Upstream and Downstream Social Marketing - Essay Sample

Introduction

Marketing continues to dominated and influence how businesses perform. The difference between a successful and a failing company can be defined by how well that business markets its self and its products. Good marketing by any business is one that creates a good relationship with customers and at the same time satisfy them. Marketing is a broad discipline, but some of its significant components continue to dominate how people understand and use it. One such element is social marketing. Hastings, MacFadyen, and Anderson (2000, p.47) state that its focus on behavior change mainly defines social marketing. As societal behavior changes towards a given direction, social marketing specialists have to keep on adjusting their strategies and concepts to be in line with public appeal. Commercial marketers measure their success based on sales, shareholder value, or profitability but for the social marketer, consumer behavior is the most critical determining factor for success.

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Going forward, the social marketers will have to determine whose behavior they will be trying to change. One of the options is the downstream behavior change whereby the end consumers get coerced to give up smoking, eat less sugar, or drive more slowly. The other option is the upstream behavior change, which is about influencing the policymakers, government agencies, and educators to restrict the access to tobacco products, improve the nutritional value of food items, or make roads slower and cars safer. Both upstream and downstream behavioral change strategies are appropriate, but the paper sets to determine the most necessary social marketing strategy among the two.

Unlike several years ago, there are now many ways businesses can reach out their targeted audience, for instance, it can be through radio, television, print, websites, YouTube, Twitter, blogs and Facebook among many others. However, it can be a significant challenge for businesses to decide which is the most appropriate marketing method to use to get to their customers most effectively. The truth is that the audience uses multiple channels at the same time and even though the message may get them in these different means, its content does not always translate the same. The intricacy created by these different channels means that most of the social marketing communication strategies are cohesive. The custom is a dispersed and disparate group of activities that many organizations adopt (Key and Czaplewski 2017, p.325).

Most businesses, for instance, tend to concentrate on only a few marketing elements in most cases they have one way of promoting their products (Key and Czaplewski 2017, p.325). It is very common for small businesses to have just a print ad or website where they put their content or messages (Key and Czaplewski 2017, p.326). On the other hand, most large companies still have social marketing communication that is poorly integrated where in most cases the hire some advertising agencies to cater for their marketing (Key and Czaplewski 2017, p.326).

Nonetheless, according to Andreasen (2006) "Most observers and many practitioners see social marketing as a downstream approach to influencing people with bad behaviors-smoking, neglecting prenatal care, not recycling" (p. 1540). However, Andreasen (2006) adds that "this narrow view hugely underestimates social marketing's real potential. Social marketing is simply about influencing the behavior of target audiences. There are many more target audiences who need to act besides problem people if we are to solve major social problems." Numerous social marketing problems relating to the environment, health, and safety come about resulting from human behavioral influences and can be solved by human behavior as well. The theories of human behavior guide social marketing practice since it is through the study of consumer motivations and influences that social marketers would be able to measure the outcomes of their strategic programs as well as formulate new and effective policies. Behavior change comes at the center of social marketing definitions. Kotler and Zaltman (1971) define social marketing as the development of new programs aimed at appealing to the target market. This means that the programs must suit the target social class, and must be up to date.

Other scholars define social marketing as the process as influencing voluntary behavior change to achieve a social rather than financial objective. For instance, the "do not drink and drive" campaign is aimed at ensuring that alcohol users and revelers get to their homes safely instead of dying on the road (O'Shaughnessy 1996 p. 54).

The beer manufacturers are fully aware of the social consequences of drunk driving which include death or having to remain in a wheelchair for one's entire life (O'Shaughnessy 1996 p. 54). Thus, they would want alcohol users to exercise caution and responsibility while enjoying their product. In essence, this is a downstream social marketing technique directed to end consumers.

The unique and appropriate method to facilitate behavioral change is social marketing. Consumer orientation, vision and commitment, and exchange are some of the fundamental marketing principles laying the basis for social marketing to provide a logical framework with which social marketers will plan and evaluate the programs planned (O'Shaughnessy 1996 p. 55).

Consequently, to realize social change through social marketing various issues have to be considered including needs assessment research with key stakeholders, division of the markets into homogenous targets, formulating strategy that would promote meaningful interactions with the target market, and the implementation and subsequent evaluation of a social marketing plan involving the sale and distribution of a "social" product (Niblett 2005 p. 10). The "social" product had to be sold at the right price and advertised through appropriate media outlets.

