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Applying marketing principles to social causes
Applying Marketing Principles to Social Causes Jeffrey A. Barach
65 Associate Professor o f M a n a g e m e n t at T u l a n e U n i v e r s i t y , J e f f r e y A. Barach is t h e a u t h o r o f Individual, Business, and Society (Prentice-Hall, 1977) a n d of n u m e r o u s articles o n subjects r a n g i n g f r o m c o r p o r a t e giving to t e a c h i n g ethics to c o n s u m e r d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g processes. He wishes to a c k n o w l e d g e t h e editoral assist a n c e o f Steven Osiason o n this article.
Years of marketing research have provided endless knowledge in how to sell. Yet, those who try to effect social changes often do not apply the same techniques that marketers do. And, social change often does not sell. A comparison of the two processes is made, leading to suggestions for applying marketing methods to social change. oday, public interest groups c o m m o n l y apply marketing techniques to non-profit goals. Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman call it social marketing, defined as " . . . the design, implementation and control of programs calculated to influence the acceptability of social ideas and involving considerations of product planning, pricing, communication, distribution, and marketing research. ''1 Yet, according to leading social marketer, William NoveUi, "package goods marketing is very hard to do, but social marketing is a thousand times harder. ''2
T
1. Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman, "Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Soci,4.1 Change," Journal of Marketing, July 1971: 5-12. 2. William D. Novel]i, "Tremendous Need is Seen Ahead for More Effective Social Marketing," Advertising Age, Nove.mber 13, 1980: 92, 94.
How is it that the principles of social marketing are so often compromises in efforts to implement them? A key reason is that marketing experts and those c o m m i t t e d to social causes have underestimated the fundamental differences between the underlying approaches generally used. The mission, strategy, and assumptions which are the basis of most public service efforts are profoundly different from those of marketing. Only by fully understanding the differences between these approaches can there be a hope for an effective synthesis between marketing and social goals. The underlying concept behind many public campaigns is educational rather than sales-oriented; it is directed toward attitudes rather than action. This is not to say that behavior change is not desired by educators, since it often is the ultimate goal. The point is that Business Horizons ] July-August 1984
building attitude change is seen as a necessary prerequisite and vehicle for reaching a desired outcome. Thus, education, not selling, is the chief task. The ramifications of this difference between marketing and educational perspectives are outlined in Table 1. Each of these will be explored. Then the implications for social marketing will be summarized into six ways to use marketing principles in public service efforts.
Table 1 Marketing vs. Educational Perspectives
Areas of difference
Marketin~
Task Goal Subgoal Audience attitudes Audience motivation
Sell Action Learning Determines program Focused, sale as satisfaction Easy sales first Feasible targets Not seeing sufficient benefits
Implementation Success criteria Risk of blindness from:
vs. Education Educate Learning Action Targets for change To be increased Aim at core problems Ambitious goals Seeing the great value of benefits
66 Marketing vs. Educational Perspectives o sell products, marketing organizations must anticipate and adapt to consumer needs. The marketing concept is based on an exchange of benefits, resulting in mutually beneficial exchange relationships. Feedback is vital; the information process is reciprocal. It is the consumer who buys. That is w h y marketers listen to their audience. In social change programs the first task is usually seen as educaring the target group; once properly educated, a socially favorable change in behavior is expected to occur. This implies that educators know better than their pupils (the drunk driver is irresponsible; the smoker is a danger to his life). Information flows from the source to the receiver. Feedback is all too often absent. Audiences are only supposed to listen to educators, not react to them. The explanations and excuses (consumer needs and wants) of drunk drivers, chain smokers, or non-voters fall on deaf ears. It is understandably tempting for social reformers to reject the habits of such target groups and urge the adoption of more acceptable attitudes and more desirable behavior. But in this outright rejection of unwanted behavior lies the danger. There is considerable resistance to following the advice of those who call me stupid, suicidal, homicidal. Who, me?
