Changing Behaviour Through Social Marketing
Advertising Working for the Greater Good
We’ve all seen the advertisements: Don’t litter, do recycle, don’t eat fast food, do eat your vegetables. As consumers, we are constantly inundated with marketing messages telling us what we should and shouldn’t do, all with our own benefit in mind. However, are a few ads really enough to shift our thinking and ultimately change our behaviour? And, if they aren’t, then what is?
Cue the mastery of social marketing.
Social marketing, as per the Oxford University Press, is “the application of commercial marketing tools and principles… …with the aim of achieving specific behavioural goals relevant to the public good.” Broadly put, it is a strategy employed by marketers that, when done correctly, can change behaviour – not just how people think about an issue or topic.
Social marketing is frequently used by non-profit organizations, government organizations, the health-related field, as well as marketers to connect with audiences and shift mentality. These organizations employ a consumer-centric approach to their strategies to truly understand their audience’s behaviours as a means of identifying how to change them.
At the very core of this marketing strategy is the idea that the new behaviour should have a seemingly higher value than the current behaviour.
Tactics and Approaches
There are many different tactics advertisers use to encourage this change. Here are just a few examples:
Emotion
Fear, shame and guilt can prove to be effective triggers in changing behaviour. Think about ‘Stop Smoking’ campaigns, for example, which use scare tactics as a means of getting powerful messages about the negative impacts that smoking can have on life, health, and family to consumers. From disturbing images on cigarette cartons to emotion-evoking commercials, these tactics are also employed by other organizations, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), recycling initiatives, health-related non-profits, and so on.
A study conducted by Brennan and Binney (2010) found that the use of fear and other such emotions to target a group of people can invoke emotions of self-protection and voluntary compliance, whereby people are likely to act if it is in their own best interest. A sample of one commercial can be found here.
Alternatively, positive emotions such as pride, self-confidence and self-worth are common themes in the beauty industry for inspiring change and provoking brand or product adoption. Think of the Dove ‘Real Beauty’ campaign, which encourages women of all ages, ethnicities and body types to look at themselves differently. The campaign went viral by relating to the emotions felt by almost every woman at some point in her life. Through consistent messaging, expressive visuals and messaging, as well as strategic consumer targeting, Dove won the hearts of many: Check it out here.
Education
Using education and knowledge as a means of shifting attitudes and changing behaviours is no new concept. The Guardian posits that successfully achieving sustainable behaviour change lies “in understanding your consumer and then using this understanding to offer them an exchange they will value.”
We often see this employed with health-related and eco-based organizations and initiatives, such as fitness facilities, specialized health programs, green marketing initiatives, and so on. Using education as a means of changing behaviour can be a challenging feat as social change is not always based on using convincing facts, important information, or logic.
In fact, more often than not, social marketing digs a bit deeper, connecting with the very emotions of target audiences (which is probably why, in some cases, playing on emotion works better than education).
A Well-Defined Audience
As Chris Pemberton of Gartner for Marketers discerns, “increased social activity does not automatically lead to positive business results.” So, what makes for good social marketing?
Defining your audience is a key part of social marketing – how can you change behaviour if you don’t know who you want to engage? Effective social marketing cannot be painted with a broad brush. To be successful, you need to see things from your audiences’ perspective. You need to understand them, how they think, and why they do whatever it is they do.
Essentially, they must be clearly defined to best determine how to connect with them based on their motivations, values, social norms, buying habits, and so on.
An Emotional Approach to Building Connections
The Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing (CEPSM) indicates that people are not always driven by logical, rational, or coherent internal motivations when it comes to social marketing. Rather, effective social marketing often plays on emotions over an extended period of time, drawing the attention of the audience and relating to them by connecting with them and demonstrating a desired behaviour or thought process.
Authenticity is equally important in social marketing, and quality over quantity is valued, especially when trying to change behaviour over the long term.
An Effective, Consistent Strategy
As we mentioned earlier, successful social marketing strategies must have a long-term goal. A consumer-centric approach to strategy, with good communication, a detailed audience analysis and a long-term lens will make for an effective social marketing strategy.
Breaking down big behavioural changes into smaller pieces will make efforts more impactful, and increase the long-term sustainability of the changes. While this long-term approach will require more resources than a short-term plan, the results of consistent, ongoing messaging prove to be drastically more successful.