One of the many decisions you’ll have to make as a small-business owner is whether to participate in societal marketing. The societal marketing concept elevates a company’s social obligation above and beyond profit. With topics ranging from climate change and the environment to immigration and drug addiction clogging your news feeds, your greatest difficulty may be choosing which social cause to support. Let’s look at some examples of societal marketing campaigns.
What is Societal Marketing?
Societal marketing prioritizes human benefit above profit. Because social responsibility is essential, a Societal Marketing Concept creates a marketing strategy that offers value to consumers to promote the well-being of customers and society. It is a more sophisticated version of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and long-term marketing.
Societal marketing builds a consumer impression of the company and may enhance sales by promoting a favorable corporate image. The concept stresses social responsibility and is strongly associated with long-term development.
What is the Societal Marketing Concept?
According to the societal marketing concept, marketers should supply products/services in such a manner that they meet the demands of their target customers, the needs of the company, and the well-being of society at large.
In other words, firms must achieve a balance between customer happiness, revenues, and long-term societal good.
History of the Societal Marketing Concept
Many firms’ unethical behaviors became public in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1972, the concept of Social Marketing emerged as a more socially responsible, moral, and ethical marketing paradigm to challenge consumerism. Philip Kotler popularized the concept of “social marketing” and “societal marketing.”
The concept of societal marketing emerged from previous CSR principles and sustainable development, and it was used by various companies to boost their public image via customer and social welfare operations.
Marketers reviewed the marketing concept’s suitability as a core management philosophy in the early 1980s. Environmental and social factors such as rising pollution, energy shortages, population explosion, neglected social services, hunger and poverty across the world, and so on were cited as explanations.
According to Martin L. Bell and C. William Emory, citing detractors of the marketing concept, the operational interpretation of customer orientation has not achieved the philosophical meaning of delivering long-run customer pleasure and society’s larger demands as the ultimate marketing aim.
It is suggested that marketing’s job should be tied to social benefit rather than economic gain. It should also be tied to human goals, not only human needs and desires. Marketers should place a greater emphasis on conservation rather than consumption.
They should also regard their clients and themselves to be vital components of society, not just economic considerations. Marketers nowadays encounter issues as a result of such demands; they struggle to determine how much emphasis is placed on social responsibility and how much emphasis is placed on customer requirements fulfillment.
3 Societal Marketing Concept Considerations
When developing societal marketing campaigns, companies should consider three factors: company profitability, customer desires, and societal interests.
#1. The Society (Human Welfare)
Companies must ensure that their goods, services, activities, and investment ideas benefit society first and foremost.
#2. Customers (Satisfaction)
Products and services should meet the demands of the customer.
#3. Company (Profits)
Long-term client connections, social responsibility, and supplying good products are critical for profit and wealth maximization.
Societal Marketing Philosophy
Although societal marketing is a marketing management concept, the aim and philosophy underlying this concept are to impact the company’s decision-making process. However, the following are the areas where societal marketing has an impact:
#1. Human Wellbeing
Human welfare, in general, refers to society’s overall goodness and wellbeing. The company’s marketing strategy and practices should not contain anything that might undermine societal tranquility. For example, noise pollution, air pollution, acid discharge into water dams and rivers, and so on.
#2. Consumer Requirements
While competing to meet consumers’ needs and desires, companies should generate what is beneficial for customers and society. Instead of just manufacturing and providing what the consumer wants what’s beneficial for them and what they desire are two very different things.
#3. Profit/Company
When businesses begin to provide goods and services that are not only beneficial for their consumers but also good for society, it generates a long-term lucrative connection between the customers and the company.
Objectives of Societal Marketing
The following are some of the goals of societal marketing:
- Changing people’s attitudes, beliefs, and expectations so that they care about the environment,
- Companies should use marketing methods that cause customers to alter their behavior.
- Societal marketers should modify the standard marketing mix (product, price, location, and promotion) and include it into their marketing campaigns to maximize the effect of their campaigns.
- Marketing the company’s goods should help raise awareness of the environment in which companies operate.
- Messages in societal marketing campaigns should be so successful that individuals and corporations begin to take responsibility for the environment.
- With the societal marketing effort, the marketing share and customer base should grow.
The Importance of the Societal Marketing Concept
As we all know, marketing and business are inextricably linked. The purpose of every company is to create goods and services that can subsequently be sold in the market to make a profit while also meeting the demands of consumers. While doing everything, the demands of the environment and society must also be taken into account.