T
Chief Goal In marketing the main goal is to make a sale. The existing consur/aer beliefs and attitudes are made instrumental to that end. The goal is to get the consumers to act: to make a purchase. While a favorable attitude towards the product is highly desirable, it is well understood that attitude change as a focus for a marketing campaign can be entirely inappropriate for reaching desired results (sales). Even when attitude change is an appropriate focus, such a campaign orientation might be rejected as too time-consuming, too costly, and too uncertain as to possible outcome. The traditional goal of education is learning. Changed attitudes and beliefs are stressed as basic goals, the achievement of which will provide lasting behavior changes. Frequently, behavior change rather than attitude change is the goal of social programs: for example, stopping smoking, not driving when intoxicated, and "buckling up." Yet, usually the educational perspective requires the stressing of attitude changes as the way to promote behavior modification. All too often this approach is doomed to fail, since in m a n y cases the target audience already shares the beliefs and attitudes of the change agents (such as, most smokers believe that smoking is dangerous to their health). That beliefs and attitudes influence be-
havior is clear, but the relationship is neither simple nor direct. Secondary Goals In marketing, learning is considered to be an important long(er) run goal, since positive attitudes and experiences lead to repeat purchases. Positive attitudes about products often result from experience with them. Many marketing campaigns aim at getting consumers to try products, using techniques like introductory offers and free samples. Favorable experience with a product not only promotes positive attitudes towards it, but also capitalizes upon a person's tendency to support the actions they have taken. It has been shown, for example, that recent purchasers of automobiles have an increased awareness of advertising for the brand of car they just bought. Furthermore, it was not until after Crest became a leading brand of toothpaste that attitude surveys began to show dental health as a major reason for choosing among toothpaste brands. Educators focus on changing attitudes and beliefs first, and tend to assume that altered behavior will follow automatically when the prospect holds the fight attitude. But it does not always happen that way. To get behavior change, some of the kind of thinking used by marketing people may be necessary. Despite vast publicity directed at
ApplyingMarketing Principles to Social Causes
"Astute marketers assume people do not want lung cancer and, therefore, provide acceptable ways to meet those needs. Marketers are solution-oriented, particularly when the public's anxiety level is high."
67 ment as well as personal investment in the convictions one has, along with the willingness to defend one's beliefs. The attitudes and beliefs of a target audience are like a river flowing down a mountain. By working with the flow, fields can be irrigated, lakes can be created, electricity can be produced. All these things can be accomplished, pro~ d e d the river is not asked to run uphill. Many public service campaigns run against the flow by confronting existing convictions with feararousing appeals which focus on the dangers of continuing present habits. Yet the extensive literature about fear appeals finds low or even " b o o m e r a n g " effects associated with high fear campaigns. For example, the effort to get people to wear seat belts was long associated with gory highway accidents. The public's need to repress the risk Audience Attitudes and Desires inherent in driving was ignored. In marketing, existing consumer at- Even today, many people won't titudes determine promotional buckle up on short trips, perhaps strategies. The marketer must deter- subconsciously reassuring themmine consumer desires and offer selves of a safe trip. products and services to satisfy them. Audience Motivation In campaigns for socially desirable goals, on the other hand, Marketers offer ways to satisfy exdeep-seated attitudes are often at- isting or focused desires. The stress tacked head-on. Such an approach is on increasing consumers' conmay be inefficient, simply because fic~ence that their choice will satisfy firmly held beliefs are remarkably their needs. Astute marketers asresistant to change. They represent sume people do not want lung personal conviction and commit- cancer and, therefore, provide rea-
changing citizens' attitudes, only a fraction of eligible voters go to the polls. As a marketing expert, I might whimsically suggest that each voter be handed a ticket to a voters-only street dance with free refreshments and music. With the right reward people would vote. Perhaps their decisions would not reflect careful thought, but that can be said of many who vote now. If they began to take the time to vote, however, the chances are that they would begin to take interest in what they were doing. While this suggestion is made half-jokingly, it is made half-seriously as well, for it illustrates the potential of a social marketing plan which tailors rewards to consumer desires while aiming at behavioral change first, instead of aiming at attitude change.
sonably effective and acceptable ways to meet these needs (filtered cigarette holders, low-tar cigarettes). Marketers are solutionoriented, particularly when the public's anxiety level is high. A solution is proposed which balances, and perhaps even overwhelms, the fears aroused. In fact, fear-appeal research says it is always best to combine fear arousal with specific instructions which will reduce the fear conditions. In social marketing, on the other hand, it is usually assumed that motivation to change is inadequate or even absent. Communication programs, therefore, often reflect an exhortation to increase the audiences' awareness and desires for the promoted changes. It is as if the educators are saying: "If the audience knew what we know, they would agree with us; we informed them, but they did not change; ergo, they must not care enough!" In general, the presumption of the absence of motivation is suspect. People do not desire bad health. When in doubt, it is preferable to assume that the motivation is there, and that either knowledge or solutions are needed. One successful case of social marketing shows what proposing a solution can do. The physical fitness movement has grown rapidly since 1961. Almost half the adults in the U.S. practice some form of physical fitness today. Fears of
"Marketing typically emphasizes the consumer, feasible goals, and the sale, while social campaigns often emphasize ambitious assaults on attitudes at the possible expense of results."
