Social Marketing

Research 25
What is Behavior?
• Readiness to change: They are at the same stage of behavior change. (“I’m interested in
getting new light bulbs that save energy” versus “I will never buy a different kind of light bulb
than the one I’ve been buying for the past 30 years.”)
In addition to being described by common characteristics, a target audience must meet three
criteria in order to be viable candidates for a social marketing intervention.
1. Would changing this audience help us reach our goal?
An audience segment must be part of the problem. Most often, the target audience is at
risk. That is, the target is a group of individuals who are performing the dangerous behavior.
In our example, which we only created to illustrate a point, women ages 18 to 24 go to the
grocery store to buy light bulbs. If we can get them interested in CFLs, they may buy those
instead. If we went after a group of people who never buy light bulbs, it would not matter if we
convinced them that CFLs were a superior choice, because they are not the people who will
actually purchase the light bulbs.
2. Is the audience large enough to make a measurable difference?
It is also pointless to target an audience so small that it won’t make a difference in the overall
goal. Size of the audience is a critical factor to determine early in a program. Too often, we
rely on percentages. We often hear that Audience X represents more than 60 percent of a
population. But how many is 60 percent in real numbers - a thousand or a hundred thousand?
The size of the audience is critical for two reasons: 1) it has to be big enough to matter, and 2)
we need to judge the scale of intervention necessary to effect change.
3. Can the audience be reached effectively given our resources?
At this point, you need to assess your resources. Do you have the political clout to address
policy or structural barriers? Do you have money for paid media? What size of print runs can
you afford? How many outreach workers can you muster? Once you have a sense of your
resources – a well as your limitations – then you must ensure that your segment is matched
with those resources. It is sheer folly to set a goal of reaching 60 percent of your target audience
(example: 2 million men age 16 to 20 who drive) if you only have resources to reach 10
percent to 20 percent of them.
Let’s go back to our example:
Example: When going to the grocery store, women ages 18 to 24 who have moved into a new
home will buy CFLs for their outdoor lights.
Observable action: Buying CFLs at the grocery store
Target audience: Women age 18 to 24 who have moved into new homes.
Social Marketing Behavior A Practical Resource for Social Change Professionals