Can an Index Approach Improve Social Marketing Competitor Analysis?

2021 ◽  
pp. 152450042110318
Author(s):  
Maria M. Raciti

Background: Competitive forces influence social marketing efforts. Indeed, social marketers often find themselves “shadow boxing” various forms of competition throughout their interventions. Despite the seminal role of competition as a threat to social marketing intervention efficacy, few empirical studies have undertaken competitive analysis or compared the usefulness of competitive typologies. Thus, this paper proposes an index approach to categorize competitive typologies relevant to a specific social marketing intervention in terms of their ease of use, intuitiveness and generalisability to the broader social cause domain. The proposed index approach is illustrated with empirical data, undertaking a competitive analysis of forces obstructing efforts to address educational inequality in Australia, then comparing the ease of use, intuitiveness and generalisability of 15 competitive typologies noted in the social marketing literature to produce a competitor analysis index. Research Question: Which competitive typologies most effectively frame forces that inhibit educational equality social marketing efforts in Australia? Methods: Via interviews and focus groups, qualitative data were collected from 46 students from low socioeconomic status (LSES) backgrounds at six universities and sought to understand the influence of their home residence’s geographical remoteness on their university participation. The analysis revealed eight participant-identified differential competitors experienced by students from regional, rural and remote settings (LSES-R, n = 25, 54.4%) that were not experienced by those from metropolitan areas (LSES-M, n = 21, 45.6%). Fifteen competitive typologies were identified in the social marketing literature, and their capacity to frame these eight differential forces in terms of their ease of use, intuitiveness and generalisability was critiqued. Findings: Unlike their metropolitan counterparts, LSES-R participants experienced situational (n = 3), dispositional (n = 3) and goal pursuit (n = 2) competitive forces. The most effective competition typologies comprised two classification options that were distinctly different and could classify both the unfriendly and friendly competition that exists in social marketing. Five competitor typologies were identified as easy to use, intuitive and generalizable to the broader educational inequality domain. Together, these five competitor typologies form a competitor analysis index for educational inequality researchers and practitioners to enhance their intervention efficacy. Recommendations: Despite widespread agreement as to the importance of competitor analysis in social marketing, the efficacy of various typologies has received little attention. Social marketers are encouraged to critique competitor typologies before selecting those which enable effective decision-making. Furthermore, it is recommended that social marketers use a competitor analysis index comprised of multiple typologies to better capture the nebulous nature of the many different types of competitors that exist in a specific social marketing context. Limitations: The educational inequalities cause and qualitative method may constrain generalisability, but they exemplify the importance of competition typology choice and model how competitor analysis indexes can be developed.

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamini Manikam ◽  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett

Purpose – Despite the importance of theory as a driving framework, many social marketers either fail to explicitly use theory as the basis of designing social marketing interventions or default to familiar theories which may not accurately reflect the nature of the behavioural issue. The purpose of this paper is therefore to propose and demonstrate the social marketing theory (SMT)-based approach for designing social marketing interventions, campaigns or tools. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper proposes a four-step process and illustrates this process by applying the SMT-based approach to the digital component of a social marketing intervention for preventing domestic violence. Findings – For effective social marketing interventions, the underpinning theory must reflect consumer insights and key behavioural drivers and be used explicitly in the design process. Practical implications – Social marketing practitioners do not always understand how to use theory in the design of interventions, campaigns or tools, and scholars do not always understand how to translate theories into practice. This paper outlines a process and illustrates how theory can be selected and applied. Originality/value – This paper proposes a process for theory selection and use in a social marketing context.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Kamin ◽  
Daša Kokole

Purpose Alcohol availability is strongly related to excessive alcohol consumption. This study aims to examine social marketing’s response to concerns about retailers’ noncompliance with the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) law by proposing and evaluating a social marketing intervention directed at sellers in off-premise stores. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a non-randomized quasi-experimental design, focusing on an evaluation of the implementation of the “18 rules!” intervention in four cities in Slovenia. Two waves of underage purchase attempts were conducted pre- and post-intervention in 24 off-premise businesses, following a mystery shopping protocol. Findings The initial rate of retailers’ noncompliance with the MLDA law in off-premise establishments was high. After the social marketing intervention, an increase with compliance with the law was observed; the proportion of cashiers selling alcohol to minors after the intervention decreased from 96 to 67 per cent. Qualitative insight suggests an existence of retailers’ dilemma in complying with the MLDA. Research limitations/implications A social marketing approach could contribute to a better understanding of the social working of the MLDA law. Practical implications A social marketing approach could complement the usual enforcement strategies and contribute to a better understanding of the social working of the MLDA law, and encourage deliberate retailers’ compliance with it while developing valuable exchanges among people and stakeholders. Originality/value The paper conceptualizes retailers’ dilemma in complying with the minimal legal drinking age law and offers social marketing response to it. Results of the study show that also solely non-coercive measures have the potential in increasing retailers’ compliance with regulations.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Kathryn Dickey ◽  
Robert John ◽  
Helene Carabin ◽  
Xiao-Nong Zhou

This social marketing campaign among the Bai ethnic minority group in Eryuan County, Yunnan, China, documents a community-based intervention to increase household toilet building and use in an effort to reduce cysticercosis. The formative research for the development of the social marketing campaign included the use of door-to-door surveys, a rural participatory assessment tool called the “ten-seed technique,” a baseline human neurocysticercosis study, and focus group discussions. Based on the formative research, a toilet-building campaign was implemented in two intervention villages. The results of this social marketing intervention are contrasted with the results of a traditional “outside-expert” approach conducted by a government agency in the two comparison villages. Although marginally fewer toilets were built in the intervention villages, a post-campaign consumer satisfaction survey revealed that satisfaction with and use of the toilets built using the social marketing approach were much greater. This study is the first to report the use of the social marketing of toilets in China and the first to report the use of the social marketing of household toilets as an intervention to reduce cysticercosis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Dao Truong

