Social Marketing Influences Health Behavior

900 Words4 Pages

Social marketing is a term widely used that influences health behavior. In social marketing, a wide range of communication strategies and the method of conveying the message are required for a leveled outreach. In terms of communication channels for health information, it has evolved in today’s world. One-way broadcasting of information has given way to a broad transactional model of communication. Although, social marking face challenges such as increased numbers and types of health issues competing for the public's attention which includes limitation of people's time; increased numbers and types of communication channels, including the internet. Thus, the broad approach is the most effective way to reach audiences about health issues. The basic elements of social marketing includes the six basic stages known as developing plans and strategies using behavioral theory; this may include marketing using a comedy show commercial, selecting communication channels and materials based on the required behavioral change and knowledge of the target audience; developing and pretesting materials, typically using qualitative methods; implementing the communication programmer; assessing effectiveness in terms of exposure and awareness of the audience, reactions to messages, and behavioral outcomes and refining the …show more content…

“Early anti-drug messages in the U.S sought to prevent, whereas the antismoking campaigns of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Legacy Foundation offered socially desirable lifestyle alternatives” (Douglas, 2006). The challenge for social marketing is how best to compete against product advertisers with bigger budgets and more ways to reach consumers. Cases like, promotions can be held at schools (early learning) by educating kids on the adverse effect of destructive