Differences between social, societal and socially responsible marketing

Nowadays companies are required to take care of long term and overall interests of customers. As a number of social issues like the global environmental issues, the exhaustion of natural resources and the infinitely increasing numbers of population have appeared companies’ effort for long-term interests of customer increases demands for social benefits. A number of health and social issues are concerned with behaviour causes that are the result of voluntary behaviour (MacFadyen, Stead, & Hastings 1999). The production and operation should take the long-term benefits of society into account as a whole as well as the interest of consumers which is common ground of social marketing concept. The corporations have to find out what target groups want and need and derive maximum satisfaction of customer while they enhance and maintain welfares in the community. The main concept of social marketing is providing a way of dealing with such problem by changing behaviour of people for healthier lifestyle (MacFadyen, Stead, & Hastings 1999).

Social Marketing

With the appearance of social marketing, a number of questions have come up. The questions are social marketing means using the mass media, and hard sell approach, social marketing is a ‘downstream’ approach about individual behaviour change, and social marketing is nothing new (Hastings 2009).

Social marketing sometimes use the mass media but not all the time. Many people are confused between the two concepts: social marketing and social advertising. Social marketing is a mixture of other concepts of marketing such as product, place, price, and promotion. There 4 concepts are called “4 Ps” of social marketing (Weinreich 2007). With this marketing mix, the enterprises can derive the best benefits to the target group (Weinreich 2007). Voluntary behaviour change is the concept of social marketing. If enterprises want consumers to change their behaviour, they would also offer something that corresponds to their giving up in return. The enterprises are required to understand how to offer equally appealing interests when they ask people to change their behaviour such as increasing satisfaction with life for giving-up something, feeling comfort, happiness, and relaxation, and high achievement(National Social Marketing Centre& Wilson 2009). Social marketing can affect on individual behaviour, called downstream, but it can also influence to upstream such as whole community (Hastings 2005). The basic idea of social marketing is nothing new like offering consumers benefits in return. However, the concept making it different is its effort to enhance and change the quality of society. What make social marketing is something new is that corporation puts essential implements for people’s demand in a system into the target group. (Hastings 2005).

Societal Marketing

Societal marketing is any form of corporation that is concerned with benefit-oriented marketing strategy considering corporate social responsibility. The concept of societal marketing can be articulated when societal marketers combine all plans and activities in the company to serve consumer after identifying what consumers are looking for and need while they also contribute to improve social well-fare (McColl-Kennedy, Kiel, Lush & Lusch 1994). Priority of societal marketing is a direct profit for the organisation and then marketers desire the benefits for the society. Societal marketing considers what consumers want and need and the well-being of communities. Societal marketing aims at the benefits of organisation based on social responsibility (Nair unknown date).

Socially Responsible Marketing

A socially responsible marketing is one that accomplishes the ideal goal in social community in area of economic, discretionary expectation, behavioural, and legal (Murray & Montanari 1986). Socially responsible marketing is the concept that enterprises should consider how to derive the best benefit for society in the long-term (Lantos 2001). Socially responsible enterprises desire to produce valuable products. Whenever companies produce desirable products, the satisfaction and interests in the long-term are immediately provided. Through appealing to consumers by showing and proving their responsibility, the companies can differentiate themselves from other companies.

Difference

Comparison of three types of marketing

Different to societal marketing, social marketing tries to bring more social benefits to the broaden community, not to corporate organisations. Social marketing puts more value on social gain, target group’s gain, and benefits that are not shown visibly than on those of organisations. Social marketing uses commercial techniques and strategies to acquire the goal for the better society (Andreasen 1995). Social marketing encourages society members to consume merit goods such as fund raising for non-profit organisations and to discourage consumers from buying demerit goods through such as non-smoking campaign. Societal marketing is distinctively different from social marketing. Admissible marketing in combining issues of social responsibility into commercial marketing strategies is a concept of societal marketing. On the contrary, social marketing uses commercial marketing strategy as tools and techniques to achieve goal for great social goods (Admin 2009). Social marketing is more fastened with customer orientated while societal marketing is more concerned with benefit orientated (Schiffman & Kanuk).

Socially responsible marketing is to make products but to be responsible at the same time while social marketing use strategy that provides a way of solving such social problem by encouraging people to change their behaviour (MacFadyen & Stead & Hastings 1999). If the socially responsible marketing is used by any form of business, social marketing is only used by such as charities, health services, and etc. As similar as societal marketing, socially responsible marketing’s priority purpose is making money by selling products then companies try to be responsible for their product (Lantos 2001)..

