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What is social marketing environment?

It is the set of forces that are external to the

social change campaign and that impinge on
its ability to develop and maintain successful
influence on its target adopters

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 Many factors influence our target audience

 Macro environment

 Mirco environment

 Marketing mix

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Multiplicity of factors influencing Social Marketing

Provides contextual information

Better understanding, explanation and definition of

issue

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 Demographic
 Economic
 Physical
 Technological
 Political/
legal
 Sociocultural forces

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 Environmental analysis is about where we are
and where we are going (current and future
trends)?

 Remember: SM environment is step 1 of SM

process:
- Determination of campaign focus
- Identification of campaign purpose
- SWOTS

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The environmental analysis answers:

 What potential approaches are there to address

the social issue and which focus to choose?

 There are more than one approaches, but the

campaign should focus on one ideally.

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Step 1 - Identify potential approaches to select
campaign focus

Social issue Potential approaches for focus

Unintended - Birth Control
pregnancies - Abstinence
- Talking to children about sex
- Adoption
- Abortion

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Exercise:
Identify potential approaches for the following
social issues

- Drinking and driving

- HIV/AIDS

Which focus would you choose? Why?

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Step 2 - Evaluate each potential approach and choose
a focus

2.1 Criteria for choosing a focus

- Behaviour change potential

- Market demand
- Market supply
- Organisational match
- Funding and partnership potential

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2.2 Establish the rationales for the chosen or selected focus

E.g. If teen abstinence chosen as campaign focus for

teenage pregnancy
 Rationales are:
- “Safe sex” is controversial among teens and as campaign
at schools
- Abstinence favoured by religious groups, thus a social
norm
- Abstinence supported by statistics

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Step 3 - Identify campaign purpose

 Campaign purpose answers the questions:

- What impact will the marketing campaign have

on the target audience?

- What are the benefits in adopting the behaviour?

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Step 4 – Conduct a SWOT analysis – why?

 The SM environment consists of internal and

external forces that can block or leverage the
marketing effort.

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Step 4.1 – Internal factors include:

- Resources (availability of funding, personnel)

- Experience, competence for service delivery

- Board and management support

- Organisational structure and politics

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Step 4.1 – Internal factors include:

- Whether issue on strategic plan (importance)

- Work culture in organisation (motivation, strong

internal brand image...) in relation to focus

- Internal publics

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Step 4.2 - Macro environment - external forces

- Political

- Economic

- Social, cultural, demographic

- Technological

- Legal

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Step 4.2 - Macro environment - External forces

- Natural/environmental

- External publics: media, other groups

- Partners and alliance

- risk of conflict
- potential collaboration

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Step 5 – Review past/similar marketing campaign

 Learn from best practices, failures, difficulties

 Understanding of the issue

 Experiences of other organisation

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- Partners and alliance

- Individuals likely to impact on the issue

- Co-branding (credibility, image, positioning)

- Opportunity for expertise, scope of

intervention - product/service range

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 Collaboration versus competition
Marketing orientation of agency underlies shapes
collaboration and/or competiton
Branding implies positioning vis a vis competing
agencies
NPOs competes for funds and market share
 “No money no mission” Tou
Survival of organisation and mission
Social cause dictates requirement for collaboration
Collaboration an ethical issue
Environmental analysis include competitor analysis

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Internal SWOT analysis – Issue: teenage pregnancy, Focus: abstinence

Strengths Weaknesses
Campaign focus is in line Need for trained
with strategic objective of educators to talk to
agency youths
Opportunities Threats
Extension of services Nil
Innovation

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External SWOT analysis – Issue: teenage pregnancy, Focus:
abstinence

Strengths Weaknesses
Organisation respected Difficult to find youth
Government policy for peer to peer
counselling

Opportunities Threats
Gap in prevention work Parents’ resistance
Focus attract sponsors

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Social Issue Campaign Campaign Campaign Campaign
Focus Rationale Purpose Objective

Unintended Abstinence Supported Reduced Teens will

pregnancies by social teenage choose
among value pregnancies abstinence,
youth avoid sex
Safe sex
controversial

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 Sorting out the items from analysis (SWOTs
etc)
 Mapping the social marketing environment

makes it possible for social marketers to predict

and anticipate changes In it and hence to make
a timely and orderly adaptation to change in the
life cycle of a social marketing program.

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Social marketers need a framework for mapping
the environment to understand what forces to
map and how to map and read the results

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 Mapping is directed both at the current
environment and the likely future environment

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 Mapping the current environment reveals
existing problems and opportunities, whereas
mapping likely future changes can reveal how
marketing programs have to be changed to
remain effective.

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 Extentof Controllability. Is there any aspect of a
given or anticipated change that the social
marketer can influence?

 Probabilityof Occurrence. How probable is it

that the change will take place and when will the
change occur?

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 Locus, Magnitude and Intensity of Impact. What
and how much will the change affect other social
marketing environmental forces, the target-
adopter segments, the marketing program’s
product or tangible-product base, the program’s
distribution capacity?

 Priority. What changes should a social marketer

assign priority to?

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Extent of controllability Probability of Future Occurrence

Certain Uncertain

Controllable Commitment planning Contingency planning

Uncontrollable Contingency planning Responsive planning

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Priority should be based on the magnitude and speed of
each change

Turbulent: fast and vast changes in the environment for

which the shortest planning horizon (for example, 1-2
years) is appropriate

Unstable: fast but small changes that may be handled

under a 2-3 year planning horizon

Transitional: slow but vast changes in the environment

for which a planning horizon of 3-5 years is appropriate.

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Priorities for Significant Trend Major issue Influential Segment
Environmental for or Against the
Changes Major Issue

Technological The development of Should the For a change in the

new addicting drugs rehabilitation program’s program: legislators
will occur, while the services be changes or and medial groups
development of new expanded to take in For the expansion of
efficient rehabilitation new severe cases of the program:
techniques will lag addiction? community leader,
religious missionary
groups of volunteer

Political Legal Legal sanctions and Should the programme For: reform groups
law enforcement will for getting more legal Against: criminal
lag and political support be syndicates groups
increased?

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Priorities for Significant Trend Major issue Influential Segment
Environmental for or Against the
Changes Major Issue

Economic The costs of addition Should the program start For: funding or donor
rehabilitation will charging participants or agencies
continue to increase increase the current Against: social worker,
changes? and group of volunteers

Public opinion will Should the program shift to For: educator and
Sociocultural even more regard more educational and media group
addiction as a crime, communication efforts Against: community
rather than as a social rather than rehabilitation leaders and group of
problem activities? volunteer

Demographic Drug addition will Should the rehabilitation
spread to more whites program change from
and mid-class people treating predominantly
blacks and Hispanics to
white middle class people?
For: group of middle-
class white volunteers
Against: groups of non-
white lower-class
volunteers

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