In evaluating case studies, it is essential to ascertain whether a case study is actually “social marketing.” The following five questions, framed by R. Craig Lefebvre, provide a framework for this evaluation:
- Do the authors understand and have an insight into their target audience?
- Are they focusing on behavior as their product (what are they encouraging a large number of people to adopt or sustain)?
- Do they influence or try to alter the relative balance of incentives and costs for either maintaining the current behavior or adopting a new one?
- Do they attempt to increase access and opportunities for the audience to try the new behavior and then sustain it?
- Are communication and other promotional techniques used to assure that they reach and engage the audience in ways that are relevant, attention-getting, tap into existing motivations and aspirations and have sufficient frequency to be remembered and acted on?
If you can answer YES to all of these questions, you may have a social marketing program. |
