BEHAVIOR CHANGE THROUGH SOCIAL MARKETINGSheridan Clemson

Geog 456 – Issues in Natural Resource Management

Don Alexander

WHAT IS 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, Lee and Roberto 5)

WHAT SOCIAL MARKETING IS NOT Communications and Public Education campaigns

alone are not social marketing Unaided these kinds of campaigns are ineffective Faulty Logic involved: Simply educating and

telling people they should change is enough to cause change

This approach fails to adopt a consumer mindset and understand public attitudes and values

It promotes a product the public is not enthusiastic about and spends a lot of time convincing the public of its value

WHAT IS EFFECTIVE SOCIAL MARKETING Approach that puts great effort to

understand consumers’ actions, perceptions and values of a product

Undertakes extensive research - Observing potential consumers, surveying, and creating focus groups

Does not spend all of its resources trying to educate

Becomes educated by its potential customers which helps to create and offer something that is perceived as valuable

THE “FOUR P’s” OF MARKETING (PLUS 0)

0. People (Who is the ‘customer’?)

1. Product (What are we ‘selling’?)

2. Price (What is the cost?)

3. Place (Where are we marketing?)

4. Promotion (What channels and tools are we using?)

CASE EXAMPLE

• Public Transit• Promoting the use of public

transit to and from Malaspina University-College

0. PEOPLE (What are the market segments ?)

• Social Marketing seeks to induce changes in people’s:

• Values

• Attitudes

• Behavior

• Examples:• Refraining from drinking

and driving

• Recycling

• Taking public transit

MARKET SEGMENTATION

Segmentation of People into Target Markets

Mass marketing is ineffective

Marketing must target specific segments (categories) of people

MARKET SEGMENTATION (CON’T)

Segmentation by demographics, lifestyle, attitude, geography, etc.

Think of all people involved

Identify appropriate audience – be precise as possible

Each subgroup requires different marketing strategies

Tailor approach to target group

Malaspina Transit subgroups: Students Faculty Support staff Board of Governors Executive RDN Transit City council and

planners

GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION

•Malaspina Transit:• City of Nanaimo• Nanaimo campus• Regional campus

communities• Downtown or

suburban residents?

DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATIONFocus: gender, education, income, age, etc. General environmentally friendly behavior:

• Weak or unclear correlation with gender, education, income and age

• Demographic are normally poor predictors of actual green behavior

Malaspina Transit:• Average age of students 27• Majority female• Low income (poor students)• Highly educated

PSYCHOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATIONFocus: Class, lifestyle, or personality Malaspina Students

Middle class Auto-dependent Hectic Lifestyle Personality?

WHO, THEN, ARE THE TARGET AUDIENCES?

What are the Market Segments at Malaspina for promoting Public Transit again?

Students and Faculty

RDN - Transit

City Council & Planners

Car Commuters

RESEARCHING MARKET SEGMENTS What audiences should the campaign

target? Subgroups? Demographic, psychographic, geographic?

Choose what to focus on Students! – Biggest group performing behavior Therefore tailor approach to student segment

What do we know about this segment? Analyze behavior, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs Analyze perceived benefits, barriers, and costs

of behavior

1. PRODUCT (What is the product for this behavior change?)A product comprises of an Actual Product and a Core Product In a social

marketing campaign: • An Actual Product is

a New Behavior• Stopping smoking

• Riding bicycles

• Taking Transit

• A Core Product is a Benefit to the consumer of the product in the consumer’s mind

• Why is the Core Product important?

LET’S MAKE A DEAL!

For people to give something up, they have to feel they are getting something in return

Also, people must first feel that they have a genuine problem and that the product offers a beneficial solution

GENUINE PERCEIVED PROBLEMSMalaspina Transit Concerns:

• Effects on climate change

• Minimal parking available

• Pollution• Cost of vehicle and

upkeep • Others?

BARRIERS TO MALASPINA TRANSIT USE Perceived Consumer Effectiveness –

Addresses sense of competency and effectiveness

Feeling alone with the concern – no one else is doing anything

Lack of efficient and speedy transit services

Safety

Time crunch

Hectic schedules

Others?

PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS

What can we do to strengthen the transit behavior product?

Highlight attractive features

Positive or Negative Advertising

Feedback explaining progress (Important for PCE)

2. PRICE (What is the price components of this behavior?) What does public transit cost the

consumer? Monetary Costs

Bus tickets/U-Pass

Non-Monetary Costs Time, effort, energy, discomforts, freedom,

convenience

Academic Costs Loss of studying/work time to riding bus

Goal: to reduce cost of public transit relative to driving a car

PRICE STRATEGIES TO CONSUMERSWhat can we do to reduce costs or increase benefits for customers? Increase parking fees to subsidize bus

pass and tickets Tuition bursary for non-auto-users –

Reflecting infrastructure costs of parking Lobby for government funding for

increased transit infrastructure and new buses

Others?

3. PLACE (Where and when consumer contacts this behavior?) Place is about distribution channels –

Where is the behavior available to the target audience How transit gets to students Helps to determine where to put systems in

place that facilitate adopting the behavior

Goal: to make using transit as accessible and convenient as possible

Campus

Main Streets

Malls

More Malls

Not Often

WHERE AND WHEN IS TRANSIT OFFERED TO STUDENTS?

4. PROMOTION(How to get message to target audience)

Promotions are persuasive communications conveying awareness, knowledge, benefits, and inspiration Includes advertising, sales, publicity, public

relations, endorsements, packaging, etc.

Promotion Strategies involve: Creating key messages Selecting Media – What media target watches

and where get information

Goal: to motivate people to change behavior and to continue the actions

PUBLIC TRANSIT PROMOTION

Information/education tools Branding/Slogan – “A more human way to

travel” Credibility

Information must be credible to be effective Source important – What sponsors are credible?

Create public recognition – package behavior as social norm Example: Recycling

Timely prompts and reminders Feedback to improve PCE

SUMMARYCraig Lefebvre's

Five Keys to Changing Behavior1. Know and understand the target audience’s

perceptions of barriers2. Focus on changing behavior rather than

knowledge or awareness3. Make the desired behavior more attractive than

the current behavior4. Try to remove the barriers so that the audience

can try the new behavior – and sustain it5. Engage the audience in relevant attention -

getting ways to tap into existing motivations and inspiring action

CONCLUSION:• Social Marketing is only one strategy to

use for Natural Resource Management • To be effective marketing tools should be

utilized with other approaches

Weaknesses:• Can not be expected to solve every type

of environmental problem - especially not as effective for complex problems

• Needs major commitment to follow through research

Works Cited

Bird, Tom. "We Have Ways to Make You Green." Alternatives Journal 34(2008): 28-31.

Gardner, Gerald, and Paul Stern. Environmental Problems and Human Behavior. Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon, 1996.

Kotler, Philip, Nancy Lee, and Ned Roberto. Social Marketing: Improving the Quality of Life . '2nd ed'. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publishing, 2002.

McKenzie-Mohr, Doug, and William Smith . Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing. Gabriola Island : New Society Publishers, 1999.

Weinreich, Nedra Kline. Hands-On Social Marketing. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1999.