68 disease and disablement, like longings for health and beauty, were not new motivations, nor had they been ignored ih ads and public service messages. It was the offering of something positive to do that resulted in measurable changes in health statistics and life expectancy in the last twenty years. Implementation Businessmen are profit-oriented. They k n o w that every gain has a cost, ever since Adam and Eve found out there is no free lunch. This logic produces a strategy of going for the easy sales first, and then building on past successes. Look for a group which has a need and then fill this need. The natural market for a pair of $250 alligator shoes is a man who already has a pair of $250 alligator shoes. They aim new products at those most likely to try new products. If their resources are limited, they may introduce a new product regionally, thus increasing the impact of their marketing efforts as well as reducing the cost of failure. In short, the approach is pragmatic, sensitive to profit in the relatively near future, and results-oriented. Educational efforts often share a practical, results-oriented approach too. And yet there is a tendency for campaigns in the public interest to tackle the toughest
problems first, to focus on the " r o o t cause" rather than the " s y m p t o m s . " It is impossible to tell, as a rule for all cases, whether it is more effective to approach the easy symptoms first or to concentrate on the fundamental sources of trouble. The point is that t o o much of a bias towards the latter approach, particularly if the resources available are inadequate to so vast a task, may not produce results. Furthermore, the glory of a crusade, even one doomed to limited success, may overwhelm the ability of those who are only able to take one small step at a time. Success Criteria Marketers aim at feasible targets. A five percent increase in market share is often considered a big success. Public service campaigns may tend to be more ambitious, and unfortunately, less realistic. To the extent that enthusiasm for the cause leads to unrealistic goals, disillusion and disappointment may have to motivate the next year's efforts. Moreover, the very scope of the main goals may denigrate efforts at smaller, achievable results. Risk of Blindness
For both marketing and social causes there is a risk of blindness to critical problems. The blindness is
due to the presumption of a benefit. The communicator presumes his audience to share more of his convictions than they do. In marketing, sometimes a company's " n e w " product is actually not all that new or exciting. The c o m p a n y may waste m o n e y promoting it because they believe it has more to offer than it really does. Their commitment to their b a b y prevents them from seeing that the benefits they offer are insufficient to justify consumer enthusiasm. Ironically, the reverse is true for public service campaigns; the blindness here comes from seeing the true value of the benefits offered. The reasons for not smoking are so obvious that it is hard to imagine that y o u n g people would ever start smoking. The presumption that others share the self-evident truth of one's ideas is dangerous, whether the truth is imaginary or real. Overestimating the appeal of a benefit can blind one from reality, whether the benefit is trivial or substantial. To summarize this discussion of the eight consequences of the difference in perspective between marketing and social campaigns: marketing typically emphasizes the consumer, feasible goals, and the sale, while social campaigns often emphasize ambitious assaults on attitudes at the possible expense of results.
Applying Marketing Principles to Social Causes
Effective Social Marketing
• Let attitudes, desires, needs, and reasonable beliefs of the auHh~;~n marketing principles dience determine what is offered, the pursuit of social rather than attempt the reverse. 1 . l . c a u s e s ? The analysis pre* Focus existing motivation by sented so far suggests six key ways creating awareness and building to increase the effectiveness of pub- confidence in taking specific aclic service campaigns. tions. Balance urgency and anxiety *Design programs so that the with available solutions. target audience perceives that the • Go for successes: set feasible benefits substantially outweigh the targets. Be willing to take small costs. A thorough understanding of steps toward a great goal. Don't try the target market is necessary. to shoot for the m o o n without • Focus on actions the audience appropriately enormous resources. • Fight the blindness that can can take. Because few benefits outweigh the emotional cost of at- come from self-righteousness, from titude changes, show what to do, knowing how beneficial the prorather than exhort to think and gram can be. Continually try to see care differently.
the world through the audience's eyes. owever different education and marketing are, they can be blended when the combination makes sense strategically and tactically. When the achievement of goals is feasible, blend education and marketing by offering behavior alternatives which exploit existing motivation. Among a target audience which is at least partially open-minded and willing to listen, then by all means, listen to the marketing wisdom. V--1
H
69
65 Associate Professor o f M a n a g e m e n t at T u l a n e U n i v e r s i t y , J e f f r e y A. Barach is t h e a u t h o r o f Individual, Business, and Society (Prentice-Hall, 1977) a n d of n u m e r o u s articles o n subjects r a n g i n g f r o m c o r p o r a t e giving to t e a c h i n g ethics to c o n s u m e r d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g processes. He wishes to a c k n o w l e d g e t h e editoral assist a n c e o f Steven Osiason o n this article.
