Basics of Social Marketing

Published by Turning Point, this 20-page publication is intended to be a stand-alone tool to help people apply effective social marketing to their public health programmes and practices. It includes 10 strategic questions to ask, key points and considerations of social marketing, a resource list, and a case study in Atlanta, Georgia, USA of how a social marketing approach was used to prevent a holiday outbreak of diarrhoea cases.

Turning Point defines social marketing as "the use of marketing principles to influence human behavior in order to improve health or benefit society." They go further to explain what is and what isn't considered to be 'social marketing'.

Social Marketing IS:

• A social or behaviour change strategy
• Most effective when it activates people
• Designed for those who have a reason to care and who are ready for change
• Strategic, and requires efficient use of resources
• Integrated, and works on the "installment plan"

Social Marketing IS NOT:

• Just advertising
• A clever slogan or messaging strategy
• Reaching everyone through a media blitz
• An image campaign
• Done in a vacuum
• A quick process

Turning Point, started in 1997, was an initiative of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Its mission was to transform and strengthen the public health system in the United States by making it more community-based and collaborative.