Social marketing is fundamentally about changing attitudes and behaviors. The classic ones that we’ve studied and emulate go back to familiar efforts: selling War Bonds during WWII and Lady Bird Johnson’s efforts to beautify America that broke new ground in Texas in 1960s to stop littering. We learned from outgrowths of the Civil Rights movement that social marketing campaigns shift values on deep-seated beliefs about tolerance, equality and public policy that re-inforce outdated attitudes and behaviors.
More recently, successful efforts include MADD’s and SADD’s efforts on drunk driving, the global effort to eradicate Land Mines led by Lady Diana, the Montana Methamphetamine Project, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ efforts on bicycle helmets and car seats, and the state-by-state efforts to implement SCHIP to provide all children in America with basic health insurance. The SCHIP people still mobilize every time the budget is threatened to make sure that the program is not diminished at the federal or state levels. Attitude and behavior changes save lives and improve quality of life.
The ones we’ve had a big role in are efforts to Eliminate River Blindness, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids to change attitudes about smoking and of course the work with CADCA and its many partners on illegal and legal substance abuse which is why we are qualified to help organizations in the field of substance abuse.
Successful Social Marketing campaigns or movements have the following characteristics:
- A vision for a better future for a specific population
- A vulnerable population in need of protection or rescue
- A plausible solution backed by evidence that it works
- Measurable outcomes described by changes in attitudes or behaviors
- An initial core group of influential, credible leaders
- An objective 3rd party like the CDC to measure change in human terms
- Alliances that attract money, power and attention to the cause
- A strategic plan with modern approaches, and
- Adequate financing to get the job done
Most causes have these elements to varying degrees and what Bauler Consulting can do is help you have all of them using 21st Century web-based tools. Our team brings talent and experience in putting the elements together for these kinds of efforts in many areas: substance abuse prevention, immunization and disease elimination, workforce development, education etc.
From a technical point of view, we know how to use 21st Century approaches to use the Internet and its many tools like Blogs, Bulletin Boards, and social media as ways to provide detail, focus and calls-to-action on specific issues, news and initiatives. They provide a place for interested parties to go for latest information and even to get involved in the conversations if they so choose. With your organization as the originator of information, you will be able to push followers and the content itself to where it can do most good. As the original information source, you will be able to control visibility and “lead generation” for users that are searching for related issues, actions or information.
At a basic level, just having a profile or presence at places like FaceBook, Twitter or LinkedIn as you do now gives you visibility via the Internet to potential customers (thinkers and activists) that may not have found them otherwise. These channels can also be used to push out information and some followers may choose to communicate or follow via these media. At a minimum the basic presence may provide an opportunity to gather contacts to parallel email marketing efforts.
Email and websites are still the primary tools for marketing on the Internet. These are being used more and more to promote other dynamic content sources such as blogs or FaceBook causes. In turn, social media like FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc are used to build avenues of communication (contact lists) and to reinforce website presence.
Fundamentally, by engaging us, leaders can focus on content and message while we find the most effective media to reach as targeted and strategic an audience as possible to build the characteristics of a successful social
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