Social Marketers Do the Hard Stuff

Nonprofits that promote changes in behavior use "social marketing." That is a version of regular marketing but harder.

Social marketers often work with populations that are, for one reason or another, recalcitrant. Social marketers try to get us to do things we not only don't want to do but don't even want to think about.

Convincing people to get colonoscopies, to quit smoking, to use safe sex, to not litter, not drive drunk, to perform breast exams...these are the tough topics. They are tough to talk about and even harder to convince people to actually do something.

Nedra Kline Weinreich is a leader in this laudable but tough field. She has provided us an explanation of social marketing and the ways it is both like marketing and different.

Nedra is also running a training program in social marketing that we recommend. For a fuller description of the program see Nedra's blog.