A firm creates and distributes economic activity in society. Members of the organization include business owners, manufacturers, and marketers. As a result, their acts have an influence not only on the members but also on the whole social milieu of society.
Business and society’s environment are inextricably linked. As a result, firms and companies should implement socially responsible marketing tactics. Rather than using business-oriented marketing methods.
Henry Ford said that he wanted to help society rather than make a profit by producing more automobiles. According to Mahatma Gandhi, the riches of enterprises should serve and benefit society, and that money should be utilized as a trustee of society. In this context, wealth refers to the righteousness that a community desires, rather than just generating a profit.
Consider that it is a society that supplies land, resources, and other essentials to companies for them to operate. As a result, the company’s marketing and commercial strategy should take into account the well-being of society as a whole.
The Benefits of Societal Marketing
- Societal marketing assists companies and enterprises in sending a positive message about their concern for the environment.
- An environmentally responsible strategy would provide you a competitive advantage over your competition.
- If a company offers environmentally friendly goods and services to its consumers, it will enhance client retention.
- When clients are loyal to a certain brand, the sale of goods and services increases.
- When the sale grows, firms will be able to develop and extend their operations.
- The societal marketing system would make good use of the company’s financial resources.
- The use of economic resources would provide job possibilities while also raising people’s living standards.
Societal Marketing’s Drawbacks
- According to Kotler, when a company provides goods and services that are beneficial for society rather than meeting the wants and expectations of its consumers, it creates friction between the customers and the company.
- The fact is that when a company adopts a societal marketing concept, profit and social responsibility cannot coexist. That is why companies and businesses in industrialized nations have failed to embrace the concept of societal marketing. They haven’t achieved the maturity threshold yet, you might say.
- We’ve all heard that wine, coke, whiskey, brandy, and cigarettes are bad for your health. Even cigarette companies neglect to publish the sentence “cigarettes are harmful to health” on the packs. Cigarettes cause lung cancer and other ailments, yet people continue to purchase them.
- Tobacco and cigarette production and sales persist because they meet the demands of consumers. They are giving individuals what they want rather than what is best for them and society as a whole.
Societal Marketing Concept Campaigns Examples
#1. Beyond Meat
Beyond Meat creates plant-based meat with the hopes of favorably impacting four rising worldwide issues: human health, climate change, natural resource restrictions, and animal welfare.
#2. Green Toys
The company manufactures 100% Recycled Toys. Their toys are made mostly of recycled milk jugs. Waste management collects plastic, cleans it, shreds it, and reprocesses it into different toys. The company rigorously adheres to all safety and environmental regulations.
#3. Yes Straws
Plastic straws are bad for the environment. YesStraws are an environmentally beneficial alternative to damaging plastic straws.
#4. The Body Shop
The Body Shop is a well-known cosmetics manufacturer. For its goods, the company intends to employ ecologically friendly synthetic components. They have developed a community fair trade initiative to obtain ethical, high-quality food and accessories from thousands of growers, farmers, and craftsmen worldwide.
#5. Who Gives a Crap
This company manufactures 100% recycled toilet paper without the use of any inks, colors, or smells. In addition, the company provides half of its proceeds to help build toilets in impoverished countries.
#6. Pela
Pela aspires to create a zero-waste future. So, Pela Case creates a phone case that is completely biodegradable and eco-friendly. The company creates goods from environmentally friendly materials. In addition, the company teaches and encourages a global network of people who are dedicated to making a good difference on our planet.
#7. Adidas
Adidas is one of the world’s leading sportswear companies. When it comes to the environment, Adidas is devoted to producing products that can be reused multiple times.
#8. The Coca-Cola Company
Coca-Cola is the world’s largest soft drink company, and Coca-Cola is also committed to social and environmental obligations by delivering products to people of all ethnicities around the world.
#9. Kia “Hero Journey”
Kia’s ‘hero journey’ demonstrates its devotion to society by eliminating the use of spirit in its organization.
7 Essentials for Effective Societal Marketing Campaigns
To be as effective as our top examples of social marketing campaigns, your efforts must achieve the following seven precise goals:
#1. Obtain the attention of the target audience in order to increase brand awareness.
The first step toward generating consistent leads and sales is to raise brand recognition. The top lead-generating social media marketing efforts share three fundamental techniques: compelling content-focused interaction strategies, and, most importantly, a consistent brand voice.
