Instead of producing products that have pure monetary objectives, marketers started to implement social ideas during the process of the product. There are a few core principles of social marketing, which is consumer oriented, a specific target of changes in behavior and a sufficient use of the marketing mix (four P 's). In other words, social marketing is a strategy that applies marketing tools to solve social problems such as health and population etc. There are few characteristics of a social marketing strategy. It includes having a specific behavior change goal, a sufficient consumer research, considering the target audiences and demonstrating the use of the marketing mix. Social marketing 's fundamental objectives are to build public awareness and changes in target audiences ' behavior in specific cases. It is different from business marketing because it requires sophisticated research and an in-depth understanding of the target audience. In order to achieve an effective social marketing, a sufficient approach is needed. In marketers ' perspective, an appropriate approach to marketing would be producing the right product in the right place, using the right promotion and selling at the right price. These key variables can be achieved through the marketing mix, which is the four P 's by McCarthy. (Kotler, P., and Zaltman, G. 1971) The four P 's of …show more content…
Social marketing focuses on tackling social problems that create a negative externality to the society. For example, alcohol, drug and cigarette etc. Although social marketing has been very effective in altering some social behaviors, its overall effects were limited. (Alcalay and Bell, 2000) Social marketing campaigns tend to promote social behaviors that government-employed professionals think are right. They decide what social behaviors are right and wrong, hence, individuals may not like to listen to these advices. Nevertheless, social marketing 's effectiveness is also dependent on unpredictable market forces. For example, The ' 'US Got milk? ' ' campaign have difficulties in leading a behavior change. They spent $110 million on their advertisements over five years but showed no corresponding increase in milk sales. (Smith WA 2006) Milk sales have increased slightly because of distinct packaging and favoring, however, the increase of price for raw milk has eliminated all those increases. (Smith WA 2006) Therefore, in terms of social marketing 's effectiveness, it cannot guarantee to have a significant impact on behavioral