Course Overview
Social Marketing Basics
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3
Module 4
Module 5
Module 6

What is Social Marketing?

image of Marketing Social Change book cover One well-known definition of social marketing is

"the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution, and evaluation of programs designed to influence voluntary behavior of target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of society."*

Note the following key points in this definition. Social marketing

Uses commercial marketing strategies.
Involves influencing voluntary (not forced or coerced) behavior change (not just increased awareness or increased knowledge).
Promotes an end goal of improved personal welfare and improved welfare of society.

*Alan Andreasen, Marketing Social Change: Changing Behavior to Promote Health, Social Development, and the Environment, p. 7