniques to influence a target audience to voluntarily accept, reject, modify, or abandon a behavior for the benefit of individuals, groups, or society as a whole. (Kotler et al., 2002)

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More than just Communications

Much of what is called "social marketing“ by practitioners and academics is not marketing, however, because neither products nor services are developed, distributed, or promoted. Rather, most of what is referred to as social marketing in public health involves exclusively the provision of information, and is therefore more correctly characterized as communication. (Hill, 2001)

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SM Concepts

Behaviour changeVoluntary adoptionAudience-centred

orientation Benefits Barriers Key influencers

Segmentation Augus Reid for the Greater Vancouver Regional District, 2000: GVRD Residential Attitudes towards Regional Environmental

and Conservation Activities.

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SM Concepts (cont’d)

ExchangeCompetition and Positioning

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SM Concepts (cont’d)

Mix of methods Product Price Place

Commitments and prompts

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SM Concepts (cont’d)

Social norms / diffusion of innovations See Dearing et al. (2006)

Upstream Partnerships Long term

commitment

Make it fun, easy and popular

(Smith, 1999)

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A Social Marketing Analysis of 20 Years of Hand Hygiene Promotion (Mah et al., 2008)

Of 53 interventions included in the study: 30.2% conducted primary formative research 9.4% were theory-based 50.9% employed segmentation and targeting 83.0% employed the marketing mix 5.7% considered the influence of competition 13.2% cultivated audience relationships 28.3% provided simple behavioural messages The median duration of intervention was 8.0

months

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How much are you already doing? (Always, Sometimes, Never)

A, S, N

Establish specific (end-state) behavioural objectives

Conduct formative research (benefits, barriers, key influencers, etc.)

Employ segmentation and targeting

Consider competition

Employ product, price, place strategies (to increase benefits and reduce barriers)

Refer to formative research to position the behaviour, craft simple and relevant messages, and select channels

Ensure frequency (e.g., prompts) and duration of message delivery

Establish partnerships

Monitor and evaluate (adjust accordingly)

Be in it for the long run

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Worksheet #1: Setting Behavioural ObjectivesAll change strategies can be reformulated into a scenario involving a range of audiences that will adopt observable behaviours, actions, or decisions that together will lead to success. In other words, answer the question, ‘Who will do what?’

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Worksheet #1: Setting Behavioural Objectives (cont’d)

Translate success over the next two to three years into a scenario outlining a list of key audiences (internal or external, including partners), along with the concrete behaviours, actions, or decisions that they each would adopt.

Worksheet #1: Setting Behavioural Objectives (cont’d)

Who do you want to persuade?

To do what?

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Audience Analysis

Why would they? (benefits)Why not? (barriers)Who has an influence on them?

(key influencers)

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Segmentation

“Social marketers segment the larger and more heterogeneous market into smaller, more homogeneous market segments” (Maibach, 2002, p. 12).

“Market segments consist of groups of people or organizations that are similar in terms of how they respond to a particular marketing mix or in other ways that are meaningful for marketing planning purposes” (Myers, 1996, p. 16).

Interventions directly tailored to specific audience segments rather than reliance on ‘blanket’ approaches (French & Blair-Stevens, 2006)

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Research Methods

Secondary Research (If you want to optimize or find information that already exists) Literature searches/reviews, prior surveys/polls and

existing data Qualitative research (If you need answers to

“Why?” questions) Personal interviews (experts/key informants, or for

sensitive subject) Focus groups Casual observation Meetings

Quantitative research (If you need answers to “How many?” and “How much?” questions) Surveys (telephone, mail and online) Intercept interviews Controlled observations

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Worksheet #2: Audience Analysis & Segmentation (Adapted from Lagarde, 2004)

Audience What you want them to do:

Those who have adopted the behaviour

Those who have not

Demographic data

Why would they? (Benefits)

Why not? (Barriers)

Competition

Who has an influence on them?

Media habits and participation at events

Membership in groups and places where the audience can be reached

Segmentation: Among those who have not yet adopted the behavior, can you identify specific segments that are more receptive than others?

Missing information: Which research methods will you use to gather the necessary information to make strategic decisions?

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Worksheet #3: Strategy and Planning Questions

Based on your audience and context analysis: How can you make the behaviour more

appealing (product)? (see Hastings, 2007)

How can you make the behaviour more affordable (price)?

How can you make the behaviour more readily available (place)?

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Worksheet #3: Strategy and Planning Questions (cont’d)

How could you use commitments (in public) and prompts (noticeable and in close proximity to where the action is to be taken)? (see www.cbsm.com )

How can use key influencers as messengers (testimonials, spokespersons)?

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Worksheet #3: Strategy and Planning Questions (cont’d)

Which channels will you use (interpersonal, media, events)? How frequently? For how long?

How will you craft your messages?

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Worksheet #3: Strategy and Planning Questions (cont’d)

How will you account for competition?

Who will your partners be?

How and when will you know if it works?

References

Dearing, J., Maibach, E. & Buller, D. (2006). A convergent diffusion and social marketing approach for disseminating proven approaches to physical activity programs. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 31(4S): S11-23.

Hastings, G. (2007). Social marketing: Why should the devil have all the best tunes? Butterworth-Heinemann.

French, J. & Blair-Stevens, C. (2006). Social Marketing – National Benchmark Criteria. From: http://www.nsms.org.uk/images/CoreFiles/BenchmarkCriteriaTOOLDec2006.pdf

Hill, R. (2001). The marketing concept and health promotion: A survey and analysis of recent health promotion literature. Social Marketing Quarterly, 7(2), 29-53.

Kotler, P. & Lee, N.R (2008). Social marketing – Influencing behaviors for good (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.

Kotler, P., Roberto, N. et Lee, N. (2002). Social marketing – Improving the quality of life. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Lagarde, F. (2006). Le marketing social. In G. Carroll (Ed.). Pratiques en santé communautaire (pp. 99-112). Montreal: Chenelière Éducation.

Lagarde, F. (2004). Worksheets to introduce some basic concepts of social marketing practices. Social Marketing Quarterly, 10 (1), 36-41.

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References (cont’d)

Mah, M., Tam, Y.C., & Deshpande, S. (2008). A social marketing analysis of 20 years of hand hygiene promotion. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 29(3), 262-270.

Maibach, E.W., Abroms, L.C. & Marosits, M. (2007). Communication and marketing as tools to cultivate the public’s health: A proposed “people and places” framework. BMC Public Health, 7:88. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/7/88.

Maibach, E.W. (2002). Explicating social marketing: What is it, and what isn’t it? Social Marketing Quarterly, 8(4), 6-13.

McKenzie-Mohr, D. et Smith, W. (1999). Fostering sustainable behavior - An introduction to community-based social marketing. New Society Publishers.

Myers, J. H. (1996). Segmentation and positioning for strategic marketing decisions. Chicago: American Marketing Association.

Smith, W.A. (1999). Marketing with no budget. Social Marketing Quarterly, 5(2), 6-11.

www.cbsm.com; www.thcu.ca

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www.francoislagarde.com

Thank you!