Differences between social marketing and regular marketing

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Social marketing methods differ from those used in the classic commercial scheme.

The main difference is in the goals that organizations pursue when using certain promotion methods . Thus, in the case of a commercial strategy, a business is interested in generating income. If we are talking about processes that are significant for society, then other schemes come into play. Social marketing has the ultimate interior designers email list goal of harmonizing life within large groups of the population by increasing the level of social responsibility of people. With the help of such promotion methods, it is possible to work not only with real goods and services, but also with ideas, principles and social phenomena.

Unlike commercial marketing, social marketing is used to influence intangible objects: morality, ideas, behavior patterns, fashion . In this case, promotion tools are designed to change people's behavior, and not just stimulate the purchase of a certain product or service. This is the main difficulty in using social marketing: the effectiveness of methods is lower than in the commercial sphere.

In order to implement projects in the field of social marketing, an organization needs to allocate funds for this . A business can pay for such ideas through income from the sale of goods and services. If these funds are not enough, then additional resources are attracted. These can be donations, as well as grants and orders received from the state. In this way, the company ensures a stable flow of funds for the implementation of socially significant projects. Here are two main stages necessary for the implementation of social marketing projects:

active efforts to collect the required amount of funds;

achieving the goals and objectives of a social project using the money and other resources received.

To implement social marketing projects, it is important not only to attract resources from outside, but also to report competently on their use . In the case of socially significant initiatives, marketers should listen in their work to at least two groups of people: donors and clients. It is important to harmonize the wishes of both categories in the marketing strategy.

Sometimes donors' ideas about where their funds should be directed differ from the plans of the company's managers. For example, their views on the target audience and clients do not coincide. In this case, it will be very difficult to implement a unified strategy.

The results of social projects of companies are of interest not only to donors and clients. There are other groups and individuals who can closely monitor the work of a particular program. For example, politicians, representatives of insurance companies and the media, participants and graduates of previous similar projects. These individuals can speak out both for and against a new campaign.

Social marketing specialists must navigate between the opinions and spheres of influence of all interested groups of people. In this case, marketers are much more busy than in the classic commercial scheme.

The key postulate of business is "The customer is always right" . But this statement is not always applicable to socially significant projects. The interests and beliefs of the target audience may not coincide with the point of view of the program managers. Sometimes, social marketing methods are used to try to break long-standing unchangeable views on a particular social sphere. For example, if the goal of the project is to help people with disabilities adapt, then the campaign may well be hampered by the already established ideas of not only society, but also the disabled people themselves.

In the context of entrepreneurial activity, competitors are easy to identify: these are companies with similar products and a range of services . In social marketing, it is necessary to take into account not only organizations engaged in similar non-profit activities, but also the current situation in society. The competition for a socially significant project is made up of prevailing ideas, views and behavior patterns that are planned to be changed within the framework of the planned marketing program.