Examples of Three Marketing

Societal marketing concept has arisen with relationships between any other relative partnerships that help them respond to customer wants such as environmentalists and businesses. There is definitely distinguishable change from not only previous charities such as donations or supporting to environmental cause but also normal environmental commercials like making T-shirts or posters to alert people about environmental crises. What makes them distinguishable is that environmentalist groups are engaged with business partners when they try to solve the problem or making decision on what strategies they use. (Clair, Milliman, & Mitroff 1995). There are a couple of examples where enterprises are involved with environmental groups for deriving more benefits for business including environmental and social benefits. Proctor & Gamble Pakistan uses the strategy of good image by introducing fat free oil, which contributes to reduce the ratio of heart disease (Abid 2009). Any car companies producing CNG cars can be good example. CNG car means compressed natural gas car. It is a cleaner and safer alternative resource to fuels like gasoline, diesel, LPG (Abid 2009).. This environmental friendly car has become successful in both economical and environmental benefits. Also, McDonald is one of the best examples to show most materials of societal marketing. They contributed to not only social benefits but also environmental benefits. In the 1980s, McDonald instituted a lot of environmentally positive process such as reducing consumption on paper bags and straws by reducing the weight of them and using recycled paper and cardboard packaging(Sandon 2006). They stopped using polystyrene, which is used for the clamshells, for hydrocarbon, which is used for plastic foam. (Sandon 2006). In the 1990s, McDonald put 100 million dollars on remodelling and reconstructing restaurants by buying recycled materials. Its project is called McRecyle (Livesey 1993). Their effort on environmental improvement through marketing has become their strategy and it causes massive amounts of benefits on their business too. Their promoting environmental friendliness strongly attracted customers. As the importance of societal marketing is increasing, companies have to have more research on how to change and influence consumer attitudes. In traditional marketing practice, companies do not use strategy of environmental friendliness to influence customer. They would like to attract people with commercial marketing, the analysis, planning, implementation, and programs. Those strategies bring about desired exchanges between companies and target groups for mutual gain (Kotler & Zaltman 1971). Strengthening positive image of the brand through environmental and social friendliness of products and strategies is what makes societal marketing represent a departure from traditional marketing practice.

Social marketing is reasonably distinct from traditional business marketing practice. While traditional marketing is more concerned with consumer’s preferences and opinions without depth, social marketing mainly focuses on full values of belief in the market. Social marketing has to have more research on ‘what for what?’ to gain affirmation on product (Kotler and Zalman 1971). If the marketing is concerned with only consumer orientated, social marketing focuses on not only traditional marketing’s consumer orientated but also on a key mechanism, exchange (Kotler and Zalman 1971). In social marketing, consumers are deserved to be active participant in communication between companies and target groups. In the social marketing, there are typically four types that are changing current behaviour, restricting on an old behaviour, adopting a new behaviour, and rejecting a potential behaviour (Lewis 2003). According to Lewis, he provides a number of instances that the example of social marketing of changing a current behaviour is drinking more than 8 cups of water every day, which helps reducing the scene of birth defect. Another example is that parent should were life vests, as a model to their children and it will reduce the rate of drowning victims. Some examples of abandoning an old behaviour are campaigns of quitting smoking, which reduces the rate of disturbance of lung cancer and birth defect, and not watering your lawn if it rains which enhances the water supply. No drinking alcohol when women are pregnant, not letting children swim alone, leaving a baby alone in the bathtub which also reduces drowning victims, and stopping using toxic fertilizer to improve water supply and quality are good examples of rejecting a potential behaviour. Campaigning of taking folic acid supplement that decreases occurrences of birth defects, wearing life vest on the boat, and changing lawn to plants to raise quality of water are examples that show social marketing of changing behaviour (Lewis 2003).

One well-represented example of the socially responsible marketing is the Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Company is a company that is globally engaged with socially responsible marketing because this company has become one of most successful corporation that markets all over the world. According to Coca-Cola Company’s online website, they deal with their belief and say that they desire to derive customer’s satisfaction with high quality of its product and how they are trying to contribute to social affair for the benefits of community. On the website Coca-Cola Company talks about health issues like cavity (dental caries), sugar diabetes, and obesity that would increase the risk of heart disease even though this accusation would change the consumer behaviour on its product. Not many corporations would like to accuse themselves and talks about health issues that their product is linked to as Coca-Cola Company does. Its website also says that Coca-Cola Company not only sponsors a number of health programs like Special Olympics, Coca-Cola Cup, and etc but also donate sudden amount of time and money for improving quality of society like building youth centres. Their donations take all over the places in the world where Coca-Cola Company is responsible for its product. Like this, Coca-Cola Company is socially responsible for its product that would cause health risks by donating and sponsoring to community. This example show what make socially responsible marketing represent a departure from traditional marketing. In socially responsible marketing, corporation should be able to take responsibility for their product. Companies do not have to donate any money or time that they earn to the community. However, most companies donate time and money to the public to build up brand image contributing to the community.

Conclusion and Implication of Social Marketing

This study has explored how social marketing differ from ‘societal marketing’ and ‘socially responsible marketing’. Social marketing is the application of marketing strategy that focuses on changing and enhancing specific behaviour goal for better societal benefits. It provides a way of solving social problem by urging people to accept better life style. If social marketing is more consumers orientated, societal marketing is more benefits orientated of business. Society’s long term interest is societal marketing’s secondary value. Socially responsible marketing is concerned with responsibility for corporations’ product. Companies take responsibilities by donating money for the public. Those three types of marketing represent a departure from traditional marketing. The common ground of these three is concerning with the public benefits and enhancing community. Since social marketing has just emerged, its materials should be looked closely in the advanced passion that business marketers have analyzed and been studying many marketing practice over many years (Kotler & Zaltman 1971).