Tim Corbett

"The Social Marketing Toolbox"

Social Marketing has been typically used as a tactical method for mass communication and public education to raise awareness of issues and encourage behaviour change through campaigns. It can however, be used to generate change across a range of strategic, organisational, community and programme activity. As a strategic tool, social marketing can be used to create 'upstream change' in policy formation and development by providing greater clarity of audience needs and values and by incorporating the behaviours of the policy sub culture. The subsequent social marketing strategy developed involving the key needs of the strategic partners, government and NGO networks and international agencies and understanding of the audiences and channels to reach and engage them. As a lobbying advocacy tool, social marketing provides a system for mobilising and concentrating group action on core issues by engaging communities in issues important to them and providing platforms to amplify their voice. Finally, as many successful corporate organisations have found, building a business with a 'market orientation' rather than 'product orientation' creates high levels of customer satisfaction, innovation, responsiveness, sustainability and business advantage. Integrating social marketing into government and NGO organisations would reduce costs, increase efficiencies, maximise resource utilisation and create more sustainable change.

Regardless of the social marketing activity, the key to generating change is to begin with an in depth understanding of the audience and in particular, the social systems, contextual behaviours and values that construct their specific sub culture. This provides the core knowledge to base any subsequent strategy and tactical action. Importantly, organisational, key message, programme or campaign objectives should not be incorporated until this immersion work has been completed.

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