Years of marketing research have provided endless knowledge in how to sell. Yet, those who try to effect social changes often do not apply the same techniques that marketers do. And, social change often does not sell. A comparison of the two processes is made, leading to suggestions for applying marketing methods to social change. oday, public interest groups c o m m o n l y apply marketing techniques to non-profit goals. Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman call it social marketing, defined as " . . . the design, implementation and control of programs calculated to influence the acceptability of social ideas and involving considerations of product planning, pricing, communication, distribution, and marketing research. ''1 Yet, according to leading social marketer, William NoveUi, "package goods marketing is very hard to do, but social marketing is a thousand times harder. ''2
T
1. Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman, "Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Soci,4.1 Change," Journal of Marketing, July 1971: 5-12. 2. William D. Novel]i, "Tremendous Need is Seen Ahead for More Effective Social Marketing," Advertising Age, Nove.mber 13, 1980: 92, 94.
How is it that the principles of social marketing are so often compromises in efforts to implement them? A key reason is that marketing experts and those c o m m i t t e d to social causes have underestimated the fundamental differences between the underlying approaches generally used. The mission, strategy, and assumptions which are the basis of most public service efforts are profoundly different from those of marketing. Only by fully understanding the differences between these approaches can there be a hope for an effective synthesis between marketing and social goals. The underlying concept behind many public campaigns is educational rather than sales-oriented; it is directed toward attitudes rather than action. This is not to say that behavior change is not desired by educators, since it often is the ultimate goal. The point is that Business Horizons ] July-August 1984
building attitude change is seen as a necessary prerequisite and vehicle for reaching a desired outcome. Thus, education, not selling, is the chief task. The ramifications of this difference between marketing and educational perspectives are outlined in Table 1. Each of these will be explored. Then the implications for social marketing will be summarized into six ways to use marketing principles in public service efforts.
Table 1 Marketing vs. Educational Perspectives
Areas of difference
Marketin~
Task Goal Subgoal Audience attitudes Audience motivation
Sell Action Learning Determines program Focused, sale as satisfaction Easy sales first Feasible targets Not seeing sufficient benefits
Implementation Success criteria Risk of blindness from:
vs. Education Educate Learning Action Targets for change To be increased Aim at core problems Ambitious goals Seeing the great value of benefits
66 Marketing vs. Educational Perspectives o sell products, marketing organizations must anticipate and adapt to consumer needs. The marketing concept is based on an exchange of benefits, resulting in mutually beneficial exchange relationships. Feedback is vital; the information process is reciprocal. It is the consumer who buys. That is w h y marketers listen to their audience. In social change programs the first task is usually seen as educaring the target group; once properly educated, a socially favorable change in behavior is expected to occur. This implies that educators know better than their pupils (the drunk driver is irresponsible; the smoker is a danger to his life). Information flows from the source to the receiver. Feedback is all too often absent. Audiences are only supposed to listen to educators, not react to them. The explanations and excuses (consumer needs and wants) of drunk drivers, chain smokers, or non-voters fall on deaf ears. It is understandably tempting for social reformers to reject the habits of such target groups and urge the adoption of more acceptable attitudes and more desirable behavior. But in this outright rejection of unwanted behavior lies the danger. There is considerable resistance to following the advice of those who call me stupid, suicidal, homicidal. Who, me?
