You CAN use marketing to change the world

Social marketing - a term coined in 1971 by marketing experts Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman - is defined as the application of commercial marketing ideas to target people to achieve the goal of positive social change.

Whereas commercial marketing often has comparatively simple goals, social marketing targets may be far more subtle and complicated.

A commercial marketer seeks only to influence a buyer into making a purchase, while social marketers are dealing with selling ideas and attitudes - targets such as encouraging the use of condoms or discouraging smoking or encouraging seat belt usage. These are far more complex issues and they have longer-term goals.

In the past, social marketing was seen as a tool to be used by non-profit organisations or governments. But there is now a growing realisation that large corporates have been created by society and must therefore serve it, not only profit from it.

A new generation of business leaders concerned about HIV/Aids, education and the environment has emerged - and social and environmental stability and sustainability are now seen as necessary requirements for the sustainability of the market in the long term.

Recent surveys have shown that a large percentage of people have a preference for purchasing a product from a company that is actively involved in activities to improve society. It has not gone unnoticed that consumers have the power to punish and reward. Hopefully, this will lead to more corporates using social marketing to build relationships, especially in South Africa where HIV/Aids, crime and poverty loom large.