You don’t have to be a marketing expert to practice social marketing. It does, however, help to understand a few basic marketing principles:

• Know your AUDIENCE (really!) and put them at the center of every decision you make. Social marketing begins and ends with your target audience. In order to understand why your audience isn’t doing what you want them to do, you must understand what barriers are getting in their way. Understand also that you are not the target audience !
• It’s about ACTION. The process of heightening awareness, shifting attitudes, and strengthening knowledge is valuable if, and only if, it leads to action. Be clear in what you want your audience to do.
• There must be an EXCHANGE. If you want someone to give up, or modify, an old behavior or accept a new one, you must offer that person something very appealing in return. In commercial marketing, there are tangible exchanges (give me a $1 and I’ll give you a Pepsi) and intangible exchanges (by drinking Pepsi, you’re also receiving everything that goes with the image of the brand).

In social marketing, you must know your audience well enough to understand what will motivate them to make changes in their lives. What benefits can you offer to help them over the hump? How can you make it easier for them ?

• COMPETITION always exists. Your audience can always choose to do something else.
• Keep “THE FOUR P’s of Marketing,” and policy, in mind. The “Four P’s of Marketing” are :

1. 1. PRODUCT represents the desired behavior you are asking your audience to do, and the associated benefits, tangible objects, and/or services that support behavior change.
   2. PRICE is the cost (financial, emotional, psychological, or time-related) or barriers the audience faces in making the desired behavior change.
   3. PLACE is where the audience will perform the desired behavior, where they will access the program products and services, or where they are thinking about your issue.
   4. PROMOTION stands for communication messages, materials, channels, and activities that will effectively reach your audience.

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