T
Chief Goal In marketing the main goal is to make a sale. The existing consur/aer beliefs and attitudes are made instrumental to that end. The goal is to get the consumers to act: to make a purchase. While a favorable attitude towards the product is highly desirable, it is well understood that attitude change as a focus for a marketing campaign can be entirely inappropriate for reaching desired results (sales). Even when attitude change is an appropriate focus, such a campaign orientation might be rejected as too time-consuming, too costly, and too uncertain as to possible outcome. The traditional goal of education is learning. Changed attitudes and beliefs are stressed as basic goals, the achievement of which will provide lasting behavior changes. Frequently, behavior change rather than attitude change is the goal of social programs: for example, stopping smoking, not driving when intoxicated, and "buckling up." Yet, usually the educational perspective requires the stressing of attitude changes as the way to promote behavior modification. All too often this approach is doomed to fail, since in m a n y cases the target audience already shares the beliefs and attitudes of the change agents (such as, most smokers believe that smoking is dangerous to their health). That beliefs and attitudes influence be-
havior is clear, but the relationship is neither simple nor direct. Secondary Goals In marketing, learning is considered to be an important long(er) run goal, since positive attitudes and experiences lead to repeat purchases. Positive attitudes about products often result from experience with them. Many marketing campaigns aim at getting consumers to try products, using techniques like introductory offers and free samples. Favorable experience with a product not only promotes positive attitudes towards it, but also capitalizes upon a person's tendency to support the actions they have taken. It has been shown, for example, that recent purchasers of automobiles have an increased awareness of advertising for the brand of car they just bought. Furthermore, it was not until after Crest became a leading brand of toothpaste that attitude surveys began to show dental health as a major reason for choosing among toothpaste brands. Educators focus on changing attitudes and beliefs first, and tend to assume that altered behavior will follow automatically when the prospect holds the fight attitude. But it does not always happen that way. To get behavior change, some of the kind of thinking used by marketing people may be necessary. Despite vast publicity directed at
ApplyingMarketing Principles to Social Causes
"Astute marketers assume people do not want lung cancer and, therefore, provide acceptable ways to meet those needs. Marketers are solution-oriented, particularly when the public's anxiety level is high."
67 ment as well as personal investment in the convictions one has, along with the willingness to defend one's beliefs. The attitudes and beliefs of a target audience are like a river flowing down a mountain. By working with the flow, fields can be irrigated, lakes can be created, electricity can be produced. All these things can be accomplished, pro~ d e d the river is not asked to run uphill. Many public service campaigns run against the flow by confronting existing convictions with feararousing appeals which focus on the dangers of continuing present habits. Yet the extensive literature about fear appeals finds low or even " b o o m e r a n g " effects associated with high fear campaigns. For example, the effort to get people to wear seat belts was long associated with gory highway accidents. The public's need to repress the risk Audience Attitudes and Desires inherent in driving was ignored. In marketing, existing consumer at- Even today, many people won't titudes determine promotional buckle up on short trips, perhaps strategies. The marketer must deter- subconsciously reassuring themmine consumer desires and offer selves of a safe trip. products and services to satisfy them. Audience Motivation In campaigns for socially desirable goals, on the other hand, Marketers offer ways to satisfy exdeep-seated attitudes are often at- isting or focused desires. The stress tacked head-on. Such an approach is on increasing consumers' conmay be inefficient, simply because fic~ence that their choice will satisfy firmly held beliefs are remarkably their needs. Astute marketers asresistant to change. They represent sume people do not want lung personal conviction and commit- cancer and, therefore, provide rea-
changing citizens' attitudes, only a fraction of eligible voters go to the polls. As a marketing expert, I might whimsically suggest that each voter be handed a ticket to a voters-only street dance with free refreshments and music. With the right reward people would vote. Perhaps their decisions would not reflect careful thought, but that can be said of many who vote now. If they began to take the time to vote, however, the chances are that they would begin to take interest in what they were doing. While this suggestion is made half-jokingly, it is made half-seriously as well, for it illustrates the potential of a social marketing plan which tailors rewards to consumer desires while aiming at behavioral change first, instead of aiming at attitude change.
sonably effective and acceptable ways to meet these needs (filtered cigarette holders, low-tar cigarettes). Marketers are solutionoriented, particularly when the public's anxiety level is high. A solution is proposed which balances, and perhaps even overwhelms, the fears aroused. In fact, fear-appeal research says it is always best to combine fear arousal with specific instructions which will reduce the fear conditions. In social marketing, on the other hand, it is usually assumed that motivation to change is inadequate or even absent. Communication programs, therefore, often reflect an exhortation to increase the audiences' awareness and desires for the promoted changes. It is as if the educators are saying: "If the audience knew what we know, they would agree with us; we informed them, but they did not change; ergo, they must not care enough!" In general, the presumption of the absence of motivation is suspect. People do not desire bad health. When in doubt, it is preferable to assume that the motivation is there, and that either knowledge or solutions are needed. One successful case of social marketing shows what proposing a solution can do. The physical fitness movement has grown rapidly since 1961. Almost half the adults in the U.S. practice some form of physical fitness today. Fears of
"Marketing typically emphasizes the consumer, feasible goals, and the sale, while social campaigns often emphasize ambitious assaults on attitudes at the possible expense of results."
