1. Understanding the Environment for a Social Marketing Initiative
Emerson College Institute for
Social Marketing and Health Communication
June 7, 2016

3. Translation
“Planning before work protects you from regret. May you have prosperity and peace.”

4. What is the Purpose of the Social Marketing Initiative?
Think broadly here
In deciding the purpose of an initiative, planners must consider two fundamental questions:
*What do we ultimately want to achieve?
*What difference will it make?
Purpose does not deal with the question of “What do we want our audience to do?
The purpose can also be called the “goal”

5. Examples of a Campaign Purpose
Issue: Unintended pregnancy
Purpose: Reduce number of teen pregnancies
Issue: Drinking and driving
Purpose: Reduce injuries from underage drinking and driving
Issue: Mentoring
Purpose: Increase number of caring adult relationships in the lives of children

6. What is the Focus of the Social Marketing Initiative?
When choosing a focus for your initiative, the fundamental question to ask is:
What actions or behavior change
could reduce the problem?

7. Example of Choosing a Focus
Reduce the number of unintended pregnancies among teenage girls in Boston high schools
Possible Foci:
-Birth control
-Abstinence
-Parent-child communication about sex

8. Example of Choosing a Focus
Purpose:
Reduce unwanted negative health outcomes associated with sports-related concussions

9. Deciding on the Focus of a Social Marketing Initiative
Factors to Consider in Choosing a Focus
Behavior Change Potential
Repetitiveness of Behavior
Gateway Behavior Potential
Market Impact
Redundancy
Organizational Match
Funding Sources and Appeal
Source: Lee & Kotler, 2015; McKenzie-Mohr, 2011

10. Behavior Change Potential
Do we have a realistic probability of getting people to change a particular behavior?

11. Repetitiveness of Behavior
Can you make a substantial difference with behaviors that don’t need to be repeated or require limited repetition?

12. Gateway Behavior Potential
Are there behaviors that can be changed that have potential as a gateway to other behaviors?

13. Market Impact How many people would benefit
from a behavior change initiative
with a particular focus?

14. Redundancy Is this issue already being
addressed by other organizations and campaigns?

15. Organizational Match
Is this a good match for the sponsoring organization?
Is it consistent with the organization’s mission and culture?
Does the organization have staff expertise to develop and manage the effort?

16. Funding Sources and Appeals
Which focus has the greatest
funding potential?
Which foci run the risk of alienating
constituents, partners, and supporters?

17. What Is the Behavioral Competition?
What are the behaviors that compete with
the behavior you want your audience to
adopt?
Target behavior:
Wearing a football helmet with a proper fit
Competing behavior:
Seeking comfort on a hot day

18. What Is the Message Competition?
What are the messages that compete with
the message you wish to communicate to
your audience?
Promotional message:
Eat less saturated fat in your diet
Competing message:
McDonald’s commercials for the Big Mac

19. Setting Objectives Behavioral Objectives Knowledge Objectives
Belief Objectives
Source: Lee & Kotler, 2015

20. Behavioral Objectives
Determine the exact thing you want your audience to do
The behavior should be simple, clear, and doable, even though it might not be considered easy
You should be able to picture your audience performing the behavior (Could I do it myself?)
Audience members should be able to determine for themselves that they have performed the behavior

21. Knowledge Objectives What is essential for your audience to know?
Knowledge objectives relate to stats, facts, and other information and skills your audience members will find motivating and/or key to performing the behavior

22. Examples of Important Knowledge
Stats on the risk of current behavior
Stats on the benefits of proposed behavior
Facts on attractive alternatives
Facts that correct misperceptions
Info on how to perform the behavior
Resources available for assistance
Locations where goods or service can be purchased
Laws or fines that might not be understood

23. Belief Objectives
What are the attitudes, opinions, feelings, or values that you want your audience to hold?
Current beliefs might need to be altered or you might need to instill new beliefs

24. Potential Beliefs of the Audience
Will personally experience the benefits of adopting the desired behavior
Are at risk
Will be able to perform the desired behavior successfully
Individual behavior can make a difference
Won’t be viewed negatively by others if they adopt the behavior
Costs of adopting the behavior will be worth it
Negative consequences will be minimal

25. Expressing Objectives
In the early stages of planning, the three types of objectives can be expressed in a more general fashion
Before developing a plan for evaluation, the objectives should be converted to a form that is quantifiable both in terms of time and scope (more on this later in the week)

26. SWOT Analysis Internal Forces External Forces *STRENGTHS to maximize
*WEAKNESSES to minimize
External Forces
*OPPORTUNITIES to capture
*THREATS to prepare for
*See handout for more detail

27. References
Lee, N. R., & Kotler, P. (2015). Social marketing: Changing behaviors for good (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
McKenzie-Mohr, D. (2011). Fostering sustainable behavior: An introduction to community-based social marketing (3rd ed.). Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.