Social Marketing

Marketing Mix
The Price P
Pricing in commercial marketing serves two primary functions. First, it is the means to ensure
that net income exceeds costs in the marketing exchange. Second, price adds value to products
based upon the expectations and desires of consumers. If low price were the only thing that
mattered to all consumers, we would not have Versace, VIP service or Volvos.
Price considerations are just as important for social marketers. For example, in working with
impoverished rural communities of Africa, we discovered that local families often interpret “free”
health care to mean “poor quality” health care. For this reason, families preferred to pay for
traditional health care rather than receive free, modern health care.
Price studies in social marketing often examine the barriers that people perceive are associated
with adopting a new behavior. What is the price of using a condom with every sexual partner?
The real price of using a condom is not what the condom costs in dollars. Rather, it is: the loss
of sensation; the lack of spontaneity of the sexual experience; the emotional distance a condom
creates between partners; and sometimes, the signal a condom sends about a partner’s sexual
health. These attitudes become important barriers to condom use and therefore, targets of
marketing. Some of these attitudes can be addressed by re-designing the product. We now
have super-thin condoms and condoms with vibrators attached to them. These design features
compensate for some of the attitudinal barriers. Some of the barriers however, cannot be
completely addressed by product design. The emotional distance a condom creates is often
addressed through the promotion P, emphasizing social norms or the increase in satisfaction a
partner receives from “feeling safe” using a condom.
When social marketing is targeting an education or a regulation problem, pricing is often addressed
better by the promotion P. Physical products are often unavailable, but not always.
Take the case of SIDS. The behavior is quite simple and does not require any special bedding
or clothing for the child. Yet consumer attitudes studies showed that parents were worried their
child would roll over in his/her sleep. To address this perception, a special pillow was designed
for infants. These pillows provide additional protection, but they also address the important
attitudinal concerns of parents.