68 disease and disablement, like longings for health and beauty, were not new motivations, nor had they been ignored ih ads and public service messages. It was the offering of something positive to do that resulted in measurable changes in health statistics and life expectancy in the last twenty years. Implementation Businessmen are profit-oriented. They k n o w that every gain has a cost, ever since Adam and Eve found out there is no free lunch. This logic produces a strategy of going for the easy sales first, and then building on past successes. Look for a group which has a need and then fill this need. The natural market for a pair of $250 alligator shoes is a man who already has a pair of $250 alligator shoes. They aim new products at those most likely to try new products. If their resources are limited, they may introduce a new product regionally, thus increasing the impact of their marketing efforts as well as reducing the cost of failure. In short, the approach is pragmatic, sensitive to profit in the relatively near future, and results-oriented. Educational efforts often share a practical, results-oriented approach too. And yet there is a tendency for campaigns in the public interest to tackle the toughest
problems first, to focus on the " r o o t cause" rather than the " s y m p t o m s . " It is impossible to tell, as a rule for all cases, whether it is more effective to approach the easy symptoms first or to concentrate on the fundamental sources of trouble. The point is that t o o much of a bias towards the latter approach, particularly if the resources available are inadequate to so vast a task, may not produce results. Furthermore, the glory of a crusade, even one doomed to limited success, may overwhelm the ability of those who are only able to take one small step at a time. Success Criteria Marketers aim at feasible targets. A five percent increase in market share is often considered a big success. Public service campaigns may tend to be more ambitious, and unfortunately, less realistic. To the extent that enthusiasm for the cause leads to unrealistic goals, disillusion and disappointment may have to motivate the next year's efforts. Moreover, the very scope of the main goals may denigrate efforts at smaller, achievable results. Risk of Blindness
For both marketing and social causes there is a risk of blindness to critical problems. The blindness is
due to the presumption of a benefit. The communicator presumes his audience to share more of his convictions than they do. In marketing, sometimes a company's " n e w " product is actually not all that new or exciting. The c o m p a n y may waste m o n e y promoting it because they believe it has more to offer than it really does. Their commitment to their b a b y prevents them from seeing that the benefits they offer are insufficient to justify consumer enthusiasm. Ironically, the reverse is true for public service campaigns; the blindness here comes from seeing the true value of the benefits offered. The reasons for not smoking are so obvious that it is hard to imagine that y o u n g people would ever start smoking. The presumption that others share the self-evident truth of one's ideas is dangerous, whether the truth is imaginary or real. Overestimating the appeal of a benefit can blind one from reality, whether the benefit is trivial or substantial. To summarize this discussion of the eight consequences of the difference in perspective between marketing and social campaigns: marketing typically emphasizes the consumer, feasible goals, and the sale, while social campaigns often emphasize ambitious assaults on attitudes at the possible expense of results.
Applying Marketing Principles to Social Causes
Effective Social Marketing
• Let attitudes, desires, needs, and reasonable beliefs of the auHh~;~n marketing principles dience determine what is offered, the pursuit of social rather than attempt the reverse. 1 . l . c a u s e s ? The analysis pre* Focus existing motivation by sented so far suggests six key ways creating awareness and building to increase the effectiveness of pub- confidence in taking specific aclic service campaigns. tions. Balance urgency and anxiety *Design programs so that the with available solutions. target audience perceives that the • Go for successes: set feasible benefits substantially outweigh the targets. Be willing to take small costs. A thorough understanding of steps toward a great goal. Don't try the target market is necessary. to shoot for the m o o n without • Focus on actions the audience appropriately enormous resources. • Fight the blindness that can can take. Because few benefits outweigh the emotional cost of at- come from self-righteousness, from titude changes, show what to do, knowing how beneficial the prorather than exhort to think and gram can be. Continually try to see care differently.
the world through the audience's eyes. owever different education and marketing are, they can be blended when the combination makes sense strategically and tactically. When the achievement of goals is feasible, blend education and marketing by offering behavior alternatives which exploit existing motivation. Among a target audience which is at least partially open-minded and willing to listen, then by all means, listen to the marketing wisdom. V--1
H
69