scholarly journals Exploring Mistakes and Failures in Social Marketing: The Inside Story

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-31
Author(s):  
Julie Cook ◽  
Jennifer Lynes ◽  
Sarah Fries
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Social Marketing ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Program Outcomes ◽  
Marketing Program ◽  
External Influences ◽  
The Social

Background: Social marketing successes are relatively well-documented, but mistakes and failures in the field are not. When mistakes and failures are reported, they are usually on an ad hoc basis, as opposed to a systematic gathering of evidence. This paper is the second half of a two-part research study that aims to understand the perceptions of social marketing professionals with regard to mistakes and failures in the field. Focus: This article is related to research and evaluation of the social marketing field. Research Question: What are the perceptions of the social marketing community regarding mistakes and failures in the field? Importance to the field: A greater understanding of mistakes and failures in the social marketing field will assist practitioners to assess their own shortcomings, address causes of mistakes and failures, and improve program outcomes. Method: This research is qualitative and exploratory, with a constructivist, grounded theory methodology. Surveys were completed by 100 social marketing community members. Survey data was analyzed and coded using SPSS software and Microsoft Excel. Results: According to the analyzed survey data, the social marketing community believes that inadequate research, poor strategy development, and mismanagement of stakeholders are the most common mistakes made by social marketers. Further, weak evaluation and monitoring is considered to be the “least well-managed” program element. Poor strategy development, external influences, and poorly designed program and behavioral objectives are considered to be the primary reasons for social marketing program failure. Recommendations for research or practice: Future research may explore the extent to which external influences lead to social marketing program success or failure, particularly in comparison to mistakes made by social marketers. Additionally, practitioners should be aware of and develop strategies to mitigate common mistakes and failures in order to improve program outcomes. Limitations: The 100 social marketing professionals who responded to the survey are not representative of the global social marketing community. Further, responses were based on self-report rather than direct observation, which may make them more susceptible to bias.

Checking Our Blind Spots: The Most Common Mistakes Made by Social Marketers

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Cook ◽  
Sarah Fries ◽  
Jennifer Lynes
Keyword(s):  
Social Marketing ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Program Outcomes ◽  
Marketing Practice ◽  
Marketing Program ◽  
External Influences ◽  
The Social

Background: The work of social marketers and the environment in which they work is complex, which inevitably results in mistakes being made and sometimes, the failure of a social marketing program. Unfortunately, social marketers do not often report their own mistakes. Even when failures or mistakes are reported, it is usually for the purpose of one study, as opposed to a wider understanding of mistakes made by social marketers in the field. This is a significant gap in the development of social marketing practice since understanding the nature of the most common mistakes made by social marketers could assist them in assessing their own shortcomings and potentially lead to more effective programs. Focus: This article is related to research and evaluation of the social marketing field. Research Question: What are the perceptions of social marketing experts regarding the most common mistakes made by social marketers? Importance to the Field: A greater understanding of the common mistakes made by social marketers will allow practitioners to assess their own shortcomings, improve program outcomes, and raise the status of the social marketing field. Methods: This research is qualitative and exploratory, with a constructivist, grounded theory methodology. In-depth interviews with 17 social marketing experts were conducted. Experts were purposefully chosen based on a set of criteria including the number of years of experience they had in the field. Results: The interviews revealed nine mistake categories: inadequate research, poor strategy development, ad hoc approaches to programs, mismanagement of stakeholders, poorly designed program objectives, weak evaluation and monitoring, poor execution of pilots, inadequate segmentation and targeting, and poor documentation. Additionally, the interviews revealed two other emergent, crosscutting themes that affect the mistakes being made: external influences that the social marketer may not have direct control over and the social marketer’s own preconceptions that they bring to the program. Recommendations for Research or Practice: Future research may explore (1) the extent to which external influences lead to social marketing program success or failure, particularly in comparison to mistakes made by social marketers and (2) perspectives from the social marketing community as to the most common mistakes made by social marketers. Social marketers may consider being more reflexive in their work, including reporting their own mistakes and failed programs, as well as challenging the biases they may bring to the work that they do. Limitations: The sample size is small and therefore not generalizable to all social marketing experts or the social marketing community. Also, there are many parts of the world in which social marketers practice, but which are not represented by the social marketing experts. Additionally, the “mistakes” listed are based on opinion as opposed to direct observation, which may make them more susceptible to bias.

