The Impact of Social Marketing on Public Behavior

Abstract — Social marketing utilizes the traditional commercial marketing strategies to influence public behaviors effectively so as to bring about greater social/public good. While similar to commercial marketing, social marketing does not attempt to maximize profit or sales, rather the goal of social marketing campaigns is to change a behavior in the society which will benefit the overall public such as persuading people to use only efficient lighting so as to conserve energy or persuading more individuals to use seat belts. To this end, it is crucial for social marketers to ensure that they use effective marketing plans and strategies such as the 4 Ps of the marketing mix in combination with other factors such as policies and partnerships in order to make the social marketing program or campaign a success. To this end, this paper explored how social marketing can have a significant impact on public behavior if social marketing campaigns are deployed keeping in view traditional marketing strategies and plans.