But, at the end of the day, it’s all about making the effort to reach out to them and let them know you have a product or service worth investigating. It is also important to present your perks in such a way that they speak to the demands of your clients.
#2. Without being “salesy,” communicate your brand’s beliefs and voice.
Given how frequently customers are assaulted with marketing messages on the internet, it’s safe to argue that the overt sales approach is no longer effective. Relationship-building is the first order of business for successful marketers. Customers require time to get to know you, trust you, and determine whether or not they are making the right decision by acquiring your products and services.
To avoid the sales approach, offer a lot of free content in the form of recommendations and guidance, reveal answers to your audience’s most pressing concerns, and emphasize the benefits of your products.
#3. Provide the type of content your target audience is seeking for on social media.
Each social media network has its distinct audience and style. LinkedIn, for example, is a more professional and business-like platform. Others, like TikTok, can be more playful and youthful. The platform’s tone can provide you with ideas for the type of content you should be producing. Use the platform that most accurately reflects your brand’s voice.
Examine the types of material that are most popular and trending on the social networks that interest you. Is the platform-specific audience looking for humor, trends, to assist promote a cause, or more tailored interactions?
This is one area where completing some in-depth study can pay off handsomely. The best way is to match your core demographic with the platform on which they spend the most time.
#4. Encourage participation
It’s not only about clicks and shares when we talk about engagement. The best sort of engagement adds to connection building, such as when your audience comments positively and relevantly on your postings.
To encourage interaction, your marketing plan should incorporate proactive and ongoing business engagement as well as timely responses to your audience’s remarks. It’s also critical to have a consistent brand voice.
Engagement is a metric that can be closely measured, which you should do since if your audience isn’t interacting, it means you haven’t captured their attention.
#5. Encourage your audience’s friends to share your brand on social media (word-of-mouth)
Obtaining social shares is an excellent technique to get a large amount of free traffic and build brand exposure. Aside from creating attractive material, you should also openly encourage sharing by prominently placing social sharing icons on your site. Also, consider using social media management solutions to help you with the heavy lifting, data collection, and data analysis. In this manner, you’ll be able to determine how much social word-of-mouth you’ve generated.
#6. Quick website visits
Every piece of content, whether it’s a blog post or a marketing ad, should include a call-to-action that sends visitors to your website. Social marketing efforts are no exception! Viewers should be asked to take action on each social post, whether it’s to visit your website, make a purchase, or subscribe. Your finest marketing efforts will be for naught if your most significant digital asset isn’t collecting customer data for long-term nurturing and future marketing.
#7. Increase your product/service sales.
Another metric for determining the effectiveness of a social media strategy is whether it has assisted you in selling more products or services. Every marketing campaign must result in the accomplishment of a specified goal. If your campaigning isn’t assisting you in selling, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and figure out where you’re doing wrong.
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Societal Marketing Instruments
Philip Kotler classified products into four groups based on their long-term benefits and instant satisfaction:
- Defective products provide neither long-term nor short-term benefits.
- Pleasing products provide momentary satisfaction but create long-term harm in society.
- In the long run, salutary products provide minimal short-term satisfaction to the Nut Benefit society.
- Desirable products provide both long-term benefits and instant gratification.
According to Kotler, inferior items should be removed from the market based on societal marketing.
Products that are attractive and beneficial to society must be modified to provide both long-term advantages to society and immediate satisfaction to the consumer.
This means that these things should be released into the market without being made desirable. Rather than focusing on product sales, this approach focuses on consumer and societal well-being.
Social Marketing vs Societal Marketing
Societal marketing is not the same as social marketing.
Social marketing is aimed at encouraging social change and developing solutions that benefit everyone.
Social marketing is a sort of marketing endeavor that aims to influence and support a change in the behavior of its target audience, resulting in improvements for all of us.
Companies use social marketing tactics to urge individuals to do things for the greater good or to discourage people from doing things that are harmful to the greater good.
The societal marketing concept, on the other hand, is a marketing philosophy that encourages companies to engage in socially responsible behavior with the ultimate goal of increasing their bottom line.
Societal marketing is a commercial marketing strategy in which a company’s ultimate purpose is to outperform its competitors.
With so much competition out there, companies will embrace marketing as a societal concept to differentiate themselves and emotionally connect with their audience.