Influencing strategy lessons from the world of social marketing

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-9
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Marketing ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Marketing Effectiveness ◽  
The Social

Purpose This paper aims to present a theoretical model with a special emphasis on developing social marketing strategies and tactics that account for industry involvement. The overall goal is to enhance social marketing effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach A planning model is presented which helps the social marketer account for industry involvement in the social or public health problem. Findings The paper finds that conducting an analysis of the causal influences of the social or public health problem helps to inform strategy development. Originality/value The paper presents a planning mode that can be useful in identifying industry contributions to social problems and in anticipating industry opposition to social change. The model is particularly appropriate for developing social marketing programs in which industry involvement is present.

Outcome Evaluation of an Empirical Study: Food Waste Social Marketing Pilot

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-128
Author(s):  
Jeawon Kim ◽  
Sharyn Rundle-Thiele ◽  
Kathy Knox ◽  
Samuel Hodgkins
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Social Marketing ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Program Design ◽  
Outcome Evaluation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Household Food ◽  
The Social

Background: Evidence indicates behavior change is more likely when more social marketing benchmark principles are applied. Yet, transparent and clear reporting of the application of benchmarks to change behavior is rare. Focus of the Article: The aims of this study were (1) to verify the efficacy of social marketing in reducing food waste and (2) to enumerate and critique the practicality of applying social marketing benchmark criteria. Research Question: To address the research aims, two research questions were proposed: (1) Can a social marketing program designed with consumers reduce household food waste behavior? and (2) How are social marketing benchmarks applied to reduce food waste? Program Design/Approach: A consumer-insight driven social marketing program Waste Not Want Not (WNWN) was designed following the social marketing process and delivered to local Redland City Council residents located within the pilot area. This article reports a process and outcome evaluation for the pilot study and a critical evaluation of benchmark criteria application. Importance to the Social Marketing Field: This article demonstrates social marketing’s efficacy to reduce food waste behavior in households, and it critically evaluates application of benchmark criteria to assist future research and practice. Methods: In total, 314 local council area residents were randomly allocated into either a program ( n = 110) or control group ( n = 204). The program group received intervention materials and invitations to attend the 2-week program activities held in a local shopping center. Control group participants received nothing. The extent of social marketing benchmark application was examined for the WNWN program. Results: Outcome evaluation indicated that the pilot study reduced self-reported household food waste and increased perceived level of self-efficacy in cooking for the program group, but not the control group. WNWN successfully applied five of the eight social marketing benchmark criteria, namely, consumer orientation, insight, competition, marketing mix, and behavior change. Recommendations for Research or Practice: Given that use of more benchmarks increases the likelihood of behavior change, future research must advocate for complete application of the eight major social marketing benchmark criteria in program design. Clear operational definitions are required to improve practice and behavioral change outcomes. Limitations: Study 1 focused on individual feedback and self-reported data minimizing the possibility of generalization. Future research could employ observational methods and involve a wider array of stakeholders to increase generalizability.

Using Social Marketing to Tackle Compulsive Buying

2021 ◽  
pp. 152450042098826
Author(s):  
Monica M. Popa Sârghie
Keyword(s):  
Social Marketing ◽  
Conceptual Development ◽  
Compulsive Buying ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Product Price ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practical Guidelines ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Promotional Strategies

Background: The present paper focuses on compulsive buying, outlining the need to tackle this phenomenon using a social marketing approach, for the wellbeing of the affected individuals, their families and contacts, and for the health of our society at large. Focus of the Article: This conceptual development article is centered on behavior change and social marketing strategies that can address compulsive buying. Research Questions: How can social marketers help in curbing compulsive buying? What conceptual components and practical guidelines can be used in marketing programs for addressing compulsive shopping? Program Design/Approach: The platform developed herein outlines segmentation, targeting, product, price, place and promotional strategies recommended based on theoretical elements across disciplines. Importance to the Social Marketing Field: To date, compulsive buying has largely been ignored in the social marketing field, despite its relevance and prevalence. This paper provides a framework that can be employed in developing social marketing programs. Method: The proposed platform was created by bridging the literatures on compulsive buying and social marketing, identifying useful theoretical elements (e.g., the potential of the Thranstheoretical model), adapting and customizing these elements to provide actionable insights for intervention programs. The toolkit used for tackling other addictions was taken into account and integrated into the current development. Future Research: This paper offers an initial framework for social marketing efforts aimed at compulsive buying. It hopes to inspire significantly more work in this area to explore the potential of other theories and approaches to foster behavioral change for the better.

