Definitions of Social Marketing

What is Social Marketing?

• Using marketing principles to influence the acceptability of social ideas.
• A method to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences.
• May include introduction of new products, the modification of existing ones and the promotion of structural change in existing institutions.
• Use of commercial marketing techniques to achieve a social objective.
• Social marketers combine product, price, place and promotion to maximize product use by specific population groups.
• Application of marketing principles and techniques to foster social change or improvement, related to public health challenges or other social needs.
• The systematic application of marketing concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioural goals, for a social or public good.
• Social marketing is focused on people, their wants and needs, aspirations, lifestyle, freedom of choice.  All marketing activities begin with a focus on understanding people - their wants and needs, aspirations, lifestyle and choices. 
• Social marketing aims for aggregated behavior change - priority segments of the population or markets, not individuals, are the focus of programs.
• A population or social change methodology, social marketing must be based on theoretical models that guide the selection of the most relevant determinants, priority groups, objectives, interventions and evaluations for scalable behavior change such as theories of diffusion of innovations, social networks, community assets, political economics and social capital. 

Lefebvre, R.C. (2011). An integrative model for social marketing. Journal of Social Marketing, 1(1), 54-72