Sunday 11 May 2014

What is Societal Marketing and its Importance?

As seen from the very 1st post  in which we talked about marketing and its importance in business world.Now we are going to move a little bit forward by talking about societal marketing concept.

"The societal marketing concept holds that the organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver  the desired  satisfactions  more effectively and efficiently than competitors, in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer's and the society's well-being." (Kotler, Philip, 1994)

The societal marketing concept is an enlightened marketing concept that holds that a company should make good marketing decisions by considering consumers' wants, the company's requirements, and society's long-term interests. It is closely linked with the principles of corporate social responsibility and of sustainable development.

There seems to be a lot of confusion over what is meant by "societal marketing". For one thing, it has nothing at all to with using social networking sites as a marketing tool.
Societal marketing is about not selling foods that are high in sugar content in countries where there are hardly any dentists. It is also about selling healthy snacks to western school kids, rather than burgers and fries.

Examples of companies adopted the societal marketing concept:

1. The Body Shop International plc. is the original, natural and ethical beauty brand. The company uses only plant based materials for its products. It is against Animal testing, supports community trade, activate Self Esteem, Defend Human Rights, and overall protection of the planet. They have also their own charity, The Body Shop Foundation, to assist those working to achieve progress in the areas of human and civil rights, environmental and animal protection. Thus Body shop is really following the concept of Societal Marketing.
2. AVON Product Inc. has started an initiative known as Avon breast cancer awareness crusade in 1993 in partnership with National Alliance of breast cancer Foundation (NABCO).They started selling pink ribbon pins which depicts the international symbol for breast cancer for$ 2 and donates $1 to NABCO. Through the crusade Avon sale representatives have raised billions of dollars for breast cancer education and access to early detection services for underserved woman. In addition, Avon’s 45000000 US sales people have been trained to discuss breast cancer and importance of early detection with their customers and distributed 80 million flyers on breast cancer detection.


The societal marketing concept has become an excellent strategy for promotions with social dimensions and for exploring consumers’ behavioral response to such corporate ‘doing well’. Societal marketing can lead to the development of desirable products and long-term, mutually beneficial relationships, enhancing consumers' well-being without harm to society.

Green Marketing Part of Societal Marketing technique:

                                                                                                                                            Posted By: Zee

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