Essay Sample on Social Norms Marketing

Overview of the Campaign

Social norms marketing is a marketing technique that tends to work best with companies that intend to address specific issues or norms (practices or beliefs) in society. This type of marketing approach has proven to be successful in the fight against such practices as it portrays facts and helps in reducing the society's general beliefs in myths and misconceptions (Wolf, Mitchell, Wolf & Petrela, 2012). Therefore, these social norms marketing campaign is to help Zhengzhou Smile Dental Equipment Company to promote its newly developed product; ZhenBrush. The company has just decided manufacturing clinically-approved toothbrushes with the aim of improving the dental health of the community. The campaign will run for the next year to help the company raise awareness of the toothbrush and at the same time attempts to positively influence the society's dental practices.

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Goals and Objectives

The goals of the SNM is to increase the brand awareness of the new toothbrush for at least ten percent in the next year. In the same way, the objective of the SNM is to improve the dental health practices of the society by giving out the facts and reducing the society's beliefs of the dental myths.

Purpose

The purpose of the campaign is to come up with an avenue that would achieve two critical goals at once. In this case, the campaign will enable the company to create awareness for its products, and at the same time, makes its audience to adopt good health practices especially in caring for their teeth.

Audience and Stakeholders

The primary audience of the social norm campaign is the youth and the young (those who are 35 years and below). These are the majority of society and are more prone to believing the myths and misconception regarding dental practices. Similarly, this population is chosen since they are always ready to consume new products, more willing to change and prefer high-quality products (Taylor & Keeter, 2010). Their sense for trendy products and types of taste and preferences makes them the main audience target for the campaign. The stakeholders of the campaign are the dental specialists, dental product manufacturers, and the consumers. The campaign will utilize mainly social media. In this regard, the campaign messages will be created to fit the main audience best.

Message Strategy

The success of any campaign is directly dependent on the type of message and the appropriateness of the message (Abishek, 2018). In this case, the messages have to appeal to the target and have to be factual. Specifically, it is a myth among the youths and the young that the harder you brush your teeth, the cleaner you get them (WHO, 2016). However, research shows that brushing too hard or with too abrasive of a toothbrush (medium or firm) can lead to harming of the teeth by eroding some of the hard enamel that protects the inside of the tooth from cavities and decay. In this regard, dentists recommend the use of soft-bristled toothbrush to help in protecting the teeth from erosion. However, the real deal is that people should use soft-bristled toothbrushes and brush at least twice a day. The message will, therefore, be "did you know that brushing too hard is harmful to your teeth? ZhenBrush is the new dental friend."

Social Media Usage

The message will be conveyed using social media, especially Twitter and Facebook since these are the leading social media platforms utilized by the youths. Social media platforms are increasingly becoming more popular, and currently, almost all teenagers consume social media. The campaign will also be conducted using short media such as Twitter, whereby hashtag handles will be created to promote its awareness. Short videos featuring doctors and medical professionals as well as youths talking about myths and fact concerning brushing will be created and will be shared in Facebook pages, YouTube, as well as Instagram, WhatsApp and Instagram since these are the most preferred social media platforms by the youth.

Action Plan

The campaign is expected to take place within one year. In the first month, research will be conducted concerning the myths and the facts, so that the message contained should be backed by medical evidence. The second month involves the preparation of the campaign team and the estimation of the costs. The media contents will be created weekly, and the campaign team is expected to be updated and familiar with the target audience. The third month is the implementation stage, where the campaign is implemented into the Company's websites, Facebook Pages and the twitter accounts. The company's LinkedIn account will also be created to ensure that content is shared extensively. However, it should be noted that a majority of people still watch a lot of TVs, thereby the third month will be utilized to advertise the products on TV too. The fourth and the subsequent months will be for supervision and measurement of the progress.

Recommendation and Conclusion

It is recommended that the campaign is conducted with caution so that the company does not waste resources. As such, the language used I the campaigns should be the most appropriate to the target audience and the social media platforms were chosen should be the ones that lead to optimum message delivery. However, the means of delivering the message should be convenient to the audience and therefore not be treated as spam (especially if the message is regarded as a bother). It is however concluded that SNM is the most appropriate approach of marketing products that are aimed at promoting the health of society and reducing the belief in misconceptions.

Evaluation Plans

A campaign is only viable if it gives evidence of progress. In this case, each campaign should have evaluation plans that will help in monitoring the progress. Each week, the social media followers of the campaign will be evaluated. If the number of likes, shares, and viewers increase each week, then the campaign will be progressing. Each month, there will be customer awareness survey conducted. If the study indicates an increase in brand awareness, then there will be progress. Finally, the monthly sales volume will be measured to determine the success of the campaign.

The Visual for the Campaign

The campaign will be accompanied by visuals which further helps in conveying the message. Visuals portraying different age groups (according to the target audience) will be utilized each week. The visuals will have to be changed each month to reduce the probability of boredom. Some of the visual examples are shown below

References

Abishek, D.A (2018). Applications of digital marketing for success in business. USA: BPB Publications.

Taylor, P. & Keeter, S. (2010). Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change. USA: Per Research Center.

WHO. (2016). Child, early and forced marriage legislation in 37 Asia-Pacific countries. Geneva, Switzerland: Inter-Parliamentary Union: World Health Organization.

Wolf, M.M., Mitchell, A.D., Wolf, J. & Petrela, E.Q. (2012). A Case Study Examination of Social Norms Marketing Campaign to Improve Responsible Drinking. Journal of Food Distribution Research, 43(1), 96-102.