Although social marketing is regarded as an effective consumer-oriented approach to promoting behavioral change and improved well-being for individuals and communities, its potential for generating societal change is still under-researched. This article examines government-led macro-social marketing in Vietnam, a country where the national government is interested in using social marketing to engender societal change. Using a search strategy, we identify four macro-social marketing programs that target smoking cessation, helmet use, drunk driving prevention, and nutrition. These programs have achieved meaningful outcomes but are facing some critical challenges. We argue that policy change can become an important component of social marketing intervention but that it may not be sufficient to create societal change in Vietnam. Measures are required so that policies are implemented. Furthermore, social marketers need to consider the social and cultural environment that enables societal change to occur.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110164
Author(s):  
Joanna K. Huxster ◽  
Matthew H. Slater ◽  
Asheley R. Landrum

Significant gaps remain between public opinion and the scientific consensus on many issues. We present the results of three studies ( N = 722 in total) for the development and testing of a novel instrument to measure a largely unmeasured aspect of scientific literacy: the enterprise of science, particularly in the context of its social structures. We posit that this understanding of the scientific enterprise is an important source for the public’s trust in science. Our results indicate that the Social Enterprise of Science Index (SESI) is a reliable and valid instrument that correlates positively with trust in science ( r = .256, p < .001), and level of education ( r = .245, p < .001). We also develop and validate a six question short version of the SESI for ease of use in longer surveys.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-63
Author(s):  
Angela Makris ◽  
Mahmooda Khaliq ◽  
Elizabeth Perkins

Background: One in four Americans have a disability but remain an overlooked minority population at risk for health care disparities. Adults with disabilities can be high users of primary care but often face unmet needs and poor-quality care. Providers lack training, knowledge and have biased practices and behaviors toward people with disabilities (PWD); which ultimately undermines their quality of care. Focus of the Article: The aim is to identify behavior change interventions for decreasing health care disparities for people with disabilities in a healthcare setting, determine whether those interventions used key features of social marketing and identify gaps in research and practice. Research Question: To what extent has the social marketing framework been used to improve health care for PWD by influencing the behavior of health care providers in a primary health care setting? Program Design/Approach: Scoping Review. Importance to the Social Marketing Field: Social marketing has a long and robust history in health education and public health promotion, yet limited work has been done in the disabilities sector. The social marketing framework encompasses the appropriate features to aligned with the core principles of the social model of disability, which espouses that the barriers for PWD lie within society and not within the individual. Incorporating elements of the social model of disability into the social marketing framework could foster a better understanding of the separation of impairment and disability in the healthcare sector and open a new area of research for the field. Results: Four articles were found that target primary care providers. Overall, the studies aimed to increase knowledge, mostly for clinically practices and processes, not clinical behavior change. None were designed to capture if initial knowledge gains led to changes in behavior toward PWD. Recommendations: The lack of published research provides an opportunity to investigate both the applicability and efficacy of social marketing in reducing health care disparities for PWD in a primary care setting. Integrating the social model of disability into the social marketing framework may be an avenue to inform future interventions aimed to increase health equity and inclusiveness through behavior change interventions at a systems level.


2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jami L. Fraze ◽  
Maria Rivera-Trudeau ◽  
Laura McElroy

In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began developing a social marketing campaign, Prevention IS Care, to encourage physicians to routinely screen HIV-infected patients for HIV transmission behaviors and to deliver HIV prevention messages. The planning team selected behavioral theories on the basis of formative research conducted during 2004–2005 and integrated these theories into the social marketing framework. The team decided to use the diffusion of innovation model and social cognitive theory. They selected as their target audience primary care and infectious disease physicians in private practice who deliver care to 50 or more persons living with HIV (PLWH). The social marketing framework, the diffusion of innovation model, and the social cognitive theory facilitated the development of this audience-centered campaign and provided elements that may encourage physicians to adopt the innovation: routine screening of HIV-infected patients for HIV transmission behaviors and delivery of HIV prevention messages during office visits.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 859-869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A. Sorensen ◽  
John May ◽  
Ronne Ostby-Malling ◽  
Tom Lehmen ◽  
John Strand ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Dao Truong

Purpose Although the social marketing field has developed relatively quickly, little is known about the careers of students who chose social marketing as their main subject of study. Such research is important not only because it reveals employment trends and mobility but also because it informs policy making with respect to curriculum development as well as raises governmental and societal interest in the social marketing field. This paper aims to analyse the career pathways of doctoral graduates who examined social marketing as the subject of their theses. Doctoral graduates represent a special group in a knowledge economy, who are considered the best qualified for the creation and dissemination of knowledge and innovation. Design/methodology/approach A search strategy identified 209 doctoral-level social marketing theses completed between 1971 and 2015. A survey was then delivered to dissertation authors, which received 117 valid responses. Findings Results indicate that upon graduation, most graduates secured full-time jobs, where about 66 per cent worked in higher education, whereas the others worked in the government, not-for-profit and private sectors. Currently, there is a slight decline in the number of graduates employed in the higher education, government and not-for-profit sectors but an increase in self-employed graduates. A majority of graduates are working in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. Overall, levels of international mobility and research collaboration are relatively low. Originality/value This is arguably the first study to examine the career paths of social marketing doctoral graduates.


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