I will be writing more on the various types of behaviour change in the coming months, but in the meantime I thought it would be good to look at one of the more practical and well-known approaches to behaviour change: Social Marketing
Why use a social marketing approach?
Social Marketing is a systematic process driven by a deep understanding of people and using this understanding to develop and implement effective programmes of social action. The Social Marketing has a bottom line focused on behaviour change. Social Marketing is not just social advertising or promotions but the total process or understanding people and why they act as they do and what can help them. Social Marketing can be defined as: “The systematic application of marketing alongside other concepts and techniques to achieve behavioural goals for a social good” (French & Blair Stevens, 2010)
10 Key rules for developing and implementing a social marketing programme
- Active engagement of individuals and communities: Engaging communities in the development delivery and evaluation of solutions.
- Focus on behaviour: Set explicit objectives and tailored interventions to achieving measurable behavioural goals.
- Segment and succeed: Use behavioural and psychological data as well as demographic and service data to segment target audiences
- Use combined approaches: Use an array of interventions including information, service change, policy , education, enforcement and design to bring about change
- Sustained and appropriately funded. Deliver programs that can be sustained over time at a cost effective level to bring about measurable improvement
- Integrating action: Develop strong coordination between international, national and local efforts.
- Harnessing all possible assets: Develop interventions and co-delivery through a coordinated coalitions and effort on the part of the public, for profit, and NGO sectors
- Theory and science informed interventions: Have a clear and consistent model of practice that is informed by research based theory and best practice.
- Learning culture: Develop a learning culture that invests in capturing what is learnt from interventions both positive and negative.
- Coordination: Ensuring synergy between intervention strategies and broader policy aims and policy drivers.
In a future posting I will look at what to include and what not to include in a Social Marketing Plan
Professor Jeff French is a non-executive Director of The Campaign Company, a professor at Brunel University and a Fellow at Kings College University of London. He founded and established the National Social Marketing Centre in England and currently is chief executive of Strategic Social Marketing Ltd. He will be a keynote speaker at the 2nd World Social Marketing Conference in 2011 in Dublin