What is the difference between the Societal Marketing Concept and the Social Marketing Concept
There is a big distinction between the societal marketing concept and the social marketing concept. Societal marketing is the incorporation of the concept of social responsibility into commercial marketing methods. Social marketing bridges the gap between social issues and commercial marketing tactics.
Societal Marketing vs. Corporate social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is a concept in which a corporation implements socially responsible operations and activities, with an emphasis on its internal stakeholders, vendors, and suppliers acting in a socially responsible manner.
A company that adopts socially responsible policies will expect its employees, managers, executives, suppliers, vendors, and stakeholders to engage in socially responsible behaviors and conduct that is consistent with those that it encourages.
The company and its corporate ecosystem are thus the target audience of corporate social responsibility.
On the other hand, the societal marketing concept is a marketing philosophy that drives a company to embrace behaviors and conduct that benefit society as a whole.
Societal marketing strategies will directly assist society while also benefiting the company by differentiating itself from competitors and enhancing brand recognition.
What is the future of societal marketing?
Consumers’ increasing awareness of the ripple effect of their purchases on the world at large bodes well for the future of societal marketing. In order to adapt to consumers’ shifting preferences and tackle pressing social and environmental issues, businesses will increasingly use societal marketing strategies. Greater cooperation between businesses, governments, and NGOs to promote positive social and environmental change is a trend that will only continue to grow in importance as societal marketing moves forward.
How does societal marketing impact a company’s reputation?
Marketing in the social sphere can have a major effect on a brand’s public standing. Consumers and stakeholders are more likely to have a favorable impression of a company if they believe it is committed to doing good for society and the environment. Companies, on the other hand, that are seen as not taking societal issues seriously may be subject to criticism and negative publicity.
How does societal marketing impact a company’s bottom line?
Consumers today are increasingly aware of the effects their purchasing habits have on the world around them, and a company’s bottom line can benefit from appealing to these customers through societal marketing. Increasing sales and profits is one of the goals of businesses that adopt social marketing strategies because of the positive effects on customer loyalty and word of mouth.
How can societal marketing efforts be scaled to have a larger impact?
Cooperation between businesses, governments, and NGOs increases the reach of social marketing campaigns. Companies can make a greater impact by working together because they can pool resources, share best practices, and increase their collective influence. Charity work and lobbying for policies that promote social and environmental sustainability are two additional ways in which businesses can back societal marketing initiatives.
What is the role of government in supporting and regulating societal marketing efforts?
Governments play a different, but often supportive, role in regulating and promoting societal marketing initiatives from one country or region to the next. Governments may sometimes subsidize social marketing efforts, or they may oversee the veracity and non-misleading nature of advertising claims. Sometimes governments have a smaller hand in things, and it’s up to businesses and consumers to effect change via their spending habits and lobbying activities.
Conclusion
Converting to a societal marketing strategy is easier said than done, but some of the world’s most successful companies have taken the first step. Other companies should follow suit. Companies and enterprises are also adopting the word “environmentally friendly” in their marketing and awareness campaigns. Hopefully, in the future, all companies will implement a societal marketing strategy.
The societal concept in marketing is the progression of marketing concepts in which a company designs its marketing techniques to benefit its consumers, society, and its bottom line.
The concept of societal marketing is essentially an extension of the marketing concept, with society as an extra focus.
Companies take advantage of the opportunity to establish a positive brand image and a long-term engagement with their customers.
If correctly embraced and applied, the societal marketing concept can result in enormous profits for the company while benefiting consumers and society in general.
So, we hope you enjoyed this article.
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Societal Marketing FAQs
Why do companies use the societal marketing concept?
The societal marketing concept aids in the organization’s profit maximization and the development of long-term client relationships. It supports the development of products that benefit society in the long run while also satisfying consumers.
What is the difference between social marketing and societal marketing?
Social marketing incorporates social issues into commercial marketing methods. It applies commercial marketing theories, tactics, and approaches to social challenges, whereas societal marketing incorporates social responsibility into commercial marketing strategies.
Which company uses societal marketing?
The Body Shop is a great example of a company that uses the concept of societal marketing: Anita Roddick launched the Body Shop cosmetics company in 1976. The company solely employs natural, vegetable-based ingredients in its products.
What is Adidas societal marketing concept?
Adidas employed societal marketing concepts to not only sell items profitably but also to clean up beaches and safeguard ocean animals.
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