Financing social marketing programs through sponsorship: implications for evaluation

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Madill ◽  
Norm O'Reilly ◽  
John Nadeau
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Marketing ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Marketing Campaign ◽  
Social Marketing Campaign ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mental Health Association ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on research designed to assess the impact of sponsorship financing of social marketing initiatives on the evaluation of those social marketing programs. Design/methodology/approach – The research utilizes an in-depth, multi-method case study of the Canadian Mental Health Association Calgary Region (CMHA-CR) who carried out a social marketing campaign concerning mental health behaviors that was largely financed by sponsors. Findings – The sponsorship of the CMHA-CR social marketing program was complex with a total of 15 stakeholders involved as sponsors, partners and grantors. The research reveals that while there is considerable sharing of objectives among the stakeholders in this sponsorship, not all objectives are shared between sponsors and sponsees, and not all objectives are shared between the public and private sector sponsors of the program. Practical implications – The research showed that because sponsors and sponsees share in many of the objectives of the social marketing campaign, the evaluation of the social marketing campaign, particularly its ability to achieve the social marketing-specific objectives, is of interest to all the stakeholder parties, and effective social marketing evaluation must also incorporate evaluation of the non-shared objectives of all sponsorship stakeholders. Originality/value – Increasing social needs, accompanied by reduced government funding and increased competition amongst not-for-profit (NFP) organizations for that funding, are driving NFPs to seek innovative approaches to financing their social programs. The research reports initial findings critical in this environment, as well as raises issues and questions related to future research.

scholarly journals Consumer processing of interactive online advertisements

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Lachlan McLaren
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Information Processing Theory ◽  
Processing Theory ◽  
Online Advertisements

<p>The internet is a computer mediated environment that facilitates the interaction between firms and consumers. This inherent interactivity gives marketers the opportunity to provide consumers with more engaging advertisements. Instead of a largely passive audience characteristic of broadcast and print media, advertising on the internet involves interaction between marketer and consumer, resulting in a consumer that is more active in the communication and persuasion process. In an interactive medium, the consumer can also interact with marketing messages in real time. This was not possible with print and broadcast advertising, therefore, understanding how this interaction influences advertising persuasiveness is important. The key research question for this study is what effect does interactivity within an online advertisement have on consumers’ attention to, processing of and attitude towards the ad? This research applies established information processing theory in an online context to develop a conceptual model of the effects of interactivity on consumer processing of advertisements. Using an online experiment to collect data this study manipulates interactivity within an online banner advertisement and tests the conceptual model using structural equation modelling. The results indicate that consumers pay more attention to online advertisements that are interactive and that the increased attention leads to an increase in processing of the advertisement and a more favourable attitude towards the ad. In addition those who interacted with the advertisement had more favourable thoughts about the advertisement. Previous effects of interactivity on processing and attitude towards the advertisements were not observed. A possible explanation is the assumption of attention to the advertisement made in previous studies. Instead this study suggests that interactivity cannot influence consumer processing of advertisements without the consumer first paying attention to the advertisement. The findings of this study contribute to the domains of interactivity and information processing theory through clarifying questions about the ability of interactive advertising to engage consumers and demonstrating the effectiveness of information processing theory to explain how consumers process interactive messages. Future research directions are outlined that include investigating what interactive features in advertisements are most engaging for consumers and combining self-report measures with more objective methods to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how consumers process interactive messages.</p>

Understanding How Sustainability Initiatives Fail: A Framework to Aid Design of Effective Interventions

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-324
Author(s):  
Aaron R. Brough ◽  
Grant E. Donnelly ◽  
Vladas Griskevicius ◽  
Ezra M. Markowitz ◽  
Kaitlin T. Raimi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Marketing ◽  
Behavioral Interventions ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
Sustainability Initiatives ◽  
Type Of Failure ◽  
Different Levels

