The Organizational Impacts of Managing Social Marketing Interventions

Abstract

Since social marketing’s formal introduction in 1971, the field has advanced through employing innovations in marketing thought. Despite debates over whether or not marketing principles should be used to promote socially beneficial behaviors, the field has become successful at utilizing such practices to achieve its goals. However, even with these advancements, social marketing research has yet to fully consider how the use of traditional marketing practices in socially oriented settings can alter the way stakeholders perceive and interact with the organizations employing these tactics. This article examines how parallels between nonprofit management and social marketing research illustrate how socially oriented organizations can damage their legitimacy as change agents and community partners by not evaluating the true costs of employing marketing techniques. Both warnings and recommendations are provided to help the managers of social marketing efforts more effectively evaluate both the costs and benefits of their decisions.