Social Marketing Analysis - Essay Example

"Social Marketing Analysis" is a wonderful example of a paper on the health system. Marketing products and goods have been part of trade over the years. For goods and services to sell, customers need to know that such goods exist. There is no much difference between social marketing and commercial marketing. While both use the same principles of ‘selling’, social marketing offers more value to the people as it focuses on social benefits other than commercial profit (Andreasen, 2002). If you take an example of health care, social marketing will look into ways of countering the spread of HIV through educating the people on abstinence and use of condoms while commercial marketing will dwell more on advertising for the purchase of condoms so that there is the profit made. A social marketer will educate the people, tell them why considering using a condom will help reduce contracting deadly diseases.

Task 2

Sometimes there are health issues in society that governments try to deal with but they do not achieve positive results. The main reason, however, is the method of marketing used. In 1989, Georgia was hit by a severe form of diarrhea that affected African American infancies (Turning Point, 2003). The diarrhea was associated with the unhygienic preparation of chitterlings. Through proper targeting of the audience involved, elderly women who prepared the chitlins, and other society gatekeepers, health officials were able to develop a social marketing approach that advocated for bleaching and pre-boiling the chitterlings that saw tremendous success in reducing diarrhea (Turning Point, 2003).

Task 3

While the initiative helped reduce diarrhea, there were some flaws associated with it. The inconvenience was one of these limitations. The idea of having all the women assemble and prepare the food in a centralized location other than being let prepare the food unsupervised was quite a hassle to them. Also, the initiative was said to be very pocket-friendly. However, women were not allowed to make their own carts but to buy them from a vendor which meant that they spent more than they used to. Lastly, the vendors did not like the idea of the women acquiring the carts through credit as the interest rates were too low.

To address the above problems, it is crucial that social marketing considered. Women ought to have been guided on how to go about proper hygiene other than being supervised in that the locations for preparing the food products were decentralized. It would have been better to let the women acquire their own carts without having to buy the carts from expensive vendors.

Read More