Background: Many sustainability initiatives are successful and produce results that benefit the environment. However, others miss the mark and fail to produce the desired outcome. Past research has typically focused on understanding why initiatives fail, without first considering differences in how they fail. Focus of the Article: This manuscript is related to Research and Evaluation—specifically, the social marketing concept it focuses on is evaluating the outcome of sustainability initiatives. Research Question: What are the different ways in which sustainability initiatives can fail? Program Design/Approach: A multi-day workshop of interdisciplinary behavioral sustainability scholars led to the identification of five systematic differences in how sustainability initiatives can fail, suggesting that failure can take on not only different levels of severity, but different forms altogether. Within this framework, we provide examples of each type of failure. Importance to the Social Marketing Field: We argue that diagnosing how instead of just why an initiative fails offers important insights that can reduce the likelihood of future failures—insights that may be missed by a narrow focus on the why behind any given failure. Recommendations for Research or Practice: The identification of the different ways in which sustainability initiatives fail can lead to improvements in the design and implementation of behavioral interventions, facilitating successful sustainability outcomes and preventing unintended outcomes. Specific recommendations are discussed for each type of failure. Limitations: The examples in our framework are not exhaustive, but are instead intended to be illustrative exemplars of each type of failure. Moreover, as our focus is on how sustainability initiatives fail, we do not attempt to diagnose why particular initiatives fail.

scholarly journals Segmenting Excessive Alcohol Consumers: Implications for Social Marketing

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-225
Author(s):  
Sunil Sahadev ◽  
Neeru Malhotra ◽  
Avinandan (Avi) Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Social Marketing ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Management Styles ◽  
Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Segmentation Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Heavy Drinkers ◽  
Excessive Alcohol

While extant studies have mainly investigated differences between drinkers and non-drinkers, the literature on segmenting heavy drinkers and profiling them is surprisingly scarce. This study makes a significant contribution to the social marketing literature by illustrating a novel way of targeting heavy drinkers by utilizing their health management styles and provides useful insights into understanding how segmentation could be a valuable tool for developing effective social marketing programmes that are aimed at reducing excessive alcohol consumption. Analysis of data collected through the HINTS study reveals a two-cluster segmentation model. The two segments of heavy drinkers distinctly differ in terms of the extent of reliance and trust they place on health service professionals. Hence, the segmentation analysis provides interesting and novel insights into the level of dependence of heavy drinkers on the health care system and their health management styles. The study provides an actionable perspective for future research, public policy and social marketing.

scholarly journals A hierarchical model of social marketing

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff French ◽  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Social Marketing ◽  
Hierarchical Model ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Australian Association ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Marketing Principles

Purpose – This paper aims to set out a new hierarchical and differentiated model of social marketing principles, concepts and techniques that builds on, but supersedes, the existing lists of non-equivalent and undifferentiated benchmark criteria. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper that proposes a hierarchical model of social marketing principles, concepts and techniques. Findings – This new delineation of the social marketing principle, its four core concepts and five techniques, represents a new way to conceptualize and recognize the different elements that constitute social marketing. This new model will help add to and further the development of the theoretical basis of social marketing, building on the definitional work led by the International Social Marketing Association (iSMA), Australian Association of Social Marketing (AASM) and European Social Marketing Association (ESMA). Research limitations/implications – This proposed model offers a foundation for future research to expand upon. Further research is recommended to empirically test the proposed model. Originality/value – This paper seeks to advance the theoretical base of social marketing by making a reasoned case for the need to differentiate between principles, concepts and techniques when seeking to describe social marketing.

scholarly journals Advancing the Field of Social Marketing Through the Lens of Group Dynamics: An Overview and Research Agenda

2019 ◽  
Vol IV (III) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Farooq Ahmad ◽  
Syed Ali Raza Hamid ◽  
Muhammad Nawaz Qaisar
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Social Marketing ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Marketing Social ◽  
The Social

Social marketing is an emerging sub-discipline of marketing. Social marketing deals with attitudinal reconstruction and helps to augment behavioral changes to address various social issues. Social marketing also uses conventional elements of 4Ps to influence behavior change. In this study, a systematic literature review was examined from peer-reviewed journals on social marketing. The focus of this literature review was on important theoretical contributions and theories used in the social marketing domain. Social marketing employed the theories initially developed in psychology and social psychology to study the phenomenon of behavior change as a function of intra-individual processing, persuasive techniques, and one-way communication. Individual centered approaches have been used in this context. The role of group dynamics a strategic tool has not been explored in the domain of social marketing. The research paper has identified possible future research areas in the domain of social marketing in the context of group dynamics.

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