The marketing approach has been used mostly towards solving societal and health problems, but the sole focus lies on changing the mindset of individuals practicing the unsociable or unhealthy behavior. This is the downstream social marketing technique that could be beneficial if individuals took the recommendations seriously.

However, some individuals never follow instructions, and this is among the many challenges that social marketers would have to deal with. Other examples of social marketing campaigns intended to benefit the end users include HIV prevention, prevention, and treatment of leprosy, environmentalism, consumption of fruits and vegetables, immunization, contraception, drug use, cigarette smoking, among many others.

The several downstream social marketing techniques mentioned show the relative successes of social marketing. However, the knowledge about the determinants of human behavior has been overlooked in the downstream social marketing method. Research shows that a person's decision to take up smoking is not solely connected to the person, but many other environmental factors influence the resolve (Kotler and Zaltman 1971 p.10).

Plenty of victimization and blame may be cast upon the end users, but they are not always the only ones to blame. The system can be blamed as well. Examples of external influences to individual smoking behavior include gender, the expression of immediate family members and friends, academic achievements, family structure, media portrayals of smoking, socio-economic backgrounds, and the marketing of tobacco (Kotler and Zaltman 1971 p.10). Most of these external factors are beyond the control of young people, which is of great concern to social marketers.

Media organizations charge vast sums of money for advertisements, particularly during prime time hours, and if tobacco or alcohol manufacturing companies pay up, there is no way that they would turn down the money. Hence, advertising of alcohol and cigarettes is legal and beyond the desires of the so-called moral police. Essentially, unsuspecting viewers would continue getting the impression that tobacco smoking is glamorous and classy, hence they would try it someday. Moreover, discounted prices and gift hampers that consumers get to enjoy after consuming alcohol and cigarettes is what will encourage them to continue using the products despite the adverse health effects associated with the drugs.

In view of the issues beyond the scope of young and innocent citizens, social marketers have focused their efforts towards addressing the broader cultural and environmental influences on personal behavior. For instance, research shows that it would be appropriate to alter the institutions through which the social system is based to achieve results that are more meaningful (O'Shaughnessy 1996 p. 55).

Media campaigns should be focused in the broader institution and society rather than the end users. This is because, as earlier stated, individual behavior is determined by, internal personal factors as well the environment in which a person lives. It is evident that the credibility of social marketing has been undermined by the neglect of "upstream" influences on social behavior and health.

The idea of upstream social marketing is one that needs serious thought. Since the 1970s when social marketing emerged, most of the attention on this component has been based on behavior change among individuals (Key and Czaplewski 2017, p.333). Nevertheless, many researchers and experts in this field have continuously suggested that social marketing should be broad beyond group of consumers, or individuals and make an effort to influence people who assist in shaping human behavior determinants such as the media, educators, managers, regulators, and policymakers (Key and Czaplewski 2017, p.333).

The idea behind this is that marketing techniques and concepts together with other numerous tools should be used to influence or alter the behavior of opinion formers and decision makers an excellent example of this being when change is being induced through a policy change (Key and Czaplewski 2017, p.333). What this does is that it influences and changes environment whereby individuals behaviors function.

Upstream social marketing, for instance, has been vital in altering the environment concerning smoking whereby there has been discovered and proper laws and poleis regarding the use of tobacco with some governments banning the marketing of tobacco (Key and Czaplewski 2017, p.333). An application of effective banning of smoking is one that not aims at scaring and making people feel responsible to their health working but one that makes them understand why it is essential to change their behavior and attitude towards this bad product giving upstream social marketing an upper hand when it comes effectiveness in marketing.

It is not fair to expect the audience to quickly change their behaviors considering that this is something they have learned over the years and more importantly, many internal and external factors play a role in how a person behaves. In many cases, even if the audience is motivated to change, many barriers come up which can be too much for them to deal with let alone control them.

In the last few decades, social marketing has gone beyond the traditional method of enhancing people's behavior change and accepted that the environment or the factors surrounding the individuals in their homes or workplaces significantly influences their choices (Gordon 2013 p.1546). What upstream social marketing does is that it caters for how the society changes physical environments, regulations, laws, and policies that render worthless or marginalizes people's best efforts as social marketers as it helps many people to change...