"Social Marketing seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviours that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good.Social Marketing practice is guided by ethical principles. It seeks to integrate research, best practice, theory, audience and partnership insight, to inform the delivery of competition sensitive and segmented social change programmes that are effective, efficient, equitable and sustainable."
Social marketing has the broadest of audiences: everyone in a society. However, the target for social marketing varies with the “society” that the advertiser is aiming to change. Some campaigns simply raise awareness for local issues, while others have the lofty goal of changing the world.
For most, it’s human nature to want to do good, and positive social marketing campaigns offer the opportunity to make a difference—even if it's on a small scale. Contributing to society can deliver individual, intangible benefits in the form of self-worth and self-esteem. (See also Cause Marketing)
Negative social marketing campaigns that warn about consequences are also effective, whether the consequences are personal, such as drug use, or general, such as saving the rainforests. Awareness is the key element for negative social marketing. For example, most people had no idea that the plastic shopping bags they throw away every day make their way into natural environments, where they're deadly to wildlife such as sea turtles and dolphins. Several social marketing campaigns have been created to bring this issue to light, and today many people shop with reusable cloth bags, or choose paper over plastic.
